2013, Volume 10, Paper 4

Potential returns and risk of growing aluminium-tolerant lucerne in a grazing system with acidic soils located in the high rainfall zone

C.D. Lewis – Agriculture Research, Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Ellinbank, Vic. 3820, Australia, Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3010, Australia and Dairy Futures Cooperative Research Centre, AgriBio, Bundoora, Vic. 3083, Australia.

J.L. Jacobs – Agriculture Research, Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Warrnambool, Vic. 3280, Australia andDairy Futures Cooperative Research Centre, AgriBio, Bundoora, Vic. 3083, Australia.

K.F. Smith – Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3010, Australia and Dairy Futures Cooperative Research Centre, AgriBio, Bundoora, Vic. 3083, Australia.

R. Behrendt – Agriculture Research, Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Hamilton, Vic. 3300, Australia.

B. Malcolm – Department of Agriculture and Food Systems, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3010, Australia and Agriculture Research, Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Parkville, Vic. 3053, Australia. 

Email: claire.lewis@depi.vic.gov.au

Abstract

The benefits, costs and risk from introducing aluminium-tolerant lucerne (alfalfa) into a sheep grazing enterprise, consisting of a perennial ryegrass-based pasture, located in the high rainfall zone of Victoria, Australia, were estimated using a discounted cash flow analysis. Two ‘what if’ scenarios were compared for a modelled representative case study farm; 1) where aluminium toxicity occurred in the top-soil, and 2) where aluminium toxicity occurred in the sub-soil. Discrete seasonal pasture growth scenarios were examined, and price variability was captured using Monte Carlo simulation. Growing aluminium-tolerant lucerne on 10% of the farm area was consistently more profitable than continuing to graze the perennial ryegrass pasture, returning an extra $7-28/ha/year of profit for the 9 year analysis period. However, if the use of conventional lucerne with liming was a viable option for incorporating lucerne into the grazing system, the advantage of the aluminium tolerance ( ‘Al Tol’) technology was minimal. The results of this analysis suggest that aluminium-tolerant lucerne could be a profitable option for livestock graziers in the high rainfall zone, and is likely to be more beneficial when aluminium toxicity occurs in the sub-soil compared to the top-soil.

Keywords: alfalfa, pasture improvement, economics.

Download the full PDF version here.