NIWA AUCKLAND SEMINAR

WEDNESDAY 13 JULY, 12.30 PM
269 Khyber Pass Road
Parking Available - All Welcome

Seasonal Climate Forecasting Applications for the Australian Sugar Industry

Yvette Everingham (1,2) and Kathryn Jones (1)

(1) School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, James Cook
University,Townsville, Queensland, Australia

(2) CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Davies Laboratory, Townsville, Queensland,
Australia


Like many industries, the Australian Sugar Industry operates under varying
extremes in climate. Over a period of time, the industry has developed a
system of "best-bet" strategies derived in the anticipation of 'average' or
'usual' climate. When climate conditions deviate from this expectation, many

best-bet strategies become inappropriate. This highlights opportunity to
improve forward planning by better integrating seasonal climate forecasting
(SCF) with decision making processes. Whilst reinforcing the importance of
working in partnership with industry, this presentation will give practical
examples of how SCF can potentially improve practices spanning the farming,
harvesting, milling and marketing sectors of the sugar industry value chain.


Owing to the increased acceptance of climate forecasting technologies within

the Australian sugar industry, new climate related projects for the
Australian sugar industry have evolved. An overview of these project
objectives and key results (where available) will also be given in this
presentation. These projects relate to (i) yield forecasting, (ii)
understanding adoption processes of complex technologies (iii) comparing
climate forecasting systems and (iv) identifying if decadal signals can
improve planning activities.

Dr Yvette Everingham has won a Sugar Research and Development Corporation.
grant to improve understanding of climate phenomena and the sugar industry.
She is a leading expert on climate and the Australian sugar industry.

RSVP NIWA Reception : 375 2050 or e-mail
auckland.reception@...