Michael’s PhD project developed methods to estimate trends in crop production, crop water consumption, and water use efficiency at a range of spatial scales. The applied focus was on smallholder irrigation schemes in southern Africa which have received development assistance for improved profitability and productivity. Decoupling of crop production from water consumption was identified at some of these irrigation schemes.

Michael used ‘big data’ approaches to decompose complex satellite-derived datasets to trends in space and time, enabling inferences to be drawn on changes in farming systems and practices. He will describe the modelling techniques used and give a range of examples at local, regional, and national scales from Australia and Africa.

About the Speaker

Michael is a PhD student working on the application of remote sensing methods to smallholder irrigation schemes in southern Africa. He completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Hons) at the University of Queensland in 2017 then worked as a consultant to the extensive northern Australian pastoral industry. His research interests encompass disciplines related to agricultural development, such as agronomy, extension, and rangeland management.