Status: Completed

Research provider – name & contact details
Peter Deuter, Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries, 07 5466 2233, peter.deuter@deedi.qld.gov.au  

Start & finish dates for project
September 2005 – May 2006

What is the project?

A Scoping Study to document Climate Variability and Climate Change issues for Australian vegetable and wider horticulture industry.

Why did we do it?

It was identified in 2005 that to ensure continuity of supply and the capacity for the vegetable industry to deliver a particular product specification growers require tailored and up to date climate information to be able to make informed business decisions.

Australia has a strong climate science base with world-class scientists in institutions such as the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, and some universities and state government agencies, who have, with the assistance of funding from Grain, Cotton and Grazing industries, invested in the development and application of climate risk technologies. However, up to 2005 limited work had been done on applying the work already undertaken in other agricultural industries to the vegetable industry.

This project aimed to review completed and existing work within this area to better inform the vegetable industry.

How did we do it?

Over 12 months a scoping study was undertaken that gathered knowledge on completed work in the area of climate variability and climate change within agriculture, then an analysis was undertaken to determine the potential of these tools/programs currently available that could become applicable for the vegetable industry to capitalise on.

A final report  “Climate change and Climate Variability – Risks and Opportunities for Horticulture” was delivered that identified the key issues, some initial recommendations for the vegetable industry, but more importantly it provided some conclusions for the horticulture industry as a whole.

The report identified that the impacts on horticulture as a result of climate change include:
- changes to frost frequency and severity, which may cause lower yields and reduced product quality (e.g. as a result of sunburn);
- changes in time to harvest for some crops and locations;
- reduced availability of irrigation water in some locations and some seasons;
- damage from more extreme weather events such as hail, wind and heavy rain;
- increased risk of pests and disease; and
- warmer conditions that may impact on chilling requirements of some fruit cultivars.

Findings also showed that there were a multitude of useful information and management tools already developed and available in regards to climate change and climate variability. For example, the CD “Whopper Cropper” has information for grain and cotton crop management advisers and producers to help them make better crop management decisions, using cropping systems modelling and seasonal climate forecasting.

The major finding was that the difficulty was that the industries being targeted by this information were in the main broadacre, grain and grazing. Much of the information has application in horticulture, but required interpretation for the specific needs of horticulture growers, regions and industries.

Click here to access the above report.