GRDC and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) in WA have co-funded researchers to develop Apps that provide decision support to farmers and advisers for managing crop diseases across Australia. It is the role of these organizations and industries “to expand the value of the agriculture sector and to safeguard our agricultural resources from biological threats.” In a changing climate, the prevalence of diseases is also changing, and apps such as YellowSpotWM and SclerotiniaCM are being made available to assist farmers assess the economic impact of various fungicide management decisions. The apps are based on contemporary scientific data and decades of research that focuses on yield losses caused by disease under Australian environmental conditions. ’Overall, wheat diseases have the potential to cause very significant costs for farmers. Measures to overcome those potential costs, including varietal choice, cultural practices, crop rotations and the use of fungicides, play an important role in the location and nature of wheat production in Australia. Even after these measures have been taken to reduce losses, Australian farmers still suffer significant losses each year from wheat diseases.’

GRDC |p. 6 | The Current and Potential Costs from diseases of Wheat in Australia

“In the face of climate change, a phenomenon that few now dispute, farmers must take advantage of all tools that can assist in the predicted outcomes of weather conditions as they are forecast to impact on crop disease and yields. Diseases that were common in one area will inevitably reduce whilst increasing in other locations in tune with natures ebbs and flows of temperature and moisture.” In the research report CRDC – The Current and Potential Costs from diseases of Wheat in Australia (- Gordon M. Murray and John P. Brennan) researchers “postulate that the potential loss from six diseases can be associated with changes in climatic conditions since the last survey. The increases in potential loss from stem rust and stripe rust could be caused by temperature increases that have occurred over much of the wheatbelt, while drier conditions could be associated with increased losses from crown rot. The drier conditions could be associated with a decline in potential loss by Septoria tritici blotch and take-all while warmer winter conditions may be associated with a decline in common bunt. (p 7)” “Nationally, the highest average annual potential yield loss of 20.8 per cent was from stripe rust. Within GRDC regions, stripe rust also caused the highest potential loss of 44.3 per cent in the Northern Region. Cereal cyst nematode caused the highest potential loss of 28.1 per cent in the Southern Region while Septorianodorum blotch and yellow spot were highest at 12.9 per cent in the Western Region (Table 5.1, see p.22).”

SclerotiniaCM is a decision support tool, designed to assist canola growers with the management of Sclerotinia stem rot in canola on a paddock-by-paddock basis by comparing the likely profit and loss from applying a foliar fungicide during flowering. The App draws on several years of national field trials and observations as well as many years of experimental data and expert knowledge, to forecast the likely result and economic return of spraying this problematic disease. SclerotiniaCM takes account of costs, yield benefits, grain price and seasonal conditions to give the best case /worst case/most likely estimates of fungicidal control.