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“Collaboration and innovation for irrigation”

This section describes the water technology 'sector' and how it operates as a key part of the water industry across the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District.

Much of what is described here was drawn from work conducted during 2008 and 2009. This was done as a part of Cluster activities including an 'Industry Audit' and strategic/ business planning conducted by the Cluster under the guidance of the Cluster manager and the executive committee.

To provide feedback, suggestions and comments please email Bruce Cumming on info@watertechnologycluster.com.au

Click to get PDF of Industry Audit Strategic Report

1. OVERVIEW/ ANALYSIS OF WATER TECHNOLOGY SECTOR

The current operating environment within the water, water technology and irrigation farming sectors within the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District is very challenging. Since the feasibility and investigation stages of the Water Technology Cluster this operating environment has changed significantly due to factors including : announcement of the Foodbowl Modernisation program and other Victorian Government water projects; the creation of NVIRP (Northern Victorian Irrigation Renewal Project); changes in Federal water policy including large changes and announcements like Water For the Future which have an impact on adoption of water technology in the region; the continuation of the extended dry conditions and low irrigation allocations; difficult global markets for the regional agricultural mainstays, dairy and horticulture; and the general global economic downturn and credit shortage.

The water technology sector is comprised of a broad range of players who are the target membership of the Water Technology Cluster. The Cluster entered a growth and development stage in August 2008 with the appointment of the Cluster Manager with the support of funding from Regional Development Victoria, the project finances being auspiced by Moira Shire, and chaired by Roger Wrigley of the University of Melbourne. The Cluster operates under the guidance of the Victorian Regional Cluster Innovation Program, and is the twentieth Cluster to be formed.

The Cluster is comprised of the main players within the water technology sector. Members of the Cluster originate from organisations with an interest in the use of water technologies, knowledge and management at the on-farm level, see Figure 1, and these include:

• Private businesses with a service focus
• Private businesses with a product focus
• Local government
• Government agencies/ authorities etc providing support, advice, grants, service, modernisation etc
• Research and development agencies and organisations
• Industry bodies and organisations
• Higher education

The water technology sector, and the Water Technology Cluster which represents it, face many challenging industry and market factors. These factors have a specific and significant impact on the water technology sector and its ability to catalyze and achieve real on ground change at the irrigation farmer level. Factors include:

• Industry players are naturally competitive, and that raises some challenges for collaboration;
• The pace, rate and urgency of change;
• The case specific nature of on-farm and connection issues- there are no easy answers;
• The difficult economic times being faced by the dairy and horticulture industries affecting their capacity to change;
• The ongoing capacity for delivery of products and services by water technology businesses;
• Current lack of implementation policy, programs and funding for the on-farm level;
• There is no overarching coordination process to guide and direct modernisation across all dimensions;
• The priority for modernisation ‘backbone’ works affecting availability of businesses at on-farm level;
• Ongoing dry conditions.

It should be emphasized here that the ‘problem’ cannot be solved by a simple technological ‘fix,’ and that kind of assumption does not reflect the complexity of issues outlined above. There have been substantial innovations in irrigation management and technology in the region over a period of decades, with many creative solutions developed. One of the challenges for the water technology sector and the Cluster is to help develop the next innovative step forward.

The Water Technology Cluster business plan included an industry audit as one of its six work areas. The ‘audit’ had themes and activities including: audit/ analysis of water technology sector; map existing relationships, partnerships, networks and business arrangements; identify full list of current providers of water technology goods and services; investigate outside of region for learnings including other clusters; explore and identify potential opportunities, demand and pathways for industry cooperation. In many ways this work has been an inherent component of all Cluster activities, and references to this can be found in other reports and documents. This report is a summary of the work and the findings and focuses at the on-farm level which is the priority area of the Water Technology Cluster.

ORGANISATION AND GOVERNANCE OVERVIEW OF THE SECTOR: The regional water technology sector is characterized by the operation of a mix of public and private organisations providing a broad range of services and products to the irrigation farming industries. This is different to other irrigation areas in Australia, and comes from a history of government involvement in setting up and managing irrigation areas in Victoria. Victoria has been conservative in allocation of water resources, and policy has been strong with key water policy reform taking place at various times. The Irrigation Act 1886 provided the framework, and irrigation was strongly supported by government under that Act which gave total power over water to the State (Johnson et al 2009).
The Victorian Government supported the ongoing development of the irrigation industry and infrastructure in the following century with the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission taking a leading role as the water authority. In 1994 corporate reforms of water management by the government resulted in the formation of Goulburn Murray Water as the authority to deliver water services in the region. The Water Act 1989 made significant changes to water policy around trading and licenses in particular.

A community led approach commenced in the mid 1980s to deal with a range of water quality related issues notably salinity and including water efficiency, and the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994 (CaLP Act) subsequently established 10 Catchment Management Authorities across Victoria. In the irrigation areas much of the government support and integrated approach for water efficiency projects with the irrigation farming communities was delivered with the CMAs as the lead agency.

In 2007 the Foodbowl modernisation program was announced by the State Government. That followed community and industry approaches to Government with proposals to better share and manage water resources and improve infrastructure, collectively and colloquially referred to as ‘modernisation.’ This occurred in an environment across Victoria of drought and water scarcity for consumptive use (human, industry, irrigation etc) and demands for environmental flows for rivers and wetlands. NVIRP was established as a State Owned Entity (SOE) with CEO Murray Smith appointed in July 2008. Since that time NVIRP has been growing and developing its business plans while managing the first stage of works to capture water for government.

To date the modernisation focus has been almost entirely on the public infrastructure modernisation around the channel ‘backbone’ and the publicly owned outlets replacing the ‘Detheridge’ wheels/ meters. However government expects that on-farm modernisation will be delivered across the region and that it this will lead to significant improvement in water efficiencies and regional development opportunities. Indeed, at least half of the government modernisation funds expended will need to be spent in some way for on-farm water efficiency and practice change, and there will be other investment from farmers directly. Therefore there is an expectation of significant activity being undertaken. Imminent funding from the Australian Government for assisting with on-farm water efficiency changes will help progress things to the on-farm level and the Cluster has helped in responding to draft guidelines for the flow of those funds and the creation of the programs to be rolled out.

PRIVATE SECTOR INVOLVEMENT: Many direct services have been supported by government through agencies, authorities and state owned entities in the arrangements described above. However it is important to understand the complementary roles of both the general community and private firms in this. Much of the past work to achieve on-ground water efficiency change through adoption of water management, knowledge and technologies has been supported by governance processes of the government and community partnership approaches, while the private sector contributed a crucial practical part of the delivery. And of course the irrigation farming industries are in the private sector and are key players.

Past examples of important roles and participation of the private water technology service industry include whole farm planning, irrigation design and layout, and community-drainage design. Much of this work was supported by programs auspiced, administered and technically supported by the public sector arrangements outlined earlier. This work is carried out by surveyors and designers who operated privately and, farmers could qualify for a cost-share arrangement as part of the process. The process requires registration with the government agency and the work to be done within standards developed jointly by government and the industry through the representative body ISDG (Irrigation Surveyors and Designers Group) which is a key member of the Water Technology Cluster.
In this way the private sector and the public sector processes work in an inter-dependant way. There are also other water efficiency related services provided by the private sector which are separate from these arrangements, but which are often dependant on the initial design, decision making and technical communication processes. For instance the horticulture industry has had soil moisture monitoring services for some time to help in irrigation decision making, and these are private arrangements between farmers and providers but relate to other knowledge and processes.

Much of the service provided by the private sector is associated with the sale or potential sale of products, for instance the design of a pressurized irrigation system is often a part of its supply price. In some cases there are arrangements between private firms to supply different parts of a system or design. Wholesale suppliers are also involved in providing services around design and installation in conjunction with retail outlets in the region.

A substantial part of the water technology sector which is service rather than product in its nature includes construction, excavation, earthworks and installation services which are provided by a range of private firms. Following design work, a farm water efficiency project is implemented according to the business program of the irrigation farmer and the capacity to do this over time. This may involve a new irrigation design being implemented or installed over several years. There are several members of the Cluster from this service sub-sector, but it has not been a particular focus of the Cluster. Since the commencement of the accelerated modernisation processes much of the service of this area of work has been delivered at the public infrastructure level, and this has had an impact on their ability to deliver at the on-farm infrastructure level.

As mentioned, there are often close relationships within and between private firms for the service and product aspects. However, for convenience the product area is described separately here: water technology related products are quite diverse and range from static products like piping and bay outlets through to very sophisticated electronic measurement or control devices.

The on-farm water technology products can also be roughly divided into low-pressure/ high-flow and high-pressure/ low-flow types. The Cluster has given its highest priority to the on-farm related products and services, but without losing sight of the need for harmonization and convergence of technologies between the public infrastructure and the private on-farm management and infrastructure. There are still unresolved issues in this area.

Private service and product firms are quite diverse. Most towns in the region have several retail product businesses: some of these are single person operations, while some have from 10 to 30 employees or sub-contractors.

As outlined in the Appendix, and in the ‘cameos’ provided by the member firms involved in the Cluster in Section 3 below, they are very diverse. Often there is a mix of service and product provided, while sometimes this is by arrangement with other commercial partners and contractors on a formal or informal basis.

2. RELATIONSHIPS, PARTNERSHIPS, NEWORKS AND ARRANGEMENTS

Ultimately the legislation and community involvement outlined in Section 1 resulted in a sophisticated and broad range of water efficiency and quality related services. These were provided and coordinated by a partnership between agencies including Catchment Management Authorities, Department of Primary Industries and Goulburn Murray Water. In 2004 a Memorandum of Understanding for Irrigation Drainage Management and Water Quality was agreed and signed off. This Memorandum of Understanding ‘aims to protect and improve water quality in our waterways while supporting the sustainability of our economically important irrigation industries and recognising the fundamental role of drainage in the protection of environmental values’ (DSE 2008). A Catchment Partnership was signed off and agreed with another Memorandum of Understanding in 2005 and associated improvement processes (Cumming 2005). The partnership between agencies and irrigation communities continues in these arrangements. The Water Service Committees established by Goulburn Murray Water also build on the strong arrangements with the community in the region.

Each of the public organisations has had reasonably specific roles and responsibilities in the past for water efficiency technology and management, and a commitment to work together to achieve joint goals. However with the recent water policy changes at the State and Federal levels some of these roles and responsibilities need to be re-negotiated. The announcement of the ‘Foodbowl’ modernisation program, and the subsequent establishment of NVIRP both provide an opportunity to set up some new delivery and collaboration arrangements which ensure more effective use of scarce water resources at both the public infrastructure and on-farm levels. The involvement of the private sector businesses and providers of products and services will also be a key success factor.

The Water Technology Cluster has been quite explicit in ‘bringing-in’ the water technology businesses to a partnership approach which relates closely to existing governance, partnership and management arrangements, while building much stronger links to the private sector and other parties who had been less involved. This approach is about recognizing, acknowledging and building from what already exists in terms of organizational arrangements, and also private commercial business arrangements which may be commercial in confidence.

SOME WATER TECHNOLOGY DELIVERY MODELS:
There are a range of delivery models for achieving change in water use efficiency for irrigation. They all have their place according to the specific need and nature of the services provided at the farm level. This is a summary of three different models observed operating within the water technology sector, and is not exclusive.

• 1. Private firms: public governance/ support.

Key elements include: integrated approaches; quality / industry agreed standards; independent technical input; high level of coordination/ planning; communication strategies; backed up by research, development and analysis; separation of governance from delivery/ grants etc.

Example: the most well known example is the implementation of the regional catchment strategy in the irrigated portion of the Goulburn Broken (Shepparton Irrigation Region) operating since the mid 1980s.

Services and products include: Whole Farm Planning; irrigation survey and design; automatic irrigation; re-use dams; implementation/ construction/ installation of farm plans to improve irrigation efficiency; certification of plans by local government.

• 2. Private product suppliers: private service providers

  Key elements include: arrangements or referrals between private firms; referrals to farmers; specialization of service or product supply; may include formal or informal ‘contract’ agreements; may be ‘master-built’ by owner/ manager or external project manager.   

Example: one business assesses needs on behalf of farmer; design of new irrigation infrastructure set-up; products supplied and installed / constructed by another business.

Services and products include: bay outlets; piping; electronic/ physical control devices;

• 3. Public authorities: private suppliers of services and/or products

Key elements include: commissioning of works; project management; tendering; sub-contracting; competition; primary focus on the specific project delivery.

Example: commissioning and project management by NVIRP of installation of new channel outlet meters by contractors.

Services and products include: project management; construction; installation; new equipment.

DEFINING AND UNDERSTANDING THE ‘SERVICE GAP’:

The Water Technology Cluster has documented six themes which it identified as contributing to the service gap area. The identification of this gap arose from an analysis of the industry situation as a key part of the ‘industry audit’ process of the Cluster project.

There are many different perspectives, and different words are used to describe it, but the ‘gap’ in service at the farmer level is well acknowledged as existing. The Cluster has done a range of work-shopping and discussions and found that the gap needs investigation to help both businesses and government agencies/ funders to find a path forward and help deliver on-farm change related to water efficiency and modernisation. At this point there is not an on-farm package, or programs, developed by DSE, NVIRP, GB-CMA etc. However there is a need for this to advance soon, and the Cluster and its members are in a unique position to contribute. Those organisations are supportive of the proposal to find ways of better bridging the gap.

The Cluster intends working on these to develop more effective, integrated and coordinated use of:

• Knowledge: Eg open transparent sharing/ collaboration between organisations: Build on existing communication and coordination processes to achieve joint aims;

• Skills: Eg skills within agencies/ programs/ firms: There is a collective wealth of knowledge within individuals and organisations:

• Services: eg clear understanding of irrigator and provider needs: Need to better understand capacity and delivery restraints and issues etc;

• Technologies: eg potential for connectivity and convergence of hardware, products, services and software

• Products: Eg ‘connection’ between public and private systems;

• Abilities: Eg regional delivery capacity enhancement within private and public organisations.

The Water Technology Cluster plans to work to generate results which will be based on sound evidence. These will come from farmers and service provider’s experiences and needs which will aid:

• Technology service providers in how they can provide for the needs of farmers, but also how they communicate with irrigation farmers;

• Farmers in adopting practice changes, and adapting to new technology and what a modernised system can mean for their business into the future.

As a key part of scoping out the future work of the Cluster to better bridge the service gap, a pilot survey process has been designed and is being conducted with irrigation farmers across the region. This work will give strong guidance for the project work into the future.

The Cluster wishes to project-manage this medium term process in a coordinated way with organisations, and part of this will mean the Cluster operating in an agreed way overseeing the project and may involve a Memorandum of Understanding between members, and a formalization of the Cluster as an entity.

To provide feedback, suggestions and comments please email Bruce on info@watertechnologycluster.com.au

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