CAN LEGUME CHOICE INFLUENCE NEMATODE POPULATIONS? (POSTER)

THE AUSTRALIAN SUGAR industry was an early adopter of geographic information systems (GIS) and have considerable spatial data of where their crop has been grown. In some cases, data extend back for more than 20 years. When combined with the productivity data kept by the milling organisations, the data represent a considerable resource that could be used for research projects, such as historical productivity analysis and bio-security response. These data were difficult for researchers to access and use, however, as it was fragmented among multiple databases and archived files, and was stored in different formats using different codes to indicate varieties and classes. The Sugar Data Hub project collated available data together into a single common spatial database and enhanced the data by providing links to other data sources, such as soils and weather. These data were then provided back to the owners of the data for distribution to the research community. Considerable benefits can be derived from the data collated in this project to the industry, including (a) consistency of data between regions, (b) the ability to access historical production data for a location, and (c) the ability to relate the production data to other spatial information, such as soils, agro- climatic regions and GPS data from harvesters.