RIM - Resistance and Integrated Management
A decision tool for integrated weed management
How to use RIM: An Overview
This page is based on Chapter 4 of the RIM User's Manual.
First steps
Excel first displays the RIM Title sheet.
Now, if you are using RIM for the first time, click on the button labelled "Click here to start". If you are an experienced user, you can go straight to the sheet you want by clicking on the relevant tab. Tabs are displayed at the bottom of the screen: look for "Title", "Start here", "Select strategy", etc.
If you click on "Click here to start", RIM takes you to a sheet called Start here.
This sheet contains:
Reviewing data
As advised in the Start here sheet, before making serious use of RIM, you should spend an hour or so reviewing and changing the numbers it includes to make sure that they are realistic for your farm. The sheets to review are (a) Control %, (b) Crops & weeds, (c) Pasture and (d) Prices & rates. You can change any number displayed in blue type on a white background. You may also change values in blue type on a grey background, but it is recommended that you not do so without specialist advice. If you change a value and forget the original value, the standard values are stored to the right of the main tables. They are off the screen so you will have to use the right arrow key to move the display to the right.
Specifying a strategy
A strategy consists of a sequence of crops and pastures and a set of weed treatments for each year. You can specify a strategy for 10 years or 20 years. You do so in the sheet called Select strategy, the top part of which looks like this.
Detailed instructions on how to select a strategy are provided in Chapter 5 of the User's Manual, but very briefly:
The results
A brief summary of results from your selected strategy is displayed underneath the "Choose enterprise" row near the top of the Select strategy sheet. This allows you to get quick feedback about the performance of the strategy you have selected so far. The results displayed are ryegrass seed numbers in the soil in April (per square metre), ryegrass plants setting seed in spring (per square metre) and profit (gross margin) ($/ha).
Above these results is a cell with a yellow background labelled "Average annual profit ($/ha/yr) years 1-10:" (or "Average annual profit ($/ha/yr) years 1-20:" if you are looking at the screen for years 11 to 20). This value provides a convenient overall economic assessment of your strategy over a 10 or 20 year period. It tells the gross margin that would give you the same final bank balance as your selected strategy if you earned that same gross margin every year. (For those with a background in finance or economics, it is a form of "annuity").
The results for weed density and gross margin are displayed in two graphs at the top of the Charts sheet, which is next to the Select strategy sheet. Click on the Charts tab at any time to get a visual display of the results for your strategy.
In addition, many other biological and economic results are provided in the Biological results and Economic results sheets.
Summary of all the sheets
The main sheets of RIM have been mentioned already. This section is a description of all the sheets, and an outline of how they are connected to each other. The appendix shows print-outs of all the sheets.
Title: Title and credits.
Start here: Brief introductory instructions; minimal set of data to be reviewed and adjusted.
Select strategy: User specifies sequence of crops and pastures, set of weed treatments for each year, and number of shots available of each herbicide group. Shows brief summary of results.
Charts: Shows graphs of weed density and gross margin over time, and of weed impacts on crop yields.
Biological results: Shows ryegrass plant densities and seed densities at different times of the year, and details of the calculation of crop yields.
Economic results: Shows details of all receipts and expenses in each year. Also shows calculation of results that allow for interest, tax, yield trends and price trends.
Control costs: Shows costs per hectare for each of the of the treatments for each of the crops and pastures, calculated from the values specified in the Prices & rates sheet.
Control %: User specifies the percentage reduction in weed numbers or weed seed production for each treatment in each relevant crop or pasture.
Crops & weeds: Biological assumptions relating to crops and ryegrass, including standard yields, rotational effects of yields, disease effects on yields, seeding rates, competitiveness parameters, weed seed production levels and weed germination patterns.
Pasture: Assumptions relating to pasture, including stocking rates, ryegrass mortality, hay yields, and impacts on subsequent crop yields.
Prices & rates: Assumptions relating to sale prices, input costs, machinery costs, herbicide rates and other input rates.
Order form
Background information
Required
hardware and software
Assumptions
of RIM: An overview
How
to use RIM: An overview
The
treatment options included in RIM, both chemical and
non-chemical