By Data61

See the original post here.

The challenge

Monitoring grain yield

CSIRO has developed an innovative app known as Graincast™. The app allows growers to estimate yields ranging from a single paddock, right up to their entire farm.

Having a yield forecast assists farmers with crop input management, setting yield targets, diagnosing yield constraints, risk management, marketing decisions to forward selling and more.

Our response

App delivering grain information in real time

The app was developed in response to feedback from grain growers about what they needed to fulfil their work. Their feedback was that they needed something that was mobile, quick and easy to use, that provided key information that would enable them to make key decisions. The app requires that the growers input just three pieces of information - the paddock they want monitored, the crop they grew last season and the crop they plan to grow or are growing in the current season.

It is the only app that gives instantaneous soil, water and yield information at any time without the need for substantial user input. It means growers can make better informed crop and paddock management decisions in real time.

The results

Sattelites, climate forecasts and sensors

Graincast™ draws on information from satellites, climate forecasts and sensors to estimate historical crop yields, yield potential and crop species.

Crop models are combined with soil maps to create yield forecasts for the Australian continent. This information comes from the Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia, APSIM (the agricultural production systems simulator) crop model, MODIS and LANDSAT satellites as well as other sources.

The data is brought together in a newly constructed data platform and output to a smart phone for agricultural businesses to quickly acquire information about production without the problem of identifying soil types, calibrating models, searching for satellite information or trying to interpret complex data.

The app enables various other industry players such as advisers, bulk handlers, marketers, commodity forecasters and insurers to forecast grain production at the regional and national scales.

The app is free and available at graincast.io  

For more information about the app and crop yield forecasts, visit Graincast: Monitoring grain yield through real-time paddock analytics

https://data61.csiro.au/