Dr Rick Llewellyn's expertise is the development and adoption of tools and techniques for sustainable farming.

Dr Rick Llewellyn: farming for profit and sustainability

With a background in cropping systems and adoption of agricultural research, Dr Rick Llewellyn is developing strategies for sustainable farming in southern Australia.

• 6 May 2011 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Rick Llewellyn's research bridges farming systems field research, economics and understanding technology adoption.

He currently leads the CSIRO farming systems team in the South Australia - Western Australia region. The focus of his research is on the cropping and mixed farming regions of southern Australia where he leads a number of projects aimed at developing improved farming systems.

These include a national Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) project developing the role for perennials in future farming systems (EverCrop) and a cropping systems Research, Development and Extension (R, D & E) project in partnership with the Mallee Sustainable Farming group and state-based partners across the Mallee region of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.

Common to all activities is an emphasis on whole farm bio-economic considerations and a participative research approach involving local farmer-led groups.

Current work on adoption of technology and improved targeting of R, D & E strategies includes a study of new approaches to increase the rate of uptake of farming practices by Australian grain growers including precision agriculture.

He leads a multidisciplinary CRC Future Farm Industries initiative to develop a model for predicting and evaluating the adoptability of new NRM and agricultural practices. 

He has also applied farming systems research approaches to improving the sustainability of weed management strategies and rice production through projects in the Philippines and more recently north-east Thailand where decreasing labour and water availability are major drivers for farming systems change.     

Background

Dr Llewellyn joined CSIRO in 2005 as a Farming Systems Scientist at Waite Campus in Adelaide, South Australia.

Before joining CSIRO, he spent four years as a lecturer in agricultural systems and extension at the University of Western Australia, Perth.

During this period, Dr Llewellyn ran a range of research projects including:

• herbicide resistance management by grain growers
• developing integrated weed management for rice growers in the Philippines
• adoption of no-till farming
• the role of farmer-led groups in the research and extension network.

He also led the Economics and Extension program of the Western Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative.

Prior to this he worked as a Project Coordinator with farmer groups based on Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, and conducting field research into integrated weed management research with the University of Adelaide, South Australia.

Academic qualifications

Dr Llewellyn has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Agricultural Science, University of Adelaide, 1992
• Doctor of Philosophy (with Distinction) from the Faculty of Natural & Agricultural Sciences, School of Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of Western Australia, 2002. His thesis was titled Adoption of integrated weed management by grain growers.

Achievements

His achievements include:

• invited member Weed Science Society of America herbicide resistance sub-committee for USDA report on Reducing the risks of herbicide resistance, 2010-11
• invited speaker on no-tillage adoption drivers in Australian agriculture at the Landscapes Transformed Conference, University of Saskatoon, Canada, 2009
• invited participant, Australian Academy of Science High Flyers Think Tank (Agricultural productivity and climate change), Melbourne, Victoria, 2009
• invited speaker, Targeting extension: Understanding Practice Change Symposium University of Melbourne, 2008 and University of Western Australia, 2009
• invited plenary speaker on adoption of agricultural innovations and the role for farmer groups: 13th Australian Society of Agronomy Conference, Perth, 2006
• invited main topic session facilitator at the International Weed Science Congress, Durban, South Africa 2004; Vancouver, Canada, 2008
• best PhD Research, Australian Agricultural & Resource Economics Society, 2003
• distinction awarded for PhD thesis, University of Western Australia, 2002.

His scientific and professional appointments include:

• Committee member (Theme 3), 5th World Congress of Conservation Agriculture and 3rd Farming Systems Design Conference, 2011
• Mallee Sustainable Farming Inc. Board of Management: Invited scientific advisor 2006–present.
• Program committee member, Farming Ahead Conference, Sydney, 2010
• Chair of program committee, Australian Society of Agronomy Executive Committee, 2007–08
• Appointed Chair, National Glyphosate Sustainability Working Group, 2004–06
• Management Committee, Agricultural Excellence Alliance, South Australia, 2006–08
• Management Committee, Grower Group Alliance, Western Australia, 2002–05
• Task Leader, CRC Australian Weed Management, 2003–05
• Editorial Committee/Theme Manager, Australian Farming Systems Conference on Monitoring, evaluation and learning for farming systems improvement, Queensland, 2003.

Find out more about CSIRO's research on Precision Agriculture: profiting from variation.