Table 1.

Agricultural decisions at a range of temporal and spatial scales that could benefit from targeted climate forecasts (Meinke & Stone 2005).

farming decision type	frequency (years)
logistics (e.g. scheduling of planting/harvest operations)	intra-seasonal (greater than 0.2)
tactical crop management (e.g. fertilizer/pesticide use)	intra-seasonal (0.2–0.5)
crop type (e.g. wheat or chickpeas) or herd management	seasonal (0.5–1.0)
crop sequence (e.g. long or short fallows) or stocking rates	interannual (0.5–2.0)
crop rotations (e.g. winter or summer crops)	annual/bi-annual (1–2)
crop industry (e.g. grain or cotton; native or improved pastures)	decadal (approximately 10)
agricultural industry (e.g. crops or pastures)	inter-decadal (10–20)
land-use (e.g. agriculture or natural systems)	multi-decadal (20+)
land-use and adaptation of current systems	climate change