Application, adoption and opportunities for improving decision support systems in irrigated agriculture: A review

Ara, Iffat; Turner, L. R.; Harrison, Matthew T.; Monjardino, Marta; deVoil, Peter; Rodrı́guez, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107161

Cited by 68 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…purchasing of machinery, borrowing large sums of money, interventions to improve soil health and carbon, and many others; 4,5,13,18,19 . Such complexity can lead to 'decision fatigue'; a phenomenon wherein farmers become overburdened with a chronic need to make important but perplexing decisions 20 . To help disentangle and navigate the solution space, various agricultural decision-support systems (DSS) have been developed 20,21 .…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Such complexity can lead to 'decision fatigue'; a phenomenon wherein farmers become overburdened with a chronic need to make important but perplexing decisions 20 . To help disentangle and navigate the solution space, various agricultural decision-support systems (DSS) have been developed 20,21 . Amongst other factors, DSS help users better understand the drivers of profitability as a function of variable costs including water use and water price, as well as how the narrowing gap between costs and prices induced by climate change and inflation [22][23][24][25] .…”

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confidence: 99%

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Whole farm planning raises profit despite burgeoning climate crisis

Muleke

Harrison

Eisner

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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The climate crisis challenges farmer livelihoods as increasingly frequent extreme weather events impact the quantum and consistency of crop production. Here, we develop a novel paradigm to raise whole farm profit by optimising manifold variables that drive the profitability of irrigated grain farms. We build then invoke a new decision support tool—WaterCan Profit—to optimise crop type and areas that collectively maximise farm profit. We showcase four regions across a climate gradient in the Australian cropping zone. The principles developed can be applied to cropping regions or production systems anywhere in the world. We show that the number of profitable crop types fell from 35 to 10 under future climates, reflecting the interplay between commodity price, yield, crop water requirements and variable costs. Effects of climate change on profit were not related to long-term rainfall, with future climates depressing profit by 11–23% relative to historical climates. Impacts of future climates were closely related to crop type and maturity duration; indeed, many crop types that were traditionally profitable under historical climates were no longer profitable in future. We demonstrate that strategic whole farm planning of crop types and areas can yield significant economic benefits. We suggest that future work on drought adaptation consider genetic selection criteria more diverse than phenology and yield alone. Crop types with (1) higher value per unit grain weight, (2) lower water requirements and (3) higher water-use efficiency are more likely to ensure the sustainability and prosperity of irrigated grain production systems under future climates.

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confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Whole farm planning raises profit despite burgeoning climate crisis

Muleke

Harrison

Eisner

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In practice, it may be difficult to target and maintain a specific soil moisture, tension, or redox status, especially at the production scale with heterogeneous soil conditions and drainage patterns across a field. Thus, additional research is needed to test, simplify, and develop methods to translate soil conditions into farm decision protocols (e.g., Owens et al, 2008;Rabenhorst, 2018), developed in collaboration with users and their perceptions of uncertainty in the delivered guidance (Ara et al, 2021). It is likely that to be successful, these technology changes and practice implementations must be driven by local, farm-level experimentation as well as changes in institutional structures such as incentives or research translation (Ruttan, 1999;Duru et al, 2015;Tittonell et al, 2016).…”

Section: Optimizing Science and Management For Socio-technical Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-Technical Changes for Sustainable Rice Production: Rice Husk Amendment, Conservation Irrigation, and System Changes

et al. 2021

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Rice is a staple food and primary source of calories for much of the world. However, rice can be a dietary source of toxic metal(loid)s to humans, and its cultivation creates atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions and requires high water use. Because rice production consumes a significant amount of natural resources and is a large part of the global agricultural economy, increasing its sustainability could have substantial societal benefits. There are opportunities for more sustainable field production through a combination of silicon (Si) management and conservation irrigation practices. As a Si-rich soil amendment, rice husks can limit arsenic and cadmium uptake, while also providing plant vigor in drier soil conditions. Thus, husk addition and conservation irrigation may be more effective to attenuate the accumulation of toxic metal(loid)s, manage water usage and lower climate impacts when implemented together than when either is implemented separately. This modified field production system would take advantage of rice husks, which are an underutilized by-product of milled rice that is widely available near rice farm sites, and have ~10% Si content. Husk application could, alongside alternate wetting and drying or furrow irrigation management, help resolve multiple sustainability challenges in rice production: (1) limit arsenic and cadmium accumulation in rice; (2) minimize greenhouse gas emissions from rice production; (3) decrease irrigation water use; (4) improve nutrient use efficiency; (5) utilize a waste product of rice processing; and (6) maintain plant-accessible soil Si levels. This review presents the scientific basis for a shift in rice production practices and considers complementary rice breeding efforts. It then examines socio-technical considerations for how such a shift in production practices could be implemented by farmers and millers together and may bring rice production closer to a bio-circular economy. This paper's purpose is to advocate for a changed rice production method for consideration by community stakeholders, including producers, millers, breeders, extension specialists, supply chain organizations, and consumers, while highlighting remaining research and implementation questions.

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“…This sector is quickly and relatively easily equipped, and its development leads to a significant improvement in the living standards of the local population. For scientists all over the world, agriculture is one of the important components for achieving the concept of "sustainable development" (Freire et al, 2022;Ara et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of Development of Production and Export of Agricultural Products in the Context of Foreign Trade in Australia

TULUSH¹,

BABICHEVА²,

KORCHYNSKA³

et al. 2022

Scientific Horizons

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The agricultural sector is one of the main branches of the Australian economy and of the country's exports. This contributes to the considerable level of agricultural development and resource specialisation in international trade in general. Ukraine in this respect is like Australia, which makes the current state of the agrarian sector in both countries relevant. The purpose of this study was to investigate the state of the agricultural sector in Australia and find elements of development that would help change the Ukrainian agriculture. Statistical methods, such as graphical and statistical analysis, became the main methods in the study. This is conditioned upon the formation of conclusions mostly based on statistical information, graphs and tables presented in the article and constructed with statistical TradeMap. During the study, the author concluded that the fate of agricultural exports in the country was reduced due to the current orientation of the country towards the export of resources, namely iron. Within the structure of export of agricultural products, considerable changes are taking place, the main of which is the transition to production of animal products. Ukraine may adopt some features of the sector in Australia, namely how the country is conducting investment policy in the sector. Nevertheless, it was found that there are significant differences in the agricultural sector of both countries. Because of this, it is impossible to completely change the plan of operation of the Australian agriculture. Research on the future development of the industry in Australia, considering current trends and their impact on foreign policy and trade in the country, may be promising. This article will be useful for studying the functioning of the economy of Australia and Ukraine, namely their agricultural sectors; to form the national policy of the agrarian sector and foreign trade; for students to learn economic disciplines and write corresponding theses

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Application, adoption and opportunities for improving decision support systems in irrigated agriculture: A review

Cited by 68 publications

References 80 publications

Whole farm planning raises profit despite burgeoning climate crisis

Whole farm planning raises profit despite burgeoning climate crisis

Socio-Technical Changes for Sustainable Rice Production: Rice Husk Amendment, Conservation Irrigation, and System Changes

Dynamics of Development of Production and Export of Agricultural Products in the Context of Foreign Trade in Australia

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