Project Title
Economic and environmental benefits / risks of precision agriculture and mosaic farming
Project Leader
Brian Keating
Organisation
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
Funding Body
RIRDC
Administration Contact
Marshall Mackay
Organisation: TBA
Ph: Fax:
Commencement Date
1 January 2000
Completion Date
31 December 2003
Research Proposal Summary
Australian agriculture is confronted by the dual challenge of a rapidly changing market environment and an urgent need to develop more sustainable systems more in tune with Australia’s unique soil and climate conditions. . Diversity was a prominent feature of many natural Australian landscapes, but all too often this diversity has been eliminated in the agriculture established since European settlement. Some of the solutions to the market and environmental challenges facing Australian agriculture may lie in more diverse land use, in which enterprises and practices are better matched to soil and climate circumstances. Innovations such as precision agriculture and mosaic farming hold promise, but to date most attention has been focused on the technical aspects of these technologies in the absence of a strategic framework in which to assess the economic and environmental benefits. This project seeks to develop such a framework and demonstrate its utility in a number of case studies with key client groups. In the short term, the primary benefits will flow to research and industry groups exploring new designs for farming systems. The tools and approaches developed will enable a better assessment of both the benefits and risks of these technologies and enable more effective targeting and conduct of the R&D. In the longer-term, the work will have a wider impact through promoting more diverse and economically viable farming systems that better conserve the resource base and protect the wider environment.
Aims
The project will provide a strategic framework to assess the economic and environmental benefits and risks associated with major new technologies that address spatial variability (e.g., precision agriculture, mosaic farming) in Australian farming systems.
Specifically the project aims to ;
§ Develop / adapt bio-economic modelling tools that can be used to assess both economic and environmental dimensions of spatially variable management practices.
§ Apply these tools in a case study mode that involves active participation of key stakeholders. These case studies will explore a diverse range of scenarios for redesign of major farming systems and will focus on both economic and environmental benefits (and risks) of new farming system designs that address spatial variability in soil and hydrological processes in economically viable and environmentally useful ways.
§ Place these benefits and risks in the wider context of variability facing Australian farms, in particular that associated with climate and markets
§ Promote the insights arising from the project and the wider use of the scenario analysis tools with research and industry stakeholders pursuing technological innovations such as (but not restricted to) precision agriculture or mosaic farming.
Potential Outcomes
The project will consist of the following key elements ;
§ Development of a generic bio-economic analysis framework that can be used to explore implications of management options at both whole farm or multiple farm (e.g., in relation to mosaic farming) and within paddock (e.g., in relation to precision agriculture) scales.
§ Enhancement of simulation modelling tools to address the spatial dimension of farming system design.
Application of the comprehensive farming systems simulator and the bio-economic analysis framework in cases studies targeting the economic and environmental benefits of precision agriculture and mosaic farming. These case studies would link up with leading edge research activities on these technologies (details to be provided in a full proposal) and would enable a broader assessment of their potential to contribute to the economic and environmental imperatives facing Australian agriculture.
Milestones
Budget
Resource Requirements & Contributions
Prior Provision of IP & Rights of Ownership
APSIM remains the sole intellectual property of APSRU
Ownership, equity in and use of IP to be developed
D
Rights of Publication
Joint
Strategic Plan Goal No.
4
Relevance to Strategic Plan
Core
§ develop appropriate tools for decision analysis from simulation analysis of farming and farming system options
§ enhance the model development environment of APSIM
§ develop and evaluate paddock scale models of water, soil and chemical fluxes
§ develop tools for soil, crop and climate monitoring
§ collaborate in refining methods to integrate APSRU point modelling with spatial modelling