Andries Potgieter

Associate Professor Andries Potgieter is a Principal Research Fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) at the University of Queensland. He currently leads and mentor a team of researchers in the areas of seasonal climate forecasting, remote and proximal sensing with applications in the development of crop production outlooks and less risk prone cropping systems across Australia, producing highly cited publications.

With over 30 years of experience, A/Prof Potgieter’s main research interest is in the complex integration of remote sensing technologies, spatial production modelling, climate forecasting systems at a regional scale. In particular, his interest targets agricultural research that enhances the profitability and sustainability of spatial production systems through a better understanding of the linkages and interactions of such systems across a range of spatial (e.g. field, farm, catchment, national), and temporal (i.e. seasons to decades) scales. He is a leader in the field of quantitative eco-physiological systems modelling and has successfully built up a national and international recognised research profile with strong linkages to industry (farmer groups, insurance, seed companies and bulk handlers of commodities) and domestic and national agencies (State governments, ABARES and ABS) as well as international linkages with Ag-Food Canada, Maryland University, USDA, Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) including the UN and FAO.

Recent research projects

• Spatial and image analysis modelling specifically, phenotyping of sorghum breeding plots through drones and pheno mobile platforms (funded by ARC Centre of Excellence in Translational Photosynthesis)
• Regional commodity forecasting and crop area estimates for winter and summer crops across the main broad cropping region of Australia (supported by QLD Government)
• Development of a model to predict and determine the Genetic by Environment characterization of Late Maturity Alpha Amylase (LMA) risk across Australia (GRDC funded)

Previous research

• Benchmarking and developing of novel metrics for the Insurance industry for hedging farmer’s risk against crop failures due to water stress within a shire)
• Determining crop water stress within the thermal – crop canopy space at field scale.
• Determining of food insecure “hotspots” for the SIMELSA project that provided a baseline analysis to help identify highly vulnerable regions across eastern Africa and listing of relevant and actionable issues of potentially high impact for research, development and increased investment.