Systems analysis of wheat production on low water-holding soils in a Mediterranean-type environment

Simulated average yields of a location increased with average rainfall but declined with increasing average temperature of a location. This allowed the development of a simple rule of thumb in which average grain yields can be related to the rainfall/temperature index of a location. The simulation analysis showed that there is potential to increase current farmer yields through higher and split N applications on light soils in Mediterranean-type environments without increasing average screenings above 3%. However, grain protein concentrations are likely to be low in most seasons on low water-holding soils.