Achieving net zero emissions in agriculture: Developing decision support systems for land and enterprise managers

Principal Supervisor: Prof Harpinder Sandhu

Associate Supervisors: Dr Birgita Hansen, Dr Nathan Robinson

Industry Supervisor: Dr Ram Kolluri

Research overview:

Global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are increasing day by day and net zero target is a great challenge. The agriculture sector is one of the significant emitters, contributing quarter of total GHG emissions There are regulatory and market pressures both at global and national levels to reduce such emissions by the agriculture sector. Hence Australian farm sector must respond to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. One of the approaches for doing so is via digital decision support systems. The availability of an executable decision support system would be of great importance to the farming community to step forward in the direction of net zero agriculture. Such system would allow enterprise managers and land managers to manage their farm activities ensuring the reduction of GHG emissions without compromising productivity and profitability.

The aim of my research is to evaluate existing decision support systems (DSSs) for on-farm carbon management and on the basis, develop a new or complementary system that is fit-for-purpose. My research will study the perceptions and barriers of adopting decision support system by the farmers to reduce emission from their farm activities. It will also explore various strategies and policies of government and industry to achieve net zero emissions. Evaluation of existing DSSs used in agriculture will help identify gaps and limitations to guide the design of a new DSS that will also draw upon new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI). This will help farmers and enterprise managers to use appropriate decision-making tools to achieve net zero farming.