Mrs Jackie Ouzman1, Dr Therese McBeath1, Dr Geoff Kuehne2
1CSIRO, Waite Campus, Australia, 2University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Biography:
Jackie is a data analyst with CSIRO, based in Adelaide, working across multiple industries. Jackie specialises in spatial mapping, visualisation and data management. In addition to capabilities in crop and economic modelling, she has strengths in statistical analysis of multivariate, geospatial and farm / grower survey datasets, contributing key skills to a diverse range of research projects.
Abstract:
There are more than five million ha of cropping sands in the southern cropping region of south-eastern Australia. Many sands are underperforming due to poor crop establishment and a lack of crop access to nutrients and water. A recent six-year Sandy Soils project provided growers with an understanding of key sandy soil constraints, management options and yield and profit outcomes for these management strategies. Although sandy soils are challenging, growers are enthusiastic about facing their production challenges and in recent years, ameliorating sandy soils has gained popularity. Understanding the key soil constraints, the yield response to amelioration techniques as well as knowing how best to implement these practices are important considerations that can help growers adopt these practices. Hence tools that help disseminate information and support growers to achieve this are important. This paper will look at a purpose-built interactive web application that allows growers, consultants, and researchers to interrogate and visualise sandy soil project trial yield results alongside site climate and soil constraint information. The App draws on trial data from 26 sites across the GRDCS Southern region, representing 138 trials. Users can compare trial data with their on-farm experience to help decide if the management strategies are suitable for their farm. The paper will use a case study example of how the App can add evidence to decisions about sandy soil management.