Barry George Mudge

Low rainfall farmer/consultant still learning

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@paulajothompson Plenty of activity north of Port Germein

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

I should acknowledge that my previous comment about outcomes comes from Annie Duke who wrote a very good book on “How to Decide”

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

On the Camino in Galicia in northern Spain. Thinking about GRDC RiskWise (not!). Good outcomes are a combination of luck and good decision making. Always nice to be the farm at the end of the rainbow….⁦@GRDCSouth⁩ ⁦@GRDCWest⁩ ⁦@UnfsNorth⁩

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

Great interview by Oli from Humans of Agriculture with a young farmer (that I know quite well!) with some excellent take home messages of the challenges of learning the difficult craft of farming

https://t.co/F3My0qPfxU

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

Excellent podcast on changing the emphasis of summer weed control more to residuals. Well done Beth Mark and UNFS

[Upper North Farming Systems @UnfsNorth]

The latest UNFS podcast covers managing summer weeds like fleabane & feathertop Rhodes grass. Beth Humphris (Elders) & Mark Congreve (ICAN Rural) share insights on control methods, herbicide use, & crop rotation. This is part of the Summer Weeds Project.
https://t.co/bDrAGlVBq6

[Upper North Farming Systems @UnfsNorth]

@MudgeBarry gives some insight into upcoming RiskWi$e event in the Upper North putting 2024 into perspective. 10th February @ Orroroo please see our previous post with flyer and details.

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@AgroJAK Ok. I had heard of the deluge there several weeks ago. Have you been in the cropping regions north of Marrakech up to Casablanca? How has the season opened up there?

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@AgroJAK We visited a newly developed almond and olive orchard in the Middle Atlas which was using excellent techniques to maximise WUE- but lack of recharge and over exploitation of ground water seemed to be the major issue. Analysis of their rainfall shows peaks and troughs as here

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@TomBourchier Thanks Tom but we probably have enough of our own stock atm. Also some is reasonably light country and so we need to limit grazing

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

Hail damage on our Mambray Creek property last night. Our estimate is 50-100% on wheat, 100% on canola. Not widespread but would have been active while it was happening

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

Great day with the Nelshaby Ag Bureau and Upper North FS sharing collective local experiences of crap crops (and some seeps!) in a season which for many ranks statistically as their worst on record. Best mental health exercise. All in this together

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@Julianne_Hill @GGA_WA Thanks Julianne. I will let the “clever bloke” bit past! But I think the decision matrix approach could be used a lot more broadly particularly for nudging decisions if uncertain. Cam Nicholson explains it well

https://t.co/BhTsPE19rK

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

For what it is worth I have been experimenting with a simple index over past two years to support intuition with dry seeding decisions. Idea is to update with new experiences. I’ve certainly found it useful to straighten up the thoughts

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@geidejr Yes but never hard and fast about the call. Just tries to take some of the emotion out of the choice (go or not).Or more so, how hard we go. Probably a bit more confident in the call we have ended up making

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@agrobaz Yes Baz you can pull anything you think important into it.Main idea is to get all that competing “stuff” out of your head and info some sort of logical analysis

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@RichardKonzag Thanks Richard. I find it useful. The concept of a decision matrix like this I think has plenty of legs to try to straighten up the mind tricks

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@agrobaz Good question Baz. I think you might know my response-the first part is to measure it.Challenge farmers to reduce full cost of production ($/t) by 10%.Then they have to learn how to measure it. Would be great learning for many on financial literacy and what counts.

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@bec_raymond_ Yes Bec that messaging also worries me. Risk is clearly about balancing upside against downside.Small chance with high consequences can be critical to decision process.Need to look at the range not the average. Decision making is about both likelihood and consequence across all

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

Bureau of Met are now delivering grains specific climate outlooks on a monthly basis-current example for SA/Vic/Tas can be accessed at https://t.co/mh4wIDv6Rf
Interested in users thoughts on the information contained in the video

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@IanCocko Am sure plenty of farmers share your view. On other hand there is evidence that information contained in seasonal forecasts is (sometimes) of value. Perhaps we just have to learn to use it better

[Barry George Mudge @MudgeBarry]

@agrobaz @sommy79 Currently there are 3 separate videos-SA/Vic/Tas, Qld/NSW, WA. Still hard work trying to cover climate issues relating to agro decisions over diverse environments even within these zones