Climate Services for Agriculture (CSA) is an online tool developed by CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and Farmlink Research to provide farmers with tailored climate information to help them plan for the impacts of climate change on their businesses.
The latest prototype, funded by the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund was developed in collaboration with industry stakeholders, farmers and their advisors.
There were two types of interactions with end-users to co-design the tool comprising engagement and feedback interviews within the 8 identified pilot areas, one of which was Victoria’s Gippsland region.
Face-to-face workshops and interviews with end‑users promoted discussion between growers representing different grower groups and grower demographics. It was an ideal forum for informing co-design.
Gippsland farmers and agricultural industry members specifically mentioned the need for new climate insights, and more commodities and region-specific forecasts. These are just some of the many additional functionalities that are now included in the latest release of the prototype.
‘This would be really useful for my medium-to-longer term planning,’ a Gippsland vegetable farmer said at a face-to-face workshop.
Additional climate risk, impact and resilience information will be developed with users in pilot regions through to June 2023. To view a list of pilot regions, visit Climate Services for Agriculture.
Find out how the CSA online tool can help you plan for the impacts of climate change on your property.
