TWO ONLINE tools designed to provide farmers with climate and drought information have been upgraded following Federal Government investment.
Minister for Agriculture Murray Watt said the Climate Services for Agriculture and Drought Resilience Self-Assessment Tool programs were improved following consultation with growers in eight major agricultural reasons.
He said the improved tools would be used by the agriculture sector to give them a clearer picture of climate trends that have the potential to impact farm businesses.
Mr Watt said the current environment, when seasonal conditions were good in most areas was an ideal time to talk about drought without the associated emotion when farmers were actively trying to manage dry conditions.
"The Australian Government recognises that the favourable seasons we've seen in many parts of regional and rural Australia recently won't last forever," Mr Watt said.
"That's why innovative digital tools for farmers, like DR.SAT and CSA, are essential to prepare for the return of dry conditions and the changing climate, and the agricultural industry's goal of $100 billion in farm gate production by 2030," he said.
The programs will feature functions to allow growers to compare satellite imagery from the current season against past seasons, along with data, now including soil temperature.
Mr Watt said the two programs would help growers with their planning to manage drought and climate risk by supporting practices that improve resilience.
He said there were more commodities now included in the DR.SAT program.
"It's pleasing to see DR.SAT now has environmental resilience assessments for more commodities and regions and that new commodities have been added to CSA.
"This follows engagement with users across eight pilot regions to ensure the platforms provide practical and relevant information to help build farmers' climate adaptability.
A key improvement on DR.SAT is a soil moisture function that provides projections across Australia, while the CSA will include more data in its platform that provides growers with historical climate information, seasonal forecasts, and future projections in one location,
"This adds to the tools' existing forecasts for temperature, rainfall, heat and frost risk, plus seasonal forecasting and information specific to a range of commodities," Mr Watt said.
The additional environmental resilience assessments will be available for dryland cropping (oil seeds) in north-west Victoria and Western Australia's wheatbelt, temperate fruits, such as apples, pears and summer stone fruits in southern Victoria and northern Tasmania, citrus in the Riverina / Goulburn and the Riverland-Murray regions and expanded dairy areas across southern Australia.
By June 2024, CSA will also provide regional-scale adaption options and different scenarios for farmers to consider.
CSA now includes specific climate insights for additional commodities, cotton, sugar cane, sorghum, dairy, wine grapes and oranges.