TropCrop Pty Ltd is a Townsville-based consultancy and service provider in agriculture, agricultural technology, soils and land resource assessment. We have 25 years’ project management and research and development experience in tropical agriculture and agricultural technology, environmental risk management, market and product analysis, and field research in soil management.

Led Stage 1 of the planning and delivery of agricultural extension in the Wet Tropics Sugar Industry Partnership (WTSIP) for cross-regional training and extension for Queensland wet tropics sugarcane industry. WTSIP objectives are:• To achieve a lasting beneficial culture of collaboration with industry partners around agricultural extension.• To instil a culture of stewardship among farmers to manage their farm for private and public benefits. • To facilitate practice change on farms above and beyond that achieved through incentive grants. • To demonstrate the farm productivity value of improved farming practices.• To evaluate the success of extension, training and incentives grants in improving water quality outcomes.

Delivered on projects in agronomy, land resource assessment, and natural resource management.• Reported on the feasibility of irrigated agriculture in the Richmond Shire with water harvesting during peak flow in the Flinders River catchment. Authored ‘O’Connell Creek Richmond Shire Irrigation Development Opportunity - Prospectus for irrigated agriculture’ (Mount Isa Townsville Economic Zone (MITEZ)).• Delivered the preliminary land capability assessment and feasibility study for the Flinders River Irrigated Agriculture Precinct, with MITEZ and the Flinders, Richmond, and McKinlay Shires. • Assessed the soil type suitability for irrigated cropping along this region of the Flinders River in a desk-top study with Dr Ross Coventry at Soil Horizons. • With Flinders Shire GIS technician Ms Cody Binstead, produced digital (GIS) mapping of 6000 hectares of the Flinders River catchment with soils and elevation considered suitable for water harvesting and irrigation.• Negotiated with Qld Government for partial freeholding of leasehold to aid investment and capital improvement.• Negotiated with landholders and facilitated participation in examining the feasibility of irrigated cropping with case studies compiled with Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries economists.

In the natural resource management sector:• At Southern Gulf Catchments NRM Ltd I reviewed the organization’s strategic plan and addressed shortfalls in the monitoring and evaluation reporting for NRM projects to the Australian Government.• Led the Southern Gulf NRM science and planning component of the Australian Government’s Climate Change Adaptation in the Tropical Monsoon Cluster, with community consultation and representation at north Australian policy and strategy workshops.• Landholder engagement for community consultation in the Queensland Government Healthy Waters Environmental Values for the upper and mid Flinders River and associated catchments overlying the Great Artesian Basin.In the commercial sector:• Contracted for interim period during owners leave of absence as General Manager for Yuruga Nursery Pty and Clonal Solutions Pty Ltd, an award-winning native plant, mass production and tissue culture nursery, propagating for the high-value horticulture, forestry and biofuel crops market.

Research AgronomistIndependent Agricultural Resources Pty Ltd• A private sector service provider to improve the standard of advice given to sugarcane producers. We pioneered the use of electromagnetic induction (EM) mapping in sugarcane lands through GIS thematic mapping of soil property variation as indicated by the EM signal to define farm and paddock management zones with soil test ground-truthing for site-specific application of soil ameliorants. This was the first EM map for sugarcane and led to the first commercial service for EM in sugarcane regions.Regional / Principal Agronomist - Sugarcane and Tropical HorticulturePivot Ltd • Project managed the 3-year field trialing of a University Southern Queensland NCEA sugarcane harvester yield monitor in the Mareeba, Burden and Mackay. Objective to commercialise the product and through the interpretation of spatial variation in crop biomass, develop site-specific management for fertiliser inputs in sugarcane.• With the advent of Pivot into the tropics, researched advised on the soil analysis methods and interpretation standards required for tropical soils for the newly established Pivotest Laboratory in Werribee (now IPL Nutrient Advantage).• Initiated ‘Soils at Work’ training module with Pivot Agronomy to build capacity in Pivot and agent’s technical and sales staff in soil sampling and interpreting soil analyses for crop nutrient requirement in the tropics. Research Agronomist NSW Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Institute, Yanco • Researched improvements for weed management in irrigated rice in southern NSW. Yanco Institute was a multi-disciplinary research and extension program. Designed and implemented a research program to address industry development priorities in irrigated cropping. Technical and agronomic advice and leadership to other researchers and to extension staff. Achieved industry adoption of improved practice from 30% to 95% in 5 years.