Crop outlook - Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation

Summer and winter cropping forecasts for Queensland’s wheat and sorghum cropping industries are produced by QAAFI’s experts in the complex integration of spatial production modelling and climate forecasting. These crop outlooks are available for free to view and download by growers.

Wheat outlook (winter)

Oz-Wheat regional wheat yield forecasts are developed by QAAFI from climate data and modelling, remote sensing and historical data showing likely yield outcomes. They cover Queensland and northern New South Wales. The Oz-Wheat model is run from 1 October the year before sowing in order to account for the influence of the summer fallow on starting soil moisture conditions.

At present, this early in the winter crop growing season, starting soil water conditions and the seasonal rainfall outlook indicate that chances are for a close to average wheat yield during the 2020 wheat-growing season at an aggregated state (QLD) level. However, a large variation in predicted yield outcomes exists within the state’s cropping region. Specifically, most parts of CQ, FAR SWQ and northern SEQ have chances similar to climatology (50:50) of an above average wheat yield. In contrast, most parts of southern QLD have a reduced chance of this year’s wheat crop being above the long-term median for that region. This early in the season, widespread above average rainfall is needed across all parts of the state’s cropping region during the next few months. This is needed to induce good planting opportunities and improve current winter cropping conditions across the state. However, the likely range of yield outcomes is still very wide. This range will narrow considerably over the next few months as the outlook is updated through the season.

Sorghum outlook (summer)

QAAFI’s regional sorghum crop outlooks cover Queensland and northern New South Wales and are based on cropping after winter fallow, sorghum modelling, actual climate data, up to the forecasting date and projected climate data.

Current soil water conditions and seasonal rainfall outlook indicate a below average yielding sorghum crop for the 2019/20 summer crop season. Below average rainfall to date has continued to severely limit planting opportunities across most of the cropping region. If fact, most regions had no recorded plantings. Widespread average to above average rainfall is needed, during the next month to overcome severe stored moisture deficiencies and to induce some late summer plantings across all areas of the north-eastern Australian (NEAUS) summer cropping region. However, late plantings for most southern regions are highly unlikely to occur due to extremely low soil moisture profiles as well as an increase in pest, disease and frost risks. There remains variation in the outlook among local regions. Most areas in central QLD (CQ), southeast QLD (SEQ) and northern NSW (NNSW) are showing below to very much below average crop yield expectations. In contrast, some areas in southwest QLD (SWQ) and central NSW have sorghum yield outcomes close to or slightly above the long-term expectation. This crop outlook is based on a crop-free (fallow) practice through the winter season and therefore areas with longer fallow practices are likely to have better yield prospects for the coming season.

Paddock watch

Paddock Watch allows producers to directly input crop locations on their properties each season, to be used inside an automated prediction framework. Computer simulation and satellite imagery is then used to map crop production estimates at a regional scale across the State.

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Seasonal Harmonics

Seasonal Harmonics depicts the interplay between cropping seasons and different environments. This shows the total summer and winter crop area harvested as well as the production estimates for sorghum and wheat for the last 6 years across northeastern Australia. This was created by integrating daily weather, biophysical modelling and Earth Observations. Note: A downturn in crop area does not necessarily equate to a reduction in crop production (and vice versa). Period: 2014 to 2019.

Download North Eastern Australia Cropping Area Production Estimates from 2014 to 2019

About the researcher

QAAFI’s Dr Andries Potgeiter produces regular seasonal outlooks for sorghum and wheat producers in Queensland. Dr Potgieter (left) obtained a Bachelor of Science (Hons, MSc) in Mathematical Statistics at the University of the Orange Free State in 1991 and completed his PhD in the use of remote-sensing technologies, discriminating between specific and total winter cropping areas across regions and seasons, at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia in 2009. Before coming to QAAFI in 2010, Dr Potgeiter worked for the Queensland Government for more than 11 years as a senior research scientist. His main research interest is in the complex integration of spatial production modelling, climate forecasting and remotely sensed systems at a regional scale. In particular, his interest targets agricultural research that enhances the protifability and sustainability of spatial production systems through a better understanding of the linkages and interactions of such systems across a range of spatial (e.g. field, farm, catchment and national), and temporal (i.e. seasons to decades) scales.