Agricultural productivity in the Flinders and Gilbert catchments. A technical report to the Australian Government from the CSIRO Flinders and Gilbert Agricultural Resource Assessment, part of the North Queensland Irrigated Agriculture Strategy
Webster, Tony ; Poulton, Perry; Yeates, Stephen; Hornbuckle, John; Brennan McKellar, Lisa; Cocks, Brett; Gentle, Johanna; Mayberry, Di; Jones, Dean; Wixon, Ainsleigh
2013-12
Report
95 p
Agricultural productivity for a range of crops is considered for the Flinders and Gilbert catchments, based on the climate and soils of the Assessment area. Agriculture in the Flinders and Gilbert catchments is currently dominated by extensive dryland beef grazing. There is a very small area of irrigated cropping in the Flinders and Gilbert catchments, and about half of this area is providing feed for the beef cattle industry. Of the area in the Flinders and Gilbert catchments currently irrigating crops, a proportion is irrigation mango trees, with the rest used for opportunity cropping and on-farm experimenting with cropping systems. Given the limited experience of crop growing seasons, yields, water requirements and farming systems in the Flinders and Gilbert catchments the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) crop model was employed to estimate potential agricultural productivity and irrigation water requirements. APSIM was parameterised using climate locations from the Flinders and Gilbert catchments, and modelled soils that represent the most common soils found in the Assessment area. APSIM was run using unlimited water for irrigation. The yields presented are optimum yields, where the crop was modelled without abiotic stress, and represent the upper limit of yield potential for the Assessment area. Actual yields are likely to be lower. Modelled potential productivity for a number of crops, particularly summer cereals, fodder crops (grasses and legumes), some pulses and peanuts is promising, with modelled yields that are comparable with other areas of Australia.
CSIRO
Cairns, Qld.
Plant Biology not elsewhere classified
Published Version (pdf) (5.80MB)
https://doi.org/10.4225/08/585037a15d26f
This report has been placed on the CSIRO repository and may be made available to persons outside of CSIRO for non commercial purposes, in its entirety and without deletion of disclaimers and copyright information.
CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship Report Series
EP132042
Technical Report (Author)
English
1835095X
Webster, Tony; Poulton, Perry; Yeates, Stephen; Hornbuckle, John; Brennan McKellar, Lisa; Cocks, Brett; Gentle, Johanna; Mayberry, Di; Jones, Dean; Wixon, Ainsleigh. Agricultural productivity in the Flinders and Gilbert catchments. A technical report to the Australian Government from the CSIRO Flinders and Gilbert Agricultural Resource Assessment, part of the North Queensland Irrigated Agriculture Strategy. Cairns, Qld.: CSIRO; 2013. csiro:EP132042. https://doi.org/10.4225/08/585037a15d26f
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