Modelling That Combines Crop, Climate and Soil Information to Assist Farmers with Real-Time Decisions in Australia.

Dynamic crop simulation modelling has a long history in Australian agriculture.  In recent years, these simulation tools have been made more accessible to farmers through a range of on-line information and decision support tools. For example, Yield Prophet™ uses the APSIM modelling framework in conjunction with a series of on-line and real time information services to provide farmers with estimated yields for chosen paddocks and a range of user-defined field management scenarios.  To do this, farmers access up-to-date climate surfaces which provide over one hundred years of local weather information across the entire continent.  Selection of appropriate soil characterisation is assisted through the use of a simple to use application for a farmer’s mobile device which provides information from the national soil databases.  Information from seasonal climate forecasts are also integrated into the information provided to land managers.  The farmer provides information on the ongoing within-season crop management  and the Yield Prophet system then combines all these data to perform simulations of likely management outcomes for farmers in the form of a simple report outlining the estimated yields and soil conditions for a given field and chosen crop management.  The availability of such detailed, reliable and up-to-date on-line information is paramount for such a system, and simulation models provide a useful way for farmers to integrate the various data into information for real time decision making.