Why we did it

The Australian and Queensland Governments have committed over $50 million dollars to fund land management improvement projects on Queensland farms. The goal of these projects is to protect the national treasure that is the Great Barrier Reef, by improving water quality in the reef catchments and subsequently reducing the amount of farming run-off to the reef.

It is up to groups who work with farmers (regional NRM bodies, industry groups, etc.) to decide which projects to fund. However, there was no transparent and consistent method for assessing and prioritising projects for funding. This could make reporting the outcome of project improvements difficult and could result in inconsistencies in the types of projects that may be funded.

What we delivered

We created the P2R Projector – a cloud-based web app for groups who work with farmers to help them assess and prioritise projects for funding. The P2R Projector is based on an existing modelling approach used by the Queensland Government for forecasting improvements based on management change.

Users can create a project by answering a set of questions about the agricultural management practices the project will improve, entering a project budget and drawing the project location on a map. By looking at the project’s underlying soil type and climatic conditions, the P2R Projector then estimates the sediment, nutrient and pesticide (for some industries) load improvements (e.g. Tonnes of sediment saved) that would result from the project, as well as estimating the cost of each per unit of making the improvement (e.g. $/Kg).

The web app uses Truii’s core API to load spatial data, render visualisations and manage users.