June 17, 2016
The Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) announced on Friday that it will stop providing its climate forecasting and crop monitoring activities at the end of June.
AEGIC chairman Terry Enright said a 2015 independent review into AEGIC’s operations and future strategy recommended climate forecasting and crop monitoring should no longer be conducted by the not-for-profit public company which acts as a peak body for Australian grain exporters.
“As a result, AEGIC will cease conducting climate forecasting and crop monitoring activities on 30 June, 2016,” Mr Enright said.
“AEGIC recognises that these services are popular within the Australian grains industry and has been conducting discussions with supporters and potential users of these services in the hope that they can continue elsewhere.”
It had been providing the climate modelling to assist the grains industry in crop monitoring, seasonal outlooks and the integration of seasonal outlooks into crop model rankings.
It had been providing a crop yield model, a long-lead El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) forecasting system and a drought warning system which predicted droughts in 2002, 2006 and 2008.
A Stress Index crop was also calibrated to link in with remote sensing and weather monitoring networks to provide on-going assessments of productivity changes related to yield trends and water use efficiency.
It was also providing analysis of climate change and new seasonal rainfall zones.
- External link: AEGIC Climate Modelling
