Seasonal climate forecasts: valuable to farmers in central west NSW

摘要

Climate variability is a major source of uncertainty to Australian farmers. Recent advances in the understanding and predictability of inter-annual climatic variations have led to renewed interest in the value of seasonal climate forecasts (SCFs). Recent whole-farm case studies reveal that climate forecasts can provide economic value to farmers — especially if the seasonal outlook is dry. Past Studies of the value of SCFs in Australia have focussed on the management of single crops rather than farmsand have tended to concentrate on the cropping-dominated regions of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. Recent case studies attempted to shed light on whether SCFs are of practical value to the mixed farming systems typical of central andsouthern NSW.