Project Supervisor: Dr Graeme Hammer

Funding Body: APSRU/QCCA

Admin Contact: Vicki Flannigan

Commencement Date: June 1998 Completion Date: ongoing

• to produce a state-of–the-art software tool for public and private crop management advisors that presents results of APSIM simulations of crop management decision options for key crops in NE Australia grain-cotton systems in a graphical form suitable for their use in interacting with clients
• to include effects of seasonal climate forecasting on crop management decisions to facilitate its use in QCCA Managing Climate Variability workshops.

Whopper Cropper is a database of pre-run APSIM simulations for management options for major crops, designed to give users much of the modelling power associated with single crops embodied in APSIM without the complexity of calibrating and running APSIM itself. Whopper Cropper will enable users to compare crops and the effects of alternative crop management strategies on yield and soil water and nitrogen conditions, and to assess the potential use of climate forecasting to refine crop choice and management. Whopper Cropper is a dynamic data management system rather than a static model, and is not intended to be a narrowly focused decision support system. The data it contains can be readily updated to follow developments in APSIM. The graphical interface with the database is designed to meet advisor needs and can be readily adapted to new applications and modified for different user groups. The demand for Whopper Cropper stems from a desire by public and private advisors to apply the research that has gone into the development of APSIM, without having to learn the complexities of calibrating and running APSIM itself. A key development will be an economics module for both Whopper Cropper and APSIM, which will facilitate economic analyses of risk, particular the economic risk associated with the effect of climate variability on crop yields.

The crops and regions to be included initially in Whopper Cropper are shown in Table 1.

A focus group of key stakeholders has been formed to discuss and advise on the development and implementation of the project (Table 2). The call by advisors to revitalise and greatly enhance earlier versions of Whopper Cropper has coincided with the establishment of the Queensland Centre for Climate Applications, a Queensland Government initiative recognising the need to strategically manage climate risk in farming systems. This joint project between QCCA and APSRU provides the resources to expand earlier versions of Whopper Cropper to a much greater range of crops, and to ensure that it is maintained to track ongoing developments in advisor needs and model development.

• Improved connection of APSRU simulation capability with extension/advisory programs
• Improved extension programs, workshops, and advice on crop management under climate risk (including case studies on crop risk management using seasonal climate forecasting)