Australia
May 7, 2015
CSIRO Senior Principal Research Scientist Dr Zvi Hochman viewing the Yield Gap Australia interactive website which quantifies the difference between actual and potential rain-fed wheat yields across the nation. Photo: CSIRO
Potential exists for Australian grain growers to collectively almost double the nation’s dryland wheat production.
The gap between growers’ current wheat yields and what they could be achieving has been illustrated for the first time via a new interactive online tool.
The Yield Gap Australia interactive website (www.yieldgapaustralia.com.au) quantifies the difference between actual and potential rain-fed wheat yield's across the nation.
Developed by CSIRO and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), Yield Gap Australia will help:
- Benchmark individual farm yields against their water-limited potential and local average yields
- Prioritise research to regions with the largest unexploited yield gaps and greatest potential to close them
- Identify regions where new technologies or technology packages have greatest potential impact.
This new map-based tool is expected to be of use to growers, agronomists, research funders and policy makers.
CSIRO Senior Principal Research Scientist Dr Zvi Hochman says the current yield gap needs to be known so it can be determined just how much more productivity can be realistically achieved by grain growers.
“While average yield data has been well documented at local to regional scales, until recently there was very little reliable data on the potential water-limited yield of dryland crops in Australia,” Dr Hochman said.
“We found that overall, Australian wheat producers are achieving just over half of the environmentally-constrained yields that can be achieved with best management practice.
“Related research shows that the most productive farmers can consistently achieve 80 per cent of their water limited yield potential. Realistically, the last 20 pc cannot be exploited so it is more helpful to think about the exploitable yield gap, ie the difference between the actual yield and 80 pc of the water limited yield. The exploitable wheat yield gap in Australia is estimated to be 0.98 tonnes/hectare nationally.”
The gap varies between regions and seasons, but on average over the past 15 years the gap has been:
- 1.4 t/ha in the western cropping region
- 1.7 t/ha in the southern cropping region (Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and southern and central New South Wales)
- 1.9 t/ha in the northern cropping region (Queensland and northern NSW).
Based on these estimates, closing the wheat yield gap by 30 per cent would increase Australian wheat production by more than 13 million tonnes annually.
“The challenge now is to understand how to close the gap,” Dr Hochman said.
GRDC Program Manager Jan Edwards says Yield Gap Australia is an interactive, simple-to-use tool that provides a clear indication of productivity potential at a shire scale.
“The website gives growers and industry an indication of how much yield potential exists. It’s an innovative resource that we’ve never before had at our disposal, so it’s a very exciting development,” Ms Edwards said.
The Yield Gap Australia website is currently focused on production of wheat – Australia’s biggest crop – but will soon expand to other crops, starting with canola.
Topics
Species
