What does your team do?

Our main responsibility is monitoring and communicating the status of seasonal conditions across NSW. We also summarise the climate forecast as part of this service. Our aim is to keep all stakeholders aware of conditions and things like drought to assist farmers and other groups with risk management. The main products we use to achieve this is the monthly NSW State Seasonal Update (SSU) and the on-line drought maps for New South Wales.

We also regularly carry out radio and television interviews and provide a range of data and other information to government, researchers and other stakeholders.

We run a research program, called the Enhanced Drought Information System (EDIS). This allows us to improve the quality of our services and develop new products.

Our team is small but diverse. We have expertise in areas including high end computing, climatology, agronomy, farm business management through to people with specialist skills in farm communication. It’s a challenging, sometimes stressful, but rewarding area to work.

How have you been helping farmers?

The tools and services we provide help farmers in many ways. Information that improves awareness and anticipation of climate events like drought is highly useful. Examples are:

• we know that farmers are accessing the soil, water and rainfall information we provide at local level to inform business decisions
• the drought maps provide recognition of farmers circumstances, a way to ensure Government and others understand the challenges that farmers are managing
• we know that farmers use the drought indicators and forecasts to help negotiations with their banks and other organisations such as the Rural Assistance Authority
• sometimes we get contacted directly by farmers who question the drought maps or the information we provide. Often, we work directly with them to answer their queries and use these interactions to improve our products
• we do a lot of presentations at farm field days and workshops. This is a part of the job that I really enjoy.

Over the last three years there have also been uses of our services that we didn’t anticipate and really surprised us. For example, our data has been used by farm accountants during Covid-19 to help NSW landholders apply for Job Keeper assistance from the Commonwealth Government.

Why are the drought maps useful?

The online maps are a great focal point for increasing awareness. This underpins early and timely responses to drought, which is considered best practice management. The maps centralise the conversation around seasonal conditions with landholders and associated stakeholders. When used regularly the maps allow us to flag and monitor areas of concern.

The drought map service is fully automated and uses sophisticated computer systems to pull together, quality control and analyse massive volumes of climate, satellite and field data. The system runs every evening, and the on-line map is updated daily. In the past the time and resources needed to monitor drought have been substantial. We are one of the few agencies around the world to achieve this level of automation.

The maps are used to provide information that assists decision making. For example, if the agronomic indicators are showing a declining trend, is there an opportunity to revisit grain marketing strategies or trigger the need to perform a fodder budget check? The indicators flag climate constraints on supply of commodities, with flow on to input availability and price. While the information is regionalised in nature, there are a multitude of ways to incorporate it into existing decision-making processes.

Ultimately, our aim is to arm farmers and the community with the tools they need to prepare for, and manage, variability in seasonal conditions and drought.

Why is the monthly State Seasonal Updates (SSU) important?

The SSU is the primary point of reference that informs the ag sector and the public about the status of seasonal conditions. It identifies high-level issues affecting the state and sub regions, while providing context around the EDIS data. The SSU combines the EDIS data with other evidence that helps the sector prepare for and respond to seasonal conditions. Each update summarises the recent weather conditions, as well as an overview of the global climate driver’s status and the current 3-month seasonal outlook.

The team continues to develop some useful satellite (remote sensing) products for inclusion into the SSU. Through a collaboration with Geoscience Australia, the SSU now contains near real time appraisals of NSW farm dam levels, as well as an analysis of plant greenness anomalies across the state. This information provides an extra level of information when it comes to seasonal conditions reporting.

What is your team currently working on?

After a long period of drought, and being really busy with operational drought monitoring for three or more years, the team is currently evaluating our existing services and exploring ways to improve. We are looking forward to developing some new farm level climate data, high resolution satellite imagery and integration of climate forecasts into our products.

A key focus for the coming years is building better seasonal conditions monitoring services. We are looking forward to re-engaging with the farming community as part of this assessment. Whether it be digital applications, data feeds to other apps and tools, or more opportunities for training, we know there are some exciting opportunities ahead. Our challenge is to set  NSW up with the world leading climate information and forecasts.

Members of the team are currently part the way through a major piece of work looking at drought in a changing climate. Here we will be providing farmers and other stakeholders with new powerful insights into their current levels of drought risk as well as potential changes into the future.

Based on our experiences working with the farming sector, we have learnt there is a need to improve the general level of literacy around weather forecasts and seasonal outlooks. Over the last few years, we have met a lot of landholders who misinterpret weather forecasts, sometimes leading to costly farm management decisions. We are currently working on some resources to increase awareness and bridge the gap of incorrect interpretation.

Clockwise from top right: Anthony Clark – Leader, Climate Applications & Digital Agriculture;  Kim Broadfoot – Research Officer Climate Applications; Esther Zhu – Research Officer Climate Applications & Digital Agriculture, Jennifer Wurtzel – Research Officer Climate Applications; Scott Wallace – Seasonal Conditions Coordinator.