Step 5 - What option best meets my goals?

This step helps you to identify the system that best meets your goals and asks you to consider the risks associated with the decision that you have made.

You need to consider the following two questions to make an informed decision to select the system that best meets your goals and aspirations:

Step 5.1 - Does my irrigation investment choice meet the goals that I have identified?
Step 5.2 - Have I considered all of the risks associated with the option?

Step 5.1 - Does my irrigation investment choice meet the goals that I have identified?

You should review your thinking under Step 1.1 - What do I want to achieve from this investment? to determine whether the system you are considering will meet your expectations.

Look at the following checklist and see whether you can answer these questions:

What do you want the end result to be? Will you be able to achieve this with the option you selected?
What are the most important benefits and barriers associated with your option? Does it align with your business aspirations?
Do you have a strategy in place to deal with these barriers?

At the end of this process, you will know if the option that you have selected meets the goals that you have identified in Step 1.

Step 5.2 - Have I considered all of the risks associated with the option?

There are risks and uncertainty attached to any option(s) that you choose. Risk refers to the probability that an event or situation will occur (such as a breakdown, or drought). You should be able to manage the risk to some extent. Risk management is the process of measuring or assessing risk and developing strategies to manage it.

You have to do your homework beforehand to find out what kind of risks you are dealing with. One of the ways of identifying the risk will be to go through the planning, design, management and costs sections of Step 4 and identify the potential risks on each of these sections for your selected option(s). Many risks can be minimised or even eliminated with good planning, design and management.

To identify risk, you can consult with other landowners or with service providers. Although you will often not have all the information you need for identifying risks, try to do the best you can with the information available.

Given below are checklists that you may want to consider for identifying and managing risks for your irrigation option. There might be other issues that you may want to consider which are relevant to the final selection.

The risk of pivots colliding with trees is small, and can be eliminated with a little planning

Centre Pivot Systems

Centre pivot system risks	Information source
Planning
What is my water availability? Will water be available when required?	Step 4.2.1.5 & Information Note - Centre-pivot and Rural Water Authorities (PDF - 40 KB
Is my water quality suitable?	Step 4.2.1.6
Do I need to remove remnant vegetation from my property?	Step 4.2.1.7
Design
Can my system supply enough water in hot weather?	Step 4.2.2.1
Do I have the appropriate sprinklers in my system?	Step 4.2.2.3
What do I need to do to minimise wheel rutting?	Step 4.2.2.5 & Information Note - Centre pivot wheel rutting
Cost
What does a suitable centre pivot (for my farm/site) cost?	Step 4.2.3.1
What does it cost to run?	Step 4.2.3.2
What is the trade-off between capital and operational costs?	Information Note - Centre pivot - Capital and operating costs
Management
What are the management requirements for centre pivot systems?	Step 4.2.4
How do I manage wheel tracks?	Step 4.2.4.2
Overall
Is my investment consistent with my goals and aspirations?	Step 1.1 and 1.2

Border-check Systems

Border-check system risks	Information source
Planning
Have I considered the soil types on my farm?	Step 2.2.1
Is my water quality suitable?	Step 4.1.1.4
Do I need to remove remnant vegetation?	Step 4.1.1.5
Design
Do I have a whole farm plan for my property?	Step 4.1.2.1
Have I considered appropriate slope, length, width and flow rates for my bays?	Step 4.1.2.2
Have I considered appropriate channels and drains?	Step 4.1.2.3
Cost
What does border-check irrigation on my farm/site cost?	Step 4.1.3
What does it cost to run the system?	Step 4.1.3
Management
What flow rates should I use?	Step 4.1.4.1
When should I irrigate?	Step 4.1.4.2
How much should I apply?	Step 4.1.4.3
How should I manage my drainage reuse system?	Step 4.1.4.4
Overall
Is my investment consistent with my goals and aspirations?	Step 1.1 and 1.2

Sub-surface drip irrigation

Sub-surface drip irrigation risks	Information source
Planning
Can I use undulating land for SDI?	Step 4.3.1.4
Have I considered the soil types on my farm?	Step 2.2.1, 4.3.1.5
Will water be available when required?	Step 4.3.1.6
Is the water quality suitable for SDI?	Step 4.3.1.7
Can I grow other crops using the same setup?	Step 4.3.1.12
Design
How large an area can I develop?	Step 4.3.2.1
What should be the emitter flow rate and spacing	Step 4.3.2.2
Do I need system automation?	Step 4.3.2.3
Cost
Have I surveyed the market to compare the cost and quality of system components and service?	Step 4.3.3.1
What will be the initial cost of the system?	Step 4.3.3.2
How much it cost to run the system?	Step 4.3.3.3
What will be the net benefit?	Step 4.3.3.5
Management
When should I irrigate and how much to apply?	Step 4.3.4.1
What is the best practice to apply fertiliser?	Step 4.3.4.2
How do I manage grazing?	Step 4.3.4.3
Maintenance
What are the maintenance issues with SDI?	Step 4.3.5
Installation
What is the general procedure to install SDI?	Step 4.3.6
Overall
Is my investment consistent with my goals and aspirations?	Step 5.1 and 5.2

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