FOR the first time, Australian farmers can forecast grain yield at the touch of a button, following the release of a new smart phone app developed by CSIRO.
Graincast allows growers to estimate yields ranging from a single paddock, up to their entire farm.
According to CSIRO scientist Roger Lawes, the innovation is a useful tool made available to assist farmers in making smart business decisions.
“Having a yield forecast can help farmers with crop input management, setting yield targets, diagnosing yield constraints, risk management, marketing decisions, forward selling and more,” Dr Lawes said.
“The app is easy to use and growers need to input just three pieces of information – the paddock they want analysed, the crop grown last season and the crop they plan to grow or are growing in the current season.”
Graincast gives instantaneous soil, water and yield information at any time without the need for substantial user input, meaning growers can make better informed crop and paddock management decisions in near real-time.
Dr Lawes said the app was developed by CSIRO scientists in response to feedback from grain growers about what they needed and what they liked about their job.
“They told us that they wanted something that was mobile, quick and easy to use,” Dr Lawes said.
“They didn’t want to be told what to do, they just wanted the key information so they could decide what was best for them, so that’s what we built.
“The Graincast app helps growers with their crop decision-making instincts.”
Graincast draws on information from satellites, climate forecasts and sensors to estimate historical crop yields, yield potential and crop species.
Crop models are combined with soil maps to create yield forecasts for the continent.
This information comes from the Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia, APSIM (the agricultural production systems simulator) crop model, MODIS and LANDSAT satellites as well as other sources.
The data is brought together in CSIRO’s newly constructed data platform and output to a smart phone for agricultural businesses to quickly acquire information about production without having to identify soil types, calibrating models, searching for satellite information or trying to interpret complex data.
Protecting privacy of businesses and the opportunity for users to withdraw at any time was an important feature when designing the app.
The app also enables various other industry stakeholders such as advisers, bulk handlers, marketers, commodity forecasters and insurers to forecast grain production at the regional and national scales.
