Suman Gajurel

Research Scientist
Agricultural Systems Modelling

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

Hi!

My research develops decision-support tools that provide timely guidance for farm management by modelling agricultural systems, capturing how soils, crops, and climate interact to influence production outcomes.

I specialise in connecting long-term agronomic field trials data with agronomic models, giving growers and advisers clearer insights into agricultural processes and the confidence to make timely, data-driven decisions.

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Featured projects Media coverage Latest thinking

Interests

Digital soil mapping and land resource assessment
Soil-Water-nutrient interactions
Farming systems innovation in low to high rainfall zones
Biophysical modelling of soil and crop processes

Focus areas

Large-scale field trials on crop rotations, nitrogen use and water efficiency
AI and machine learning applications in soil and crop modelling
Measuring multi-dimensional outcomes: yield, soil health, Greenhouse Gas emissions
Translating research into decision-support tools, extension and capacity building

Education

PhD in Agricultural Science
University of Southern Queensland - 2021 - 2024
MSc Agriculture
Curtin University - 2021

Project portfolio

Current projects

An overview of ongoing projects highlighting focus areas, approaches, and key outcomes in progress.

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WA Farming Systems Project

2025 – 2026

The WA Farming Systems project is a 5-year co-investment between DPIRD and GRDC delivering farming systems R&D in WA’s medium and low rainfall zones. Through field trials, on-farm research, grower participation, and whole-farm modelling, the project tackles four priorities: profitable and low-risk system break options, seeding time opportunities and risks, strategies for profitability under low-emission scenarios, and management of crown rot through crop sequences, stubble breakdown, and nutrition.

APSIM
Climate scenarios
Soil constraints
Decision support

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WA Farming Systems Project – initial findings

2023 – 2028

The WA Farming Systems project is a five-year DPIRD–GRDC initiative (2023–2028) designed to boost profitability across crop rotations while managing production constraints and risk. Through multi-year, farmer-managed trials, the project investigates seeding time strategies, profitable system break options, and pathways to maintain margins under low-emission scenarios. It also explores how rotations, fertiliser inputs, and their interactions shape cereal water-use and nitrogen-use efficiency, offering growers research grounded in real farming practice.

Nitrogen
Emissions
Cropping systems
Field trials

See project insights

Media spotlight

Stories that capture the work

Soil CRC – PhD Student Profiles - 2025

Modelling and diagnosis of multiple soil constraints across Australian farming systems

PhD project developing a data-centric diagnostic framework that integrates biophysical modelling, AI, and statistics to identify complex soil constraints across Australian farming systems.

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Soil CRC – News / Meet Suman Gajurel - 2024

Modelling a better future for agriculture

Profile story tracing the journey from a Nepalese farming background to PhD research in Australia, applying digital soil mapping and modelling to deliver grower-ready solutions.

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Riverine Plains – Soil Media Post - 2023

What information farmers use to manage soil constraints

Workshop conversation with growers and advisers exploring the mix of soil tests, trials, professional advice, and experience that informs on-farm decisions about soil constraints.

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More media

Travel & Learning

Videos, guides, and stories

Sharing what I have learned along the way - tutorials, travel notes, and insights for curious minds.

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07 Dec 2025

Program 4 PhD Presentation: Modelling & diagnosing soil constraints using readily available datasets

Soil CRC PhD student Suman Gajurel from the University of Southern Queensland presents his research on modelling and diagnosing soil constraints using readily available datasets. Recorded at the 2024 Soil CRC Participants Conference in Wagga Wagga NSW on 28 August 2024.

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04 Dec 2025

APSIM and DSM Integration: Improving soil properties

Presentation on integrating APSIM and DSM (Digital Soil Mapping) to improve agricultural modeling and decision-making. Discussion on how these systems complement each other and enhance soil properties.

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04 Dec 2025

APSIM Next Gen: Multi-Year & Multi-Crop Simulation + Editing Manager Scripts & Plots

In this video I run multi-year, multi-crop simulations in APSIM Next Gen, edit Manager scripts for sowing/fertiliser rules, and create Report outputs for plotting. We cover weather/soil setup, continu...

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Let’s progress resilient agriculture together

Ready to co-create the next data-informed solution for growers?

Whether you are exploring crop, soil, emissions reduction, or advanced soil and crop modelling, I would love to hear about your goals.

Schedule a conversation Download Capability Statement