And that’s a wrap for 2025

Posted on | by Coutts J&R in Amy's Posts, News & Updates

It’s been a minute since we posted a news update! The last year has been super busy at Coutts J&R and we’ve had many projects on the go. So, to round the year off, I thought it would be an idea for us to practice what we preach and share some reflections about 2025 and what we think is important to think about for 2026.

What were your highlights (can be work or anything else!)?

Ben – Going to Wagga with Jeff and meeting the CSU team working on the Long Term Field Trial and in the Southern NSW Hub (there’s even a case study!). The AES conference in September was also very interesting.

Jeff – Working with good project teams running programs (our clients!). Appreciate their professionalism, desire to do the best they can for producers and their advisers, and their constructive input to the evaluation processes. A specific highlight was going to Chile and attending the International Dairy Symposium and running two workshops which shared the output of Australian projects looking to increase the impact of research and extension. And the fly fishing that was the reward at the end of the workshop!

Amy – Finishing my PhD was a huge milestone this year – personally and professionally. Changing my email signature to Dr Amy Samson was definitely a moment! Also going to the graduation ceremony reminded me of the importance of taking the time to celebrate life achievements (big and small).

What have you learnt over the last year?

Ben – People still need lots of M&E assistance to capture the right information. There continues to be increasing realisation from funders of the value of impact data which hasn’t always been intuitively captured by projects in the past.

Jeff – There is a lot of monitoring and evaluation data that is requested and never used in any constructive way. Also the value of good narratives in capturing the impacts that result from different programs and projects. Evaluation isn’t just about numbers.

Amy – One thing that has really stuck with me is from a Queensland Government project researching the benefits of vegetation in water run off channels (or drains). Leaving vegetation in the drains (rather than killing it off) can help remove excess nitrogen from the water and improve water quality. It’s made me look at water drainage completely differently and you can read about the project here. And one other thing I learned from the ‘Nuts for Life’ project, is that it’s important to keep raw nuts in the fridge!  

From an evaluation point of view, what are the key things to think about for 2026?

Ben – The importance of understanding AI outputs and being able to interpret and assess based on human skills and experience. For example, understanding the nuances of the input (e.g. qualitative interviews, secondary data) and when AI over emphasises issues that are peripheral not central. AI doesn’t know when it’s right or not, it looks for patterns.

Jeff – Programs really need to consider useful and practical indicators to report against, including long term indicators that can reasonably be attributed to a program and are able to move, despite the background noise (e.g. climate challenges, markets, government policy).  

Amy – Like Ben, I think the use of AI is only growing in many industries. It was a big topic of interest at the AES and APEN conferences this year. Being able to use AI well and in ways that help productivity and effectiveness is important. However, as we keep moving forward, the ability to discern the appropriateness, focus and accuracy of AI-led outputs in M&E contexts is becoming more important. Particularly when critical and nuanced thinking is important.

Hope you have a good end of year break and we look forward to an exciting 2026!

Amy, Ben and Jeff

My three key takeaways from evokeAG. 2025

Posted on | by Amy Samson in Amy's Posts, News & Updates | Tagged , , ,

This week I attended evokeAG. 2025 in Brisbane and it was inspiring to see all the different types of technology being developed for, and by, the agriculture sector. As a way to reflect (and to practice what we preach in evaluation!) I thought I would share my three key takeaways from the two days.

The first takeaway is that almost everyone is interested in AI and what it can do in agriculture. I think the same can be said for evaluation. It’s going to be really important to continue to evolve how AI is used to increase effectiveness and efficiency in data analysis and insights. I’m also keen to see how contextual data can be brought in – for example bringing policy and or industry trends into the mix.

The second takeaway is that while many people were talking about the economic and production impacts of their products or innovation, there was very little to no focus on how these were being measured or their broader impacts on farming systems. I think it would be valuable to understand what success means for different innovations and approaches and how the data is being or will be collected. An opportunity for evaluation specialists to be more overtly involved in the Ag innovation space perhaps? In Tuesday’s opening plenary, one person in the audience commented:

“Sustainability rests on three pillars: social, economic and environmental.
Yet discussions often focus on one. Makes for a fragile structure.”

The third takeaway I already knew, but it was good to hear it being talked about in this forum. The wonderful Leigh Sales (from 7.30 and Australian Story) talked about storytelling and how powerful it is to be authentic and real when telling stories, because it builds trust in what you’re sharing. It also helps to make your story stand out from much of the misinformation floating around. Storytelling was also talked about in relation to farming women and how there is more opportunity for their stories to be shared to break the broader narrative of the farmer’s wife. This conversation resonated closely with my PhD research about how some farming women are purposefully using social media to be authentic and genuine about their climate experiences to educate others about agriculture.

As someone who works in the agricultural industry across a range of different projects and programs it was encouraging to see so many people in one place who are optimistic about and innovating for the future. It was also great to see the Drought Hubs there sharing about their impacts in the innovation space. I’m looking forward to attending again sometime in the future.

Connecting Climate Minds: Climate change and mental health

Posted on | by Amy Samson in Amy's Posts, News & Updates | Tagged ,

Yesterday I was invited to attend a virtual dialogue and the start of a community of practice looking at climate change and mental health. The dialogue was part of a year-long Wellcome Trust-funded global project – Connecting Climate Minds – which aims to catalyse research and action at the nexus of climate change and mental health. The project is hosting dialogues in different regions all over the world to draw from as wide a range of experiences as possible.

The event I took part in included over 50 people from all around Australia and the Pacific with a goal to start developing a research and action agenda addressing key gaps in understanding the links between climate change and mental health. The next dialogue in October will start looking at actionable ways forward which will feed into global spaces such as COP28 and the World Health Assembly.

It was so interesting to hear from others about their experiences and knowledge from working and being personally impacted from climate change. It’s clear that climate change impacts are only gathering pace as are the impacts on people’s wellbeing – and there are some big research gaps. I think the global co-learning approach of this project is a positive way forward. If you’re interested in keeping up with this project, please fill in the contact form or send an email to the project manager (Suhailah Ali at suhailah.ali@uq.net.au). 

One topic that came up was positive adaptions to climate change, empowering people and the messaging associated with that. We are seeing this approach to some extent in agricultural projects that focus on providing the tools and promoting strategies for producers to take control and proactively make on-farm decisions around future climate impacts such as drought.

These practice focused projects and programs are important however, I’m wondering if there might be an opportunity to more overtly include social and wellbeing outcomes? For example, as part of my PhD research, Australian farming women indicated that they experienced a positive impact on their wellbeing as a result of taking action to change farming practices to better deal with climate extremes – particularly drought. How can links between taking action in relation climate impacts and improving mental health be better made in the rural and agricultural space? If this could be done, would it encourage more on farm climate adaptations? I’d be interested to hear what you think (amy@couttsjr.com.au).

Australian Government Drought Plan

Posted on | by Amy Samson in Amy's Posts, News & Updates | Tagged , ,

The Australian Government has posted the feedback it’s received from its first round of consultation on how to improve the next drought plan to support farmers and farming communities across the drought cycle . The 18 recommendations made in response to stakeholder feedback can be seen here with the next consultation round in 2024.

These findings are interesting for us as we work across a range of regional, state and national programs focused on drought resilience and climate change adaptations – particularly in the agricultural context. How the Australian Government approaches its drought planning impacts on the funding available and the types of projects that get run.

Recommendation 17 talks about including mechanisms on how information can be better shared in relation to drought impacts and responses across government and non-government players. We’ve seen the importance of this, particularly as people on the ground dealing with the impacts of drought day in and day out, can find the multitudes of projects and programs confusing in terms of what is being offered and how to access these offerings. Finding and developing synergies between programs and projects can only improve outcomes for those who are dealing with stressful drought situations and increase the effectiveness of funding.

2022 was a big year!

Posted on | by Amy Samson in Amy's Posts

It’s been a really busy year at Coutts J&R and probably one of the main reasons I didn’t meet my goal of writing at least one blog post a month. So to make up for it (in a very small way) I thought I’d share some of our highlights over the last year.

Growing our work in the agricultural climate change space, particularly with our projects in the Future Drought Fund (FDF) including Climate Services for Agriculture (CSA), Regional Drought Resilience Planning (RDRP), Farm Business Resilience Planning (FBRP) and the Southern NSW Drought Hub.

Setting up and embedding data collection and management systems into a range of projects to ensure the right data can be collected for reporting against objectives. A shout out to the SNSW Drought Hub, FBRP, and CSA projects in particular for their hard work with us on this. MEL reporting will be that much easier as a result!

Presenting at the Australasian Evaluation Society conference in August/September was a highlight for me. I was able to use some emerging findings from my PhD and apply these to evaluation. My presentation was called: Social media as an evaluation, listening and monitoring tool case study: Instagram, Australian farming women, social media and climate change.

Our ongoing work with the Queensland Drought and Climate Adaptation Program. This has independently been recognised as a standout program and through a robust MEL approach it has been shown to be achieving a high level of impact in northern Australia.

As part of our work with the Resilient EP (soil moisture) project in South Australia, Jeff and Ben attended the March 2022 Regional Innovator Group workshop in Port Lincoln. The project was entering its final year and attending in person provided valuable insights into the project and its progress, as well as an opportunity to interact with the project team. Jeff facilitated a session focused on reviewing the M&E framework targets and key project outcomes, while Ben presented the findings of the most recent M&E report – both receiving positive feedback by those attending.

We were very pleased attend the 2022 Australian Pacific Extension Network (APEN) conference and sponsor the Amabel Fulton award for Excellence in Extension by a Young Professional. The two very worthy joint winners were Sarah Thompson (Dairy Australia) and Jodie Ward (Dept Agriculture and Fisheries, Qld).

And that just about wraps it up for 2022. Hope you have a restful and rejuvenating holiday season and we wish you all the best for 2023!