Stress Testing Regenerative Agricultural Practices – STRAP

Drought resilience in novel emerging dryland farming practices - A scientific and economic basis (Stress Testing Regenerative Agricultural Practices - STRAP)

The project aims to rigorously study regenerative cropping and pasture management to boost drought resilience in southern Australia's dryland farming systems. It is farmer-led with scientific support from CSIRO, involving five long-term trials across key eco-climatic zones and four large demonstration trials. The data collected will be modelled to predict outcomes of different management scenarios, helping stakeholders visualize impacts on soil resilience and sustainable productivity.

The project is evaluating a range of regenerative practices based on five key principles:

1. Minimising soil disturbance
2. Maintaining soil cover
3. Keeping living roots in the ground
4. Increasing plant diversity
5. Integrating livestock where appropriate

In 2026, sites have been established at Ungarra and Port Kenny on the Eyre Peninsula. The Ungarra site features key 6 treatment rotations. The trial site is a rolling design where each treatment phase appears in every year of the trial (4 years). The simplified trial plan is displayed below.

Port Kenny Demonstration Site Overview

The Port Kenny site is one of the long-term trials established as part of the Stress Testing Regenerative Agricultural Practices (STRAP) project, exploring how different farming practices and fertiliser strategies perform over time.

The trial compares three treatments: a traditional medic pasture system with no phosphorus fertiliser, a lentil crop using standard phosphorus fertiliser rates, and a lentil crop using reduced conventional phosphorus fertiliser alongside Terrus Pro, a carbon-based fertiliser designed to support soil health and nutrient availability.

Across the four-phase trial, these treatments will rotate between medic or lentils and wheat, allowing researchers to investigate how different legume and fertiliser strategies influence subsequent crops.

Regular soil and plant monitoring will track crop growth, ground cover, biomass, grain yield, soil nutrients and microbial activity. The aim is to better understand the long-term productivity and soil health impacts of these different approaches, helping growers make more informed decisions about fertiliser use and farming systems suited to the region.

Ungarra Trial Site Overview