Online climate tools for farmers

The Australian Government is supporting the development of two climate resilience tools for farmers and the agriculture industry. These tools are constantly being updated with new functionality.

The Drought Resilience Self-Assessment Tool

DR.SAT gives farmers a clearer picture of the climate trends likely to impact their businesses, and their resilience to them—now, and in the future. It does this by bringing together satellite data, climate projections and resources to help farmers better prepare for future climate shocks.

DR.SAT asks users a set of questions about their land management practices, financial management and personal and social context—that’s the assessment part. DR.SAT was developed with farmers and taps into expert advice from the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO and other trusted advisors.

Since its first release in December 2021, DR.SAT has evolved from a focus on cattle grazing and dry land cropping to include commodities such as sheep, wool, dairy, citrus and temperate fruits. This will expand further to incorporate horticultural commodities such as roots, tubers and leafy green vegetables in the final November 2022 update.

The Climate Services for Agriculture (CSA) tool

The Climate Services for Agriculture (CSA) tool is being developed to help Australian farmers to adapt to climate variability and related trends and thereby increasing the viability of their businesses. Developed in collaboration between the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO, the CSA platform has been made possible by funding from the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund (FDF).

The CSA tool helps you understand the historical, seasonal and future climate at your location to help inform decisions for your business. It provides you with historical data (1961-2021), seasonal forecasts (1-3 months) as well as future climate projections based on the 15 years before and after 2030, 2050 and 2070, for a given location.