National Map of Protected Cropping Structures

The University of New England’s Applied Agricultural Remote Sensing Centre (AARSC), Protected Cropping Australia (PCA), Greater Sydney Local Land Services (LLS) and Future Food Systems CRC (FFSCRC) have joined forces in a Horticulture Innovation co-funded project to develop a national map of protected cropping structures (PCS) including all commercial nets, polytunnels, shadehouses and glasshouses (> 0.2ha).

Mapping protected cropping structures nationally will provide the industry with a central repository of geospatial data defining the spatial extent (location and area) of structures across Australia. This essential baseline data will support future decision making around annual growth, forward selling, labour, transport and storage requirements as well as serve as an essential tool for improved biosecurity preparedness and natural disaster response. The mapping outcomes will meet national standards, will respect privacy requirements by not including any specific grower or production information, and will be freely available within the ‘Australian Tree Crop Map’ and/or a specifically built protected cropping web application.

This project provides a strong example of multi- agency collaboration to achieve outputs that are not only of national significance in terms of innovation and research, but also support many of Australia’s national Agricultural strategies named in Ag2030 such as biosecurity, supply chains, water and infrastructure, trade and export and human capital. The outputs will establish Australia’s protected cropping industry as global leaders in the development and adoption of digital technologies at the farm, state and national scale.

Protected Cropping Structures Survey

You can help build the national map of Australia’s protected cropping systems by completing a 60 second survey in just four simple steps:

1. Launch the survey (it will open in any browser on any device)
2. Add location of the protected crop by clicking on the map:
   • either select the cross-hair button to quickly 'find my location' or search for an address
   • place the pin on the protected crop by clicking the map and continue the survey (from a mobile device confirm the location by selecting either the ✓ or the back arrow (<) button in the top-left corner to continue the survey).
3. Select structure type and optionally include the crop and a photo
4. Click submit to complete the survey!

Launch Protected Cropping Structures Survey

Participate in the Launch Protected Cropping Structures Survey. Scientists at the University of New England’s Applied Agriculture Remote Sensing Centre will interpret the survey information to update the national map.

The national map will include all commercial systems including: polytunnels, shadehouses, glasshouses, polyhouses and permanent nets.

The map will assist the Protected Cropping Industry prepare for biosecurity incursions and coordination of on-ground surveillance, and for quantifying the impacts following a natural disaster event. Identifying the location of specific farming systems also provides essential information around value-chains, traceability, transport and market accessibility.

The mapping adheres to national standards and privacy concerns are acknowledged and respected as no personal or confidential information is collected nor contained within the map.

This project is funded by Hort Innovation, Future Food Systems CRC, University of New England, Protected Cropping Australia and Local and Services Greater Western Sydney.