Australia
July 18, 2007
Source:
GRDC's The Crop Doctor
Climate change and what it really
means is a reality graingrowers can’t avoid, especially when it
comes to accessing declining water sources.
But to try to fight it alone would mean losing the immediate
battle and the war.
National, cross industry approaches and increased collaboration
are essential to help growers and their support organisations,
including the GRDC,
pro-actively address climate variability and sustainability
issues. And now is the time.
Breeding crops more tolerant to drought, improving seasonal
forecasting and providing tools and services to growers to
manage climate risk are key strategies of the GRDC’s new
Strategic R&D five year Plan, ‘Prosperity through Innovation’.
With the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, the
GRDC continues to invest in developing more resilient drought
and frost tolerant grain varieties.
Involvement in the South-east Australian Climate Initiative and
ongoing investment in the national Managing Climate Variability
Program will focus on effective within season predictive tools
in the context of climate change.
Developing an operational regional forecasting system that
responds more to local factors is well underway.
GRDC supported Department of Agriculture and Food WA researcher,
Dr David Stephens provided the first step in better long-lead
rainfall outlooks for much of Australia’s cropping areas.
He developed the El Niňo-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Sequence
System (ESS), an analogue system that predicts growing season
rainfall with skill and lead-time.
The GRDC has targeted a 10 per cent increase in water use
efficiency in certain agro-ecological zones by 2012, which would
significantly lift productivity and profitability of the grains
industry.
Working more closely with government, industry, research
partners and other RDCs ensures a national collaborative
approach to climate change and will help turn climate-related
risks into opportunities for growers. |
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The Crop Doctor is
GRDC Managing Director,
Peter Reading |
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