The Importance of Trust in the Development and Delivery of a Decision Support Tool to Reduce Environmental Nutrient Losses from Pasture Systems

Managing uncertainty and risk is an increasing challenge for running profitable grazing systems. There is continual pressure to increase efficiency and productivity, while at the same time there is mounting scrutiny of the impact of grazing systems on the environment. Of particular interest is the impact of nitrogen and phosphorus losses from grazed pasture systems to water and the atmosphere. A combination of industry demand for information on environmental management of nutrients on farms, and the few existing decisions support systems (DSS) to help manage these issues in Australia led to a government and industry funded project (the Better Fertiliser Decisions project, BFD) for developing a new decision support system, the Farm Nutrient Loss Index (FNLI). The objective of the FNLI was to provide a DSS that can be used to identify where and when there is a risk of nutrient loss to the environment from grazed pasture systems in Australia.