Digital platforms have the potential to help growers make decisions that reduce the gap between the water-limited potential of a paddock and the actual grain yields achieved (the yield gap).
Reducing the yield gap is increasingly important in a drying and warming climate, and a new project is assisting grain growers to use different sources of data efficiently and effectively to inform in-season management.
Grower group the Liebe Group is leading the ‘Agtech decoded’ project after successfully applying for an innovation project grant offered through the SW WA Hub, via funding from the FDF.
CSIRO and grower group Stirlings to Coast Farmers are collaborators in the project which involves monitoring 14 paddocks in WA’s northern grainbelt and five paddocks in the South Coast region.
Liebe Group Executive Officer Chris O’Callaghan said CSIRO researchers involved with the project were using the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) model and other digital tools to estimate the potential yield of the paddocks.
“The modelling is investigating whether there was a gap between potential yield and actual yield in 2022 and these results will soon be presented to growers,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
The short-term project is one of 10 diverse innovation projects that have commenced in WA after grants were awarded in 2022 by the SW WA Hub.
The grants were made possible by $2.5 million provided by the Australian Government to the SW WA, enabling it to expand its remit to include agricultural innovation.
