Seeking clues to watertight cropping
Scientists involved in deep drainage research for the National Dryland Salinity Program are using a modelling framework called APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems Simulator) to determine how much water drains beneath a range of cropping and pasture systems at a paddock scale. Knowledge gained from these models will help farmers in areas of rising groundwater tables across Australia to make land use decisions that maximise production, but minimise leakage to groundwater tables. It will also help other scientists involved in groundwater modelling at a catchment scale.