Grain growers are significantly impacted by water runoff, evaporation, and waterlogging due to their direct influence on crop water availability and soil health. Excessive water runoff and draining can lead to erosion and loss of vital nutrients, while high evaporation rates reduce the amount of water available for crop growth, particularly during critical development stages. Conversely, waterlogging can suffocate plant roots, reduce oxygen availability, and increase the risk of diseases. By managing these factors effectively, grain growers can enhance water use efficiency, promoting healthier crops and higher yields.

There are known solutions to improve surface and sub-surface drainage such as land-forming with heavy machinery to alter the flow of water on the soil surface and installation of sub-surface drainage. GRDC investments through the National Grower Network (NGN) have demonstrated significant profit gains from the use of these strategies in areas prone to waterlogging. But the upfront costs are significant and growers in medium rainfall zones (MRZ) and high rainfall zones (HRZ) across Australia require more information on (a) how to practically implement these options, (b) the costs and benefits of different options in different areas, and (c) the legalities of doing so.

GRDC is seeking the delivery of a national investment to solve these knowledge gaps by implementing a series of farm-scale and paddock-scale research sites across the MRZ and HRZ. The investment will conduct a comprehensive review of the legalities of altering water flow in different areas and produce a practical ‘how to guide’ supplemented by case studies. Agronomic, financial and environmental data collected at each demonstration site will be used to estimate the long-term benefits and challenges of different drainage options in different soil types, cropping systems, and climatic conditions. That data will be coupled with spatial modelling to assist GRDC and the grains industry better estimate the size of the opportunity nationally in improving grower profit from surface and sub-surface drainage.

Conditions for Participation:

The following are mandatory conditions with which a Tenderer must comply to participate in this procurement process:

1 The Tenderer must be a single legal entity or recognised firm of partners 2 The Tenderer and any proposed subcontractor must be compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, the Modern Slavery Act 2018 and any other applicable labour laws and standards in the jurisdiction in which they operate.

3 The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not have a judicial decision against it (not including decisions under appeal) relating to employee entitlements and who have not paid the claim.

4 The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not be named on the Consolidated List, being the list of persons and entities who are subject to targeted financial sanctions or travel bans under Australian sanction laws, as maintained by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

5 In accordance with the Shadow Economy Procurement Connected Policy, a Tenderer must include a satisfactory and valid Statement of Tax Records (STR). If the total value of all work under any proposed subcontract is expected to be equal to or above $4 million (inclusive of GST), also include a separate satisfactory and valid STR of that proposed subcontractor.

Questions and Answers

Q1. Is this call also covering the Tropical Northern Australia (Northern Territory)?

A1. This GRDC tender is only covering the Western, Southern and Northern GRDC regions; that does not include the Northern Territory.

Q2. RFT on the GRDC Website states that GRDC will not accept Tenders from Consortia, but on a LinkedIn post it says looking for partners. Can you please clarify?

A2. This GRDC tender is not open to a consortium application, however a Lead Research Partner may require a number of subcontracted organisations to deliver this investment nationally.

Q3. Will this tender be offered to one single bidder to conduct national wide investigation or to a number of bidders to conduct localised representative research?

A3. GRDC anticipates this investment will be contracted under the terms of a two-party research contract that will deliver nationally and require the lead organisation to subcontract where required to deliver the outcome, and as such will be contracting a single entity.

Q4. How many research sites are expected to be covered in this tender?

A4. At least 6 large new field trials per GRDC region (3 in the HRZ and 3 in the MRZ (18 in total)) would be expected and small scale experiment implemented by growers 6 per region (3 in the HRZ and 3 in the MRZ) to be implemented and run for at least 3 years that can be analysed and used for case studies and expanded the data set.

Q5. Will GRDC decide the sites or it is the research team's choice?

A5. This would be led by the research team recommendations. A draft plan would be expected to be submitted as part of the application with the final plan to be completed as part of the contract negotiation.

Q6. The tender information indicates a five-and-a-half year project – so will the project term be a full 5 ½ years from date of inception?

A6. Yes.

Q7. Tender information also states that the main end-of-project reporting outputs (Outputs 2, 3 & 4) are due by Dec 2029. With, for example, an Oct 2025 start to the project, this would leave a year or more of project time and potential information gathering (e.g. trial site data) that would not be captured in final reporting. If this is correct, is the successful bidder able to negotiate later delivery of these key project milestones?

A7. Yes, the successful bidder able to negotiate later delivery of these key project milestones.

Q8. Will the capital cost of the upgrades be paid for by project funds? Can/should farmers co-contribute to the capital installations? If not, would GRDC accept site demonstrations where drainage has already been installed in one paddock, but not in another (all else being equal).

A8. GRDC has budget for some capital cost that includes equipment to conduct soil moisture measurements, crop monitoring, weather stations and implementation of large scale trial sites. However, it would be expected that both the lead research partner and grower would also contribute capital for the implantation and analysis of these research sites. GRDC also expects that previous work invested in would be monitored and form part of this new investment.

Q9. How many trial sites are expected?

A9. Refer to A4.

Q10. Is there a reason behind the order of work – thinking economic benefits before delving into full analysis of legislation and vice-versa?

A10. These two areas of work would be done as to best deliver the outcome for grain growers.

Q11. How has GRDC estimated the $180 million annual cost of poor drainage? Which NGN investments have demonstrated profit gains? What are the specific NGN project codes or Issue numbers that have led to this investment.

A11. The GRDC NGN investments are:

A SCF2005-001SAX - Understanding return on investment of sub-surface water management options for waterlogged areas in the Western Region (Albany Port Zone).

SCN2005-001SAX - Understanding return on investment of sub-surface water management options for waterlogged areas in the Western Region.

Q12. How many cropping seasons is GRDC aiming for with the site demonstrations, and what are the priority crops in each region that GRDC is targeting with this investment?

A12. At least 4 full growing seasons would be expected for the field trials, GRDC would like to see the major crop types covered but would be led by the grower’s crop rotation.

Q13. How was the target of increasing yield by 5% per annum by 2035 across at least 600,000ha arrived at?

A13. This analysis was defined by the total areas within the MRZ and HRZ of all three GRDC regions for a decile 5 and above year and based on the responses growers are currently obtaining.

Q14. Does the bid require identification of experimental sites (and by default partner farmer groups/growers) or can sites and groups be nominated after undertaking preliminary policy assessments and national modelling at the farm scale?

A14. GRDC is open to all plans that meet the outcome and outputs of this Tender and deliver for grain growers nationally. More detail in the application as to how this would be delivered would be desirable.