Associate Professor Andries Potgieter

Principal Research Fellow

Centre for Crop Science
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
a.potgieter@uq.edu.au
+61 7 535 15085

Overview

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.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Southern Queensland

Publications

  • Xie, Zunyi, Zhao, Yan, Jiang, Ruizhu, Zhang, Miao, Hammer, Graeme, Chapman, Scott, Brider, Jason and Potgieter, Andries B. (2024). Seasonal dynamics of fallow and cropping lands in the broadacre cropping region of Australia. Remote Sensing of Environment, 305 114070, 1-14. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2024.114070

  • Van Haeften, Shanice, Kang, Yichen, Dudley, Caitlin, Potgieter, Andries, Robinson, Hannah, Dinglasan, Eric, Wenham, Kylie, Noble, Thomas, Kelly, Lisa, Douglas, Colin A, Hickey, Lee and Smith, Millicent R (2024). Fusarium wilt constrains mungbean yield due to reduction in source availability. AoB PLANTS. doi: 10.1093/aobpla/plae021

  • Van Haeften, Shanice, Dudley, Caitlin, Kang, Yichen, Smith, Daniel, Nair, Ramakrishnan M., Douglas, Colin A., Potgieter, Andries, Robinson, Hannah, Hickey, Lee T. and Smith, Millicent R. (2023). Featured cover. Food and Energy Security, 12 (6). doi: 10.1002/fes3.516

View all Publications

Grants

View all Grants

Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • PhD scholarship opportunity exist within the CropVision ARC LP project.

    1. PhD Research aim: Predicting of drivers of plasticity in dry land farm businesses across Australia
    2. Skills: Mathematics, Economics, Bayesian Statistics

    email A/Prof A B Potgieter directly if interested at: a.potgieter@uq.edu.au

    Due to travel restrictions Domestic students are preferred.

    CropVision Summary:

    • Accurate and timely production estimates are essential to Australia’s grain producers and industry to better deal with downside risk caused by climate extremes and market volatilities. However, current systems for predicting crop production are inaccurate and unreliable. This project aims to develop a next generation system for advance and high accuracy predictions for yield, crop type and area at field scale. This will be done by integrating the state-of-the-art global climate models (GCM), biophysical crop modelling, and high-resolution earth observation technologies. This project will deliver a next generation crop prediction system to predict crop production at field scale for improved decision-making and enhancing resilience.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Book Chapter

  • Wang, Enli, Teixeira, Edmar, Zheng, Bangyou, Hughes, Neal, Chenu, Karine, Hunt, James, Ghahramani, Afshin, Potgieter, Andries B., Zhu, Junqi, Cichota, Rogerio and Huth, Neil (2023). Modelling the impact of climate change on agriculture in Australia and Oceania. Modelling climate change impacts on agricultural systems. (pp. 481-540) edited by Claas Nendel. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing. doi: 10.19103/as.2022.0115.17

  • Ciampitti, I. A., Prasad, P. V. Vara, Kumar, S. R., Kubsad, V. S., Adam, M., Eyre, J. X., Potgieter, A. B., Clarke, S. J. and Gambin, B. (2020). Sorghum management systems and production technology around the globe. Sorghum in the 21st Century: Food - Fodder - Feed - Fuel for a Rapidly Changing World. (pp. 251-293) edited by Vilas A. Tonapi, Harvinder Singh Talwar, Ashok Kumar Are, B. Venkatesh Bhat, Ch. Ravinder Reddy and Timothy J. Dalton. Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-15-8249-3_11

  • Potgieter, Andries B., Watson, James, George-Jaeggli, Barbara, McLean, Gregory, Eldridge, Mark, Chapman, Scott C., Laws, Kenneth, Christopher, Jack, Chenu, Karine, Borrell, Andrew, Hammer, Graeme and Jordan, David R. (2019). The use of hyperspectral proximal sensing for phenotyping of plant breeding trials. Fundamentals, sensor systems, spectral libraries, and data mining for vegetation. (pp. 127-148) edited by Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon and Alfredo Huete. Boca Raton FL, USA: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/9781315164151-5

  • Chapman, Scott C., Zheng, Bangyou, Potgieter, Andries B., Guo, Wei, Baret, Frederic, Liu, Shouyang, Madec, Simon, Solan, Benoit, George-Jaeggli, Barbara, Hammer, Graeme L. and Jordan, David R. (2018). Visible, near infrared, and thermal spectral radiance on-board UAVs for high-throughput phenotyping of plant breeding trials. Biophysical and biochemical characterization and plant species studies. (pp. 275-299) edited by Prasad S. Thenkabail, John G. Lyon and Alfredo Huete. Boca Raton, FL, United States: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/9780429431180-10

  • Dimes, John, Rodriguez, Daniel and Potgieter, Andries (2015). Raising productivity of maize-based cropping systems in eastern and southern Africa: Step-wise intensification options. Crop Physiology Applications for Genetic Improvement and Agronomy. (pp. 93-110) edited by Sadras, Victor O and Calderini, Daniel F. United States of America: Elsevier : Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-417104-6.00005-4

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

  • Armstrong, Robert, Potgieter, Andries, Hammer, Graeme, Mortlock, Miranda, Biddulph, Ben, Curry, Jeremy, Height, Nathan, McCallum, Melissa, Porker, Kenton, Harris, Felicity, Bathgate, Jordan, Simpson, Jess, Clarke, Genevieve, Giblot-Ducray, Danièle, Fairlie, William, Hughes, David and Cullis, Brian (2023). Field trial raw and processed datasets for 2020 winter field season. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/721f2e2

  • Armstrong, Robert, Potgieter, Andries, Brider, Jason and Hammer, Graeme (2023). LMA Risk maps at Shire scale. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/1774e6f

  • Armstrong, Robert, Potgieter, Andries, Hammer, Graeme, Mortlock, Miranda, Biddulph, Ben, Curry, Jeremy, Height, Nathan, McCallum, Melissa, Porker, Kenton, Harris, Felicity, Bathgate, Jordan, Simpson, Jess, Clarke, Genevieve, Giblot-Ducray, Danièle, Fairlie, William, Hughes, David and Cullis, Brian (2023). Late Maturity alpha-Amylase winter wheat data from field trials conducted at six locations in Australia. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/6769356

  • Potgieter, A. B. and Hammer, Graeme L. (2006). Oz-Wheat: a regional-scale crop yield simulation model for Australian wheat. Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries Information Series Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • PhD scholarship opportunity exist within the CropVision ARC LP project.

    1. PhD Research aim: Predicting of drivers of plasticity in dry land farm businesses across Australia
    2. Skills: Mathematics, Economics, Bayesian Statistics

    email A/Prof A B Potgieter directly if interested at: a.potgieter@uq.edu.au

    Due to travel restrictions Domestic students are preferred.

    CropVision Summary:

    • Accurate and timely production estimates are essential to Australia’s grain producers and industry to better deal with downside risk caused by climate extremes and market volatilities. However, current systems for predicting crop production are inaccurate and unreliable. This project aims to develop a next generation system for advance and high accuracy predictions for yield, crop type and area at field scale. This will be done by integrating the state-of-the-art global climate models (GCM), biophysical crop modelling, and high-resolution earth observation technologies. This project will deliver a next generation crop prediction system to predict crop production at field scale for improved decision-making and enhancing resilience.