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.

Browse all articles

13 Nov 2025

APSIM 101: Next Gen vs Classic, Install & First Wheat Model (2025)

APSIM overview + where to learn more + hands-on Wheat simulation. Learn APSIM fundamentals, find docs and resources on the website and GitHub, then build a complete Wheat simulation step-by-step (Weather, Soil, Plant, Manager, Report), run it, and plot yield graphs.

Watch on YouTube

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