Using CropARM to assess grain grower responses to rising fertiliser costs

Abstract

This report presents a series of analyses completed with the CropARM decision support tool. These analyses explore options for grain growers facing a considerable increase in the cost and limited supply of a key cropping input. CropARM is part of the ARMonline (www.ARMonline.com.au) suite of decision support tools that have been developed by the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (DPI). CropARM is a pre-season decision support tool to help grain growers make key decision such as what to plant, when to plant, what cultivar to use and how much fertiliser to apply. As such it is ideally suited to this type of analysis. The tool utilises the APSIM[2] farming systems model as its analytical engine, which has been developed over 30 years by leading agricultural research organisations globally.