DCAP Project Summaries

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DCAP phase 1

Project Title Project Description DCAP Budget Allocation
Research Projects
Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) - Social research into barriers to adoption Research to examine the barriers to Queensland graziers using tools to effectively manage climate variability and prepare for drought $95,000
DETSI - Palaeoclimate data for water security Research to incorporate palaeoclimate data into water security planning and decision making $80,000
University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) - Improving seasonal forecasts Research to develop a framework to incorporate new climate drivers including the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) and the Sub-Tropical Ridge (STR) into existing forecast systems to improve forecasting skill $80,000
UniSQ – Modelling multi-year droughts Research to apply a coupled climate model to improve predictions of multi-year droughts and produce decadal forecasts $95,000
UniSQ – Quantifying multi-year droughts Research to quantify the risk of multi-year drought events from historical climate records $130,000
UniSQ - Enhanced multi-peril crop insurance Research to develop prototype crop insurance products to support a viable market for managing cropping risk in Australia $290,000
UniSQ - Economic value of seasonal climate forecasting in agriculture Research to discover the economic value of improved climate risk strategies through adoption of improved seasonal climate forecasting $90,000
Development Projects
UniSQ – Climate change projections for Agricultural Risk Management (ARM) tools online Development of climate change projection data for use in biophysical modelling processes $50,000
UniSQ - Developing crop forecast models Developing a spatial drought index product for northern Australia for use as a drought management tool, through assessment of a range of drought warning indices $70,000
UniSQ - Developing and customising decision support tools Developing and customising decision support tools including Will it Rain (Ver 4); web-based Breed Buy Sell Agist Feed (BBSAFe) decision tool; Facebook - Who got the rain; ClimateARM update $280,000
UniSQ – Crop production modelling under climate change Developing detailed biophysical and economic assessments of adaptation options to climate change scenarios for Queensland agricultural industries $90,000
DETSI – Pasture alerts Developing customised pasture alerts by combining pasture modelling and seasonal forecasting to support improved grazing management decision-making $75,000
DETSI - LongPaddock 2020 / FORAGE / Agile PM Development of LongPaddock as a data portal accessible from a cloud-based web source $314,000
Extension Projects
Department of Primary Industries - Improving drought resilience in western Queensland grazing businesses Engaging the grazing industry in western Queensland through implementation of the grazing best management practice program to improve their capacity to manage climate variability and drought impacts $1,240,000
UniSQ - Regional climate change adaptation for agriculture Engaging targeted agriculture industry stakeholders to apply the climate risk matrix to improve their capacity to adapt to and manage climate change impacts $40,000
UniSQ - Revamping Managing for Climate workshops Engaging targeted agriculture industry stakeholders to build individual understanding and skills to manage climate risks $110,000
DETSI- Communicating climate change impacts to agriculture Engaging targeted agriculture industry stakeholders to use climate change adaptation information and tools to manage climate change impacts $40,000

DCAP phase 2

Project Title Project Description DCAP Budget Allocation
Research Projects
Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) – Improving AussieGRASS Improvements to AussieGRASS model input layers, code structure, computer hardware and model parameterisation now make it possible to run a 1 km version of the AussieGRASS with more accuracy than the current 5 km version. The code speed-ups are adequate for timely production of products for Long Paddock. $70,000
Australian National University (ANU) – A consensus approach to Seasonal Climate Forecasting (SCF) in Queensland The development of a quantitative consensus forecast product based on 5 existing forecast systems, for two case study regions in Queensland. The consensus forecast will be developed through application of statistical weighting and aggregation approaches based on historical performance of each of the models. Testing of the consensus forecast information was conducted with a range of stakeholders to determine the most appropriate format for operationalisation. $103,000
University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) - Competition for water between trees and grasses in a variable and drought-prone climate The objective of this study is to improve evapotranspiration estimates in the grazed savanna woodlands of Queensland using direct measurements from flux towers, combined with approaches from modelling and remote sensing. $108,000
Development Projects
DETSI – Using an animation and story-telling approach to statistical and cultural concepts for drought management and climate adaptation in the Queensland Grazing industry The project designed, created, produced and promoted two animations, using a character driven narrative (or story-telling approach), to communicate important statistical and cultural concepts relevant to agriculture, drought management and climate adaptation. $91,000
DETSI – The affordable rain gauge demonstrator

The Affordable Rain Gauge innovation project was a pilot project to test the creation of a seamless end-to-end system from rainfall measurement through to public availability in products such as SILO and FORAGE. There were many lessons gained including:

  • Data analysis undertaken in this project highlighted the need for a greater density of rainfall recording stations to improve the spatial validity and accuracy of the interpolated surfaces. These are used for biophysical modelling that supports information and reports for monitoring seasonal conditions, drought monitoring and understanding water availability.
  • The project tested many important steps in setting up a satellite rain gauge such as self-installing by the landholder, accuracy of rainfall measurement, and ensuring the installation was not damaged by cattle. The key considerations for scaling up of the project included moving from hand-built electronics to fabricated printed circuit boards and working with landholders across regional and remote Queensland.
  • In-house solutions ensured the adaptability of the system, including how the gauge measures rainfall, data storage in a Queensland government database, and provision of property scale reports via FORAGE and web interfaces.

The project had very positive feedback from landholders. There were also opportunities to engage with landholders concerning climate variability and promoting freely available products from government agencies. A popular request from producers was for closer to real time reporting, allowing them to make management decisions based on the accessibility of distant paddocks.

$61,000
UniSQ – Climate Agricultural Risk Management (ARM) development Improved monitoring and planning by agricultural industries using readily accessible state-of-the-art data and analysis of climate variability and climate change for events such as drought, frost, heat and floods. $200,000
Department of Primary Industries (DPI) - Climate Monitor - an online interactive horticulture- focused climate interrogation and analysis tool to drive improved horticulture supply chain climate risk decision-making and enhance adaptive capacity to climate change impacts Climate Monitor allows the user to select a chosen location (within Australia) then easily analyse and graph rainfall, minimum and maximum temperatures for all available years, calculate thermal time (chill and heat units based on the user’s selected base temperature) and graph temperature thresholds for their chosen location. $188,000
DPI - Identifying and reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions in horticulture (HortCarbon Info) The web tool (HortCarbon Info) was developed and tested to enable growers of Horticultural crops to calculate their Carbon Footprint. $102,000
UniSQ - Carbon ID: A remote sensing decision support tool to identify the impact of agricultural land management on soil carbon stock The project investigated and developed remote sensing products for predicting temporal changes in soil organic carbon under different land uses $148,000

DCAP phase 3

Project Title Project Description DCAP Budget Allocation
USQ 1: Northern Australia Climate Program (NACP)

NACP research, development and extension objectives include:

Research: Improving the basic science and operational skill of seasonal, sub-seasonal (multi-week) and multi-year climate forecasting systems relevant to the northern Australia red meat industry.

Development: Developing for use by producers and policy makers to make decisions on drought and climate variability.

Extension: Integrate climate forecast information into Northern Australia grazing industry networks to improve producer and value chain resilience to drought and climate variability.

$3,400,000
USQ 2: Creating alternate agriculture income streams to increase farm profitability and benefit the environment Industry-led project directly engaging producers to assess the application and potential benefits and risks/trade-offs of emerging opportunities to access markets for increasing vegetative and soil carbon sequestration, and other environmental credit options. $1,394,000
USQ 3: Pasture modelling improvements for tree/grass woodlands This project aims to fill gaps in our knowledge of competition for water between trees and grasses and to enable graziers to better manage areas with woody vegetation while adapting to Queensland’s drought-prone and highly variable climate. $413,000
ANU 1: Multi-model ensemble consensus seasonal climate forecasting in Queensland This project builds on the earlier DCAP Innovation Fund Project which tested the Bayesian model averaging method for development of a seasonal climate forecast product in two targeted test regions in Queensland. $552,000
DPI 1: Critical Temperature Threshold information for selected vegetable crops

Key project objectives include:

  • Investigating and documenting critical temperature thresholds for 13 selected major vegetable crops grown in SE Queensland
  • Identifying adaptation strategies to enhance the resilience of vegetable industry businesses.
(NB: Two year project ended 30/6/2024 – Final Report Approved)
$302,000
DESI 1: Innovative science to support climate smart grazing land management The project aims to develop, deliver and evaluate the uptake of new and improved seasonal forage budget products and information, to assist the grazing industry to manage risks associated with Queensland’s variable and drought-prone climate. $2,526,000
DESI 2: Increasing farm management planning: Social research and targeted knowledge support Social Research:

The social research component of the project will identify those factors (benefits/disadvantages, motivations/barriers) influencing the adoption of written farm management plans, in Queensland primary production industries.

Behavioural and Social Science Knowledge Support:

The Behavioural and Social Science (B&SS) knowledge support component of the project will provide insights (findings, concepts, methods, behaviour change strategies), relevant to the objectives of other DCAP grazing industry related projects.

$598,000
Last updated: 18 June 2025