Technofarmaustralia

Farming is one of the world’s oldest occupations. For tens of thousands of years humans have been cultivating crops and tending to animals to produce our food. Yet while the sophistication of farming systems has increased, it is still not uncommon to see farmers writing weather and crop notes on the dust covered windshields of their vehicles. Like all industries, farming will increasingly face a new breed of businesses with lower overheads and leaner business models. Efficiency will be a key goal that digital solutions are poised to deliver, particularly when it comes to agtech, precision farming and the ability to make more informed decisions. End-to-end farm management platforms are an example of this, allowing farmers to merge new and historical data – such as yield history, weather forecasts, crop treatment records or cattle breeding histories – and make choices specific to their environments.* Whether to move stock to a particular paddock, or put down fertiliser becomes an informed decision that saves time and money. Drones, multispectral and satellite imagery are also providing valuable information at a glance – for instance, whether a particular area or crop is unrecoverable and not worth spending further money on (eg. fertiliser, pesticides). In a similar vein, the Internet of Things, the connected network of sensors and internet-enabled technology, is making light work of mundane but critical farm maintenance. Being able to check the state of fences, machines, levels and health of water tanks, or whether a gate has been shut without manual inspection is just the start. Over time, AI and machine learning will make these operational decisions autonomously.