There is increasing demand for sustainable land management.
Advancing Agricultural Productivity and Environmental Health
The Sustainable Agriculture Flagship researchers are working to identify opportunities and pathways to increase productivity whilst maintaining natural resource function and ecosystem health.
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16 September 2010 | Updated 8 October 2012
Agricultural challenges
In Australia, as in the wider world, the food production challenge is now set in an environment where land, water, energy and labour resources are more constrained and competition for these resources is more intense.
Research opportunities include trialling new land-use systems and innovative farm industry management practices.
To address these challenges, agricultural production requires innovative and practical research.
Research opportunities include trialling new land-use systems, innovative farm and industry management practices and improving the efficiency with which producers use natural resources such as soil and water.
Research for productivity improvements
There are five areas of research targeting productivity improvements while enhancing environmental health.
1. Frontiers of farm productivity
Dual-purpose crop can lift profitThis article from Farming Ahead looks at research by CSIRO on the potential for mixed farmers to use dual-purpose canola to produce livestock forage during the winter and an oilseed crop later in the year. (3 pages)
Legumes - benefits beyond nitrogenThis article from Farming Ahead, the final instalment in a series of articles on legumes, looks at the non-nitrogenous, break-crop effects of legumes. (2 pages)
Sheep production data can show value of saltland pasturesThis article from Farming Ahead describes how CSIRO scientists have found that revegetated saltland sites could be highly productive, with some offering grazing value equal to that of adjacent areas unaffected by salt. (3 pages)
2. Efficient and sustainable water use
Water Use EfficiencyCSIRO is working to improve the water use efficiency of grain based farming systems, with research partners in the Grains Research and Development Corporation's (GRDC) water use efficiency initiative.
3. Enterprise efficiency
Harvest forecasting solution for Simplot’s pea productionDr Andrew Higgins, in collaboration with a large food processing factory in Tasmania, Simplot, developed and implemented a database application and model that dramatically improves the factory's ability to plan optimal harvest and transport times.
4. Multi-functional biodiverse landscapes
Biodiversity: benefits and threatsCSIRO research is helping to manage the increasing threat from invasive species and the benefits to agriculture from ecosystem services.
Managing invasive insectsCSIRO is developing biological control techniques for the management of some of Australia’s main insect pests. This will help reduce the amount of pesticide used and provide control at a landscape level.
5. Functional soils for sustainable farming systems
Sustainable phosphorus use for the futureCSIRO scientists are providing solutions to a predicted shortage of phosphorus which is an essential element for agricultural production and therefore, availability of food worldwide.
Farming: roots and soilCSIRO is studying plant roots and their association with soil and plant productivity to boost sustainable crop and pasture production.
Reducing water repellency in sandy soilsThis two-page information sheet is about addressing water repellent soils in the southern and western grain belt by using beneficial bacteria and updating farming practices.
Read more about CSIRO's research in the Sustainable Agriculture Flagship.
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