REINFORM - REmote Sensing INtegration For Optimized Resource Management: Scaling farm water balance toolbox for mapping the water productivity and sustainability of the Australian agricultural sector

Droughts are worsening due to changing climate, affecting all reliant on water resources. Since agriculture is by far the largest consumer of freshwater, sustainable production practices are the only way forward to mitigate the most severe impacts on the local environment, which is also acknowledged by the Australian agricultural sector. Scalable and transparent methods to report on the water productivity and sustainability are needed to allow agriculture industries to continuously improve their productive and sustainable water use.

However, local reporting initiatives using in-situ data are labour-intensive, costly, and not scalable. Therefore, we aim to inform the Australian agricultural sector on the advances in EO-based water productivity and sustainability reporting. We will accomplish this by integrating state-of-the-art EO-based estimates on irrigation and precipitation and alternatives to locally sourced inputs with advanced hydrological models. Contrasting to most existing EO-based water productivity and sustainability indicators, we aim to include most of the intricacies of irrigation systems and the consequent losses that occur during the application of irrigation, enhancing the reliability of the indicators.

The proposed system will not only deliver these indicators for the entire Australian continent but also provide transparency on each of the components used to calculate the indicators. Although we will focus on the entire Australian irrigated agricultural sector, we have a particular interest in the Namoi and Murrumbidgee River valleys where we have already established lasting relationships with local stakeholders.

The REINFORM consortium is well experienced in leading and implementing EU funded projects. With 4 research focussed SMEs, a private sector company and a university, we have the scientific depth needed for research and development, as well as the commercial insight and flexibility needed to meet market demand beyond REINFORM.