Climate Services for Agriculture brings on drought strategies

Developed by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, with funding from the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund (FDF), the platform provides historical data (1961-2021), seasonal forecasts (one to three months), and future climate projections based on the 15 years before and after 2030, 2050 and 2070 for a given location.

Mr Williams sees potential for the platform to influence his management decisions on his 1202ha property Eastlake.

"The data suggesting lower average autumn rainfall and higher THIs (temperature-humidity indexes) going forward certainly alerts us to possible changing management decisions in the future," Mr Williams said.

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"We normally have drier autumns anyway, so this could further reduce feed availability going into winter and early spring, which may necessitate earlier calf weaning to get cows through the winter in satisfactory condition."

The future isn't a total mystery for Dale Park, who farms beef cattle in Badgingarra, 200km north of Perth.

He's seen local climate conditions change before his eyes and knows that he has to adapt to make the most of his land. To help do that, he uses an online platform to guide him in planning decisions.

"I've tested CSA against the conditions I've seen, and the results have been very good," he said.

"CSA confirms what I know, and it's interesting to see what conditions are likely to be in the future."

What he's seen has already encouraged Mr Park to change his land use practices - specifically, how he grows fodder for his cattle.

"I've gone from an annual system to a perennial system, in line with what CSA shows.

Since its June 2021 launch, CSA is continuously upgraded based on feedback from farmers like Mr Park and Mr Williams.

The latest version of the platform is now live and includes the addition of three new commodities: mangoes, potatoes and bananas, joining other fruit, grain and livestock commodities.

Users can now customise temperature and rainfall thresholds and date ranges and find training sessions and information in the new News & Events section and an updated FAQ and About pages.

"These new features have come about from talking to users and potential users across Australia about what they think of CSA and what they think will improve their user experience," said Sigrid Tijs, program lead, of Climate Services for Agriculture, at the Bureau.

"We went out in the field, from Far North Queensland to the Western Australian wheatbelt, to Tasmania and many places in between, to hear what people wanted from CSA and have integrated that advice into the platform."

"All of these additions and tweaks, with the new commodities and a focus on improved data accessibility, will help farmers prepare for a future of climate variability."

CSA is a national tool. Outreach throughout 2023 will encourage farming communities to integrate the CSA into their planning regimen - an idea that Gordon Williams and Dale Park support.

"This program can be another management tool to assist farmers in making more considered and more proactive decisions to suit probable climatic trend changes over time," Mr Williams said.

"I'd advise other farmers to take a look at CSA. The real value of this tool is to help make farmers aware of what the future might hold and to plan accordingly," Mr Park said.