A Digital Publication and Knowledge Tool for the Forward-Thinking Farmer AustrAliAn FArmer Volume II the Australia’s Farming Future Now refreshes!monthlywithcontent
SCOTT’S USING OUR TECHNOLOGY TO TAKE HIS OPERATION TO THE NEXT LEVEL Watch his story at JohnDeere.com.au/GotWhatItTakes He’s confident that his future on-farm decisions will be the right ones. That’s because his John Deere Precision Ag technology allows him to better analyse his performance against historical data and inform those decisions.
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26 What
Agnire Farming’s nimble approach to tackle climate challenges
Jeffery, Australia’s National Advocate for Soil Health 15 – Our gratitude to Australia’s peak farming bodies DIGITAL AUTOMATIONTECHNOLOGYANDMACHINERY
David Lamb of the Food Agility CRC writes about the great promise of ag data and how we can make it work for the whether digital is just hype or if there is real benefit Ros Harvey of The Yield on the growth of agtech in Australia and how tech compan ies need to work with farmers happens to rural communities if digital technology brings city slickers to the Salah Sukkarieh of General Michael
farm18 CSIRO scientists discuss
Click on any article to jump straight to that page!CONTENTS4
the University of Sydney 36 14 – Foreword from Major
agriculture
land? 30 The robotic systems coming soon to a farm near you, by Professor
for farmers 22
Gary Northover of the Tractor and Machinery Association speaks about the impact of automation on the industry 42 Drones in agriculture: what farmers need to know46 An interview with Herby Whyte of Landpower on the impact of technology on farm machinery 50 Massey Ferguson’s IDEAL new combine harvester is a technological game changer54 While Titan Australia might be known for tyres, wheels and axles, the company also excels in custom machinery manufacturing 56 Allianz harnesses the power of agtech to improve farm insurance58 INNOVATION IN PRACTICE 5Click on any article to jump straight to that page!CONTENTS 50 Cutting-edge Australian tech company Decipher gives farmers the power to increase yield and improve efficiency 60
6 Time for farmers to rethink IT purchases in light of agtech revolution?66 74 The unique and innovative robotic dairy farmhand from Lely Dairy Australia 76 Bank of Queensland brings a personal touch to agribusiness banking78 Philmac: A triumphant story of Australian innovation and hard work 80 Click on any article to jump straight to that page!CONTENTS Woolworths is driving the organic food boom in Australia with a $30 million innovation fund62 IoT: The Tool Beyond Farmers’ Imaginations 65 Our $100 billion future starts with the soil82 Rivulis provides world-leading drip irrigation tech for Australian farmers 70Machine learning and connectivity the next challenges for agtech
7 With a personal touch and a nationwide footprint, Prime Super puts rural Australians first90 SWAN Systems cloud-based software delivers massive yield improvements for WA irrigator 92 Valvoline: a famous brand dedicated to improving Australian agriculture96 IPSTAR provides a connection across the digital divide 98 Innovation in water tanks From National Poly Industries Group delivers a wholistic farming solution100 Community Trust in Australia’s Rural Industries: A national survey 2020 86 Click on any article to jump straight to that page!CONTENTS Integrated irrigation technology from Lindsay International improves yields and drives efficiency84 Clipex: empowering farmers through innovation 102
8 Click on any article to jump straight to that page!CONTENTS Battery World charged to help farmers reduce costs112 IGA champions true blue Aussie heroes helping out those in need 116 Ecotech Energy’s solar pump delivers cost savings fast118 Omnia Nutriology System – a holistic approach to managing soil health 120 Wise, efficient, automated irrigation with WiSA 106 Precision, safety and control: the Rotor Solutions advantage108 The federal Department of Industry provides crucial support for innovative farm businesses 110 Telstra’s Regional Advisor Network is meeting the unique communication needs of people in rural and remote areas104
9Click on any article to jump straight to that page!CONTENTS Spraygro are the experts in liquid fertilisers 129 Calrossy Anglican School hits 100 years of educating youth on the land130 MarchNet delivers 21st century internet solutions for remote Aussie agribusinesses 132 Solar pumping gets serious with ReAqua installing the largest hybrid system in Australia136 The Power that drives farming and marine engines 139 P2PAgri software enables farmers to plan ahead like never before 122 National Ag brings the best in grain handling and storage to Australian shores128 Easy and professional Labour Solutions for hard-working farm businesses 126 Moving Water Moving ForwardFranklin Electric providing expertise to our water industry124
10 Why misinformation over GM is harming Australia’s productivity and agricultural potential152 The little-known plant transformed into a world-first cash crop by Aussie scientists 156 An interview with Tony May of Bayer about the advances in science and biotechnology that are driving plant health in Australia161 PLANT HEALTH Click on any article to jump straight to that page!CONTENTS Learn more about solar pumps from an industry pioneer 142 Clayfield College is an academic leader with outstanding facilities144 Pump damage costs farmers thousands –how can you prevent it?140 Jason Strong talks Australian beef innovation, investment, and promotion 146 Biosecurity is Everyone’s Business –Including our Farmers - Greg Chandler 164
Australia
Angela Elliott writes about the fiercely passionate women of Australian agriculture interview with Belinda Anderson of Henty Machinery Field Days on the pathways for women in agriculture
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Kathleen Plowman of Animal Health discusses how every farmer can play a part in the nation’s biosecurity
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Dr Skye Saunders on the changing culture around women in ag and how we can do better profile of Erica Hughes, innovative young farmer and developer of the Farmer Meets Foodie app
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Click on any article to jump straight to that page!CONTENTSANIMALHEALTHWOMENINAUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE
Verity Morgan-Schmidt of Farmers for Climate Action speaks about her work and women in leadership the best of the best in Australian rodeo
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178 177 See
Anne Currey of Irrigation
Megan Beca of Genetics Australia writes about the latest
in genetic technology that is unlocking productivity in livestock191
12 Click on any article to jump straight to that page!CONTENTS
Australia outlines what is needed in technology and policy to keep Australian irrigators on top202 Former National Water Commission Chair Ken Matthews suggests a rethink for how we manage water in Australia 206 From city toilets to country farms – the cheap fertiliser alternative delivering significant benefits210 WATER AND IRRIGATION Scientists from QUT explore innovative new ways to feed the growing national herd 194 ADDITIONAL READING Rural Health: How text messages are being used to combat mental health issues in rural areas 217
13Click on any article to jump straight to that page!CONTENTS Our agricultural future will be defined by Science and Innovation – we need to get used to it. 221 Understanding Consumer Trends: It’s better to be different than just better233 Farm Finance: Interviews with Grant Cairns of Commonwealth Bank and Tony Beaven of Elders Financial Planning 237 Agriculture in Education: An interview with Terry MCCosker from RCS Australia241 Soil Management and Sustainability: An interview with Major General Michael Jeffery Australia’s National Advocate for Soil Health 229 Youth and Succession Planning: The young Aussie woman challenging traditional views of farm succession planning 225 248 – Partners & Credits 252 – Editorial Advisory Board Natural Resource Management and Coping With Disasters: Community strength in the face of disaster 245
Foreword
Australian farms are renowned the world over as exemplars in efficiency, innovation and the successful adoption of technology. This reputation is testament to the hard work, skills and inventiveness of our farmers – all the more impressive given the scarce natural resources with which they have to work.Key to maintaining this reputation is ac cess to practical information and new ideas that help the farmer to get ahead and stay ahead. Particularly sought after is informa tion on topics that will change the way we farm in the future: digital technology and automated machinery, scientific advances in plant and animal health, innovative new products and tools and, a subject close to my heart, soil science.
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I am delighted to say the second volume of The Australian Farmer not only reaches the high standards of the first volume, but ex ceeds them in quality of content, ease of use and interactivity. I am honoured to provide the foreword to this volume and continue to serve as Patron of The Australian Farmer project.Irecommend this book – and its predeces sor – to any farmer across our great country with a thirst for information and an open mind. The information it contains will only help to further grow the Australian agricul tural industry in an efficient and sustainable manner, and strengthen the reputation of our farmers as leaders in innovation.
Major General the Honourable Michael Jeffery Australia’s National Advocate for Soil Health Patron of The Australian Farmer project
The first volume of The Australian Farmer, released just over a year ago, delivered valu able information on these topics and more to farmers across the country, distributed for free with the assistance of a number of our peak agricultural bodies. For many farmers, it became a crucial reference tool, to be vis ited and revisited on countless occasions.
• NSW Farmers Association • Queensland Farmers’ Federation • Victorian Farmers Federation • PPSA • WA Farmers Federation • AUSVEG • Future Farmers Network • Australian Grape & Wine Inc • ALPA • CANEGROWERS • Angus Australia • PIEFA • Grain Producers Australia • SPAA • Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia • Apple and Pear Australia Ltd • Herefords Australia • Australian Brahman Breeders’ Association • Australian Mango Industry Association • Avocados Australia • Soil Science Australia • ACUO • Australian Limousin Breeders’ Society • Santa Gertrudis Breeders’ Association • Australian Table Grape Association • Australian Macadamia Society • South Australia No Till Farmers Association • AWIA • Cherry Growers Australia • AAUS • Australian Brangus Cattle Association • NT Farmers Association • Australian Lot Feeders’ Association • Kimberley Cattlemen’sPilbaraAssociation • Onions Australia • Almond Board of Australia • SCLAA • CILT Australia • Country Rugby League of NSW • AIFST • Australian Dairy Products Federation • WoolProducers Australia • Australian Banana Growers’ Council • Australian Olive Association • MLA • Cotton Australia • Australian Cotton Shippers Association • Produce AssociationMarketing • rma networks • Australian Science Teachers Association • Irrigation Australia • Goat Industry Council of Australia • ABCRA • Cattle Council of Australia • Summerfruit Australia • Melons Australia
the australian farmer 15
Thank you to Australia’s peak farming bodies for their support and encouragement
It’s no exaggeration to say that the first volume of The Australian Farmer would not have existed without the support and outstanding leadership shown by many peak bodies across all facets of Australian agriculture. And that support and encour agement was equally vital to the health of this book, the second volume of The Aus tralian Farmer. Our gratitude is owed to the excellent and hardworking peak farming bodies for their much-appreciated assistance in dis tributing both volumes of The Australian Farmer to their many farming members. In doing so, they continue to provide Aus tralian farmers with the resources and knowledge to be more productive and profitable. Our analysis shows that this distribution effort was highly effective in reaching not only Australian farmers, but a wider rural audience. In addition, many peak bodies and their representatives provided import ant and valuable input that enabled us to fine-tune our content and make sure the publication was interesting, informative and instructive to Australia’s farmers. As such, we would like to deliver the warmest thanks and acknowledgment to the peak bodies listed here. we are particularly appreciative of regional federal MPs the Hon. Bob Kat ter and the Hon. Michelle Landry for their enthusiastic embrace of this project and willingness to share The Australian Farmer with their farming constituents.
Finally,
CSIRO scientists discuss whether digital agriculture is just hype or if there is real benefit for farmers
David Lamb of the Food Agility CRC writes about the great promise of ag data and how we can make it work for the farm
TechnologyDigital
Ros Harvey of The Yield on the growth of agtech in Australia and how tech companies need to work with farmers What happens to rural communities if digital technology brings city slickers to the land?
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DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
By David Lamb, Megan Tudehope and Ashley Rootsey of the Food Agility CRC Ltd
Data, everywhere,data but does it make us think?
If data was water, Australian farmers would be dancing through their fields in delight. But is it a case of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner all over again – “Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink”? The great tech promise of the last few decades has given us more data than we know what to do with. We’re drowning in the stuff . What we need now are us er-friendly digital tools to trans form all that data into something useful. To do that, tech com panies should focus more on what farmers need and less on impressing investors and drum ming up venture capital. And there are examples of great, functional and, most im portantly, effective agtech. More over, Australia boasts a solid cohort of experienced, inter nationally-recognised research leaders who have been working for more than two decades in this field. We can all see that agtech has the potential to revolutionise food production and supply. But we’ve also seen many examples of agtech that just didn’t do what it said on the tin: products that proved difficult to use, not right for the setting or unable to talk to existing technology. Our sensors are getting smarter, satellites and drones are getting more capable and accessible and we now have in struments to fully capitalise on agtech advancements – the socalled Internet of Things (IoT) has appeared (at long last!) across our farmscapes, aided and abetted by innovative telecom munications technologies. It is increasingly a case of “data, data everywhere”, but is that enough? We are still learning some hard lessons; even some large (and vocal) players are tripping over, and some as recently as the past two years. Put simply, it’s getting easier to generate data than it is to use it! Farmers need to be at the front and centre of product design and development. The first step in the creation of any new product should be asking farmers: “what are the things that make your job
the australian farmer 19 harder than it needs to be?” and “what is the last thing you dwell on before you sleep and the first thing on your mind when you wake up?”. Then the first thing out of our mouths should be, “OK, so what can we do about that?”. The next step is to roadtest proof of concepts and gar ner feedback, continuously , along the way. A product’s suc cess is the user’s success, not the other way around. After all, isn’t the ultimate (and oldest) form of ‘big data’, as Megan Gar ber of The Atlantic wrote in 2013, ‘applause’?
THE NEED FOR AGILITY
The notion of ‘fit for purpose’ is the subject of a lot of time and effort at the recently established Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre. In fact, helping to trans form Australia’s agrifood sector through the power of digital tech nology is only half of the endeav our. Taking an agile approach to project design and execution is the other half. And don’t fall into the trap of thinking ‘agility’ is just speed. Effective agility is about ‘deliberate innovation’ and de signing an agile activity can ac tually be quite time consuming – it’s the outcome that is fast and responsive. Taking this approach is not novel either; it’s been at the heart of software design for more than 20 years, and the manufac turing and mining sectors have ex celled at it. So why is our agrifood sector any different? Where is DID YOU AustralianKNOWagriculture has always been a step ahead of international competitors, returning average produc tivity growth of 2.7 per cent per year over a 30-year period ?
20 DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY ourPerhapsagility?
WHERE TO NEXT FOR AGTECH?
there are two rea sons. The first is that those experienced in this agile form of design in o ther tech sectors often lack the real-world, indus try knowledge (farming is a clas sic example and casualty) that is necessary to migrate into the agrifood sector. And secondly, those who have existed all their lives in the agrifood sector may have simply been slowly cook ing in the ever-heating pot of ‘in novation water’ (much like the frog) and not realised we have to do things differently. It’s time to bridge the cultural divide be tween those that can but don’t know what, and those that need but don’t know how. Ultimately, we are not trying to make cool technology for the sake of it. We’re trying to solve real people’s problems and make sure Australia’s agrifood industry is globally competitive and sus tainable.
A lot of the agtech we’ve got in the market today focuses on driving efficiency at the produc tion level. We’ve got a way to go, but at some point in the not too distant future we’re going to hit the efficiency limit. Let’s start building agtech that recognises production as an inte grated part of the supply chain. Once you’ve minimised inputs (water, fertiliser, fuel and labour) and improved our environmental footprint, where else is there to go? How about, as Professor Alex McBratney succinctly proposed at the 2018 Australian Farm Institute Conference in Sydney, we strive to “de-commoditise”? How about we strive to use agtech to get farmers more money for their produce? This was the ‘21st century’ chal lenge for precision agriculture later issued at the 2018 Society for Precision Agriculture Australia (SPAA) Conference in Adelaide. De-commoditisation will require data to do its share of heavy lift ing, but it is precision agriculture that can accelerate the de-com moditisation process. Precision agriculture inside the farmgate will allow farmers to produce exactly the right thing. Beyond the farm gate, it will protect the product as it moves through the supply chain, carry forward the product message to the consumer (thus protecting the brand), improve efficiencies in logistics and post-farm gate pro cessing and deliver signals from all points of the value chain back to the farmer. Let’s not forget that many farmers don’t see a value
Or how about using agtech to support a real-time regulatory system, like Food Agility and our partners are doing in the oyster industry? It’s cheaper for govern ment, less burdensome for pro ducers and consumer safety is protected.Let’smake our data work harder and use it in more innova tive ways. It’s time to drink some of that water lying around. Farm ers will get more money in their back pocket, consumers will have safe, sustainable and healthy food and the Australian agrifood indus try will be an increasingly competi tive force on the global stage.
In this case, farmers get better lending terms, banks reduce risk and best practice becomes com mon practice, making the whole industry more sustainable. Every body wins.
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For those of us in the industry, one of the most exciting things about agtech is that for the first time since the adoption of modern agri culture in the 18th century (known as the first agricultural revolution), we’re starting to see the gap be tween producers and consumers narrow, rather than widen. Farmers can now use technol ogy to engage directly with con sumers. More than ever before, people care about where their food comes from and how it was produced.TheAustralian brand is built on quality and, in many cases, this quality allows us to get a premium price. But how do consumers know that what they’re buying is, for example, genuine Cape Grim beef, raised in the cleanest air and water in the world? We’ve seen plenty of cases of counterfeit products trading on the Australian brand. Now, block chain technology is creating an unbreakable record, tracing prod ucts from the farmgate to the supermarket shelf and assuring customers that this is the real deal. We’re developing sensors that detect volatile compounds, effect ively sniffing out any lapses in the cold chain and giving buyers con fidence in the freshness of their food. Imagine picking up a fresh product on the shelf with its own personalised ‘freshness clock’ based on its travel experience from the source to you. That’s the concept of a ‘dynamic, digital shelf life’. This is just the tip of the ice berg.Just as blood pumps through the heart to the head and back again, so too does information (and data) throughout the supply chain.
Check out our article on Decipher, the new Australian software platform improving farm efficiency and increasing yield DID YOU KNOW Several Australian block chain start-ups, such as AgUnity, AgriDigital and BlockGrain, have emerged recently to track produce from paddock to plate ?
the australian farmer 21 chain beyond the farm gate – they consider it a ‘cost chain’. As one NSW farmer quipped recently at the Agribusiness Today Forum in Parkes, “my biggest export is my margin”. Whoa there, it’s time to change!
CLOSING THE GAP WITH TECH
The same tools that consumers use to connect to the source of their food can collect invaluable data that farmers can use to be more dy namic in responding to consumer demand. If you can get ahead of the curve and use data to spot emer ging market trends, you can adjust production to get maximum value for your produce.
RETHINKING THE DIGITAL VALUE CHAIN Agtech enables the de-commod itisation of agriculture and this can be great for all involved. Sticking with the pumping blood analogy, let’s start thinking of the food value chain as the food value system. Farmers are the heart of the system, that goes without saying. Let’s put consumers at the head, because their decisions drive
Theredemand.arearange of other vital organs crucial to keeping the whole system on its feet. Finance, technology, research, policy, regu lation, insurance, agricultural ser vices – they all interact and affect eachSure,other.it’s great if you can use data to make your farm more effi cient, but what if you could use the same data to show the bank that your sustainable practices lower the long-term risk of things like drought and pests?
22 DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
One example is a newly-created app, Graincast , that draws on satellites, climate forecasts and crop models to provide near re al-time soil, water and yield in formation at any time without the need to input a lot of detailed information.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR PRODUCERS?
This is an edited version of an original article published by CSIRO scientists Drs Michael Robertson, Dave Henry, Andrew Moore and Simon Barry
Is digital agriculture just hype or can farmers, industry, agribusiness, researchers and government really benefit?
A key challenge is to find sim plicity. Technologists need to appreciate that farmers do not need high frequency and precise data for every decision.
Digital agriculture – what’s all the fuss about?
At the heart of digital agriculture lies the opportunity for sensing systems and associated analytics to lower the cost of information gathering and more accurately predict the future. This can come from improved knowledge about an individual enterprise, or via ef ficient sharing and learning using data from multiple enterprises. We believe these developments offer three big opportunities: 1. increasing management pre cision, with producers able to use better information to
As in other industries, the ‘digital revolution’ will create a new way of doing business in agriculture; new jobs will be required, exist ing jobs will change and some jobs may even disappear. For ex ample, the improved efficiencies from digital agriculture – espe cially robots – will increase the number of hectares and animals that one farmer can manage. This is the continuation of a cen tury-long trend that has major social consequences in rural Aus tralia.While there are many players vying for a share in the digital agriculture market, not all tech nologies on offer will deliver on their promise. Those that remain isolated from knowledge of agri culture and an understanding of actual on-farm realities and busi ness problems won’t contribute to solutions but will remain on the shelf or be of interest only for niche hobbyists.
Just as exciting as creating new business models and technolo gies is creating innovative ways of putting together existing ones.
the australian farmer 23 make more timely decisions with more predictable out comes 2. automating tasks using sensing technologies and machine learning could cut costs and increase reliability 3. better categorising, differen tiating and tailoring agricul tural products and services, which will open up new mar kets. All these opportunities are around the point where develop ment translates into practical use on the farm. As yet, unexplored new value lies in grasping two or all three simultaneously. For ex ample, crops could be selectively harvested from zones of the farm according to their quality char acteristics and then put into dif ferent processing and marketing streams to maximise their value.
CROSSING KEY TECHNOLOGY FRONTIERS
SENSING SYSTEMS
New remote sensing systems, such as the European Sentinel satellites, will overcome many of the shortcomings of the estab lished Landsat satellites. They will provide data at improved fre quency, resolution and cost, with better access and timeliness. For example, satellite imagery can identify what is growing in each paddock and then forecast a yield or feed availability. This in formation can have a wide range of end uses: farm management, farm advice, input supplies, risk assessment, planning for logis tics and handling and assess ment for drought relief. Remote sensing systems will be complemented by proximal systems, such as handheld de vices or even cameras on smart phones. In precision irrigation,
PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS
24 for example, there are exciting possibilities of linking satellite in formation, weather forecasts and crop models with ground-based, spot sensing of crop canopy temperature to inform irrigation
While sensors abound on the market, there are still some nota ble gaps. For instance, we still don’t have a sensing system that can non-invasively measure soil fertility or diagnose animal health.
BLOCKCHAIN Agriculture and food are ideal do mains to exploit the potential of distributed ledgers or blockchain. Blockchain technology allows in formation to be carried along a supply chain, to match product to processing demands, to enable traceability, verify provenance and to monitor quality and safety. In the future, a Tokyo restaurant could use blockchain technology to verify that a cut of wagyu beef originated from a particular farm in Tasmania.Throughblockchain, producers will be able to escape the trap of commodity production, where products cannot attract premium prices. Blockchain will open up ways for farmers to put their prod ucts into differentiated markets by allowing verification of proven ance and other attributes. It will meet the demand by consumers for better quality assurance of their food and fibre.
NOVEL COMMUNICATION SYS
TEMS A range of new players and enter prising producers are developing solutions to the chronic lack of con nectivity and poor mobile cover age across regional Australia. For example, the long range wide-area network (LoRaWAN), successfully operates a low-powered Internet of Things on farms, proving that not all digital agriculture activities require 4G mobile network coverage. While improved communication will enable farmers to access greater amounts of information faster, it is not a solution in itself. If analytics are embedded then data can be processed at the point of collection without the need for high-end com munications networks.
scheduling.Distributed sensing systems can form the basis for knowledge platforms for social learning. For example, our Chameleon soil mois ture sensing system, used by small holder irrigators in Africa, has a learning platform based on colour coding of soil moisture patterns. The data is shared among farmer groups to facilitate them testing and improving their own heuristics for irrigation management.
There is a huge opportunity in DID YOU KNOW Different industries use different tech. GPS-enabled technologies are widely used on vegetable and grain farms, while electronic iden tification and herd manage ment tools are commonly used on dairy farms. ?
DID YOU
VALUE-ADDING TO FARM DATA
At the moment our ability to col lect vast amounts of data easily outstrips our ability to convert it into usable information. Predict ive analytics uses techniques that range from data mining, statis tics, modelling, machine learning and artificial intelligence, helping decision makers to predict un known future events. We have developed solar-pow ered eGrazor collars for cattle to monitor and collect real-time data on the behaviour of each animal to determine feed intake. This can aid livestock producers in fine-tuning feeding regimes and grazing management. It can also identify individual animals that efficiently convert feed into meat and milk. Coupled with a forecast of feed availability and the poten tial to control the movement of livestock with ethical virtual fen cing, it is easy to see how digital agriculture is well placed to trans form traditional livestock farming.
AccordingKNOWtoKPMG, in order to maintain our interna tional advantage by 2025, Australia must be a leader in blockchain digital platforms that provide real-time sup ply chain monitoring and validation ?
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the australian farmer 25 pooling data currently held in thousands of private hands to create products and services that farmers can use to improve their businesses. Once data is shared, individual farmers can bench mark their production against others. For example a farmer could develop more precise soil maps for their farm based on ag gregated soil test results, or gain a more accurate picture of rainfall patterns in the Governmentslocality.and research bodies already pool lots of ‘small data’ and use it to monitor per formance trends in the indus try. The innovation challenge in agriculture is finding the right business model for farmers to participate in. For farmers to contribute their own data and trust others with it, they want an obvious and transparent explan ation of how it will be used to benefit them and others.
CSIRO is a partner in a new com pany, Digital Agriculture Services (DAS), which is creating digitised valuations, automated risk as sessment, insight and productivity trends for rural land. Such intelli gence is of interest to farmers and institutions alike including banks, governments, agribusiness and commodity handlers.
ENABLING DIGITAL AGRICULTURE TO FLOURISH
WARNING – DISRUPTION AHEAD
Digital transformation is every where and agriculture is no ex ception.Therelationship between farm ers and service providers will become more about informa tion management and greater access to information will alter the power balances between the different players in agriculture. Digital technologies reduce the advantage of being the local in cumbent. Local knowledge and agility have been the traditional bulwarks of the family farm as an Australian institution. Given the intersecting food, water, energy and climate change challenges that the world and Australia face, embracing digital technologies for agriculture gives us a significant opportunity. Aus tralia is a major trading nation and the highly competitive na ture of international commodity markets means that we ignore these technologies at our peril.
All of these developments show why there is such excitement about digital agriculture. CSIRO is working broadly across this field and actively fill ing vital information gaps that will enable digital agriculture to flourish. This includes driv ing the creation of useful data assets, developing monitoring products and climate forecasts at new scales, upgrading past decision-making tools and build ing techniques to allow a diverse set of tools to be integrated with data assets for apps, information services and analytic services. We are developing a series of innov ative digital agriculture products in domains as diverse as grains, aquaculture, sugarcane, irrigated crops and carbon farming. We realise it is our role to cata lyse commercial activity in digital agriculture and not ‘crowd out’ private and other public sector players. The start-up community for digital agriculture in Australia is still young and needs vital core technologies that have under pinned the flourishing of agtech in parallel markets in the United States. Our role is to develop and deliver those technologies whether it is through licencing, research and development part nerships or free distribution.
INVENTING E-EXTENSION How do we link farmers with the most relevant and knowledge able agricultural advisor anytime, anywhere? This is particularly im portant in an era where one-onone extension advisory services are in decline. Artificial intelli gence systems can now be used to mine and interpret knowledge banks. For farmers it opens up fragmented and inaccessible ex tension and scientific material, and enables them to gain tailored answers to specific queries. Such tools could form an adjunct to advisory services and support inexperienced staff working in unfamiliar situations.
transformingTechnology the future of farming
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
By Ros Harvey, founder and managing director at The Yield
THE NEED FOR AGTECH INNOV ATION IN AUSTRALIA
The National Farmers’ Federa tion (NFF) predicts the value of Australia’s agricultural sector will almost double by 2030, cre ating Australia’s next $100 billion industry. Our local agriculture industry totalled $59 billion in 2017-18, meaning we need to grow by almost 70 per cent in the coming 12 years to meet those NFFAccordingpredictions.to KPMG’s ‘Pow ering Growth: Realising the po tential of AgTech for Australia’
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Global food production needs to increase 60 per cent by the year 2050 to feed the Earth’s projected population of 9 billion, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN. It is expected that 85 per cent of this production increase will be driven by increased yields and cropping intensity. Agtech, or agricultural technol ogy, has grown out of the need to meet our future demands for food security and will increas ingly become the key enabler of sustainable intensification of agriculture.Itformsat the intersection of two global megatrends; on one side we face growing challenges in food security with constraints for resources forced on growers. On the other, we find the rapid technology revolution driving artificial intelligence (AI), robot ics, the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud Australiacomputing.istheperfect breed ing ground for agtech innov ation; growers are innovative because they need to be. We have one of the most open economies and the highest costs in the world. It is an excit ing time as so many new tech nologies are being developed to meet the challenges we’ll face in the future, not just on farm but along the entire food sup plyTochain.truly change the future of how we farm here in Aus tralia and around the world, we need to focus on long-term transformation over short-term disruption. To transform an essential industry like agricul ture – which has a reputation for deeply ingrained practices and passionate, knowledgeable practitioners – requires an un conventional approach.
the australian farmer report, Australian agriculture represents more than $43 billion in exports (including 15 per cent of merchandise exports), sup plies 93 per cent of Australia’s food and uses 50 per cent of Aus tralia’s land. That same KPMG report states that Australia’s food wastage has an estimated cost of $8 bil lion annually, representing 4 million tonnes of produce. These sobering numbers highlight the importance of innovation in our sector. According to KPMG, ag tech can save the Australian agri cultural industry $1.5 billion in weed control and a further $2.5 billion in lost production, alone.
We’re seeing so much innovation come out of the tough growing conditions we face in Australia. As the agtech sector matures, we’re likely to see big disruption and innovation at every stage of the agriculture supply chain.
Technology that capitalises on data, analytics and AI is becom ing more prevalent and more mature. There are dozens of ways we can put data to work in agriculture – from using it DID YOU KNOW Global food production needs to increase 60 per cent by 2050 to feed a projected 9 billion people. This means approximately 1 billion tonnes more wheat and rice, and 200 million more tonnes of livestock per year! ?
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THE GROWTH OF AGTECH
As an industry, agriculture in Aus tralia is still in its infancy when it comes to technology and hasn’t yet seen the rapid uptake and adoption of the technological revolution that has occurred in otherAgriculturesectors. is an essential in dustry, where the consequences of failed or ill-conceived technol ogy can impact the entire com munity. Many growers are aware
28 DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY to en hance decision-making on farms and creating process effi ciencies across the food chain, to fine tuning the products and services available to growers. Robotics and augmented re ality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) will also have a big impact, par ticularly on the pressing issue of labour costs. Robotic systems for fruit picking are in develop ment, and many companies are currently discussing whether we can use AR to help improve picking productivity and quality while building towards robots that use visual analytics as a key component.Thefinancial challenges in agriculture are unlike those of any other industry, with farmers battling high risk and uncertainty driven by weather, high debt and fluctuating market prices. As a result, we’re seeing many com panies globally use blockchain across the ag space in new and game-changing ways, particu larly in provenance and supply chain.Here in Australia, wheat farm ers began trialling blockchain technology to reduce settlement risks. In India, there is an online marketplace connecting small plot farmers with agronomic ad vice and support. In Europe we are seeing new business models (not dissimilar to Uber) emer ging for sharing agricultural equipment. And in small, dense ly-populated countries, hi-tech urban or vertical farming is tak ing off.
TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES NEED TO MAKE TECHNOLOGY WORK FOR GROWERS
Growers now have an increasing list of technology and apps that can make their lives easier, their on-farm decisions more accurate and optimise almost every ele ment of farming, from the pad dock to the entire supply chain. There are apps for recording ac tivities, monitoring weather and tracking commodities prices. There are converters and calcu lators, farm management sys tems, drones, pest guides and countless other tools. In a world in which growers are increasingly expected to do more with less, this influx of eas ily accessible agtech tools can make a considerable impact. Given the need to improve food production significantly in the coming decades, that access is crucial for agtech to make a tangible impact on food supply globally.
the australian farmer 29 of the magnitude of such failures and have understandably de veloped a level of cautiousness about the impact of new tech nology on the market. That natural cynicism has led some to incorrectly assume that farmers and growers are riskaverse, but nothing could be further from the truth. It isn’t an aversion to technology – grow ers are willing to accept tech nology if it is easy to use and consistently delivers meaningful value to them.
DID YOU KNOW Agtech could save the Aus tralian agricultural industry $4b in weed control and lost production ?
TECHNOLOGY FOR GROWERS
At The Yield , our first em ployee followed growers around for months, carefully observing their behaviours and frustrations through changing seasons, growth stages and weather, and the impact these events had on their businesses, employees and families. Once this vital information had been gathered, we could sit down to talk solution design. We then continued to work with the growers to test and refine the product until we got it right. Incidentally, those grow ers have become some of our biggest champions, because they saw how serious we were about understanding their pain points.The lesson for the technol ogy industry is that they need to understand growers in order to solve their problems. We need better technology that’s access ible to growers and products need to be intuitive, easy to use andRealreliable.transformation takes time and is more about the people who use the technology than the technology itself. Which is why people, and the real problems they experience, must always be at the heart of what technology does. Technology is how we can achieve transformation. People will always be why.
Interested in the changes tech is making in crop science? Click here to read our case study on the latest innovation from CSIRO
In the past few years, some technologists have struggled to understand what it is that growers really want or need. But solving real world problems for growers is the only way our technology, and any new agtech developments, can be sustain able and successful. Growers are busy people with a unique com bination of pressures, so any new technology also needs to be fast, easy and user-friendly. Most of all, it needs to benefit growers.
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MODERN FARMING: THE IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES
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DIGITAL AGRICULTURE: TECHNOLOGY MAKING LIFE ON THE LAND EASIER In the coming decades, agricul tural robots will play a vital role in helping farmers manage the daily operation of farms. Jobs Research for this article was contributed by:
Digital technology promises to increase profits, reduce yield un certainty and improve quality of life on the land by reducing the farmer’s workload. The emer gence of broadband and greater digital access is also making the bush a more accessible and at tractive place to live for city folk. The new digital economy allows people to generate income re motely and provides greater flex ibility and access to services and infrastructure. Digital technology and autonomous machinery are reducing the barriers of living on the land that have deterred many from farming life. Cities are becoming too expen sive and too congested, while regional areas are getting muchneeded infrastructure improve ments. Essentially, the lifestyle advantages and appeal of city living are starting to dwindle, while rural living is becoming more attractive. As opportunities grow for people to work in casual positions or work from home, all sorts of city folk could find a prof itable, sustainable and enjoyable lifestyle in the bush.
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
• QUT philosopher and cognitive scientist, Dr Kate Devitt (@skdevitt) QUT Design Lab urban informatics Professor Marcus Foth (@sunday9pm)
What does digital change mean for the bush? This is an important question for both rural and remote communities and city dwellers.
What happens to rural communities if digital technology brings city slickers to the land?
Digital technology has the poten tial to create an agricultural revo lution with hi-tech machinery and better farming. Increasingly, farmers are starting to experi ment with digital and autono mous technology to improve decision-making and reduce the strain of manual labour. For example, soil moisture probes, water sensors, autonomous pumps and irrigation scheduling tools can reduce labour needs and increase flexibility by making decisions more precise. Agtech can reduce crop and livestock stress, save water and make decision-making less in volved for farmers. Robot pickers can harvest and load goods into autonomous refrigerated trucks. A product’s origin can now be re corded using digital fingerprint technology on each piece of fruit or bale of cotton, giving farmers and their families much-needed peace of mind. However, all this digital change can mean farmers need to reskill and hire different sorts of consultants, contractors and staff.
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the australian farmer 31 like weeding, fertilising and controlling pests and diseases will be standard operation, and the robots will also collect vast amounts of data to further im prove farm management. AgBot II is an innovative solar-powered agricultural robot prototype fully designed and fabricated by QUT researchers and engineers with significant co-funding from the Queensland government. AgBot II forms part of a new generation of crop and weed management machinery, in tended to work in autonomous groups across both broadacre and horticultural crop manage ment applications. The robot’s cameras, sensors, software and other electronics enable it to navigate through a field, apply fertiliser, detect and classify weeds and kill weeds either mechanically or chemically, pro viding a tool for farmers to help reduce operational costs and ef ficiency losses. The AgBot II pro vides multiple benefits including improved yield, better soil health and data-driven decisions while allowing farmers to manage their farm remotely (click here to find outButmore).agtech isn’t just about technology, systems and prod ucts. It’s about people and business improvement too. Techsavvy entrepreneurs are seeking agtech accelerators in regional towns. New agtech consulting firms are bringing together farm ers, entrepreneurs, government, investors and corporations to create new economies. Creatives are selling their wares online be side farmers selling their produce direct to global markets. New research into how smart contracts can change the supply chain will also help. One example is QUT’s work with BeefLedger, an industry-led project bringing together design, business, tech nology and food research under the $200 million Food Agility CRC. This world-first project will track beef from the paddock to the plate and protect Australia’s reputation for world-class beef production using blockchain technology.Smallerfarming enterprises are being serviced by more affordable digital technologies such as Platfarm, a program for existing mobile phones or tablets that can access high-resolution spatial data so farmers can make smarter decisions. Custom-made spare parts can be printed cheaply on 3D printers, which could fix plumbing or robot woes
Robots such as ‘Harvey’, the capsicum-picking robot prototype devel oped by QUT researchers, will play an increasing role in farm production
32 DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY in remote areas. Fences won’t need repairing anymore, because they’ll be virtual.
CITY SKILLS COME TO THE COUNTRY Farming enterprises are changing, and some Australian farmers are upscaling. These lar ger enterprises need strategic thinkers, operations experts and systems managers to manage huge agricultural production, manufacturing and distribution centres. With an increase of ur banites heading to the country, regional towns could benefit from a range of new skills. This could include young workers and people skilled in agtech or other digital skills needed for new technologies.Education providers could meet the challenge of training and re-skilling people for future employment as digital agricul ture consultants, agronomists and more. A well-rounded farmer of the future might now have mechanical, strategic, communi cation and digital skills. Career changers whose jobs have been automated due to technology might find new opportunities to suit them in regional areas. Due to digital connectivity, global geographical barriers start breaking down – which influence the basic decision of where people decide to live. In the past, many people may have felt forced to live in major urban areas to achieve their profes sional ambitions. However, it is now increasingly possible to stay plugged into the business world from almost any location that of fers an internet connection. This could even mean an influx of for eigners attracted to Australia’s outback.
THE SHIFT TOWARDS REGIONAL AREAS
Major capital cities in Australia such as Sydney and Melbourne are some of the most expen sive places to live in the world. Well-known Australian futurist and demographer Bernard Salt agrees that “city folk are heading to country and coastal towns in search of a better lifestyle”, lead ing to a new social trend. One in six Australians (16 per cent) are unhappy with their cur rent lifestyle due to work com mute times, and it’s estimated about 400,000 Aussies have al ready made changes by choosing to work from home. This trend is predicted to grow to include more than a million workers within the next decade and has given rise to the ‘lifestyle town’. These com munities have more affordable real estate, scenic views, plenty of space and/or a potentially slower pace of life. Baby boomers have been the leading demographic group behind this lifestyle choice, but this new life model could clearly have broader appeal. In the past, many of the bar riers to living in rural areas have been issues such as poor inter net connectivity and a lack of infrastructure, but this is slowly changing. Also, if rural areas grew in population, then hos pitals, schools, universities and infrastructure would follow. Cheaper house and land prices could reduce the pressure for both parents to work just to keep a roof over their family’s heads. Car and equipment ownership may become optional because people will be able to just tap on their phone and order an agricul tural robot to help on the farm or a driverless car to transport them into town. Equipment can be shared between farms. Parents get to watch their kids grow up in the great outdoors while tracking their goats and cows. The next generation see STEM in practice in the field educating them about farming as a career, and new health initiatives will reduce the risks of living remotely. Finally, new models of sustainable living can guide both urban and rural communities to live sustainably and cooperatively with the land.
CAN CITY DWELLERS ADAPT TO COUNTRY LIFE? Life in the bush is different from the city. Sparse, geographically DID YOU KNOW Agbots could reduce a farm’s annual expenditure on prod ucts such as insecticides, herbicides and fertilisers up to 40 per cent ?
The challenge is for policy-mak ers to ensure that local popu lations are supported to learn the skills to contribute to any digital transformation and are included as stakeholders for digital infrastructure change and job opportunities in the bush. City folk can bring their big ideas, but they’ll need the wisdom of those who’ve lived on the land for generations to make sustainable and thriving communities. The opportunity is for regional, rural and urban policy makers to embrace an ecological democracy for a sus tainable Australia.
used to combat mental health issues in rural areas
the australian farmer 33 dispersed populations embody values of care, service and community that can be very different to the values of city dwellers. In the city, residents expect services to be available when they need them, rather than expecting to fix infra structure or urgent problems themselves. On the flip-side, in rural communities, people expect to know your business. Much of the time this helps the communities to connect folks when they need help. Some times it means a lack of privacy, thus the potential for judgment, or worse, being ostracised. So, what happens if city folk start moving in big numbers to the bush? Will country values be lost?As Australia gets more regional communities, there will be shifts to community values that incorporate both remote and city living. Digital and physical connectedness within communities and their distance from cities may mean that regional communities con tinue to foster and maintain bush values despite techno logical, economic and lifestyle changes.
FIND OUT MORE This article was partly inspired by the Australian Farm Insti tute’s ‘ Digital Farmers: Bringing AgTech to Life’ Conference in June QUT’s2018.Institute for Future En vironments studies how our natural, built and virtual en vironments interact, change and converge, to find ways to make them more sustainable, secure and resilient. being
CAN REGIONAL TOWNS MANAGE THE DIGITAL TRANSITION? There are great risks that technol ogy could increase inequality and deepen segregation if digital dis ruption is not managed through good government policies for regional Australia. Many Aus tralian regional cities and towns have struggled in a post-indus trial economy filled with fastpaced technology change and digital disruption. Early exam ples of regional cities adopting metropolitan urban policies have not resulted in the promised eco nomic development and regional prosperity. If anything, pushing urbanisation and gentrification without paying attention to the specific circumstances of region ality will lead regional towns into a similar urban crisis as their city counterparts. CONCLUSION The rise of agtech and increas ing digital and autonomous technologies might entice city folk to leave the hustle and bustle and move to more rural and remote areas. Regional economies could benefit from new residents equipped with 21st century digital skills and a willingness to embody country values. However, there is a risk that vulnerable rural popula tions will be further disadvan taged by a digital revolution.
Back ContentstoDownloadPDF DID YOU KNOW One in six Australians (16 per cent) are unhappy with their current lifestyle due to work commute times ? Click here to read our profile on how text messaging technology is
34 2 MachineryandAutomation Salah Sukkarieh from the University of Sydney on the robotic systems coming soon to a farm near you Gary Northover of the Tractor and Machinery Association speaks about the impact of automation on the industry Drones in agriculture: what farmers need to Anknowinterview with Herby Whyte of Landpower on the impact of technology on farm machinery
The Warrs’ use of this technology reflects one of their guiding principles of business - to harness whatever tools are available to build a profitable and sustainable farm for the next generation, in cluding daughter Zoe, 11, and son Rhys, 10.
GROWING BUSINESS
“We had extremely hot weather and the winds were blowing more than 100 km per hour,” Brett said. “We had just finished our seeding then we were hit with that storm. We had to rethink our planting program and, pretty much, start again.”
Brett and Kirrilee Warr
The husband and wife team, based near Yuna in the northern region of Western Australia’s grainbelt, believe their Agnire Farming operation has faced more climate variability than their forebearers ex perienced in a lifetime. However, the pair has taken each challenge in their stride to continue on their path of building a sustainable farming operation.
An example of this was in May last year when they faced a once-in-a-lifetime storm that tore across their 8000 ha mixed-grain operation. It was a harsh blow made all the crueler for its timing given it hit just as the Warrs wrapped up their wheat and lupin planting program. For 12 hours, Brett and Kirrilee endured the sound of re lentless, dry, gale-force winds.
challengesclimatetoapproachnimbleFarming’sAgniretackle AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY
Always eager to learn from challenges, the pair then used the John Deere ActiveYieldTM technology installed across their fleet of John Deere equip ment to collate data on their crop’s performance, post storm, during that year’s harvest.
Agnire Farming was established in 2009, when third-generation farmers Brett and Kirrilee secured 5100 ha through a family succession plan. The country was a slice of the family farm Brett was raised on, so he was well-accustomed to pro duction on the deep, sand-on-gravel soils and 360 mm average annual rainfall of the property.
In 2010 Agnire’s maiden crop was harvested, an event which coincided with the birth of Zoe. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Kirrilee used her maternity leave to take control of moulding the
In their first decade of farming together, Brett and Kirrilee Warr have overcome a series of unprecedented seasonal challenges with grit, flexibility and a clever use of technology.
In keeping with their willingness to adapt and to capitalise on opportunities, Agnire Farming joined the John Deere family about six years ago with the pur chase of a John Deere S680 Combine Har vester. Their machinery shed now houses an 8R Large Row Crop Tractor, 9R and 9RX Tractors, and a S780 Harvester.
About six years ago, Agnire Farming updated its fleet of machinery with modern John Deere equipment.
JOHN DEERE EDGE
“Machinery has to be fit for purpose.”
“Our changeover from another colour to green has come in rapid fashion, but that’s because the technology is matching the work we are doing,” Kirrilee said.
“We have come to understand parts of our farm need improving. We are keen to look closer at the biomass and soil struc tures and use data to trial how we can best maximise that land’s potential.
“We both play to our strengths – I think you have to,” Kirrilee said.
achievement knowing you have trusted and reliable people who feel what you feel and love farming as much as we do.”
“The back-up support we receive from our John Deere dealer here in Geraldton is crucial,” Brett said. “Everything in farming comes down to timing and we only have small windows to do everything we want to do as efficiently as we can. If we have a machine parked, not doing what it’s meant to do, then it costs us money.”
NEXT GENERATION
“It also took us a while to identify the people we needed in the rest of the team, but we did eventually find them and we can only do what we do because of their contri bution.“It’san
“There are areas of our farm we could perhaps regenerate, which would give the opportunity for the next generation to take over, if it’s what they wish to do.”
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The decision to switch to a green fleet was driven by Kirrilee’s sharp business mind and a John Deere demonstration organised by their local dealer for Brett on the farm.
The industry-leading service guarantee of fered by the Warrs’ local dealer was another feature which sealed the deal for them to join John Deere according to Brett.
Both Kirrilee and Brett believe the use of precision agriculture and on-farm data will help pave the way for a sustainable future for the next generation. Using John Deere technology and equip ment, in conjunction with historical data, the Warrs are primed to battle whatever the climate throws at them next, and con tinue on their journey for long-term sus tainability.“Attheend of each harvest, we crunch the numbers and are able to see what worked and what was a waste of our time,” Kirrilee said.
It’s not just the human workforce which has evolved since the inception of Agnire –so too has the fleet of workhorses.
the australian farmer 37 business side of the enterprise, while Brett hit the Now,paddocks.tenyears later, the farm has ex panded by about 3000 ha and has two fulltime employees on the books, but Brett and Kirrilee’s roles within the business have remained unchanged.
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Field robotics promises benefits to farmers in the form of con tinuous monitoring, precision information acquisition, input cost reduction, reduction in their own time labouring, exter nal labour savings and improve ments in yield and minimisation of yield variability. This recent adoption has also been facilitated by the reduction in computing, sensing and actu ation costs, making it cheaper and easier to have on-farm ro bots. The capability of sensors is growing, and when coupled with recent advances in artificial intelligence, modern sensors are providing farmers with health and growth prediction esti mates down to the individual plant and animal level, and in real time. This gives farmers the information they need to make precision decisions.
ROBOTS IN THE PRESENT Robotic platforms such as RIPPA (Robot for Intelligent Percep tion and Precision Application) are now solar electric, provid ing green alternatives to onfarm platforms and the ability to self-charge and operate over long periods of time. RIPPA, de veloped by Sydney University’s Australian Centre for Field Ro botics (ACFR) in collaboration with Horticulture Innovation Australia, is a useful example of what can be done in a relatively
The nearsoonsystemsroboticcomingtoafarmyou
By Professor Salah Sukkarieh, Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at The University of Sydney
AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY
Australia has a proud history in the research, development, commercialisation and operationalisation of field robotic systems. Field robots are outdoor mobile platforms that need to operate all day, in dull, dirty and/or dangerous conditions. We see examples of these in the air, on the ground and underwater. Our wide land and relatively small population mean that our mining, aviation, logistics and infrastructure industries have been great supporters, funders and beneficiaries of field robotic systems. These systems have helped them deal with difficult environment and business operational con ditions, while also advancing their international competi tiveness.Agriculture, although rela tively new to the area of field robotics, has rapidly adopted the technology, benefiting from the investment and experience of other Australian industries.
SwagBot also opens up the possi bility of animal monitoring as there have been extensive dem onstrations of calm behaviour of animals (cattle) around the robot, including the ability to lead the cattle to new pasture areas and to use sensor systems on the robot to remotely detect the health state of an individual animal.
the australian farmer structured environment, such as in row crop applications. The main objective is to straddle the rows and allow for the ‘plug and play’ of a variety of sensor and actuator systems underneath the robot to look at and act on the crops. Current examples of what can be achieved include individ ual crop detection, weed classifi cation, directed spray targeting of crop and weeds and research into individual crop health and yield es timation.
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Click here to watch a video of RIPPA in action PLAY VIDEO
ClickVIDEOhere to watch a demonstration of the Digital Farmhand PLAY VIDEO
Click here to see a video of the first field test of SwagBot PLAY
The ACFR’s Digital Farmhand – also developed with the aid of philanthropic funds – takes ro botics to smallholder farmers all around the world. The focus is on a low-cost entry point, which, although it might not be able to meet all the objectives of the pre vious two robots, can still under take tasks such as intelligent spraying and weeding and crop monitoring. Delivering robust ness at a low cost is the major challenge in the development of this technology. The robot has been trialled on a number of farms across Australia, Indo nesia, Fiji and Samoa, along with a rollout into rural schools to encourage children to take on a digital career in agriculture.
SwagBot , on the other hand, is an all-terrain robot focus ing on unstructured environ ments also developed by the ACFR with contributions from Meat and Livestock Australia and philanthropic funds. This includes hilly and rugged coun try that would be found in the grazing livestock industry, or in tree crop applications where tree density can be problematic with sensing and navigation. The robot has the ability to manoeuvre around obstacles as well as go over them. Current capabilities include pasture monitoring and the detection of shrubs and weeds as well as intelligent spraying.
A further benefit that we will see in Aus tralia, as it continues to be the leader in this technology development and operation, is the opening up of farmable land. Robotic systems can deal with extreme temper atures and weather conditions, operate day and night and do so at millimetre precision. Farmers who have found it hard to expand their operations because of the difficulty in attracting labour to deal with harsh condi tions will find friends in field robots.
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ROBOTS IN THE FUTURE
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Over the next two to five years we will see the introduction of commercial robotic platforms that can be used by consultants and farmers to do tasks such as robotic weeding, intelligent spraying and pest de tection, automatic seeding and, eventually, harvesting. These systems will allow for better management of the land because of the precision they provide, the reduction in chemicals they allow and the significant improvement in yield they will deliver.
Within the decade, many farmers will be in a position to own their own robotic plat forms and be capable of commanding them to do various tasks around the farm. The Digital Farmhand is one such case where, over the next couple of years, we will see the rollout of this technology to consult ants and some farmers who will own them. As their usage spreads, within five years they will become as common as drones with the significant added advantage of being able to do physical tasks. More ad vanced robotic systems such as RIPPA and SwagBot will be better suited to large-scale commercial growers who will see them as a significant commercial benefit. The rollout of these robotic systems commercially is expected within the next two years.
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Click here to read about the innovative company creating dairy-farming robots
Simultaneously, we will see major ad vances in robotic technologies because of the robotic building blocks. Faster com puting power and 3D printing will mean more advanced tasks – such as pruning or fruit harvesting – will be done in real time.
Greater sensing capability along with intel ligent robotic arm actuation will deliver the capability of sampling the environment in real time without the need for laboratory testing. Robotic tools will also be able to conduct pest management without the need for chemicals.
“We have had vineyards report seeing vines perk up within a week of installing one, as the flushing away of sodium and chloride in the root zone acts like a rainwater event, and plants pick up rapidly” Paul said. “They can absorb more water and nutrients allowing for the growth of longer, stronger canes, a better canopy and an increase in grape quality and yield.”
“We ask that the Hydrosmart is protected, so it may take time to put a small shed or enclosed area around it so it’s safe from the elements and any animals”, he said. “It will keep working for decades of use and there are no running costs other than $10 in power to operate it yearly.”
Hydrosmart activated water also provides many benefits for livestock of all types. A beef farmer contacted Hydrosmart when they realised their Poll Hereford stock were unable to gain weight on their regular well water. The well ran water with moderately high TDS (7000 ppm) which the cattle were not enjoying. After learning about this technology, the farm ordered a 50 mm Hydrosmart unit to treat the water which was considered low quality for beef cattle. Once installed, the cattle began putting on weight as they drank from the Hydrosmart treated brackish water. “After moving over to Hydrosmart in January, one lamb feedlot in New South Wales observed a 15% weight gain over six weeks”, Paul said. For more information, visit https://www.hydrosmart.com.au
In short, the device softens hard water to improve overall yields. Just like a good overnight rainfall, which can only be gifted by the weather gods, farmers can notice a difference to their crop within a few days.
When asked how and why it works much better than simple static magnets, Paul replied: “By using a computer program that puts out powerful electromagnetic fields in combination with resonance frequencies that are put into water via coils wrapped around the plastic pipe loop giving over 3 meters of contact time and oscillating (activating) water molecules as they pass through. This in turn helps to weaken their bonds and produce a wide range of beneficial outcomes, particularly with highly mineralised, salty, iron or calcium rich sources.”
Call 1300 138 www.hydrosmart.com.au223 ■ Soften hard water for decades on $10 power yearly ■ Clear out scaled pipes, increase flows ■ More effective than magnets by design ■ Grow healthy plants using saline water ■ Healthy stock using hard water ■ No waste streams or decreases in flow ■ Used by farmers, stations, councils, mining companies ■ Scient i f i c ally tested and proven technology ■ Australian Made and Owned for 23 years Salinity, Scale, Iron and hardwater solution BEFOREAFTER
Reflecting back, CEO of Hydrosmart Paul Pearce said they started the company 23 years ago servicing vineyards in South Australia, as the business was surrounded by the many great Australian wine districts. The technology took off and, since then, Hydrosmarts have helped growers from a range of farming sectors including strawberries, broccoli, olives, apples, citrus trees right up to broadacre farms and livestock. They have a field trial currently running on young seedless lemon trees in California using EC 1.1 dS/m (630 TDS) water over the last 12 months. They are measuring tree diameters and heights and applying regularly measured amounts of fertiliser to the trees planted on coarse sandy soil in the desert. The Hydrosmart treated water increased growth a significant 30% the first year. Hydrosmarts have become a mainstay sustainable water technology on many farms and outback homesteads which, of course, rely on well water. From go to flow, the installation process doesn’t take longer than a few hours.
HYDROSMART™ BOOSTS
Hydrosmart’s physical water conditioning system is a simple, sustainable and effective approach to conditioning water. By applying it, farmers get the advantages of using a technology to solve water problems which requires no chemicals, no filters and no maintenance.
ONCE installed, farmers can expect to pay about $10 a year for electricity to power their Hydrosmart. It’s a small price to run a nifty bit of gear that reduces salinity, protects plumbing equipment, increases crop yields and helps fatten cattle faster.
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Michael O’Connor, CEO of Gessner Industries
“We don’t do enough collaboration with farmers because you can never do enough. But we work with them a lot and exchange views, as do our critically important design and engineering team. I believe we teach each other things – differing ways of looking at farming, specific approaches and new ideas. Recently we developed a pasture maintenance tool based on such a relationship, and this will become a regular product in our range. It pays to listen.”
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the australian farmer 43
Interview with Gary Northover, Executive Director of the Tractor and Machinery Association
“I think that’s a bit of an alarmist view, from my experience in the in dustry. We continue to hear stories about how challenging it is to get labour in regional areas, and tech nology can be a solution to this – it tends to take over roles that are either dangerous, dirty or dull. If a farmer needs to use his smarts and be in the field to manage his crop, technology is going to assist him to do that, rather than replace him. But for the jobs that are more mundane or need a low level of farmer involvement, it makes sense to automate that and let the
The Tractor and Machinery Association of Australia (TMA) is the industry peak body for manufacturers, importers and dealers of agricultural tractors and machinery, striving to aid its members by providing relevant information and the resources to grow the agricultural equipment market.
Gary Northover was appointed Executive Director of the TMA in 2016 after a long history in the industry. He spoke to The Australian Farmer about the impact of automation on the machinery industry and the challenges and opportunities the sector faces.
Full automation might still be a long way off, but as tractors and machinery get more and more autonomous, what effect will this have on the industry?
From your perspective, how has the machinery industry in Australia changed in recent years? “The members of the TMA have for a number of years undergone very strong sales growth. While it’s been a very busy time and a very successful time, there have certainly been some significant changes on the product and operation front. To give you an example, we estimate that back in the 1980s there were 25 farms for every tractor sold. We think that’s now more like 15 farms per tractor – so we’ve seen a consoli dation of farming lead to fewer larger customers, which has been balanced by growth in the market for smaller farms. This has meant that dealers have had to adjust to dealing with large-scale, corpor ate farmers in high productivity applications, as well as catering for the growing demands at the smaller end.”
“You’re right in suggesting we’re not really ready yet for the next wave of driverless tractors and robots to replace traditional farming. Having said that, we’ve seen improvements in autosteer and the use of GPS guidance sys tems to assist tractor movement –they’ve been the big features the industry has adopted. And going forward we see more of that oc curring, with enhancements in en gine technology, the use of hybrid technologies and the imposition of engine emissions standards providing new challenges for ma chinery manufacturers.”
Is there a fear in the indus try that the technology on the horizon could overwhelm the farmer?
“That extends to the tech con versation too – it’s not just about delivering the technology and let ting the farmer figure it out, it’s about working with the farmers and understanding their needs and providing technological solutions that complement their needs in a supportive way.”
farmer get involved in more pro ductive activity.”
The farmer is telling us that it’s not just about selling prod uct anymore, it’s about providing support. Quite clearly the dealer is crucial in that relationship. When the farmer is harvesting, he wants replacement parts to be available if something goes wrong, and he wants productive machines that don’t breakdown or require ser vicing at ridiculous intervals. The manufacturers need to provide that and support the dealers who in turn can support and service the farmer’s needs. The industry has gone past the simple products service now, it’s a solutions ser vice that needs to be developed.
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What future challenges do you see changing the way we use tractors and other agricultural machinery?
“ Farms are growing in size and reducing in number, and those farms are therefore ca pable of being more productive
“
DID YOU KNOW Estimates indicate that there will be around 700,000 trac tors equipped with autosteer or guidance sold in 2028, with 40,000 fully autono mous or unmanned tractors sold in 2038 ?
How is the industry changing in terms of the relationship between manufacturers, dealers and customers?
“As to the distribution model for ag machinery in Australia, I don’t think the importance of dealer ships will change any time soon. We’re aware that for different product ranges in different parts of the world, manufacturers have abandoned the dealer model and gone direct, but we’re not see ing that as a likely outcome for Australia. Australia is a very large landmass, and we don’t see a lot of online selling – if a manufac turer wants to sell in Australia, the dealership model is the way to do it.”
to
technologically-advanced
the australian farmer 45 with larger tractors and other pieces of machinery. Also, in creased automation is going to happen – we’ve seen the first driverless tractors make an ap pearance, the use of robotics is increasing and innovations of many varieties will continue as we see their benefits proven. It’s not all happening tomorrow, but that’s certainly going to continue to be a change for the industry.“Oneof the things we con tinue to battle with on a large scale is the infrastructure of connectivity. The industry is capable of producing machines that utilise GPS systems and 4G or 5G networks, but we need the infrastructure to support that. That’s been lacking, and the NFF in particular have been very vocal about that for a long time.
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A lack of connectivity is acting as a bit of a handbrake on product development and adoption in Australia.” here read about Massey Ferguson’s innovative and combine harvester
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The drone – or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – itself is simply a platform that offers particular advantages over other overhead imagery and sensing options, such as satel lites and manned aircraft. The main advantages of drones are their relatively low cost to own and operate, their ability to fly under clouds and their capacity to survey as often as required. Before bringing drone tech nology into the farm manage ment suite, there are two important considerations to think about: • The application, that is, ‘what information do I want the drone to collect?’ and ‘what tasks do I want the Article courtesy of the Society for Precision Agriculture Australia (SPAA)
AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY
Farmers, agricultural consultants and researchers have taken a great interest in drones over the past few years. Agriculture continues to be one of the major growth sectors for the drone industry, fuelling the development and release of drone systems tailored specifically to agricultural applications.
Drones in ag: what farmers need to know
The ability to gain an aerial view of the farm has changed the way that Joe and Jess Koch monitor their crops. Their drone has become a pivotal part of their suite of precision ag tools.
In 2008 a number of growers in the region, including Joe, were involved in developing a real-time kinematic (RTK) base station to service the farm ers in the local area. There are now over 55 farmers using the service. The RTK signal is re peatable and accurate to 2cm, allowing the Kochs, like many other farmers, to adopt autos teer. It has also allowed interrow sowing for improved trash flow and seed placement. They started yield mapping in 2009, and in 2010 added variable rate capability to the air cart.
“The drone has proven its value by giving instantaneous, relevant information and sav ing time when inspecting crops andThemustering.”Kochsuse their drone in a number of different ways to monitor and assess their crops, livestock and farming assets:
the australian farmer 47 drone to perform?’ • The platform (type of drone) and accessories such as camera and sensors.
The Kochs crop 1,800 hec tares of cereals and pulses at Booleroo and Georgetown in the Mid North of South Australia with Joe’s parents. Their crop rotations are based around cer eals including wheat and bar ley, while they also grow peas, beans, canola, lentils and a small amount of hay. They also run 1,200 fine wool merinos on non-arable hills and stubbles.
“The drone we use has al lowed us to visualise the im pacts of soil variability from above,” says Jess. “Although we don’t process photos from the drone, we are able to see very clear correlations in crop performance when comparing them to soil maps.”
DRONES IN ACTION
The Kochs are currently on their second ‘Phantom’ drone, which Jess says is a relatively inexpensive piece of technol ogy for the benefit it provides. Joe and Jess haven’t attached any aftermarket sensors to the drone (such as NDVI), as they employ SATAMAP data. The Kochs have found the Phantom 3 Advanced model easy to use and“Thisfoolproof.model has a GPS hom ing device, meaning it will re turn home if the battery is low,” says Jess. “It has an improved gimbal, meaning the video quality is far smoother. We also have the ability to use an app called Drone Deploy, which means we can set a flight path and record an RGB map if we wish.”“Initially we felt we the drone may struggle to give an economic pay back,” says Joe. “We knew it would probably be handy, but didn’t realise just how many uses it would have and how many things we would pick up with it throughout the growing season.
Since Joe came back on the farm in 2007, and Jess finished an Agriculture degree at Rose worthy College, both have developed a keen interest in precision agriculture and have employed as many technolo gies as possible. Jess is also the current President of SPAA, and has recently started her own precision agriculture business, Breezy Hill Precision Ag Servi ces, providing consultancy in map processing and analysis.
• Monitoring canola matur ity: According to Joe, when DID YOU KNOW The global market for agri cultural drones is expected to hit US$2.9 billion by 2021 ?
A comprehensive factsheet has been produced by the So ciety for Precision Agriculture Australia (SPAA) with technical information to assist with your understanding of these con siderations. It is also important for users to stay abreast of any updates to rules and regulations in operating your drone, which you can do via the Civil Aviation Safety Authority website or by the ‘Can I fly there’ app on your mobile device.
DID YOU KNOW Thermal cameras on drones can be used to detect leaks and determine if crops are getting too much or too little water ? it comes to precision agri culture, the tools don’t need to be scientific or analytical to be helpful, and the drone has been particularly useful when assessing the maturity of canola crops. In the photo below, it is clear that canola maturity on the Kochs’ prop erty has followed soil type. Although no variable action took place from this informa tion, it gives a far better indi cation of the flowering stage throughout the entire crop when compared to assessing from the ground.
• Checking chaff spread: In 2016, the Kochs invested in a ‘MAV chopper’ – a piece of equipment designed to im prove the accuracy and width of chaff spread. “We have been able to adjust the set tings on the chopper by put ting the drone up in the sky,” says Jess. “This is far quicker than making little adjust
• Finding and counting stock: The Kochs’ Georgetown property has undulating land which lends itself to grazing stock. The drone has been useful in this type of country for two reasons. Firstly, the aerial view above the stock makes it quicker and easier to find them in creeks and gullies. Secondly, the Kochs have also been looking in to the merit of a stock counting app from aerial photos. The images from the drone will make the automatic stock counting possible.
48 AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY
As the technology progresses, Jess and Joe will continue to strive for even more uses for the drone.“There are so many develop ments with drones, many that could have a place in our farm ing business,” says Jess. “We will keep an eye on selective summer spot spraying, stock counting and managing weed infestations more effectively, and perhaps one day we will be able to spread pasture seed on our non-arable hills using a drone.”
the australian farmer 49 Back ContentstoDownloadPDFclick here to read about how farmers are using city sewerage to boost farm production
DID YOU KNOW Farmers in New Zealand and Ireland have been using remote-controlled drones to herd their sheep and cattle over long and difficult terrain ?ments one by one and trying to interpret their effect from the ground.”
• Assessing slug/snail damage: Slug and snail damage is clearly visible from the sky. Joe and his father Rob ert were suspicious that the slugs preferred the cracking soil types. “It would be use ful to compare these affected patches to an EM38 or pH map to look for correlations,” says Joe. “Perhaps in the fu ture we could selectively bait with this knowledge.”
“That’s right. Hand planting and harvesting potatoes requires lots of labour and that was the limiting factor for any one grower. During the 1960s the first mechan ical planters and harvesters were available in Europe but restrictions imposed by the government of the time prohibited importation. After years of constant representation to the authorities we were able to import the necessary machinery to enable us to scale up the produc tion volume, thus allowing huge improvements in efficiency and
Herby Whyte was not born into farming, but drawn to it through boyhood experiences driving tractors for contractors. As a young adult he first leased land and eventually bought 1,000 acres in New Zealand, a property he maintained for 30 years, raising potatoes, rotation crops, cattle and deer. His quest for increased efficiency led him to import harvesting equipment, an exercise which grew over decades into the now well-known and trans-Tasman Landpower/Claas Harvest Centre business. At 73 Herby maintains an invigorating vision of the future of farming, the impact of technology and the importance of continual learning!
“In simplest terms, you’d have to think about how and where to find knowledge, how much more of it there is these days and how much more effort we had to put in to seek it back in the 60s and 70s. It was much more difficult to gain information, of just about any kind, back then. And the difficulty of importation was immense with a great deal of red tape – you knew the local machinery industry was being protected.” Even if a particular machine you might want had no direct equivalent being manufactured in New Zealand or Australia? “Even if there were no machine to duplicate it, that’s right. In any case it took an enormous amount of work, and cost, to import farm machinery.”
It seems that is an argument against protectionism. But is this how you started out, as a farmer seeking higher productivity in harvesting your potatoes?
Interview with Herby ChairmanWhyte, Landpowerof
Agriculture has changed a fair bit since you started out… how would you describe it generally?
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AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY
“My greatest belief in education is that you will do it all your life, so if a school or university has a pri mary purpose it is teaching people how to learn. I can’t judge individ ual institutions particularly, but I can judge farmers and we have some very smart, well-educated ones in New Zealand, in the dairy and cropping industries in particu lar. And if someone has the ability to learn and the hunger for know ledge, this is going to lead to innov ation, certainly. Self-education is the reality though, isn’t it? People need to go to seminars, read, ask questions, keep at it and enjoy it.” What advice would you give to young farmers about their career path?
Click here to read about Titan Australia’s custom manufacturing capability DID YOU AgriculturalKNOWrobots and drones are predicted to be a US$35 billion industry by 2038 ?
“Look at things very carefully. Take risks, but make them calcu lated. Ask yourself, ‘what do I need to learn now?’. Speak to people, learn from others. This is espe cially true when raising capital. Remember your financial backers are interested in the return they re ceive but their main interest is your ability to repay or the return of the funds. With anything new you try you need to take your time and experiment in order to determine whether they are ideas or actual developments.”
As to autonomous vehicles, when do you think they will begin to become mainstream, say in the advanced stage of early adoption? “Five to seven years for broad acre operations, but for smaller operations machines will probably always have operators. It depends of course on the sector and the particular vehicle or implement – some will take longer, perhaps sprayers as a category. Broadacre farms will be among the first as the benefits are more obvious and im mediate – that sector will be a high point. But the point that brings au tonomous vehicles and precision farming together, the real point of interest here, is data.
the australian farmer 51 protection from the risk of bad weather. What advice would you give farmers about risk?
“There is a lot of opportunity in farming if you get it right. I think young farmers should think care fully about what their real passions are and follow them. They should look at the market generally and at new markets – today there are more choices as to crops and dif ferent avenues in and around agriculture to grow in. There are no better tools for choice than fol lowing your passion and balancing that with some sound thinking, in this case about markets.”
“I wish I could live another 150 years to see what will happen with all this data! We have a huge amount now, it’s just the begin ning and is something to em brace and get excited about. Even though – and we should admit this – we have little clue what most of this data is really going to mean, at least not yet. We need to work through it. It’s inevitable that it will be of great importance and useful ness, even though we shouldn’t expect to fully know every possible use for it now. The future of it all is in making this data work for the farmer through precision farming and with autonomous vehicles.”
What is your opinion of the state of agricultural education today?
What is your definition of pre cision farming? “That’s a big one, so let me divide it into two parts. On the machine part, with the rise espe cially of autonomous vehicles, we are talking about the ability to free up time and let machines do the work, almost certainly with a higher degree of accuracy than a person can achieve. On the human part, it comes down to more ac curate or more optimal levels of fertiliser or pesticide application, seeding times, maximal cropping times and a number of thinking actions to decrease waste and in crease yield. That’s a simple com pact answer to a big subject which is about man-machine interaction and a number of related sciences, techniques and practices.”
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52 3 PracticeinInnovation
IDEAL combination of efficiency, technology and comfort is a game changer
54 INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
In 2011, Massey Ferguson set out to revolutionise the combine harvester with a completely new design – the first from a major manufacturer in over a decade. After eight years of R&D and close consultation with farmers across the globe, the result is the IDEAL combine: high capacity, technologically-advanced, fuel efficient and sporting some of the lowest costs per hectare coupled with world-renowned reliability. In developing the IDEAL, Massey Ferguson knew that collaboration with farmers would be the key to creating a successful new combine. The company conducted surveys all around the world – not just with previous Massey Ferguson customers, but users of competing machines as well – to gain a better understanding of what farm ers wanted from their machines. This was
The IDEAL combine was designed in collaboration with farmers from across the globe • It has the largest threshing area, biggest grain tank and fastest unload rate of any combine harvester on the market
As a result of this extensive farmer in volvement, the IDEAL comes with a number of features that make it the top of the class among combine harvesters. It carries the biggest grain tank on the market (capable of holding 17,100L of grain) and despite this added capacity, the IDEAL is one of the most fuel-efficient combines in the world – vital for the vast expanses of Australian farmland.TheDual Helix double rotors provide the biggest threshing area in the industry at 1.66m2 and improvements to the unloading auger give the IDEAL the fastest unload rate, with the 17,100L grain tank capable of emptying in a scarcely-believable 84 seconds.Added to this are new engines to provide increased horsepower, additional creature comforts in the cab, track options to pro vide a lighter footprint and self-adjusting technology that is customisable for differ ent outcomes from the combine, such as faster speed or improved grain quality. Dif ferent to anything else on the market, the IDEAL is truly a revolutionary update for the combine harvester.
the australian farmer 55 followed up by extensive analysis in differ ent conditions worldwide, with the IDEAL tested across more than a dozen different crops in four different states in Australia.
“We discovered that in our region, tech nology was very important to farmers –they wanted fully integrated guidance, full yield mapping and automation on the machines,” says Fergal Meehan, Director of Marketing for Massey Ferguson Australia and New Zealand. “I guess that reflects how immersed we are in tech in Australia.”
“This is the first machine in quite a few years where we’ve started from scratch with a clean sheet design and really used the voice of the customer to design the ma chine,” says Fergal. “That’s why it’s such a game changer – it’s driven by the customer, not the manufacturer.” KEY BENEFITS
PlayContentsCompanyInfoBacktoDownloadPDFEmailCompanyVideoClick here to see specifications of the three IDEAL models PRODUCT SPECS
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INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
With the backing of parent company Titan Inter national – a supplier of tyres, tracks and wheels to OEM markets globally – Titan Australia has be come the leading provider of tyres, tracks, wheels and axles in Australia. In recent years, the com pany has leveraged its manufacturing expertise to expand its offering and supply custom fabrication and parts for agricultural machinery. Key to this capability is the company’s manu facturing hub in Mildura, which features a 5,500 square metre production space and the latest hardware and software to meet high standards of fabrication and design. The facility is staffed by a group of 30 experts with a vast knowledge of agri cultural productions and the experience in spe cialised manufacturing to meet any requirements. This local expertise and knowledge on the ground enables Titan to build components that are made to last in the uniquely tough Australian farming conditions – a critical feature of any piece of agricultural equipment in this country.
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You might know Titan Australia for its expertise in tyres, wheels and axles, but the company also excels in the engineering, design and fabrication of components for any agricultural machinery. For two Australian machinery companies, assistance in manufacturing from Titan has made a world of difference.
F or spraying equipment manufacturer Crop lands, Titan’s engineering expertise in wheels, tyres and axles is crucial to the performance of Titan: more than just a tyre company
Click here to read about Titan’s innovative Low Sidewall tyre technology INFORMATION
“Rather than just viewing Titan as a sup plier, we work with them on the design as pect of our requirements and really utilise their expertise in machinery – it’s a very collaborative process.”
“Titan have been generous on the manufacturing cost in order to establish themselves as a long-term partner for us,” says Toomey Earthmovers Project En gineer Damien Toomey. “As a company, we’re positioning ourselves to supply a much larger volume of product in the near future, and the partnership with Titan en ables us to be ready when the time comes and double or triple output with ease.” their finished sprayers. The two compan ies partner together in the development and design of new products that are spe cifically suited to the Australian farming landscape.
Toomey had been using Titan wheels, tyres and axles from day one, but the rela tionship between the two companies has grown in recent years to include Titan’s fabrication. The advantage for Toomey is that Titan manufactures parts to stock rather than to order, allowing the small company to meet order requirements quickly amid fluctuating demand.
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Another local company thriving with Ti tan’s assistance is Toomey Earthmovers, which designs and manufactures special ist graders for earthmoving. For Toomey, Titan provides machine components and fabrications that make up around 40 per cent of the finished graders.
LINK KEY BENEFITS •
“Titan’s capability in terms of supplying and sourcing all over the world is the key thing for us, and coming with that is the consistency of the components they use,” says Croplands Operation Manager David Tiu. “For us to take our machinery to an other fabricator or build it in house isn’t easy – we already source all our wheels from Titan, so it’s logical for us to take it to them to do the whole package.
While a recognised leader in tyres, wheels and axles, Titan Australia can also manufacture and fabricate custom parts for any agricultural machinery The company’s engineering capability and international expertise makes it perfectly suited to meet any farming need
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the australian farmer 57
The agtech boom of recent years has improved not just farm management, but also the insurance provided to farmers. Allianz – in partnership with its crop and forestry insurance business, Primacy – is using technology to offer insurance products that are more expertly tailored to the needs of Australian farmers.
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Advances in agricultural technology are increas ingly changing the way farmers operate. So, too, are they changing the value of insurance to farm businesses. Allianz and Primacy are capitalising on the agtech boom by improving their insurance products and processing claims more accurately and quickly – to the significant benefit of their farming
To do so, Allianz and Primacy have partnered with technology providers to not only improve their own products and services, but also provide tools that will improve the productivity and effi ciency of their farming customers. Technologies such as satellite imagery and drones are being utilised to set risk premiums and more accurately assess claims and lower the cost of assessment. Primacy’s partnership with satellite imagery providers gives customers
“Farmingcustomers.knowledge passed down from gen eration to generation can be quickly validated through the use of farm management software which maps and monitors crops,” says Brett Wil liams, Head of Regional and Rural Insurance at Allianz. “Our challenge in the insurance industry is to use this technology to deliver the best and most accurate outcome for the farmer.”
Allianz harnesses power of agtech to insuranceimprove
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
the australian farmer 59 collation of data, which has significant im plications for farmers and insurers alike.
world-leading crop satellite imagery tech nology to help manage their farms and re duce“Werisk.were recently able to quickly and accurately assess a claim using satellite imagery to help a cotton grower in New South Wales manage their crop, particu larly with the use of water after a claim had occurred,” says Marcus Pearl, CEO of Primacy. “In partnership with our loss adjustors we also use drones in our claim assessment – a recent example was in mapping out hail damage to a forestry business, which is traditionally very diffi cult to do using the human eye.”
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For further information, please contact your local broker
Customers may not see this technology in action, but they benefit from the im proved service. The use of agtech allows Allianz and Primacy to reduce the cost of insurance and provide a better value product, with real-time status updates and more accessible customer service for claimants.“Technology not only allows us to set tle the claim more accurately and fairly, but it also enables us to quickly access the damaged area and progress the claim accordingly,” says Brett. “In the past, it might’ve taken weeks for the loss asses sor to access a remote property – now with satellite and mapping technology, we can start working on a claim almost immediately.”Andastheagtech landscape is constantly changing, Allianz and Primacy are cognisant of the need to stay up-to-date in order to ensure their insurance products continue to meet farmers’ needs. One area where this is particularly important is the collection and
“What will change drastically in agricul ture in the next five years is the ability to analyse data on a much larger scale via ma chine learning and artificial intelligence,” says Marcus. “If you’re monitoring crops and farming operations from seed to soil, that’s quite a big deal – but it’s also a big deal for “Simplyinsurers.put,pricing of insurance prod ucts is based on historical data. Advances in technology and an improved capacity to analyse such data is allowing us to develop more accurate and cost-effective pricing models, products and services for farmers.”
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In order to inform these crucial decisions about crop nutrition and pasture management, De cipher uses advanced satellite imagery combined with ground-truthing data taken from soil and plant samples. While it may sound like compli cated technology, the key to the award-winning
Giving farmers the power to Decipher crop nutrition
By 2050 the world will need to produce around 70 per cent more food to feed a population of nearly 10 billion people. The biggest challenge for the agricultural industry will be to increase productivity despite limited available land – thus making technologies that can improve efficiency and increase yield integral to the future of farming. Australian company Decipher is aiming to play a significant part in helping farmers meet this challenge.
Launched in 2017 as a part of the Industrials Div ision of Wesfarmers, Decipher is an easy-to-use de cision agriculture platform that provides powerful nutritional insights to farmers. Decipher allows farmers to see crop variability, compare and track growth performance, create sample nutrition plans and organise information about the land through management zones. The platform integrates cut ting edge spatial technology from Google and Microsoft, remote sensing and big data analytics to provide farmers with a wealth of information about their crops.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
the australian farmer 61 opportunities that agtech could deliver to farmers in the near future.
“At the moment, satellites are providing weekly updates to Decipher at about 10m to 30m pixel resolution – but what could farmers do with that data if they got up dates every half an hour at 15cm? That’s the vision for the Decipher software going forward: to be a toolbox that can unlock these capabilities and deliver them easily to the farmer.”
“As a start-up business we generally only look 12-24 months ahead, but my role as CEO is to look beyond that horizon,” says Walker. “What is particularly exciting to me is the insights we will be able to deliver to farmers as technology and algorithms im prove and artificial intelligence becomes more mainstream in the sector.
“I want farmers to think of Decipher as a key tool which influences the profitabil ity of their operations, whether they’re farming in Western Australia, Argentina or Sussex,” says Walker. “For us it’s about un locking all the tools that will help farmers make decisions to improve productivity; not just creating another pretty map.”
TESTIMONIALS Click here to try Decipher for free! INFORMATION LINK KEY BENEFITS •
Decipher boils down complex geo-spatial and scientific data to provide a platform that simplifies the soil and crop nutrition process and helps grow farm productivity It is the first time such a detailed level of vegetation analysis and geographical coverage has been made visible and readily accessible to Australia’s agricultural industry
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CompanyInfoBacktoContentsDownloadPDFEmailCompany Click here to read a
With the strength of Wesfarmers behind it, Decipher has the resources and business structure that are the envy of other tech start-ups. This backing allows the com pany to spend time and money perfecting and constantly updating its technology and allows Walker to keep one eye on the testimonial from a WA farmer using Decipher
“The farmer doesn’t have to be an expert in mapping technology or know how to fly a drone – with Decipher they can use the derived information to help optimise yield andWalkerefficiency.”wasappointed Decipher’s CEO in September 2018, tasked with deploying, scaling and growing the software globally.
“We take complex, reliable technology and provide it in a simple-to-use service that farmers can access anywhere and any time,” says Decipher CEO Anthony Walker.
With a rural upbringing and a deep his tory in software development and geo graphic information systems (GIS), Walker is excited to combine his expertise with his farming roots. His vision for Decipher is to deliver to farmers the power to make bet ter decisions, farm more sustainably and, most importantly, improve their yield.
Decipher software is its simplicity for users in bringing farm data to life.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
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The interest-free loans from Woolworths can be used by exist ing organic operations to acquire land, develop new varieties or purchase new equipment, and are also available to help growers con vert conventional farm operations to organic production. Financial grants will also be awarded to pro posed projects with a higher risk profile, such as innovative organic production methods. Through the fund, Woolworths is aiming to not only grow the organic market to 5 per cent of total prod uct sales, but also provide more certainty for customers with yearround supply of organic produce. Farmers will also have contracted purchase volumes, providing them with the certainty of longer-term supply of organic fruit and vege tables to Woolworths.
Woolworths drives the organic boom with $30mil fund
The organic food market in Australia has grown exponentially in the last few years, with year-onyear growth of around 20 per cent. As an early adopter of organic produce, Woolworths accounts for about 60 per cent of the entire organic market. And now the supermarket chain has launched the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund to help meet the growing consumer demand for organic produce. Despite the growth of the organic market in Australia in recent years, there is still room for improvement – organic makes up less than one per cent of overall product sales in Australia. This is in comparison to more developed organic markets overseas, with organic food in the UK comprising eight per cent of totalOnesales.ofthe reasons for the low organic market share in Australia is that there is not enough supply of organic produce to meet con sumer demand. In order to help grow this supply, Woolworths re cently launched the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund – a $30 mil lion, five-year investment fund that will provide interest-free loans and grants to help organic Australian fruit and vegetable growers.“The motivation for the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund is to position Woolworths at the forefront of the organic boom and help the industry to grow,” says Paul Turner, Wool worths Head of Produce. “It’s an industry that is very much in its infancy in Australia and a long way from meeting the level of customer demand.”
funding.”KEYBENEFITS•Woolworths
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The first recipient of the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund is Tasmanian apple grower R&R Smith. Located in the Huon Valley, the com pany is Australia’s largest grower of organic apples and has been supplying these apples to Woolworths Supermarkets since 2006. Investment from the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund has enabled R&R Smith to develop a new organic apple variety. To be developed and marketed in collaboration with Woolworths, the new variety – which will hit Australian shelves in 2023 – has several appe tising properties for consumers.
“To have a ready-made consumer for your product is a very powerful thing,” says Andrew. “The weight that Woolworths gives to the commercialisation and mar keting of the new variety is integral, and nothing says ‘I love what you’re doing’ like
Organic Growth Fund provides investment for Australian growers of organic fruit and vegetables • The $30 million fund will invest in projects both from existing organic farmers and those looking to convert from conventional farming
“It’s crisp and firm, has a great flavour and is an attractive apple,” says Andrew Smith of R&R Smith. “But more importantly from an organic point of view, it’s a great storing apple – meaning we will be able to have great-tasting, crunchy, organic apples in Forsummer!”Andrew, the involvement of Woolworths has made the development of the new variety a reality.
Click here for more info on the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund, including how to apply INFORMATION LINK DID YOU
the australian farmer
WoolworthsKNOWhaspartnered with Queensland-based Heritage Bank on this program, a bank which is com mitted to innovation and sustainable farming practices in Australia. ?
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“We know that without support, there are a lot of hurdles for someone to move into organics or convert from conventional into organic growing,” says Paul. “We think this investment will help people bridge that gap and make the journey to organic farming.”
Brett Williams, Head of Regional and Rural, Allianz Australia
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
“With the global population passing seven billion, the need to secure food production has become more important than ever. Agriculture is a key pillar of the Australian economy and as the frequency and severity of natural catastrophes increases so does the uncertainty for Aussie farmers.
Heritage Bank Limited AFSL and Australian Credit Licence
Heritage Bank is Australia’s largest customer-owned bank and we’re delighted to have been chosen by Woolworths Supermarkets as its partner for the new $30 million Woolworths Organic Growth Fund. The Woolworths Organic Growth Fund has been established to help Aussie farmers meet the growing consumer demand for organic fruit and vegetables.
240984. “
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ForfarmersAustraliansupportingproudlyHeritagemoreinformationvisit
woolworths.com.au/organicgrowthfund
ABN 32 087 652 024.
As a global leader in agriculture insurance, Allianz continues to invest in the ever-changing agricultural sector to protect farmers against unforeseen events. There is no more important time to stand by drought-affected communities as they tackle one of their toughest periods.”
“Conversely, it’s about arming the farmer with a tool to effect a decision-making advan tage that is beyond his or her imagination.”
The world’s food consumption is expected to almost double by 2050 given population growth forecasts and many experts believe that70 per cent of this increase will come from efficiencies found in digital technology.
“The opportunity for Australian agriculture presented by IoT is unlimited,” says Simon. “It’s important, however, to realise that these digital technologies are not intended or ex pected to make the farmer themselves redun dant or less important – a tactile approach to livestock and crops will always be the corner stone of a healthy agriculture industry.
IoT is already proving a highly versatile tool for all agricultural commodities, and its inte gration with blockchain technology and artifi cial intelligence is the key to opening up further gains in yield and efficiency. Some current ap plications of IoT on farm include using the tech nology to monitor water tank levels remotely, measure soil moisture content and temper ature trends, record accurate weather condi tions on and monitor trough and creek levels.
“This makes mass implementation difficult, especially when one innovation often quickly leads, like a virus, to the next innovation.”
While innovation in agriculture is not a new thing, the speed at which digital technology moves in modern society has serious implica tions – both positive and negative – for how we farm.“Historically, major changes in how we farm have happened over hundreds or thousands of years,” says Simon. “In the present digital age and with the unprecedented computing power on offer, however, we’re now looking at an in novation cycle of years or even months.
Fortunately, many of the world’s tech giants – as well as smaller companies – are now work ing hard to make sure the agriculture industry fully capitalises on these advanced technolo gies. The key for these new solutions will be to go beyond delivering sophisticated measure ments across the farm property and find ways to heighten the farmer’s situational awareness and enhance their agricultural management
“IoT connects physical devices such as comput ers, sensors and phones with the internet to de liver farmers unprecedented amounts of data on crop and livestock performance,” says Simon.
the australian farmer 65
“Thesepractices.intelligent and very affordable net worked devices can actually learn and then manage vast amounts of knowledge on a scale no farmer can,” says Simon. “Austral ian farmers ought to be very optimistic and excited about the impact IoT will have on farming productivity and profitability over the next 20 years.”
Simon Blythe, a nationally-recognised entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of award-winning smart farming company Smart Elements, is an expert on the Internet of Things (IoT) and its implications for precision agriculture.
IoT: The Tool Beyond Farmers’ Imaginations Back Contentsto
“Australian farmers generally like to be bet ter than the next farmer, so competition drives them to be more efficient,’ says Simon. “Al though Australia has a strong reputation for precision farming and many of our farmers are willing to try new things, I think we can do better to fully embrace the power of digital technology and maximise our agriculture potential.”
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With the agricultural industry in the midst of an agtech boom, more Australian farmers than ever before are spending significant money investing in IT hardware to ensure their businesses reach their full digital potential. To meet the IT needs of the industry, HP is not only delivering more secure, reliable and durable computers and printers, but also investing in the digital literacy of the next generation of rural Australians
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
THE SPIRIT OF REINVENTION HP’s tagline is ‘keep reinvent ing’, and it’s a motto that is both a mindset for the company and a theme to inspire HP users to take a technological leap and do something new. It is particu larly relevant to the Australian farmer, for whom reinvention is an absolute necessity. When confronted by the threats of drought, fire, climate change, shifting market prices, changing consumer demands and myriad other obstacles, the farmer has to reinvent to survive and thrive. And in a community awash with innovation and new digital tools as the agtech revolution radically changes the way we farm, the Australian farmer also needs to reinvent technologic ally to keep up. To do that, the farmer will require stronger,
IT investment takes on new importance for businessesfarming
the australian farmer 67 faster and more secure comput ers to operate the tools that are changing their business for the better.Given reinvention is the theme HP operates by, it is no surprise that the company’s products are uniquely suited to the Australian farming community. Driven by a focus on security, sustainability and innovation, HP computers are trusted by consumers from all walks of life and made to with stand the toughest conditions. FOR AUS TRALIAN FARMS
DIGITAL HARDWARE
HP devices are designed with mobility in mind, allowing the user the flexibility to work on the go and outside the office. This is particularly important for farm ers who are not only very mobile, but – given their isolation and limited access to support ser vices – need to be able to trust their technology will perform re gardless of conditions.
“We make sure our commer cial gear can meet the environ mental conditions that farmers have to deal with day-to-day, es pecially extreme heat or extreme cold,” says Paul Burman, HP’s Consumer Training Specialist. “Our devices have operating tem peratures – especially in the com mercial space – which far exceed any other piece of technology, designed to function from minus 29 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius.”HP’scommercial devices are also tested for their ability to en dure condensation build-up, salt erosion and sand and dust – im portant features in the harsh Aus tralian outback. The Elitebook range is even built out of an air craft-grade metal alloy, able to withstand frost, extreme heat, direct sunlight and – for the clum sier user – able to survive falls from desk height onto the screen or Inedge.terms of processing capacity and data crunching, HP products are unrivalled. HP’s Workstations range is used by NASA, Disney, “HP’s vision as a company is to try to make life better for everyone everywhere. We’re not creating technol ogy for entertainment, or just to create – we’re trying to find ways we can actually improve human life through technology.” – Mike Boyle, HP Managing Director for the South Pacific
Click here to check out HP’s product range and find the right PC for your farm INFORMATION LINK
And in a dangerous new age where hackers could theor etically destroy digital crop management systems and put food security at risk, security is paramount at HP. It is an area the company specialises in, com mitted to being a leader in secur ity for all devices.
To combat the negative environmental effects of farmers in China burning excess straw, HP made pallets from the straw and used the pallets to ship HP products from China to Australia. Not only did this have a positive environmental result, it also created a market for Chinese Closerfarmers.to home, HP raised awareness about plastic pollution in our oceans by building a giant plastic beast (pictured above) in Circular Quay in Sydney out of singleuse plastic bottles. The company also uses recycled plastic to manufacture printer cartridges.
68 Dreamworks and most of the Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects in the last 15 years.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
Given the importance of agtech to the farm operation – which is only going to increase in the future – farmers need to treat their IT equipment like any other piece of farm machinery. The key Sustainability at home and abroad
While it may not sound relevant at first, the latter fact is surprisingly relevant to farmers – the process of special effects production is actually similar to the computing of agricultural data, in that it in volves crunching vast amounts of data around the clock.
A CASE FOR UPGRADING
“A farmer using our products doesn’t have to wait overnight for something to work and won’t have to waste their own time, especially in time critical appli cations, waiting for the hard ware to catch up,” says Paul. “HP computers can run based on the farmer’s own workflow –they won’t have to worry about the hardware taking too long to complete a process.”
the australian farmer 69 to harnessing the power of agtech is ensur ing you have the hardware that is capable of managing it. If the latest harvester could go through a crop in half the time of your cur rent model, would it be worth upgrading? Recent advances in processing power and battery consumption have meant that even computer models as young as five years old have been left behind. HP’s industry-lead ing Workstations support 3,000GB of RAM, a processing power unfathomable just five yearsAndago.these leaps in performance have been matched by a reduction in price. Five years ago, you had to spend $2,500 for a top-line computer, whereas now a model of similar standing can be purchased for less than“People$1,000.think they have to spend $5,000 for top-line products, but that’s not the case anymore,” says Paul. “It’s not as expensive or confusing as it used to be, and the prod ucts are going to last a lot longer if you buy the right machine.”
Through the fund, HP has committed to investing $500,000 in Australian schools –many of them rural. The focus is on sup porting schools that may not have access to technology or the funds to purchase it, rather than wealthy private schools.
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Schools in Goulburn, Bendigo, Swan Hill and Wauchope have already received funding, and one school in Cairns used the grant to purchase laptops for its indigen ous“Bystudents.giving these grants we’re able to support STEM learning and ensure kids across the country have access to tech nology and the opportunity to undertake software-based learning,” says Dan Henry, HP’s Head of Marketing for the South Pacific. “Ultimately, technology is going to become fundamental to all our jobs in the future, so this is our way to help get our kids ingrained in that technology.”
INVESTING IN THE NEXT GENERATION
HP is also lending its expertise to the next gen eration of farmers through an innovative rural funding program that targets rural schools.
The HP Kids Fund was launched in 2017, sup porting digital literacy in schools around the country by offering grants of $10,000 that can be spent on any HP technology.
“65 per cent of these kids will eventu ally be employed in jobs that haven’t been invented yet. We don’t know what those jobs are going to be, but whether they are in farming or elsewhere we know they’re going to be technical and computer-re lated. We need to make sure we’re getting technology into schools to prepare kids for the jobs of the future.”
Machine learning and connectivity the next challenges for agtech
The Australian Farmer recently spoke with Peter Schmidt, Microsoft Australia Agriculture Industry Specialist, about Microsoft’s role as a key driver of agtech, the current landscape for emerging technology and current agtech trends that will change the future of farming.
By Carla Wong
TAF: How do you think these specific ad vances have changed, or will change, the way that farmers work?
PS: “Where we’re seeing rapid innovation and evidence of success of these technolo gies is in the horticultural sector, where higher
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INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
PS: “Microsoft has been investing heavily in agriculture over the past four or five years, in a few“Theareas.first, is how connectivity is provided. We have an initiative in the US called Micro soft Airband, which uses unused TV frequen cies and parts of the radio spectrum to provide internet connectivity to rural areas. That is something we are looking to get into Australia as “Thewell.
TAF : What is Microsoft currently doing in terms of ag and agtech?
other thing is a huge proliferation of sensors and IoT devices that are collecting data out in the field. The challenge will always be that we never have enough connectivity to process that data. Microsoft has invented ‘edge’ computing which allows you to process or run a machine-learning model on a lowpower device and therefore provide that infor mation without having to connect back to the cloud.“The other two areas are around machine learning and artificial intelligence. Microsoft has a huge team of data scientists working on the algorithms for image analysis, video an alysis and all sorts of data processing. Cloud computing gives you the ability to crunch very large volumes of data in a meaningful way, and process things like images and video in real time. That is helping us to glean new in sights into how animals behave, how crops grow and so on.
“Another big challenge we have is collecting data in a standard way, so we are working with industry bodies on what we are calling our ‘common data’ model. This is our way of bringing data into a standard structure and format. We then aggregate that data across multiple farms and multiple locations. Part of it is about protecting the privacy and security of that data, and developing technology that allows machine learning to run on encrypted data.”
Contentsto
PS: “There’s a lot of interest in automation and robotics and where they can be used to deal with some of the more mundane activ ities. Even processes such as weeding crops, you can potentially do that without the use of chemicals now, using robots. We do quite a lot with satellite and aerial image analysis, and Airbus is launching high-altitude drones that provide real time or near-real time images as well. It allows you to monitor things more closely, and get more meaningful insights.
the australian farmer 71 value crops mean you can invest more in tech nology. For example, if you’re growing some thing like lettuce – which has a two-week life cycle – you can innovate and fine-tune your machine models to a high degree. Likewise, if you’re growing in a shipping container or under controlled lighting, or you can control all aspects of the environment, you’d get a much faster return on that investment.”
“There’s a project that Bill Gates has in vested in with AirBus called EarthNow. They aim to provide coverage for the whole planet with satellites or other technologies to pro vide real time high definition streaming video, and machine learning to interpret data, so you could even spot a bushfire starting or a torna do starting to form.”
PS: “I’ve been involved with agtech for thirty years now. I think the business need is still the same, but we just have better ways of solving the problems. It is three things that bother farmers. One is: ‘how can it solve my prob lem?’, second is: ‘can I see a return on that in vestment?’ and the third one is: ‘can I use this technology?’. It is important to look at tech nologies that farmers can use in a very prac tical way. Again, a lot of them will buy hi-tech machinery with hi-tech sensors and capabil ities, but turn them off or never use them. I don’t think we’re lacking in technology, it’s more the interpretation of data presented to farmers in ways that can aid decision-making.”Back
TAF: What other agtech innovations do you think are on the horizon?
TAF: Is there a fear of overloading on tech? Do you think farmers need more tech? Or do you think we have enough?
The next big change in the industry must centre on delivering rural communities the modern infrastructure services that farmers need to truly thrive.”
“
“With 16 years’ experience as a grazier, I’ve observed significant change in Australia’s agricultural landscape in recent decades. Many jobs simply do not exist anymore given the advent of various advanced farming technologies. We’re also seeing the demise of the family farm as automation is having a significant impact on the employment opportunities open to younger generations.
Col Murray, Mayor of Tamworth Regional Council
Photo courtesy of Karin Robinson
Aussie farmers
“Using Manna, irrigators can tell where they’ve got issues and where water needs are to develop accurate irrigation schedules,” says Greig. “Our al gorithms can, for example, tell you how much water needs to be applied per crop per day for the next seven days.”
“I’ve worked in and managed factories across a number of different countries, and Australia is con sidered one of the most advanced countries in the application of irrigation technology,” says Greig. “And much of that is driven by our geography and issues we have with the environment.”
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
Indeed, Rivulis chose Australia as the first country in which to release its revolutionary new irrigation software, Manna Irrigation Intelligence. The soft ware uses satellite data and hyper-local weather forecasting to provide growers with irrigation rec ommendations that are crop-specific and sitespecific – without the need for on-farm sensors.
Drip irrigation is not a new phenomenon for farmers – indeed, it has been practiced for more than 50 years. However, the technology involved in drip irrigation has evolved in recent years, driven by the need for increased water efficiency. Nowhere is this more relevant than in Australia, and it is no surprise that many farmers are turning to Rivulis – a global leader in drip irrigation – for precise and efficient irrigation solutions.
Rivulis is one of the largest manufacturers of drip irrigation products in the world, with more than 1,000 employees across 25 countries. But accord ing to Greig Graham, Managing Director of Rivulis Australia, our uniquely tough farming conditions put Australian farmers on the cutting edge when it comes to innovation in irrigation.
World-leading irrigation tech for cutting edge
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Click here to see Rivulis’ full product range INFORMATION LINK
fertilisermorecosts due to the efficient applica tion of fertiliser via his new drip irrigation system.“We’re going to see our fertiliser costs decrease as we use less, and we’re using it more efficiently because it’s being applied right at the root zone,” says Rob.
KEY BENEFITS • Rivulis are global leaders in drip irrigation, developing innovative products that offer significant water efficiency savings • Rivulis products range from drip tape and drip line to sprinklers, filters, valves, tubing and much
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Apart from the latest technology, Rivu lis’ drip irrigation expertise naturally extends to the infrastructure itself. The company’s extensive range of drip irriga tion products can not only deliver signifi cant water savings, but is suitable for any farm and can be custom-made to individ ualRobspecifications.Tuck,afourth-generation farmer from Narromine in New South Wales, re cently installed 200 hectares of Rivulis subsurface drip irrigation on his cotton farm to replace existing flood irrigation that was using up to 16 megalitres per hectare.Afterlaying 1.7 million metres of Rivu lis drip line (manufactured in Australia to Rob’s required row length), Rob saw water savings of 50 per cent and a yield increase of 20 per cent in his first year of using drip irrigation. In addition to these advan tages, Rob is also saving when it comes to
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76 Since 1948, Lely has been developing innovative solutions that change work and life on the farm and directly benefit the farmer. From milking and feeding to housing, cleaning and day-to-day operations, Lely offers a range of automated solutions that provide greater flexibility, enhanced efficiency and a better work-life balance – the ideal dairy farmhand.
This has proven true for farmers Phil and Symone Vines, who have four children and manage two dif ferent herds – Holsteins and Jerseys – on two separ ate farms. The decision to install four Lely Astronaut A4 robots came two-and-a-half years ago, when they decided to move their 300 Holsteins to their 250-acre herringbone farm in Simpson in southwest Victoria and move the Jersey cows to another farm.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
Click here to read more about the Astronaut A5’s unique energysaving design INFORMATION LINK
Lely’s latest innovation, the Lely Astronaut A5, has set a landmark in robotic milking for the dairy in dustry, allowing farmers to have complete control of the day-to-day operation of the farm. Its benefits, however, extend beyond the profitable economic outcomes – it also helps produce a superior dairy product through increased milking efficiency, im proves animal welfare and farmer safety and re duces the farmer’s workload, freeing time for a better work and life balance.
A unique dairy farmhand
Click here to find out more about Lely’s innovative robotic solutions for every facet of dairy farming INFORMATION LINK
Milkings sit between 2.1 and 2.4 per day at the farm and Symone says they are up 13 per cent on litre production, 18 per cent on butterfat and 13 per cent on protein in the previous 12 months.
The Vines visited several robotic dairy farms in Gippsland and Tasmania, where they saw first hand the benefits of operating such a farm with Lely’s free cow traffic and auto mated milking system, all managed through the Lely T4C system
“There is a pre-conceived idea that robotic systems take away the human element,” she says. “It doesn’t at all – one machine simply replaces another. We still have plenty of inter action with our cows.
“As soon as we saw the relaxed cows on these farms – cows that basically run the sys tem – we were sold,” says Symone. “The dif ference between the old herringbone dairy and the new Lely dairy is night and day.”
“We know very quickly when she is getting sick and can treat her early – and this has brought our annual veterinary bills down,” says Symone. “Our vet costs in 2016-17 were $16,000. Last financial year, they were $12,500 and this year, we anticipate it to be around $10,000.”
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“The problem with moving the Holsteins to this farm was that the herringbone dairy was at least 50 years old, basic and falling apart,” says Symone. “We had a meeting with the bank manager about a herringbone dairy and were quite embarrassed that he suggested ro botics – embarrassed because we should have considered it ourselves.”
In order to get any data from the old dairy, the Vines needed to herd test, which only pro vided a snapshot of the cow on that particular day. With Lely, they can look at any cow at any time of the day to get a pattern of her produc tion, cell count, fat/protein breakdown, activ ity, rumination and health problems.
“We go to the robots after we’ve put the children on the bus and we’re there for them when they get home,” says Symone. “It al lows us to work around them. The difference it’s made to flexibility in our lifestyle with our kids – you can’t buy that.”
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“Time and time again, when we meet with custom ers or prospective customers and ask them what’s really important in a banking relationship, they want someone they can talk to, who listens carefully, is easy to access and has some tenure in their role,” says Lucinda. “Farmers want to deal with someone who understands agriculture – in our team, if they ha ven’t come from the land or are involved in a family farming operation, then they’ve worked in the indus try as service providers or agronomists.”
“Agriculture is the industry of the future, the industry that’s going to feed and clothe the world, and it’s something that we really need to be a part of.”
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
This innate understanding of the farming busi ness allows BOQ to structure its product offerings around a farm’s individual cashflow cycle. It also means BOQ’s Agribusiness bankers are passionate about the sustainability and long-term success of the industry and see themselves playing a part in that.“We’ve got a great deal of empathy and under stand that when times are tough – and they do get tough – agriculture is cyclical and the good times will return,” says Lucinda. “We’re in it for the long haul, not just the good years.”
bankingAgribusinesstouchpersonalto
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In 2012, Bank of Queensland established a dedicated agribusiness division to support and manage clients involved in Australian agriculture. The small but experienced BOQ Agribusiness team utilises its agricultural knowledge and a focus on personal relationships to provide a more hands-on and involved business banking experience for multi-generational farming families.
One of the many farmers impressed by the BOQ experience is Fiona Denyer. Fiona and her husband Dave and son Jack run a large dryland cropping business at Walgett in northwest NSW.
By keeping their portfolios small, BOQ Agribusiness staff are able to build deep relationships with their customers, giving them the time they require to understand their business, the wider industry and build two-way trust. Even the bank’s senior lead ers, such as Dubbo-based Head of Agribusiness Lucinda Hawkins, are accessible and available to farming clients.
BOQ brings a
After getting sick and tired of years of poor customer service from one of the big four banks, the family made the move to BOQ five years ago and has not looked back.
“BOQ put absolutely no pressure on us during the drought because they knew how quickly we’d be able to bounce back – they understood dry years were part of the busi ness. This understanding allowed us to ex pand or update our machinery and build sheds in the dry years so that we were ready to go in the wet years.”
• BOQ’s Agribusiness team understand agriculture and can tailor banking products to suit farming cashflows
KEY BENEFITS
• BOQ bankers are hands-on with clients due to small portfolios and a focus on personal relationships
“BOQ are very easy to work with – the team is really good to bounce ideas off and they are willing to work with us and find the best way forward,” says Fiona. “We get the idea that they think that if we’re successful, they’re suc cessful – I wish we had swapped sooner.”
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For Fiona, the BOQ Agribusiness team’s understanding of her local area – along with their customer service – is the strength of the“Thebank.team we deal with understand the Walgett area really well,” says Fiona. “We were going into a drought when we started with BOQ, and they knew what we could do with our country and understood that while we might have three or four dry years, we’ll be great as soon as we get the right rain.
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The company soon expanded into pumps, washing machine components and plumbing fit tings and continued its track record of innovation with the invention of the ball-cam float in 1947. As the industry changed, Philmac changed with it –becoming the first company in the world to make compression fittings entirely from plastic in 1968 and exporting its products around the world. In 2003 Philmac was acquired by Belgian com pany Aliaxis, providing the expertise and resour ces for Philmac to flourish. A $10 million upgrade to the company’s Adelaide manufacturing facility in 2015 enabled Philmac to improve its machinery and manufacturing capabilities.
It is this history of innovation and expertise that An leadermarketahistoryinnovativeformodern
Philmac’s history dates back to 1929 in Adelaide, when a fitter and turner by the name of Malcolm ‘Mac’ Phillipps invented the world’s first press but ton toilet cistern valve. It was an inauspicious time to start a company with the stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression, but Philmac sur vived and even succeeded after winning a contract to make gas meter components and pipe fittings for the South Australian Gas Company.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
A triumphant story of Australian innovation and hard-work, Philmac celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. From humble beginnings, a willingness to innovate has driven the company to a position of trust and respect in the eyes of customers all over the world. A hallmark of reliability, Philmac has been the market leader in rural Australia since the 1970s with fittings and valves made to perform in tough Aussie conditions.
• Philmac’s Australian-made fittings and valves are trusted by farmers across the country for their reliability, durability and water-saving capacity
Click here to read a case study from a Queensland cattle farmer using Philmac products
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ForTESTIMONIALSAustralianfarmers, the Philmac Rural compression fitting range provides the per fect connection for Australian Rural B Class poly pipe, recognised by the trademark terra cotta insert allowing easy installation and use. The range is manufactured in Australia using the highest quality materials to ensure that each fitting is resistant to corrosion and has the strength and durability to provide a long serviceAddinglife.to Philmac’s long list of inventions that have saved Australian customers water and money is the recently-launched range of 3G metric compression fittings, which utilise the innovative ‘Slide and Tighten’ technology developed by Philmac. Released into the Aus tralian market in 2010, each fitting is manufac tured from high performance thermoplastic materials that are non-toxic and taint free. The 3G metric compression fittings are pre-assem bled and sold ready-to-use for ease of instal lation, providing outstanding impact, UV and corrosion resistance.
KEY BENEFITS
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• The company’s float valves, rural and metric fittings are made specifically for tough Australian farm conditions and are resistant to corrosion
“Our biggest advantage is that our products last for generations,” says Geoff Puckett, Phil mac Product Manager. “Farmers are able to sleep at night knowing their tank is not going to empty and they’re not going to lose all their water, thanks to their Philmac fittings.”
You don’t have to look far to find the source of Philmac’s market-leading exper
tise in fittings and valves – the company’s history of innovation and invention dates back to 1929. And as Philmac celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, you can be assured that it will continue to deliver trusted and durable products that are first choice among Aussie farmers. makes Philmac such a durable and trusted name in rural Australia today. The Philmac rural compression fitting is the original and the benchmark that competitors try to copy – with good reason.
It is an exciting time to be in agriculture. The stated aim of the National Farmers’ Federation is that the value of agriculture will reach $100 billion per year by 2030. There will be many factors that combine to allow us to reach that target – market access, labour, capital, value adding, transport and logistics, biosecurity, genetics, agtech, automation and robotics, irrigation and, crucially, soil management.
Our thestartsbillion$100futurewithsoil
First, let’s fast forward to 2030 and consider what soil management practices or tools Aus tralian farmers might be using.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
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The recently established Soil Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) brings together over 200 research scientists from eight universities and four state agencies . This team works with farmers and other partners, from all states of Australia, to focus on how productivity and profitability can be increased through improved soilSo,management.whatarewe, the Soil CRC, going to find or develop or produce that helps Australian agricul ture achieve that target of $100 billion?
By Dr Michael Crawford, CEO of the Soil CRC
Everyone involved in agriculture understands the importance of the soil resource in the agri cultural value chain. It starts with the soil. If we are to grow more crops and produce more live stock through pastures and other feed sources, then it starts with the soil.
Now, I am not predicting all these things will come true. But they are all scenarios that are possible or plausible. Importantly, they are all potential outcomes from ex isting Soil CRC research. And there may be others. Ultimately, some of our efforts will fail and come to nothing – that’s okay. But those that do succeed will be the leg acy of the Soil CRC – delivering tools and practices that become an everyday part of mainstream agriculture and allow farmers to better manage their soils in ways previ ously thought impossible.
Soil biology measurements are now rou tine, highly targeted and precise. Farmers know what to measure for – be it a particular group of bacteria or fungi or a particular en zyme or microbial function – and they have tools that allow them to specifically measure for them. These tools might also be lab-ona-chip technology, using highly specific DNA probes, or they might be novel technologies using ‘electronic noses’ – sensing and analys ing the gas emission profile of the soil biology.
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You can follow the Soil CRC on Twitter and LinkedIn
the australian farmer 83 to describe and characterise a soil with ref erence to its specific physical, chemical and biological attributes and we will be better at predicting what management interventions work and where. In turn, farmers will adopt and apply new innovations with a lot more confidence, knowing they will work and they won’t be wasting their money.
In 2030, farmers will be much more tar geted and precise in their ability to manage soil for productive outcomes. We will be able
In 2030, farmers will have revolution ised how they measure soil character istics. No longer do they take bulk soil core samples, send them off to a lab and wait four weeks for a result. Farmers now have access to real-time measurement of a wide range of soil metrics using hand held, machine-mounted or in situ sensors that provide cheap, accurate and timely information.Theyalsohave lab-on-a-chip technology, where they can walk into the local resellers and buy a micro-fluidic device, specifically for what they want to measure – mineral nitrogen, available phosphorus, potassium, boron, etc.
In 2030, farmers have adopted Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM). Just like Integrated Pest and Disease Management (IPDM), but for soils. Just as IPDM relies upon an understanding of natural processes, the wise use of management controls and the ju dicious use of pesticides when necessary, ISFM relies upon similar factors. ISFM necessitates an understanding of nutrient dynamics in the soil, the wise use of management controls to manipulate the soil and make nutrients avail able when needed, the use of recycled organic nutrients where possible and the strategic use of inorganic fertilisers when necessary.
Lindsay International is one of the world’s leading providers of precision irrigation and water management solutions, with an array of products, systems and services that add value for growers. With integrated products covering every step of the irrigation process, Lindsay International is helping farming businesses such as Kagome Foods to cut costs and improve yields.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
technologyirrigationIntegrated to improve yields and efficiencydrive
Kagome Foods is Australia’s largest tomato proces sor, with 200,000 tonnes of tomatoes grown and processed per year as well as significant carrot and garlic operations. The company’s carrots and garlic are grown on undulating sand dunes, which can cause uneven yields and impractical water use. A switch three years ago to Lindsay products has seen Kago me’s yields nearly double at the tops of the dunes.
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The trick for Kagome was the integration of three different Lindsay brands – Zimmatic centre pivots, Growsmart variable rate irrigation (VRI) and the FieldNET remote management platform – to pro vide greater control over water assets and the abil ity to apply the water remotely and variably.
“To tackle our yield issues we tried one pivot with Growsmart Precision VRI three years ago, and had a substantial yield increase almost im mediately,” says Chris Taylor, Farm Operations Manager at Kagome. “As a result, we retrofitted the Precision VRI to every pivot we’ve got, and it’s taken yield at the tops of the dune from 50-60 Click here to read a case study about a South Australian farmer tackling yield loss with Growsmart Precision VRI TESTIMONIALS
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Chris also uses the integrated Lindsay products to apply liquid fertiliser, a move that has seen the company not only reduce labour, equipment and machinery costs, but – like with the Precision VRI – improve the uniformity and yield of the crops. While the technology may be a significant outlay originally, for Chris the savings more than outweigh the cost.
“I’m a farmer myself and it’s not until you actually are in the boots of the customer that you realise how much of a barrier a poorly-designed system is,” says Stu Brad bury, Innovation Leader and Engineer at Lindsay International. “It’s not just a mat ter of creating a product that fits into the farmer’s operation, you’ve got to design the product to fit into their lifestyle.” tonnes per hectare to 100 tonnes per hectare.”
•
Lindsay International offers a wide range of integrated, market-leading solutions in irrigation and water management The company has the experience on the ground and the farming expertise to ensure its products deliver increased yields while conserving water Precision VRI Advisor works
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“Product development is done first and foremost with the farmer in mind, it’s a key part of our business,” says Richard Hall, Lindsay’s Regional Manager for Austral asia. “And that gives us the ability to cre ate market-leading products – for example, FieldNET Advisor is the only product on the market to date that is a truly integrated platform in overhead irrigation and webbased telemetry.”
Lindsay is very cognisant of the needs of its customers, and specifically designs prod ucts that will help them solve problems and make decisions as easily as possible.
“The integrated system is adding a 20 per cent cost to the machine, but I believe we’ve recovered that in the first year – and we’ve been using it for four seasons now,” says Chris. With improvements and returns like those experienced by Kagome, it’s easy to see why Lindsay is a market leader when it comes to irrigation technology. And the reason for that is clear: experience on the ground and con stant communication with farming customers.
KEY BENEFITS •
Click here to watch a video of Growsmart
the australian farmer
in action VIDEO LINK Click here to watch a video explaining how FieldNET
INTRODUCTION Australia’s farmers, fishers and foresters play an important role in our country. They work in a diverse number of industries – from beef, lamb, pork and livestock export to cotton, wood and grains, from fish and eggs to sugar, dairy and horticulture. These industries produce much of Australia’s food and textiles, which are grown or produced all around the country. Rural indus tries in Australia also have large and complex value chains, often shared across industries, that take raw materials and turn them into food and other products that are consumed domestically or Theexported.Community Trust in Rural Industries pro ject is a program of collaborative research to understand the nature of the relationship be tween Australia’s rural industries and the Aus tralian community. Importantly, this three-year research program demonstrates a commitment by Australia’s rural industries to engage directly with the community to guide industry activities and inform the thinking of their members. In Year One of this research, the program appointed re search agency Voconiq who: (1) engaged with program funders to determine the goals and am bition of this work; (2) conducted interviews with a broad cross-section of industry participants and external stakeholders to determine key issues re lated to community trust in rural industries; (3) desktop research to understand how these issues are discussed and framed in the public conversa tion; and (4) completed a nationally representa tive survey of 6,461 Australians. A comprehensive process of rural industry engagement on these results has also taken place to support extension and outreach for effective use of these data in sights by rural industry stakeholders. This report provides an overview of the na tional survey results using data collected be tween the 2nd of December 2019 and 30th of January 2020.
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Rural Industries on Track with Trust: new research reveals key drivers, risks and opportunities
The Community Trust in Rural Industries Program is a partnership involving eleven Rural Research and Development Corporations, the National Farmers’ Federation and the NSW Department of Primary Industries. This timely capacity building initiative is designed to drive impactful, cohesive and consistent responses to the cross-sector community trust challenge.
DRIVERS OF TRUST AND ACCEPTANCE
• Industry responsiveness – the ex tent to which industries listen to and change their practices in response to community concerns, and
BASELINE MEASURES OF TRUST DRIVERS
Australians were clear in their support for Australian rural industries, with most partici pants indicating moderate or strong levels of trust in these industries to act responsibly, and similarly high levels of acceptance of ruralAustraliansindustries.indicated broad agreement that rural industries manage their role as environ mental stewards of the land and sea effect ively, although there was some concern about specific issues such as the impacts of runoff from rural industries on coastal environments, and complexity in the views of Australians about sustainable management of oceans and using appropriate amounts of water. There was very strong agreement, however, that en vironmental management is a shared respons ibility across all Australian rural industries.
The main drivers of community trust in Australian rural industries were:
OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS
This research found that community expect ations, views and experiences drive trust in rural industries, which then drives accept ance of rural industries in Australia. Building community trust is therefore important for rural industries to maintain and grow com munity acceptance in Australia.
• The value of rural industry products to the lives of Australians – the extent to which industry products contribute real value to the lives of community Othermembers.factors that were important in con tributing to trust in rural industries were faith in regulations to ensure industry ac countability, knowledge of community members about the challenges rural indus tries face (e.g. drought), and how fairly the benefits of industry activity are distributed throughout community, especially with re spect to regional areas.
The national survey aimed to achieve two broad goals: determine the main drivers of community trust in and acceptance of Aus tralian rural industries, and to determine a baseline of Australian community attitudes toward a wide range of issues related to Aus tralian rural industries.
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In fact, looking across all the issues ex plored in this national survey, Australians systematically indicated higher levels of uncertainty (i.e. choosing neutral or mid dle values on rating scales provided) on questions that related to environmental responsibility and industry responsiveness. This is a key challenge for rural industries as its current strong levels of community trust and acceptance are a product of com munity views on these issues.
ADDITIONAL INSIGHTS
The national data showed that rural in dustries were seen to be broadly responsive to community concerns, but there was less agreement (and high levels of uncertainty) about the extent to which rural industries are prepared to change their practices in re sponse to community concerns.
There was very little uncertainty, how ever, about the value of rural industry prod ucts in the lives of Australians. The great majority of participants in the nationally representative survey of Australians agreed that the products of farmers, fishers and foresters play an important and central role in the lives of Australians.
• Environmental responsibility – farm ers, fishers and foresters acting as stewards of the land and sea, operat ing sustainably,
Australians agree that rural industries in this country play an important economic role,
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
88 creating significant employment in regional areas. Australians also indicated strong sup port for regional communities in general, and that strong regional communities are import ant for producing safe, high quality food and fibreAustraliansproducts.strongly endorse animal welfare as a key issue and obligation for those indus tries that involve animals, and that food safety is both an area of strength for rural industries and an area where some industry practices prompt concern (e.g. the use of genetic modi fication, fertilisers and other chemicals).
“The findings show that the pathway to building and maintaining community trust is to be genuinely responsive to community sentiment, particularly around environmental sustainability and resource use. The key is to demonstrate responsiveness through action, and there are huge opportunities for industries who do this,”"
CONCLUSION The Community Trust in Rural Industries pro gram of work is providing key insights into the nature of the current relationship between the Australian public and Australia’s farmers, fishers and foresters, and providing a path way to deeper trust and acceptance of these industries. A national survey of the Australian community has also provided a clear view of the challenges for Australia’s rural industries in achieving this goal.
A national survey of Australian attitudes has demonstrated that trust in and acceptance of Australia’s rural industries is strong. Community members view farmers, fishers and foresters as being important to Australia’s economy, iden tity and future. The products of these industries
“In this first year of research, the Community Trust in Rural Industries program has delivered a pathway to deeper community trust and ac ceptance for Australia’s rural industries, and baseline measures of Australian sentiment on these drivers of trust and other relevant issues. These data provide key insights for where and how Australian rural industries may engage the Australian community most effectively and highlighted those areas where there is work to be done in supporting a more reflexive, con structive relationship with all Australians.”
KEY FINDINGS
Dr David Nation, Managing Director of Dairy Australia
the australian farmer 89 CompanyInfo are highly valued, as are the communities in regional Australia that produce them.
A deeper analysis of the national survey data revealed that not only are many of these issues important to Australians, they underpin the community’s trust in and ac ceptance of Australia’s rural industries. Path analysis showed that where commun ity members feel that The Community Trust in Rural Industries program of work is pro viding key insights into the nature of the current relationship between the Austral ian public and Australia’s farmers, fishers and foresters, and providing a pathway to deeper trust and acceptance of these in dustries. A national survey of the Australian community has also provided a clear view of the challenges for Australia’s rural indus tries in achieving this goal. Australia’s rural industries are acting as “stewards of the land and sea, operating sustainably”, dem onstrating responsiveness to community expectations and concerns, and continuing to produce materials and food that are im portant to Australian society, trust in rural industries will grow. However, the reverse is also true: trust in Australia’s rural industries may be under mined, for example, by poor environmental stewardship, ignoring the concerns of com munity, and placing short term economic benefits ahead of longer-term value in the products of these industries. A strong level of agreement within the community that ‘environmental management is a shared responsibility across all Australian rural industries’ is a clear signal that Australians expect rural industries to work together to meet the high expectations that come with the trust of the Australian public.
The good news is that community trust in Australia’s rural industries is the product of its actions and behaviours: these indus tries have control over their own future. The challenge for these same industries is to work together to be accountable against these high community expectations, to live up to the esteem in which Australians hold farmers, fishers and foresters.
The Community Trust in Rural Industries Program is a jointly funded initiative of AgriFutures Australia, Austral ian Eggs, Australian Pork Limited, Cotton Research and Development Corporation, Dairy Australia, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Hort Innovation, Sugar Research Australia, Grains Research and De velopment Corporation, LiveCorp, Meat and Livestock Australia and the NSW Department of Primary Industries.
National Farmers’ Federation is also a project partner and AgriFutures Australia is the managing agent. A selec tion of content has been sourced from the “Community Trust in Australia’s Rural Industries: A national survey 2020” report authored by Dr Kieren Moffat, CEO and Co-founder at "TrustVoconiq.iscrucial for industry and business because it translates community expectations and experience into acceptance." Dr Kieren Moffat (lead researcher), CEO and Co-founder of Voconiq
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Australians do not see farmers, fishers and foresters as just producers of import ant materials and goods for sale in Australia and overseas, however, but as “stewards of the land and sea”. This comes with a responsibility to use natural resources like water in sustainable ways, to ensure the safety of the people that work in these in dustries, and to ensure the welfare of ani mals that are so important in many of these ruralCommunityindustries.members from across the country indicated strongly that there are issues that concern them about the prac tices of Australia’s rural industries, particu larly around environmental impacts, the use of chemicals and genetic modification to enhance yields, and ensuring food is pro duced safely.
Click here to read more about your superannuation responsibilities as an employer INFORMATION LINK
The Australian farm employment and superannu ation landscape can be difficult to navigate, for both employers and employees. Seasonal work ers, backpackers, foreign labourers, casuals and permanent staff all spend time on farm, and all possess different legal requirements when it comes to superannuation.
With a rural focus and a long history in the indus try, Prime Super is not only well-equipped to untan gle these complexities, but keen to contribute to the health of the agricultural sector as a whole.
“We’ve been involved in the Australian agricul tural sector for a very long time and look at the industry as being one of the fundamental building blocks of the country,” says Prime Super CEO Lach lan Baird. “It’s a massive sector for the economy, with huge opportunities, therefore it’s important for us to make sure that we’re involved and delivering the right products and services.
“For the employer, the advantage we have at Prime Super is that we know and understand the industry. We have people spread right throughout the country and are always able to work with the employer in person to make their life easier and make sure they are meeting all of their superannu ation requirements.”
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Rien runs an orchard in Orrvale, Victoria and employs 15 permanent casual staff as well as 35 pickers during the harvest season. For Rien, Prime For farm business owners and farm workers, managing superannuation can be a complex and time-consuming task. But with a personal touch and a footprint that extends across the country, Prime Super is making superannuation easier to handle for more than 125,000 employees throughout Australia.
Prime Super puts firstAustraliansrural
A PERSONAL TOUCH
“Prime Super certainly has the personal touch – they treat you as an individual when you’re an employer, they don’t treat you as just a number,” says Rien Silverstein, partner in a farm business in rural Victoria. “I’ve stayed with them because of the personal touch.”
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
the australian farmer 91 Super provides much-needed assistance with payroll and the employment of sea sonal workers and backpackers. They were also available to give Rien’s employ ees personal advice about the approach to “Primeretirement.Super recently assisted us at a personal level with a few of our employees when we needed it, providing information on life insurance policies and coverage,” says Rien. “We had a case where one of our employees passed away, and our relation ship manager was professional, helpful and kind in assisting that family to have access to their life insurance.”
husband about the approach to retirement and how to set up an income stream. But for Marion, the most important facet of Prime Super’s involvement in her business is the company’s role in rural and regional Aus tralia and the agricultural industry.
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The sentiment is echoed by cherry farmer Marion Rak from Mt Bruno, near Wangaratta in Victoria. Prime Super helped Marion navigate the legal requirements and set up a superannuation payment system for her backpackers and casual staff, and also provided personal advice to Marion and her
“I’ve been with Prime Super since 1998, and the reason I have stayed with them so long is because they are looking after Australian people and are committed to rural and regional Australia,” says Marion. “If I was starting a business again today, I wouldn’t hesitate to go to Prime Super and ask them to be our lead advisor on super annuation.”
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
SWAN Systems staff worked with Fruitico on the functionality of the software, helping to set New software delivers massive yield improvement for WA irrigator
A trial of the SWAN Systems software was recently conducted by Western Australian table grape pro ducer Fruitico on a vineyard of newly-established vines. The grape varieties were planted in Novem ber 2016, with the first crops planned for autumn 2018 and an expected yield from these immature vines of five kilograms per vine.
Importantly for irrigators, SWAN Systems software is hardware independent – meaning clients can use their existing sensors and other hardware without having to install new equipment. The system is also flexible and can be configured to include features such as soil and crop characteristics, water budgets, irrigation system details and weather data sources.
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Launched in 2016, SWAN Systems is a cloud-based decision support system for irrigators that takes the guesswork out of optimising water use. The software program analyses data from weather stations, flow meters, satellites and soil moisture probes to help farmers develop the ideal irrigation schedule and track nutrient levels in fertiliser and water. For grape producer Fruitico, the deployment of SWAN Systems software has improved water use efficiency and delivered exceptional yields.
SWAN Systems uses proprietary algorithms to col lect inputs from flow meters, weather observations and soil moisture readings and provides the farmer with the information required for irrigation schedul ing – faster and more accurately than is possible with manual methods. The software can be used in any number of irrigation settings, including agriculture, horticulture, public open spaces and golf courses.
Receiving daily feedback on soil mois ture status and water usage via SWAN’s dashboard allowed Fruitico to apply water with confidence and maintain optimal soil moisture levels despite using less water than anticipated. Given the success of the trial with SWAN Systems software, Fruitico is now preparing to roll out the software to all their vineyards in Western Australian and Victoria.
Usingstressed.thedashboard
CompanyInfoBacktoContentsDownloadPDFEmailCompanyPlayVideoSWAN Systems takes the guesswork out of irrigation scheduling to optimise water use efficiency Suitable in a number of settings, the software allows you to remotely monitor daily water usage and soil moisture levels
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feature of SWAN Systems, Fruitico’s management team were able to monitor the soil moisture status of each block of vines even when they were offsite and, importantly, see SWAN’s predictions for future soil moisture status and adjust irrigation accordingly. Using local historical rainfall and evapo transpiration data, and factoring in the crop coefficients for each stage of the vines’ growth, SWAN Systems formulated a monthly water budget for each block of grapes, totalling 4.6 megalitres for the whole season. Precise irrigation schedules were then worked out on a daily basis de pending on the seven-day weather fore cast for that precise location. Actual water usage proved to be significantly less than budgeted, at 3.6 megalitres per hectare. As a result of the benefits provided by SWAN Systems software, actual yields for Fruitico’s grapes surpassed all expect ations. The vines produced an average of 18kg of high-quality fruit, with more than 95 per cent of the fruit graded as first class. This was an outstanding result considering that a typical first harvest of table grapes from young vines is not ex pected to yield more than five kilograms per vine. Get 30% off your first year of SWAN Systems by using the code ‘AUSFARM30’ (valid until September 2019)
the australian farmer 93 parameters and model sites. Given the im portance of soil moisture balance at Fruit ico, SWAN Systems was used to ensure optimal water application to the grape vines in order to prevent them from be coming
INFORMATION LINK
KEY BENEFITS •
Sir William Gallagher, Chairman and CEO of Gallagher Group
“Innovation in modern agriculture should focus not only on shortening the length of time from concept development to product delivery and implementation, but also on improving the scalability of agricultural products so they can find additional uses and be deployed by all farmers, regardless of farm size or type. To ensure our agricultural innovation meets these standards, we need to ensure the Australian agricultural economy remains healthy enough to support R&D and the commercialisation of its outcomes.”
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“A high percentage of working vehicles through out regional Australia are operating with Valvoline lubricants – we’re a brand that’s trusted and known in the commercial, heavy duty and auto motive space,” says Graham Hutton, Valvoline’s Director for the Commercial and Industrial Div ision. “Over recent decades our focus and product development has shifted towards also fulfilling the requirements of agricultural equipment, with much success.”
Valvoline’s next generation universal tractor oil, Unitrac 80w, is an example of the benefits of these OEM partnerships, developed specifically to meet the demands of Hyundai Construction Equipment. Trials conducted with Hyundai saw drain intervals extended by as much as 50 per cent across a var iety of applications and conditions.
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With a history of operation in this country that extends over 115 years, Valvoline has a commitment to Australia that extends from production and R&D to dependable availability in rural areas and close links to the agricultural community.
Valvoline is a leading global producer and distribu tor of high-quality lubricants and oils with prod ucts that are manufactured, marketed and sold in more than 140 countries. Designed to maximise performance and minimise the downtime of farm equipment, Valvoline’s products are very familiar to farmers all around the country.
The company offers a complete line of engine oils, greases, hydraulic fluids and driveline oils that have been specifically formulated to with stand the harsh Australian agricultural environ ment. Valvoline has also partnered with some of the world’s leading agricultural equipment manu facturers such as Kubota, a company that relies on the performance and quality of Valvoline oils to provide a more tailored solution.
“Unitrac 80W was tested in a range of tractor and earthmoving applications with a number of leading agricultural equipment manufacturers to ensure fit for purpose,” says Graham. “With limited access to maintenance support in the field, we need to be confident that the products we offer are going to withstand the harsh Australian climate, conditions and any farming application.”
Valvoline is a household name across Australia – a brand forever synonymous with improved engine performance and protection.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
Valvoline: a famous brand dedicated to agricultureAustralianimproving
As a company with a commitment to its agricul
the australian farmer 97 CompanyInfoBacktoContentsDownloadPDFEmailCompanyPlayVideo tural customers, Valvoline’s national foot print extends across 27 warehouses around the country, including 20 in regional areas.
And to make life easier for rural cus tomers, Valvoline has created an easy to use online ordering platform with exten sive product information. The platform is supported by a range of distributor part nerships in regional centres that ensures farmers have ample opportunity to access Valvoline’s product range.
KEY BENEFITS
• Valvoline manufactures oils and lubricants in Australia specifically for Australian agricultural conditions
The company also recently oversaw a $15 million upgrade to their Sydney blending facility, where over 90 per cent of Valvoline products sold in Australia are produced.
“It’s all about relationships – we have strong long-term relationships with our distributors and resellers. They are re spected in their communities and have the long-term relationships with local primary producers,” says Graham. “We’re commit ted to the ongoing production of Valvoline oils and lubricants in Australia and have been doing so since 1964.”
• An extensive network of warehouses and distributors across regional Australia makes it easy for farmers to get the support their engines need
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“An important note for new customers is to realise that, similar to your PC or mobile device, there is a need to replace your broadband and Wi-Fi router on a regular basis to extract the benefits from the latest technology. Updates to the technology allow
IPSTAR: A connection across the digital divide
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
IPSTAR’s NBN Sky Muster Satellite service has been designed to provide faster and better broad band connectivity, allowing those living in rural areas to stay connected not just with each other and their urban cousins, but to the world.
Launched in 2005, IPSTAR is an internet service provider dedicated to helping rural Australians stay connected. The company has a wealth of experience in satellite infrastructure that enables it to provide an exceptional service and offer customers bigger plans, better speeds and larger download limits at affordable rates.
IPSTAR initially maintained its own satellite service when the company launched in early 2005, connecting thousands of rural Australians to the digital world for the first time. In 2012, IPSTAR partnered with the NBN to offer customers another level of service.
And for new customers who aren’t sure how to choose the plan, speed and bandwidth that suits them best, IPSTAR has a team of professionals to help guide them through the setup process.
“A principle that we live by and regularly discuss internally is the need to educate our customers, whether this is to help them identify the right plan or to understand the importance of selecting the right router to suit their usage,” says Shannon.
“Our partnership with NBN came about because we wanted to provide our customers with choices for their broadband services,” says Managing Director Shannon Fisher. “The partnership allows IPSTAR customers to access the latest technology that delivers improved speeds, data allowances and affordability.”
“Our goal is to satisfy our customers’ needs and to overcome their challenges by providing solutions that are focused on their specific business require ments,” says Shannon. “These requirements can range from broadband connectivity to cloud and infrastructure solutions, IT performance and secur ityWhilesolutions.”IPSTAR services a range of customers from SMEs to multinational corporations and govern ments, it is first and foremost a rural, regional and remote area telecoms service provider.
“We are not distracted by our urban cousins and are focused on our rural customers,” says Shannon. “We continually invest in research and development to identify how we can improve our services and meet the needs of our customers.
Apart from servicing rural homes and businesses, IPSTAR also offers corporate solutions for larger farms, and is able to tailor its services to support businesses through a dedicated team operating under the Orion brand. One such unique service is prioritising and optimising performances of critical websites or farm applications – ideal for the fast-growing number of smart or automated farms.
“We are entering an exciting period of techno logical change, with the early deployment of 5G networks, IoT development, robotics, automation, artificial intelligence and new LEO satellites that will provide our customers with great opportunity. We are looking to help drive innovation with access to high speed, reliable, cost effective and readily avail able solutions.”
The IPSTAR Guarantee – if a new customer isn’t satisfied with IPSTAR’s service, they can cancel it within 30 days without any additional charges. Click here for more info.
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the australian farmer 99 for better speeds and connections for video stream ing sessions and services (such as Netflix) that were previously not so common.”
“If you look at our locations, they are positioned in a way that means we can reach most of the major you need from the people you know
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
“There is a reason we get a lot of repeat business and it’s not all about the product. It’s about those longstand ing relationships and the trust that comes with that”.
The forefront of their business model surprisingly is not on developing innovative designs, but the means to provide dedicated customer service to a range of markets across the country.
The tank
According to Roughan, the NPI Group currently has 125 staff working for the three brands across manufacturing, distribution and sales, covering six regional locations that enable the team to easily service most markets.
CEO Matthew Roughan says the way the business is structured means there are dedicated, passionate and experienced teams available to meet the needs of farmers along with urban and rural domestic and busi ness customers in most areas.
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For the past 20 years, National Poly Industries Group (NPI Group) has been Australia’s premier manufacturer of heavy-duty, premium polymer round rainwater tanks, committed to providing long-lasting water stor age solutions that meet the needs of urban and regional households as well as farmers Australia wide.
Whilst every product in the range offers exceptional quality and value, it’s the people in the business that really make the difference.
Size matters when it comes to water storage tanks. For NPI Group, the company behind National Poly Industries, Clark Tanks and Team Poly, it’s about having the breadth and scale to service customer bases across the country.
Roughan says the business is looking at new ways to innovate – and that includes empowering people to share ideas.
One of the most recent innovations has been a change to the roof design of the 5,000-gallon tank.
“That tank is the Commodore or Falcon of the regional market,” Roughan said.
“My goal is that when people think about buying a tank, NPI Group brands are the first – and the last – names that come to mind.”
MEET OUR MANAGERSBRANCH markets. We have chosen locations that mean if one site doesn’t cover a particular region, the one next to it probably does” said“WeRoughan.alsoreally know water capture and storage. We don’t just make tanks; we know our customers. We know that for those running farming enterprises, water storage is about optimising a precious resource. For those in residential markets, it’s about sustainability and compliance with local regulations.”
the australian farmer 101 Nadine Crawford (07) 4783 9599 David Garland (07) 4155 2433 David Bastian (02) 6334 2720 Mark Pearson (03) 5480 0900 Gerry Clark 1300 394 792 Jason George (07) 4660 6800 We all work together with diligence, tenacity and respect for the client and each other.
My team combined has over 250 years’ experience in the industry. We are very dedicated and committed. We have a team of long term, dedicated staff who take pride in the brand and quality of our products. Our team consists of 22 hard-working Bathurst locals who understand the importance of water storage this side of the mountains. We have a wealth of experience and ability to understand our customers’ needs whether they are a home owner, tradesperson, farmer or business operator. Our close team has a deep passion and understanding of the brand. We strive to ensure our customers have a positive experience “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “
The NPI Group currently services anything from urban strata to small landholders, right through to light commercial and big farming businesses.
However, Roughan says that whilst farm ers will always be a critical part of the NPI Group’s business structure, there are lots of product innovations and learnings from dif ferent markets.
“They are everywhere and they are the right choice for many customers, but we wanted to think about how we could make them better. What we came up with was an inverted roof design that is self-capturing – and it has been extremely well received in the market.”
The NPI Group is not content to sim ply manufacture and sell quality tanks.
For more information
www.teampoly.com.auwww.tanksdirect.com.auwww.clarktanks.com.auwww.nationalpolyindustries.com.auvisitKEYBENEFITS•NationalPolyIndustriesnewsolarpumpandtanksolutionmakesremotemanagementofwaterresourceseasyforfarmers•Theproductcomeswitha25-yearguaranteeandisbackedbythecompany’sextensiveexperienceinwaterstorageandtankdesign CompanyInfoBacktoContentsDownloadPDFEmailCompany
In 2007, Ashley Olsson was heading home to his farm in Goulburn when he drove past an elderly farmer on the side of the road struggling to put up a fence. Ashley said a simple prayer and just minutes later was struck by a vision for a product that would change the lives of not only the Olsson family, but farmers all across Australia.
Although the company was growing, difficulties continued as Clipex products weren’t getting much traction through rural retailers despite customer demand. Ashley realised the company needed to Clipex: Driven by a passion throughempoweringforfarmersinnovation
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Ashley’s vision was for a fence post with an easyto-use clipping system that would greatly reduce the time it took to install a fence. The Clipex fence post was born, and the Olsson Family turned all their efforts to developing and commercialising this revolutionary product. A patent was lodged for the product in late 2007 and a Chinese supplier who could mass manufacture the fence posts was found, but trouble was on the horizon – the first order of the fence posts was constructed to the wrong specifications.
“I realised that if we were going to do this prop erly, we had to get much more involved – we couldn’t just order it over the phone,” says Ashley. “By 2009 we could tell that the idea had potential, so as a family we decided we were all in. We moved to China to set up our own company and oversee the product from start to finish.”
“When you’re doing a lot of exclusion fen ces, there’s a lot of tying on to do. The fact the Clipex posts are so easy to clip on is the biggest benefit,” says Brent. “Once you get a roll on, it takes virtually no time to clip the posts – you can just about walk along and clip them as you go.”
KEY BENEFITS •
The time saved by the farmer can be vital elsewhere – whether its working on other areas of the farm or spending time with the
The company’s extensive and innovative product range also includes sheep and cattle handling equipment and livestock accessories has farmers using Clipex
to offer INFORMATION LINK Click here to see video testimonials from more
Clipex fencing has proved to be up to 12 times faster than traditional tying-off methods
For Brent Gadsby, a cattle, sheep and goat farmer 40km south of Morven in rural Queensland who has installed 40km of Clipex exclusion fencing, the biggest benefit is the speed in which the fence posts can be put up.
Now, Clipex employs 70 staff across eight stores in Australia, as well as 220 staff in China and has expanded into Ireland and Uruguay. At home, Ashley’s ground-break ing fence post has changed the industry.
“It doesn’t make sense to keep tying off fences the way we have for the last 100 years – why force someone to spend ten hours in the paddock when they can do it in an hour?”
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products VIDEO LINK
“We want to leave something good be hind, a legacy where we change the way farmers do things and save them some time,” says Ashley. “Imagine what other value-adding activity you could actually put into society, your family or your farm with that time?” come up with a whole solution, so Clipex ex panded its product line – with more innova tive designs in other areas such as sheep and cattle handling – and opened the company’s first regional store in Tamworth in 2014.
the australian farmer 103 family – and this, for Ashley, is the most re warding part of Clipex’s work.
“I get a lot of satisfac tion out of know ing that we are providing a really genuinely different product that has transformed cer tain parts of the industry,” says Ashley. “The Clipex system is so much quicker and safer to fence – I don’t think there’s an exclusion fence that goes up in Australia now that is not some sort of clip post.
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“I kind of knew roughly where Tara was living so I did my calculations with our soft ware and we were able to get mobile coverage from a town that’s about 57km away from the property.”Tarasays her family no longer feels so vulner able and isolated and credits New for helping make their lives easier and more secure. “I was blown away that he actually cared,” she says.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
By JhotyBen
Beginning as a pilot program with two en gineers from the company’s network and IT divisions, RAN now features an army of local technicians in each state who can respond to communication problems on site, offering
When a storm hit Melinda Downs, a remote cattle station near Cloncurry in northwest Queensland, Tara Locke was home with her youngest child. The storm knocked out the property’s power and mobile coverage and with her husband and two eldest children in town, Locke could only watch as night fell and flash flooding cut access to the property.
“There was water everywhere and I had no way of letting my husband know not to come home from town,” says Tara, a professional cattle and kid wrangler. “It had been a few hours. It was getting dark. I didn’t know where they were and I couldn’t get onto them. I didn’t know if they were okay. I was worried sick.”
Telstra’s Regional Advisor Network is meeting the unique communication needs of people in rural and remote areas, allowing communities and towns across the country to thrive.
“The need for this team and this project has come from a very clear recognition that our customers in regional communities want more in terms of assistance outside of what we can offer them in a Telstra store,” says Michael Marom, Regional General Manager for North ern NSW, who’s also on the RAN project. “A lot of our customers live a long way from a store, in some cases hundreds of kilometres from one, so we want to be able to provide that as sistance and we thought that utilising our tech nical workforce was a vehicle to do that.”
Stories like Tara’s are common in regional Australia, where distance and isolation make communication challenging. Recognising the unique needs of customers in rural and remote areas, Telstra launched the Regional Advisor Network (RAN) two years ago.
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Afterwards Tara made a passionate speech about the ordeal at Cloncurry Town Hall. Jon athon New, a senior network engineering spe cialist who’s part of Telstra’s Regional Advisor Network, heard the speech and was deter mined to help the family.
Telstra’s long history in serving regional Australia means the company is committed to meeting the evolving needs of its cus tomers. “Our heritage in regional Australia is strong and we feel the need to support regional customers in a changing environ ment is really important,” Marom says. “We have a clear responsibility as the educa tors and continue to provide a service that’s superior to our competitors and meets the needs of our customers in the bush.”
“It’s a little bit more difficult to get com munications and to do things in the bush so to get a result out here sometimes you have to go that extra mile,” says New. “It means a lot to people out here and it means a lot to me to actually provide that.”
The growing use of monitoring and tracking technology in modern farming is creating additional demand for technical communication expertise, he says. “The emergence of the ‘Internet of Things’ type solutions that are coming onto farms and properties, whether it’s water management, tracking assets like vehicles and so forth, that’s another part of our development in that space,” says Marom, adding that such technology extends Telstra’s network by an extra one million square kilometres.
“We’re able to provide local network en gineers who can look at bigger end issues where coverage may have changed in an area over a particular period of time and there’s no explanation for it,” Marom says. “It could be that there’s some illegal repeat ers or other types of interference and they can go out on site and investigate that. They can also go out on large properties that might have itinerant workers and need con nectivity for them.”
Overcoming the communication challen ges presented by our nation’s unique geog raphy certainly isn’t easy, but the rewards to our regional communities stand to be immense. Projects like RAN have the poten tial to shape the nation’s future, ensuring rural and remote areas continue their valu able contribution to national prosperity. Not least, it helps make the lives of Austral ians living in rural and remote communities that little bit easier and in some situations communication could mean the difference between life and death.
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the australian farmer 105 expertise and providing solutions to issues like network coverage around the home and property, as well as out on the road. In addition, RAN technicians are equipped to investigate and troubleshoot some of the more complex connectivity issues that arise in rural areas and can attend local commun ity events to showcase product solutions.
The increasing sophistication of custom ers in regional Australia reflects the phe nomenal advancement in communications technology in the last two decades more broadly, Marom believes.
“If you look back 20 years ago we basically made phone calls and sent text messages. We’ve gone from text messages to devices in our hands that are basically mobile com puters. Voice usage has really reduced. The ability to send and receive data has become far more important in regional markets, as it has in metropolitan areas.”
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
WiSA’s system uses weather data and sensors to provide real-time weather, soil and en vironmental updates and control water and nutrient application.
WiSA began in humble circum stances, created on the kitchen bench of founder Graeme Wright in 1996. His success in devel oping sustainable automated irrigation systems that allow growers to monitor, control and remotely manage their water use saw the company develop a formidable reputation.
“All profits from the first ten years of the company went straight back into research and development,” says Paul Wright, Graeme’s son and the company’s sales director. “We still have the same customers from 21 years ago and this is because we are spending 40-50 per cent of our time on R&D in order to be able to offer upgrades to our custom ers’ systems at minimal cost.”
The data collected from sensors and field units is automatically mapped and can be accessed via smartphone or laptop. This automated system en sures the right amount of water and nutrients are applied at the right time in the growing cycle, reducing water consumption and increasing crop yields and produce quality. Furthermore, WiSA’s system is modular by de sign, allowing customers to add to the system over time.
With increasing demand on limited water resources and the need to increase productivity throughout the agriculture indus try, WiSA is continually looking for ways to improve the efficiency of automated irrigation systems. As such, the company has recently developed a new system specif ically for the sugarcane industry.
“The sugarcane industry has so far used very basic irrigation systems,” says Paul. “There is a growing demand to produce a new valve board system in order to bring the management costs down for the industry as a whole.”
Wise, efficient automated irrigation with WiSA
Established 21 years ago in Echuca, Victoria, WiSA was one of the first companies to offer automated irrigation control systems in Australia. Australian made and owned, the company’s innovations not only improve the efficiency of irrigation systems, but give growers greater control and increased flexibility, ultimately saving time, money and water.
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WiSA has simultaneously developed a sin gle valve system that is more economical for vegetable gardens and parklands, a change from their previous boards that only operated multiple valves and were not economical for small operations. The company is also testing a new valve system that will incorporate radio and sensors into one small box in-ground, where the radio is at surface level instead of at the outer field irrigation areas.
WiSA’s new two-valve board system can independently open actuators at different positions in order to better and more effi ciently control the water flows.
• WiSA has a range of solutions that can be tailored to any farm type Irrigation Automation companies, once you buy one of our systems it really is yours and there is no ongoing costs and no third party involved.
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“We are one of the oldest companies around when it comes to automated irrig ation systems,” says Paul. “But unlike other KEY BENEFITS • WiSA’s fertiliserapplicationssystemsautomatedAustralian-madeirrigationcontrolensurepreciseofwaterand
“Instead of operating just one field unit that manages three irrigation units, for ex ample, the grower is now able to independ ently operate all three irrigation units for the same price of one field unit,” explains Paul.
“Once we have a customer, we have a customer for life.”
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While fixed-wing planes dominate the aerial agriculture scene in flatlands, helicopters have found a niche on more congested, hillier farms where manoeuv rability around hills and trees is vital. In these regions, the services offered by Rotor Solutions are not only faster than spraying or application done by foot, but also much safer.
Precision, safety and control: the Rotor Solutions advantage
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
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The use of helicopters for aerial spraying and fertiliser application is on the rise in Australia due to hard-working companies such as Rotor Solutions . The Albury-based company – run by husband-and-wife team Hugh and Monique Acton-Adams – has doubled in size to meet demand since it was established in 2008.
James Cappell runs a 1,000ha beef and sheep operation just south of Holbrook in NSW and uses Rotor Solutions to keep weeds at bay and apply fertiliser in his hillier pad docks. He had used planes for both spray ing and application in the past, but went to Rotor Solutions looking for a better result.
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“The helicopter is typically more precise and gets much more spray down into areas planes can’t get into,” says Hugh. “We’re more efficient than a plane and safer than a quadbike or truck – it’s really important that people aren’t out there putting them selves at risk for any type of farming, no matter Helicopterswhat.”can also get much closer to the ground, so there is the added environ mental benefit of a greatly reduced risk of spray drift. And for fertiliser application, helicopters provide a much more even coverage with less wastage.
the australian farmer
“So many places we go to have had aero planes do spraying,” says Hugh. “But as soon as we’ve flown over once, they’ll never go back to aeroplanes again.”
Click here to see the specifications of Rotor Solutions’ helicopter fleet PRODUCT SPECS
KEYTESTIMONIALSBENEFITS•Helicoptersare
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And as experiences like James’ become the norm, the helicopter spraying industry – and Rotor Solutions – will only continue to grow.
Click here to read more testimonials from Rotor Solutions customers
much more suited to aerial spraying or fertiliser application in hilly country They are safer, faster, much more precise and reduce transport costs
“I’m much happier with the results from the helicopter as opposed to planes,” says James. “We no longer have to rely on a neigh bouring airstrip and the biggest advantage is the amount of time we save – Rotor Solu tions can have the spraying done in a tenth of the time it would take us on the ground.”
It is also important to remember that helicopters provide not only greater preci sion but also lower transport costs. Unlike planes, helicopters can take off and land on the farm, thus negating the need to trans port the payload to the nearest airport and saving money and time.
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Farms are a vital part of the business landscape in Australia, and their importance is increasing as the industry grows beyond $60 billion in annual gross value. The Australian government – through the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science – is committed to encouraging farm businesses to grow and supporting them in times of drought.
Assisted by the University of New England’s SMART Region Incubator, SmartShepherd is an innovative technological solution that enables livestock breeders to collect maternal pedigree in formation quickly and cost effectively. The start-up
The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science plays a two-pronged role in supporting the agricul tural industry in Australia: providing farming busi nesses and communities with access to world-leading scientific research, data and modelling and creating programs that enable these businesses to grow and innovate. In times of drought when businesses and communities need support more than ever, the value of this scientific and economic information and sup port takes on added importance.
businessesfarmforcrucialprovidesGovernmentsupportinnovative
SUPPORTING INNOVATION
The Department of Industry, Innovation and Sci ence offers a wide range of initiatives and pro grams for businesses of all kinds via the dedicated, easy-to-use business.gov.au website. Two of the most relevant programs for farmers are the Entre preneurs’ Programme and the R&D Tax Incentive.
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INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
The Entrepreneurs’ Programme offers business support through experienced advisers and facilita tors, co-funded commercialisation grants for novel products and services, funding for growth oppor tunities and the ability to connect and collaborate.
The Programme also supports external incubators through the Incubator Support Initiative, and NSW business SmartShepherd is one of the many enter prising agricultural start-ups receiving support.
ACCESS TO SCIENCE
The R&D Tax Incentive is the government’s single largest investment in business innov ation, with over 13,000 businesses benefit ing annually from the support provided to offset R&D costs. The Incentive provides a tax offset to eligible companies conducting R&D for the purpose of generating new knowledge. Innovative Queensland-based pest management company Bugs for Bugs is one company that has flourished thanks to the WithIncentive.morethan a third of the company’s annual budget devoted to R&D, Bugs for Bugs (one of only four companies in Australia involved in the mass rearing of beneficial in sects) has been able to use the Incentive to increase its proportion of research staff by over 25 per cent and developed more than ten species for natural pest control.
the australian farmer 111 has received one-on-one mentoring and support via the incubator that has been crucial in developing the business for both the domestic and export markets.
Geoscience Australia delivers the Digital Earth Australia project. The project maps the location, quantity and quality of groundwater resources and determines the feasibility of water management options for government and communities. Crucially for farmers, the project can compare the current state of the landscape (water, vegetation and greenness) to other periods in history to better prepare for drought response and recovery.
Click here to learn about some of the other programs and institutions the Department supports INFORMATION LINK
CSIRO has been central to agricultural science and research in Australia for many decades, with a long history of expertise in water, agriculture, climate science and digital technology. Among other things, CSIRO’s research addresses the issues of drought and water availability and helps to build the resilience and adaptability of our rural communities. Examples of this include CSIRO’s work in ensuring Australian canola meets EU biodiesel requirements (a $1 billion market) and the cre ation of Agricultural Production Systems Simu lator (APSIM), one of the two most widely used crop simulation models worldwide.
Click here to visit business.gov.au and discover which programs your business is eligible for!
INFORMATION LINK
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The Industry, Innovation and Science portfolio includes science agencies the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisa tion (CSIRO) and Geoscience Australia.
“We try to educate everyone who comes through the door that they should install either a small trickle charger or solar panel if the equipment is out in a non-powered shed. This is the one thing they cannot do without.
“Batteries are most commonly left to go flat or dry out, which shortens the life of the battery con siderably,” he says. “Farmers are understandably focused on managing and running their farm, so some of the smaller things like putting a battery onto a trickle-charge can fall by the wayside.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
Battery World charged to help farmers reduce costs
Energy continues to be a dominant input cost for farmers. While a recent report from the Commonwealth Bank says 76 per cent of farmers are planning to tap into solar and battery storage in the future, in the interim there are ways to save on your energy costs.
In South Australia’s wine region, Mt Barker’s Keith Webster makes free home visits to farms within 40 minutes from his store to do audits and offer advice on a maintenance schedule.
“From farm equipment to the general farm ve hicles there are ways to save on battery costs, and this is a service offered by every rural Battery World store,” he says. “We like to make things work. Often a machinery shed will not have power, so we can help to modify solar panels and supply
That’s the advice from Battery World Australia’s franchisees – specialists in agricultural batteries who say a simple maintenance schedule could save farmers thousands of dollars off their general farm ingJaredbatteries.Cox, who owns both Tamworth and Dubbo Battery World stores, talks with farmers daily.
“Keeping a battery charged and the fluids topped up is a sure way to extend the life of the battery, as lead acid batteries in particular can be expensive. We have some really happy customers come back to see us, surprised by how much longer their bat teries lasted after following this advice.”
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“For over four years we have been of fering free maintenance audits to our pro ducers,” says Adam. “Maintenance varies from farm to farm, so the schedules and requirements are different. Some farmers will run cheap or mid-range batteries and swap every year, whereas others might want to get a full four years or more.
INFORMATION LINK
KEY BENEFITS
In Victoria’s fruit belt, Swan Hill’s Adam Best regularly meets with farmers and says a flat battery is not necessarily a dead bat tery, and that farmers should be using their battery chargers as a daily tool instead of waiting until a battery needs to be charged.
the australian farmer 113 the right cables for even the most difficult of
Many in the rural sector might be un aware that Battery World stores are owned and operated by locals invested in their community. All stores offer 24-hour bat tery assistance and can come to the farm to change a battery, jump start heavy vehi cles and trucks or help with other farming and non-farming power solutions.
• Planning a simple maintenance schedule for batteries can help save farmers thousands of dollars in energy costs
“Modern farm machinery carries so many technology features that can be affected when a battery goes flat, so it is important there is continued maintenance on those machines to ensure less risk to the investment.”
• Battery World stores offer not only the best in batteries, but also 24-hour assistance and farm visits DID YOU KNOW
The Century Yuasa N70ZZ is the most common battery on the farm and can cover most energy needs, whether it’s for the Land Cruiser or the header ?
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Click here to find your nearest Battery World store!
“Manyprojects.farmers are running European equipment that require larger format spe cialist batteries such as VARTA and we can easily supply those.”
“Historically, food export profitability in Australia has been tied to the farmer’s ability to reduce production costs. Food export is now, however, at the dawn of a golden era of growth and prosperity given the unprecedented access to authenticated datasets that allow the farmer to tell a rich story about provenance. By utilising infrastructure, partnerships and research assets, the Australian wine sector has demonstrated how provenance can be used to command a premium price in global markets – a great example for the livestock sector to follow.”
Professor Dave Swain, Precision Livestock Management Cluster Leader, Central Queensland University.
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Photo courtesy of Angela Elliott
“There are a lot of customers who want to support farmers and their families because, even in cit ies, they have a connection with people from the bush,” says Brad. “The IGA family gives us the cap Drought Angels supports Aussie farmers and rural communities by providing food hampers, care packs, prepaid visas, local store vouchers, stock feed and hay. IGA has partnered with the charity since 2018 and has raised almost $1 million through its national Raindrop Token Campaign.
IGA’s support of regional com munities extends beyond cham pioning local produce in store – in fact, the company has to date raised $60 million through the IGA Community Chest to help local schools, surf clubs and hospitals.
Of equal importance to IGA is supporting Australian farmers in need, especially during the cur rent drought. Numerous retail ers throughout the country have put their hands up to engage in theOnecause.such IGA retailer leading the charge is Brad Hopper, who manages eight supermarkets in Queensland. While Brad has been a regular fundraiser for several charities, his passion for helping the farming community came after he witnessed firsthand the plight faced by rural communities.Bradcameup with the Raindrop Token Campaign for his stores, where for each $2 donation, a rain drop tag with the donor’s name is placed on the storefront window. It has since become a national fundraising campaign throughout IGA stores, in affiliation with the Drought Angels charity.
IGA has been a household name in cities, towns and rural areas across Australia since its launch in 1988. With over 1,400 stores nationwide today, IGA’s success as a network of independent retailers is built on a close and mutually-beneficial relationship with local producers and Australian farmers.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
IGA: Championing true blue heroes
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Taking the pressure off not only finan cially but also mentally and emotionally, IGA retailer John Bishton in Bingara threw a Christmas Concert last year in honour of the region’s farmers. The help of a $5,000 do nation from Drought Angels spurred other businesses to donate to the cause, and John was able to enlist Aussie rockers Shane How ard of Goanna and John Schumann to per form for the 800 people in attendance.
Throughout the country, IGA retailers are doing what they can to help their commun ities and local producers, whether through fi nancial, mental or emotional support. Given the intrinsic role the farming community plays in not just the health of independent retailers but the health of regional Australia as a whole, it is no surprise to see their fellow Aussies digging deep to help out.
• Rigters IGA stores in Western Australia have pledged to match customer donations up to $100,000 to help drought-affected Australian farmers
• Mint Fresh IGA stores in NSW have set up money collection tins to raise funds for the Buy a Bale appeal
IGA retailers all around the country have raised funds to help the farming community. Other initiatives include:
the australian farmer 117 acity to do more with our fundraising events as our stores serve more than 10,000 people each week, and you don’t have to get a lot of money out of one person to make a big dif ference – just a gold coin goes a long way.”
For over two decades in Victoria, Michael Lorenz’s IGA stores have given close to $2 mil lion to community groups and contributed to fundraisers for disasters such as the 2004 tsu nami, 2008 drought and 2009 bushfires. More recently, Michael partnered with Need for Feed in 2016 to launch the Farmers Fund (formerly known as the Dairy Farmers Crisis Fund). The fund utilises the stores’ rewards program to help farmers with household expenses.
“This issue was especially important to me, as many of the farmers that were strug gling lived near our stores in Gippsland,” says Michael. “Just knowing that some of the people that were struggling could be my own customers hit pretty close to home and made me realise I needed to do something.”
“It was a really good night and there was a great feeling all over the town – almost like we had won the Grand Final or something like that,” says John.
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Solar pumping system delivers cost savings fast
As the cost of renewable energy in Australia falls, more and more farmers across the country are turning to solar energy as an alternative to fossil-fuelled generators for their pumping and power needs.
Ecotech Energy is a major player in the burgeoning solar game and one of Australia’s leading providers of commercial solar systems to rural and agricultural businesses.
Ecotech Energy operates through out Queensland, NSW and Victoria with service teams on the road for backup and support, offering commercial, residential and offgrid solar power solutions as well as solar pumping. The company’s long history in the industry means it has the necessary technical knowledge to handle every part of the design and installation process. Importantly in an agricultural industry where digital data is fast becoming a key tool in deci sion-making, Ecotech also offers local or back-to-base monitor ing solutions. These enable you to access information about the performance of your solar pump ing system online and in real time, anywhere in the world. Karl Hooke, a broadacre farmer in northwest Victoria, recently con tracted Ecotech Energy to install two 100kw ground-mounted solar power systems to offset the costs of running bore pumps used for
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
“I’d definitely recommend Ecotech to other farmers,” says Karl. “It’s hard to find companies that have experience in installing large solar irrigation systems, and Ecotech has done plenty of them.
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“We were originally looking at a five-year payback period for the cost of the solar sys tem with Ecotech, but government grants have brought the payback period down to just two-and-a-half years,” says Karl. “There aren’t many investments of that scale on the farm that can be paid off so quickly, it’s a great return on the investment.”
For Karl, the cost savings he will gain from converting to solar power are immediate. One of the 100kw solar systems will alleviate a quarter of the power that bore draws from the grid, and the other will alleviate up to two thirds of his power usage for the second bore.
As an added bonus for Karl, one of the solar systems will actually generate income for the farm through feed-in tariffs, where excess electricity generated by the system is sold back to the grid.
Ecotech Energy’s solar pumping installation on Karl’s farm will be fully paid off in just two-anda-half years Ecotech has the industry experience to tailor solar pumping solutions to benefit individual farms Got questions about installing a solar system? Check out Ecotech’s handy FAQ section the
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Karl currently uses irrigation bores running on 100 per cent grid power to irrigate his lucerne pasture from October to March.
the australian farmer irrigation.
“It’s one of the main reasons we went with Ecotech – that experience, coupled with their excellent customer service.”
KEY BENEFITS •
for
answers INFORMATION LINK CompanyInfoBacktoContentsDownloadPDFEmailCompany
Given the cost savings on offer, it is no surprise that farmers across the country are considering solar power for their pump ing needs. And for Karl, what made Ecotech stand out in this space was the company’s experience and professionalism.
Soil
“Typically, once we are clear on the growers’ objectives, we undertake a series of soil tests and/or plant sap or tissue tests,” said Freemantle.
For 30 years Omnia Specialities has been the Australian and global leader in the development and manufacture of speciality fertilisers and biostimulants including humates, fulvates and kelp products that improve crop health, yields and improve soil health in a sustainable and environmentally conscious way.
“Our team of specialist agronomists know how to use our products to leverage the fertiliser inputs to your cropping system, ensuring your crop gets max imum uptake when it is needed with a reduction in losses to the environment,” said Freemantle.
Freemantle says his team of dedicated agronomists work directly with distributors and growers to develop cropping programs that improve soil and plant health.
What is humic acid? Click here to find out INFORMATION LINK
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
Australian agriculture is increasingly looking to harness the power of soil biology to improve the efficiency of and reduce environmental losses of fertilisers while improv ing carbon capture into the soil to leave it in a healthier condition for future generations says James Freemantle, Managing Director of Omnia Specialities Australia.
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Once the strategy is implemented, the Omnia team is directly available to evaluate results and fine-tune it through the growing season, using independent labs to analyse soil, sap or tissue samples matched with agronomic observation.
Humic acid occurs naturally in healthy soils that contain organic matter in levels which favour soil microbial activity. Humate is a soluble form of humic acid and has been widely tested and proven to improve the level of soil aggregates, giving a sig nificant improvement in soil structure.
Since 1990, Omnia has produced high-quality humate based products and specialty fertilisers in Australia by extracting rich sources of humic acids from Leonardite in the Gippsland region of Victoria.
According to Fremantle however, humates alone are no magic wand and need to be part of a balanced plant nutrition program.
“We currently work with some of the nation's lar gest and most innovative growers, particularly in po tatoes, almonds, walnuts, wine and table grapes and Macadamias”.
“We then recommend a nutrient strategy to achieve the grower’s objectives”.
Soil nutrient and water holding capacity is increased with the use of humate. Acting much like a sponge, hum ate improves the efficiency of applied fertilisers and in creases plant nutrient uptake. Increased root volume is commonly observed, leading to a more efficient foraging surface area for nutrients and water.
NUTRIOLOGY*
For greater effect and convenience, it is recommended that K-humate S90 Granulated is mixed with the fertilizer to be applied in the field. K-humate S90 Granulated can be applied in conjunction with agricultural lime, and conventional fertilizers like urea, superphosphate and DAP to maximise the efficiency of the fertilizers.
25kg
90% SOLUBLE HUMIC ACID (AS POTASSIUM HUMATE) Reg. No. 3456M
NUTRIOLO GY * CompanyInfoBacktoContentsDownloadPDFEmailCompany
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%W/W
For greater effect and convenience, it is recommended that K-humate S90 Granulated is mixed with the fertilizer to be applied in the field. K-humate S90 Granulated can be applied in conjunction with agricultural lime, and conventional fertilizers like urea, superphosphate and DAP to maximise the efficiency of the fertilizers. When mixing with other liquid fertilizers, test for compatibility with a small quantity in a jar.
When mixing with other liquid fertilizers, test for compatibility with a small quantity in a jar.
CONDITIONS OF SALE: Every care is taken during the manufacture of this product. However, as environmental conditions can vary considerably, no responsibility can be taken by the manufacturer, importer or his agents for any injury, damage, loss or other results following the use or misuse of this product. application rate of 2-10 greater effect and convenience, it is recommended that K-humate S90 Granulated is mixed with the fertilizer to be applied in the field. K-humate S90 Granulated can be applied in conjunction with agricultural lime, and conventional fertilizers like urea, superphosphate and DAP to maximise the efficiency of the fertilizers. When mixing with other liquid fertilizers, test for compatibility with a small quantity in a jar.
“The Bacstim range provides a source of beneficial bacteria to the soil which provide a plant with the opportunity to express its inherent natural resilience to diseases, pests and stress,” said Freemantle.
90%
(ACN
Fortunately, many of Omnia’s products are approved as inputs for Organic produc tion with NASAA, one of Australia’s leading organic certification organisations. “As a grower looking for the benefits humates bring, the first thing is to make
“Recent independent testing of various humate liquids, using the CDFA method of analysis, showed from between 27.8% w/v potassium humate to as little as 0.33%. Some products had less than 2% of the humate claimed on the label”.
*thescienceofgrowing
Suitable for use with all soil types. Apply pre-planting or during the active growing season. SOLUBLE HUMIC ACID (AS POTASSIUM
HUMATE) Benefits • Improves • Improves • Promotes • nutrientsPromotes • calciumImproves CAUTION: Avoid contact If swallowed Do not store Store in dry (low pH materials). Omnia Specialities (ACN 102 Fax:Tel:Victoria,MorwellTramway7173840Australia+61-3-5133+61-3-5133 www.omnia.com.auReg. No. 3456M ELEMENTANALYSIS %W/W Total Potassium Humate and Fulvate 70-75 Potassium (K) 13.00 Particle Size: 2-5mm0-2mm
Suitable for use with all soil types. Apply pre-planting or during the active growing season.
90% SOLUBLE HUMIC ACID (AS POTASSIUM HUMATE) Benefits Improves CAUTION: Avoid contact not store (low pH materials). Specialities 102 Fax:Tel:Victoria,MorwellTramway7173840Australia+61-3-5133+61-3-5133
“The strains of bacteria are carefully selected to survive if the environmental con ditions move outside of their comfort zone. They enter a spore form until conditions are suitable and they spring back into action.”
POTASSIUM HUMATE *thescienceofgrowing NUTRIOLOGY* Suitable for use with all soil types. Apply pre-planting or during the active growing season. 90% SOLUBLE HUMIC ACID (AS POTASSIUM HUMATE) Benefits • Improves • Improves • Promotes • nutrientsPromotes • calciumImproves CAUTION: Avoid contact If swallowed Do not store Store in dry (low pH materials). Omnia Specialities (ACN 102 Fax:Tel:Victoria,MorwellTramway7173840Australia+61-3-5133+61-3-5133 www.omnia.com.auReg. No. 3456M ELEMENTANALYSIS %W/W Total Potassium Humate and Fulvate 70-75 Potassium (K) 13.00 Particle Size: 2-5mm0-2mm DIRECTIONS FOR USE: APPLICATION: An
the australian farmer 121
kg/Ha each growing season is recommended. For
25kg
ELEMENTANALYSIS
*thescienceofgrowing NUTRIOLOGY* 25kg
Freemantle says that the lack of industry regulation in Australia on the humate market has seen a wide range of poor quality products become available from far too many suppliers.
*thescienceofgrowing
If swallowed Do
CONDITIONS OF SALE: Every care is taken during the manufacture of this product. However, as environmental conditions can vary considerably, no responsibility can be taken by the manufacturer, importer or his agents for any injury, damage, loss or other results following the use or misuse of this product.
• Improves • nutrientsPromotes • calciumImproves
DIRECTIONS FOR USE: APPLICATION: An application rate of 2-10 kg/Ha each growing season is recommended.
POTASSIUM
“Healthy soil is key to improved plant health, resilience against biotic and abiotic stress and lastly, more sustainable farming practices. It’s important to know what you are really buying!” said Freemantle.
DIRECTIONS FOR USE: APPLICATION: An application rate of 2-10 kg/Ha each growing season is recommended.
ELEMENTANALYSIS %W/W Total Potassium Humate and Fulvate 70-75 Potassium (K) 13.00 Particle Size: 2-5mm0-2mm
Potassium (K2O) Particle Size:
By using products like Mega-Kel-P which combine the power of humates with the bio stimulant effect of kelps, fulvates, trace ele ments and macronutrients, Omnia provides customers with the confidence that using these products will provide a high return on the cost of applying the product.
Interested in learning more? Click here to read about the biological, chemical and physical benefits of K-Humate INFORMATION LINK sure that the product you are considering buying contains the humate needed to do the job,” said Freemantle.
Suitable for use with all soil types. Apply pre-planting or during the active growing season.
In comparison, Omnia’s K-humate 26% liquid has been produced in the regional Victorian town of Morwell for over 25 years. Made from Australian Leonardite, K-humate has gained world-wide respect as a reliable and effective product.
DIRECTIONS FOR USE: An application rate of 2-10 kg/Ha is recommended.
APPLICATION:
CONDITIONS OF SALE: Every care is taken during the manufacture of this product. However, as environmental conditions can vary considerably, no responsibility can be taken by the manufacturer, importer or his agents for any injury, damage, loss or other results following the use or misuse of this product. NUTRIOLOGY*
Total Potassium Humate and Fulvate 70-75 Potassium (K) 13.00 Particle Size: 2-5mm0-2mm
CONDITIONS OF SALE: Every care is taken during the manufacture of this product. However, as environmental conditions can vary considerably, no responsibility can be taken by the manufacturer, importer or his agents for any injury, damage, loss or other results following the use or misuse of this product. 0-2mm2-4mm10.0060-65
Store in dry
each growing season
Working so closely with Australian growers has also led to the development of a range of innovative biostimulant products like the Bacstim range which is designed to deliver yield, quality and sustainability.
For greater effect and convenience, it is recommended that K-humate S90 Granulated is mixed with the fertilizer to be applied in the field. K-humate S90 Granulated can be applied in conjunction with agricultural lime, and conventional fertilizers like urea, superphosphate and DAP to maximise the efficiency of the fertilizers. When mixing with other liquid fertilizers, test for compatibility with a small quantity in a jar.
For greater effect and convenience, it is recommended that Potassium Humate Granulated is mixed with the fertilizer to be applied in the field. Potassium Humate Granulated can be applied in conjunction with agricultural lime, and conventional fertilizers like urea, superphosphate and DAP to maximise the efficiency of the fertilizers.
www.omnia.com.auReg. No. 3456M
Omnia
P2PAgri is an online platform – written for farmers and their advisors – that provides both historical financial reporting and forward planning, access ible on any device. It can integrate seamlessly into any farming system to become a natural part of the decision-making process, allowing the farmer to model a variety of projections for every financial decision they make – whether that’s buying new machinery, changing the cropping rotation or ex panding the property. It can significantly improve risk management and long-term profitability.
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The beauty of P2PAgri is that it can be used by both farmers and their advisors to improve deci sion-making and plan ahead more than a season at a time. Tony Hudson is an independent rural consultant who has been working across eastern Australia since 2010, using P2PAgri to provide his clients with strategic planning advice and financial analysis.“There’s absolutely nothing else commercially available that does what P2PAgri does,” says Tony. “The game is getting harder and more so phisticated, and we need to become more sophis ticated if we’re going to continue to push forward
P2PAgri enables farmers to plan ahead like never before
Modern agriculture is a complicated endeavour, and there are many skills a farmer must master to ensure the viability of the farm. One crucial skill that is underappreciated and perhaps lacking in Australian farming communities is business management. P2PAgri is a powerful new software tool helping farmers across the country get a better handle on their business and more accurately plan for the future.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
on what is a challenging playing field.
“We’ve just had to work through an ex pansion phase in our business, and P2PAgri has allowed us to get a better idea of what we can do and model different scenarios to
“P2PAgri allows us to do that – it’s a won derful piece of software and I can’t imagine running a business without it. If you’re not using it, you’re doing it tough.”
“I’ve had clients that haven’t realised how the decisions they make affect them in the medium to long term until they’ve modelled them on P2PAgri,” says Tony. “Once you’ve trained farmers in the basics of business management thinking with the software, they just love it.
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“They want to ask all the questions that it can answer: ‘what if I buy or lease some more land?’, ‘what if I change tractors?’, ‘what if I have to pay out $1 million for suc cession planning?’ – we can model all that andFormore.”Stuart Murdoch, a mixed cropping farmer on 4,500 hectares in Warooka on the Yorke Peninsula, P2PAgri has enabled him to easily model some major decisions – a vast improvement over his previous mod elling tools of a spreadsheet, a pen and the back of an envelope.
see what other options might exist,” says Stuart. “It’s enabled us to benchmark and constantly monitor where the business is going.“I’d recommend P2PAgri as a great planning tool, it helps enormously with decision making. Nowadays farming is big business and there’s a lot of money at risk – you need to use every tool at your dis posal to assess your decisions, so P2PAgri is a great benefit.”
KEY BENEFITS •
For Tony, P2PAgri has a significant in fluence on his clients. It not only creates discipline around financial planning and provides clarity for the long-term produc tion cycle but is also easy to use – farmers can become proficient with the software in as little as two days.
P2PAgri allows farmers and advisors to better manage their finances and model the longterm impact of big decisions It is an easy-to-use online program, accessible on any device Great software and personal training support
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Click here to learn how Corey Uebergang – a farmer and advisor – uses P2PAgri to get ahead
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After arriving on Australian shores in the early 1960s in Dandenong Victoria, Franklin Electric commenced importing and distributing 4”, 6”, 10” and 12” submersible products. Local manufactur ing quickly followed with specialised imported parts to offer the Australian water industry Frank lin’s world-leading submersible motors.
Moving Water Moving Forward
Relying on mother nature to irrigate crops, irrig ate pastures and provide drinking water for ani mals can be risky, especially when unpredictable drought periods hit the hardest. However the pumping systems manufactured by Franklin Electric provide the stability that naturally oc curring weather patterns are unable, enabling farmers to increase their output, better predict crop yields and keep their animals strong, healthy and hydrated.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
Today, Franklin Electrics range of products has expanded to a full range of surface mount pumps, ISO, split case, multi-stage, small and large cen trifugal motor pumps as well as a huge range of below-ground pumps including submersible turbines, line shafts, boreholes and dewatering pumps to provide the industry with the highest quality submersible motor products available.
In 1962, Franklin Electric came from the USA to Australia to provide support and technical expertise to our water industry. Now, they are a global leader in all of their specialities, with their products being used across a broad scope of applications with the largest and most comprehensive ranges of pumping and associated products supplied by a single company globally.
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“Whether you need a submersible pump for a clean well water system or an indus trial water pump for a larger job, Franklin has a solution to fit your needs, because moving water is our business”.
The remaining 65% of Pioneer Pump Inc was purchased by Franklin Electric in 2011.
Malcolm Eyre, Managing Director of Franklin Electric Australia says that the main benefit that the Australian industry has come to rely on from Franklin is their quality, reliability and performance.
“Franklin demonstrates these every day to its customers through its five key factors for success: quality, availability, service, in novation and cost”.
“We now have hundreds of years worth of experience to assist every person who needs help with a pump or application,” said Eyre.
This has resulted in Franklin Electric be coming not just Australia’s leading submer sible motor but the world’s most installed submersible electric motor.
Electric then purchased a 35% stake of Pioneer Pump Inc Situated in Canby Portland Oregon in 2005, growing their prod uct line to include a large range of centrifugal pumps and automatic self-priming pumps as well as solids handling self-priming pumps.
Whether the need is lawn or crop irrig ation, water transfer, drinking water for people or livestock, or just having water where it currently isn’t, ask for Franklin Electric.
In 2004, Franklin Electric announced the purchase of JBD, formally the jacuzzi in dustrial range and that they were entering the pumping industry by launching Franklin Pumping Systems, now known as FPS.
According to Eyre, alongside the consoli dation of the businesses comes the staff and the years of pump experience that the com pany now has.
After decades of success partnering with pump manufacturers and developing a deep understanding of the market, Franklin Electric had some serious decisions to make when the industry started to consolidate globally in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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Today Franklin Electric Australia and Pioneer Pump Holdings Australia are 1 company “Franklin Electric Australia New Zealand Pty Ltd, with 2 facilities operating, the Warehouse and Assembly facility in Dan denong South, Victoria and the Fabrication Assembly and test facility in Sunshine West Victoria, which includes a logistic ware house in Ravenhall Victoria.
Starting from a very low share, FPS is now the leading US market. As the pumping in dustry is global, similar issues applied in Australia.“Inlate
2007 Franklin Electric Australia after 3 years of evaluating the market, en tered the main water pump industry by launching and distributing their FPS range of submersible pumps and above-ground pumps, motors, drives and controls direct to their own Australian dealer network,” saidFranklinEyre.
One of the biggest and most time-consuming issues for Australian farmers is finding the right people at the right time to work on the farm. A popular option is to outsource the work to a labour hire company but, after years of unethical behaviour and poor regulation, many labour hire companies do not have the best reputation in regional Australia. Bucking the trend is Labour Solutions Australia – a company with a strong history in agribusiness that has been helping farmers manage their workforce for many years with professionalism and efficiency.
“Some employers and farmers are happy because they’re being charged less by these dodgier labour hire outfits, but they have to realise they have a responsib ility to understand the market and what they should be pay ing their workers,” says Labour Solutions Australia CEO Edwin Cooke. “They need to know there are legitimate options out there and Labour Solutions Aus tralia is one of them.”
Easy and professional Labour Solutions for hard-working farm businesses
Labour licencing laws have changed in Queensland and Victoria in the last year in an at tempt to curb the exploitation and mistreatment of workers, particularly in the agricultural industry. While the changes are a blow to the many ethically dubi ous labour hire companies that have been underpaying workers and providing labour to employ ers at what can only be seen as illegitimate pay rates, for Labour Solutions Australia the changes are business as usual.
Labour Solutions Australia (est. 2004) manages work forces, hires skilled and un skilled labour and provides tailored employment solu tions across a broad range of industries all over Austra lia. The company has a prov en track record in regional and metropolitan locations and is also a registered pro vider for the well-regarded Seasonal Worker Program and Pacific Island Scheme.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
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Many farmers don’t have the resources just to have a permanent staff member purely dealing with recruitment, payroll, tax and super – Labour Solutions provides the oversight to handle all of this on the farm er’s“Keybehalf.farm management staff shouldn’t spend half their time worrying about who is going to sweep the floors or whether their seasonal pickers have been paid super annuation,” says Edwin. “We allow senior managers to do what they should be doing rather than worrying about menial admin istrative tasks.
• Labour Solutions Australia offers professional and efficient management of the workforce and handles the process from start to finish • Workers go through an extensive screening process to ensure they meet the skills and attitude required • Labour Solutions Australia aims to create an environment of collaboration that delivers appropriate solutions for businesses
“We deliver a workforce on time and to scale and skillset – all it takes is a couple of meetings with the farmer to find out what they need, and the work is done,” says Edwin. “Then it’s as simple as 100-200 work ers turn up on time, to scale, to skill and we run the entire recruitment and employment lifecycle including payroll, with the farmer simply getting an invoice each week.”
“It’s about allocating your resources cor rectly – if you can have an organisation like ours come and do everything from start to finish and deliver a workforce to run a pro ject, that allows your existing management team to focus on more important things such as yield, quality, infrastructure and ex pansion.”
One of the advantages of Labour Solutions Australia is the fact it is a large company – a subsidiary of international workforce com pany Adcorp – with a culture of compliance and efficiency and the resources to operate at any scale.
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The key to the Labour Solutions offering is the effort that goes into recruiting and screening candidates. A comprehensive se lection process utilises referrals and work histories to ensure the workforce matches the skills and attitude needed by the work place. For the farm business, the amount of work needed is minimal – Labour Solutions handles everything.
“We run nationwide with a compliant model regardless of location – you could operate in Mackay, Mt Isa, South Australia or the Riverina and expect the same standard in all those locations,” says Edwin. “Small labour hire companies are often one injury or lawsuit away from being shut, but be cause we’re a part of a listed entity we can operate sustainably in the long-term.”
KEY BENEFITS
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Bringing the best in grain handling and storage to Australian shores
National Ag is a young company based in Moree that imports some of the biggest brand names in agricultural equipment from sowing to storage. With a range of solutions for all grain storage issues, National Ag is able to source parts for most augers and conveyors and offers a full parts and service backup.
National Ag imports the best grain handling equipment from around the world The equipment comes with a full parts and service backup as standard
KEY BENEFITS
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INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
National Ag’s current product range in cludes Unitube grain conveyors, Meridian grain augers, Wheatheart 13-inch and 16inch grain augers, Marcher baggers, Mainero chaser bins, bag loaders and out loaders, Akron baggers, out loaders and vertical feed mixers, Silo Bags , T/L Irrigation systems, Kwik-Till high-speed discs, Kwik-Kleen grain cleaners and Notch Blades.
Australian farmers should be able to access the best farming equipment from anywhere in the world, and National Ag is making it happen by importing products such as the Unitube 22-120 Grain Conveyor. This US-made conveyor delivers superior performance and soft grain handling for dif ferent qualities of grain.
Also of particular note is the Silo Bag , a new system that enables the storage of grains and forages in a safe, economical and profitable way. Designed to achieve the optimal preservation of grains at harvest or storage sites, the portable Silo Bags elimin ate the expense of costly on-farm storage systems and have very low running costs. Grains can also be stored in Silo Bags at a higher moisture content than is possible in traditional storage options.
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With a commitment to research and development, Spraygro is at the very forefront of the liquid plant nutrition industry in Australia. The company specialises in off-the-shelf and custom liquid fertilisers that contain the optimal form of elements you need to correct and maximise plant growth.
Spraygro’s liquid fertiliser range is among the most comprehensive in the world, pro viding growers with the right solution to maximise crop growth in all situations. With over 35 years of history in the industry and a huge database of formulations, Spraygro has the expertise to know precisely what works and the capacity to provide reliable and con sistent
Spraygroresults.specialises in custom liquid fer tiliser solutions that can meet the need of any farmer, in broadacre, horticulture or turf. The company’s products can cover standard NPK inputs and trace elements such as calcium, magnesium, copper or zinc, among others. With 18 mixing tanks and two full-time in-house chemists, Spraygro prides itself on its manufac turing speed and can deliver products to cus tomers just 2-3 days after they were ordered.
Spraygro
Spraygro’s expertise in liquid fertilisers and vast range of products mean it has the solution to suit every farmer The company offers custom solutions to ensure your plants get the inputs they need
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The use of liquid fertilisers on farm has signifi cantly increased in recent years as improved application systems allow farmers to save significant time and labour as well as reap the benefits of precise and accurate nutrient placement. Liquid fertilisers can be applied from the air or, more commonly nowadays, in horticulture via fertigation from in-row fur row or drip irrigation systems, enabling the farmer to precisely fertilise thousands of hec tares with just the push of a button.
Click here to hear from Spraygro Managing Director Simon Blackwood on the importance of liquid fertilisers on Australian farms
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KEY BENEFITS •
INFORMATION LINK – the experts in liquid fertiliser
the australian farmer
In other words, it’s the perfect spot for Calrossy Anglican School, which has educated generations of girls and boys from New England and beyond, many of whom have gone on to do big things in the industry. Little wonder, since Calrossy offers, among other things, a remarkably hands-on ag program that’s unique among Australian schools.
To negotiate the former and make the most of the latter, the industry will need leaders who are equipped with well-honed problem-solving skills, practical as well as theoretical knowledge, and a strong ethical compass to guide them.
Innovative, century-old Calrossy, in the agricultural heartland of NSW, offers an ag program that’s unique among Australian schools
Calrossy Anglican School: an idyllic training ground for the ag leaders of tomorrow
For the next generation of primary producers, and the broader Australian ag sector, the future looks set to present great challenges and great opportunities in roughly equal measure.
Anchored by the growing regional centres of Tamworth and Armidale, and dotted with com munities whose names resonate in the Australian bush psyche – Moree, Gunnedah, Glen Innes –New England, with its combination of high-qual ity infrastructure and large-scale farming activity, is an ideal nursery for the ag leaders of tomorrow.
Over the century-and-change since it was founded – the school marked its centenary in 2019 – Calrossy has been a key element of New England’s educational ecosystem, and has earned a reputation for producing young women and men of character who don’t mind getting
One of the vast stages on which our ag future will play out is the New England region, in the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales. It’s long been one of the nation’s agricultural crown jewels, renowned for its high-quality cattle and sheep and for its outsized contributions to our wheat and cotton industries.
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Purchased in 2010 with the help of the school community, Tangara allows Cal rossy students to get out of the classroom and into the paddock, where they can practise, as the school terms it, “learning in context”.
Among other residents – including a popular, watchful Maremma dog named “Dude”– the farm is home to a herd of around 45 high-quality Kamilaroi short horn breeding cows and a flock of hand some Dorper sheep.
The Tangara program has built a very real reputation for excellence; people still talk about the magnificent Cal rossy-reared Kamilaroi shorthorn calf that sold for a record-breaking $75,000 – not a misprint – at the 2004 Dubbo Na tional Shorthorn Show and Sale.
As any scientist or farmer will tell you, the benefits of “learning by doing” can’t be overstated; even the liveliest text book can’t compete with the experience of, say, using a cattle crush or a groom ing chute for the first time, or parading a prize heifer before an impressed crowd.
the australian farmer 131 their boots dirty.
The Tamworth-headquartered K–12 boarding and day school has an innova tive structure that’s been dubbed “co-ed with a difference”, and which allows for the delivery of targeted, age- and genderspecific academic and wellbeing pro grams. Its William Cowper campus houses a fully co-ed Junior School; Year 7–9 stu dents study on the same campus, but in single-gender classrooms. Meanwhile, on the nearby Brisbane Street campus, Year 10–12 students do their learning in co-ed classrooms.Calrossy’s energetic alumni community attests to the lasting impact the school has had on generations of students. With its storied old boarding houses, its strong outdoors focus, and the diverse academic, social, cultural, and athletic opportunities it offers, Calrossy is a place that tends to produce misty-eyed mem ories.There’s more to it than agriculture –indeed, the school achieves consistently excellent results across the whole gamut of HSC subject areas – but for those with a budding interest in the industry, Cal rossy is a kind of nirvana, offering invalu able practical experiences that students can carry with them into ag careers of all stripes.TheCalrossy ag program comprises a number of moving parts that revolve around the Tangara Trade Training Cen tre (Tangara), a 230-acre working farm just west of Tamworth, where students get the chance to put their ag theory into practice on an ongoing basis.
Each year, Calrossy students and staff members select the finest animals and groom them for exhibition at various agri cultural shows (including Sydney’s Royal Easter Show), and prepare a cohort of animals for sale. All students, even those who aren’t studying Ag as an elective, are encouraged to take part in these start-tofinish processes by joining the school’s dedicated Cattle and Sheep Teams from Year 7 on.
At Tangara, interested Calrossy stu dents learn about artificial breeding techniques; how to move, handle, and care for animals; and how to prepare stud livestock for exhibition and sale. They also learn about and – crucially – prac tise many other aspects of running a stud farm, including building fences and using farm machinery; utilising ground water sustainably; identifying soil types and determining soil health; irrigating and managing pasture and crops; and using chemicals safely.
One great advantage of the Tangara
Climate change, food and water security, inten sifying global competition, and the changeable tastes of foreign markets are among the challen ges our agricultural sector will face in the coming decades. Calrossy’s high-achieving ag students will be well placed to tackle them, and to help lead the industry into a future in which our con siderable agricultural potential is harnessed to the full.
Calrossy has also been using IT in innovative ways. It navigated the uncertain waters of the COVID crisis with aplomb, fully embracing online teaching models, and its class of 2020 didn’t suf fer any lockdown-related dip in their HSC results – a laudable outcome.
The school is also attracting praise for its bur geoning eCalrossy Distance Education Initiative, which gives online and in-person educational opportunities to students who, for various rea sons – distance, economics, family responsibil ities – need to do their learning from home. It’s a far cry from the old distance-education model, where self-directed – and self-isolating – learn ing was the order of the day. In the eCalrossy program, an interactive, supported, connected environment allows students to ask questions as they come up, rather than jot them down for later, and to bond with teachers and classmates.
132 INNOVATION IN PRACTICE model is the instructional flexibility it allows. Cal rossy ag students address the fluid needs of the farm as they arise – just like real farmers – rather than follow a rigid theoretical program. With that said, students also “zoom out” to learn about the paper-based aspects of ag, including financial management of farms and marketing of agricul tural products. Back on campus, they can help tend to the school’s veggie gardens or resident chooks.Calrossy’s ag focus doesn’t mean other areas are neglected, and students who have no inter est in which end of a cow is which have access to plenty of other enriching opportunities at the school, whether in its lively musical, theatre, de bating, or sporting programs or in myriad other areas.The school’s location and deep community and industry links allow for experiences that kids in city schools simply don’t get – from excursions to New England’s rugged gorges and national parks to enlightening visits to research facilities, feed lots, and the region’s immense stations.
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“Importing seeds has been a critical part of Australia’s agriculture industry for over 100 years, though it is not without its obstacles. While strict customs and quarantine policies are vital to ensure the country’s biosecurity, they can also limit Australia’s seed supply and therefore food security potential. A knock-on effect for the consumer is the increased price of fresh fruit and vegetables – not trivial when you consider their role in addressing the nation’s rising public health problems.”
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Anthony Ladds, General Manager of Fairbank’s Selected Seed Co. Pty. Ltd.
Photo courtesy of Karin Robinson
That’s where we come in. Allianz Farm Pack provides a wide range of specialised insurance solutions for farmers. And through our partner brand, Primacy, we also offer Australia’s widest range of crop cover. With our team of agricultural specialists, we’re here to support farmers in regional and rural Australia for the long term. Ask your local insurance broker about Allianz and Primacy products today.
138 Allianz Australia Insurance Limited ABN 15 000 122 850 AFS Licence 234708. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. We do not provide advice based on your objectives, financial situations or needs. Before making a decision please consider the product disclosure statement or policy wording available at allianz.com.au for Allianz Farm Pack or pum.com.au for Primacy products.
We’re committed to being here for Aussie farmers, through the good times but also when things are tough. You feed the nation, and the world. You’re a farmer, scientist, business owner and technology expert, all at the same time. And whether you’re doing it tough during a drought, or keeping pace with the rapid rise in AgTech, having the right insurance in place can protect your livelihood.
YOUR THING TOCOMMITMENTOURTOCOMMITMENTISTHELAND.THINGISYOU.
The company’s dealer network covers all major rural areas in Australia, supported by a commitment to customer and dealer satisfaction.InYanmar and John Deere, Power Equip ment stocks two of the most popular engine brands in the world, with John Deere indus trial engines particularly ubiquitous in rural Australia. Both brands produce some of the most reliable and fuel-efficient engines on the market, and their availability via Power Equipment’s extensive network means these engines can now be utilised and enjoyed by more Aussie farmers than ever before.
Click here to find a Power
The Power that drives farming equipment Equipment KEY BENEFITS
Power Equipment is a family-owned business with nearly three decades of experience in powering the machinery and equipment of the agricultural and marine industries. The company is the authorised and exclusive distributor of Yanmar and John Deere marine and industrial diesel engines – two of the leading names in engines in the world.
With a dedicated focus on the diesel engine sector and a well-established dealer network that stretches to over 500 independent re tailers around the country, Power Equip ment can meet the engine, pumping and generator needs of any rural Australian.
the australian farmer 139
Power Equipment’s network of over 500 retailers means you can easily find the engine you need, no matter your location
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• Stocking Yanmar, John Deere and many other brands, Power Equipment provides farmers with only the best engines, generators and parts
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Power Equipment has been distributing Japanese-made Yanmar engines, pumps and generators to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific since 1990, and recently became the appointed distributor of John Deere in dustrial and marine engines in Australia and New Zealand. The company sells over 6,000 engines every year, with a range that extends to outboard motors, marine generators, pro pellers, marine shaft seals and genuine parts.
dealer near you! INFORMATION LINK
But one small Aussie company has the tamperproof solution: Maric Flow Control valves are manufactured specifically to maintain a constant pre-set flow rate regardless of water pressure.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
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Pump damage costs farmers thousands – how can you prevent it?
It’s a little-known fact that more than 10 per cent of all pumping systems are destroyed by the operator – wittingly or unwittingly – trying to achieve flow rates above the pump’s specifications.
Maric Flow Control has a 55-year history of manu facturing speciality valves to limit and control flow rates for a range of pumps, filters and distribution systems. Invented by Maric founder Eric Schroeder in the Adelaide suburb of Magill, Maric’s Constant Flow valves are highly respected for their simplicity and effectiveness, particularly in the mining and irrigation industries. Thanks to this expertise, the company exports its valves all around the world and is regarded internationally as a leading manufac turer and supplier of constant flow valves. Easy to install, reliable, cost-effective and tamper proof, the Maric Flow Control valve is an important addition for any irrigator looking to operate their pump within specifications in order to prevent premature pump damage. The technology is based on a moulded rubber control ring inserted into the valve with an opening that varies in diameter in response to the Maric has a long and storied history of innovation in a long line of products that dates back to 1963. Click here to read about Maric’s history INFORMATION LINK
While they may not be a household name in the agricultural industry, Maric valves have gained an enviable reputation in the pump ing community all across the country for their reliability and simplicity. Greg Simms, Managing Director of Bungendore Rural Ser vices, is one such happy distributor. “We have been installing Maric valves on a variety of bore pump installations for the past ten years,” says Greg. “The valves are simple, reliable and robust and the lead times are very short – I have no hesitation in recommending Maric valves to all our customers.”
KEYTESTIMONIALSBENEFITS•MaricFlowControl valves are easy to use, cost-effective, reliable and tamperproof, needing no maintenance over their 20-plus year lifespan
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Click here to read more testimonials from Maric customers
Maric manufactures and tests every valve individually, ensuring they can provide the best in pump protection. The valves are maintenance-free and self-cleaning, re quiring absolutely no attention during their 20-plus year lifespan. The valves are also manufactured to be deliberately non-ad justable, preventing owners from increasing the flow beyond their design limits.
• The valves also prevent operators from unwittingly damaging pumps
Many farmers may not know this, but using pumps outside their specifications can cause thousands of dollars in dam age. For example, suppose a pump was installed to deliver water to a tank on top of a hill. If it is then also used to fill a dam at the bottom of a hill, there is likely to be insufficient head against the pump to limit flow to the dam. This can cause extensive damage to the pump. A $10,000 pump can be destroyed in a matter of months due to either pump cavitation or thrust-bearing damage that can occur if a pump is used outside design specifications.
“Most farmers aren’t aware of the dam age they can do to a pump by using it out side of the manufacturer’s specifications – they might be getting two to three years out of a pump when they should last for ten or twenty years,” says Grant Schroeder, Managing Director of Maric Flow Control. “Our valves don’t just limit the damage, they pretty much eliminate it – it can save farmers thousands of dollars.”
the australian farmer 141 water pressure applied to it. The greater the pressure, the smaller the opening, therefore maintaining a constant and even flow and preventing pump damage.
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Learn more about solar pumps from an industry pioneer
DID YOU KNOW
The windmill has been the vis ual symbol of agriculture for hundreds of years, but they are now a dying breed on Austral ian farms. It is becoming more and more expensive to source replacement parts as the old windmill has been significantly outstripped by the solar pump in performance and reliability. While many farms use diesel pumps, as fuel and mainten ance costs rise, more and more farmers are turning to solar for their pumping solutions. Ac cording to Kym the industry is booming – he is approached every day by farmers looking to convert to solar, attracted by the efficiency, convenience and cost savings on offer.
Part of the attraction of solar pumps in modern agricul ture is the cost. Pumps now cost roughly $4,000, where as 20-30 years ago a solar pump would set you back $35,000! ?
“A solar pump doesn’t suffer from wind droughts, can work basically every day of the year, can pump far more water than a windmill and you don’t need to pay for fuel to operate it,” says Kym. “It’s a much simpler solution – all the farmer needs to do is tell us what he wants to achieve with the pump and we can match his requirements to the right pump.”
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
While it may sound simple, there’s actually considerable sci ence involved when it comes to matching the pump to the farm – but luckily for the farmer, ex perts like Kym and his team are on hand to ensure farmers get When Kym Kubank started selling solar pumps in Western Australia in 2004, he was one of only a handful of people in the country doing so. Now, with the solar pumping industry growing exponentially as the technology improves and climatic conditions worsen, his company Solar Pump Sales is thriving. As such, Kym is something of an authority on what farmers need to know about the technology and which brand of pump to choose.
“Theredecision.areplenty of cheap pumps out there that have very limited lifespans,” says Kym. “If somebody makes the error of choosing a cheap pump over a quality pump, invariably it ends up costing them.”
Choosing the correct brand of pump to match your water use is crucial for the farmer. Not only can it improve your water management efficiency and productivity, but making sure you have the right pump will reduce your risk of pump damage and save you money. Farmers shouldn’t be tempted by the cheaper option – it can do more harm than good and become an ex pensive
• Solar Pump Sales has a wide range of pumps and the expertise to help you make the right choice, no matter your location or water needs
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the australian farmer 143 the best solution for their requirements.
Kym’s expertise when it comes to which brand of pump to choose can be very valu able to the farmer – many may be familiar with Lorentz and Grundfos pumps, but may not realise they can get the same level of performance at a much cheaper price point.“Lorentz pumps are reputed to be the best on the world market, but that’s not totally accurate,” says Kym. “Lorentz is certainly right at the top, but you’re also paying quite a bit of money for the brand name. A Dawson solar pump is roughly 40 per cent cheaper than a Lorentz pump, but it is equal in quality and, in many cases, ac tually outperforms the Lorentz.
• Selecting the right solar pump is crucial to reduce costs and ensure you’re getting the most out of your solar pumping system
Click here to get a quick and easy quote for a solar pump that matches your needs INFORMATION LINK
“It’s important for the farmer to find out this type of information to ensure he gets the best possible pump to maximise his yield and savings.”
“When it comes to pump brands, they all have their posi tives and negatives and one brand of pump cannot suit every operation. This is where we are different to most of our opposition – we supply all the different brands of solar pump that are worth buying, and we select the pump, not the brand, for the customer.”
KEY BENEFITS
The school’s boarding students benefit from facilities that include a computer lab, library, movie screen and gymnasium, while Clayfield’s location close to both the city and the airport is especially advantageous. Clayfield staff also live
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
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Clayfield’s boarding community comprises stu dents in Years 5-12 from a variety of backgrounds – city, rural, remote and international. With an extensive program of activities that includes so cialising with other schools and participation in sport, drama, dance and art, Clayfield offers its boarders opportunities that may not be available to them at home.
“The children can participate in things that they may not be able to when they’re living in rural or remote areas – there are sporting, music and performance opportunities here that don’t exist in rural areas,” says Di Kerr, Clayfield’s Head of Boarding. “For our boarders, it’s about the oppor tunities they get beyond just education.”
Clayfield College is an independent private school in inner-city Brisbane, offering coeducational classes from Pre-prep to Year 6 and all-girls classes from Years 7-12. One of Australia’s leading schools in terms of academic results, Clayfield supports a tight-knit boarding community of over 100 students and offers a variety of co-curricular programs including the innovative STEM2Plate initiative.
Clayfield: An academic leader with outstanding facilities
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• Clayfield College is one of the country’s leading schools, with a strong academic record and an emphasis on student growth
“The students in STEM2Plate look at many of the sustainability issues that regional Australia is facing – it really opens their eyes to the reality of life on the land and how they can do their bit in the city,” says Francisca Wilson, Science Teacher and STEM2Plate Coordinator. “It also gives them an awareness of where their food comes from – some children don’t even know that.”
KEY BENEFITS
“Clayfield has something that we wish we could bottle – as soon as you walk into the school you can feel it,” says Di. “It’s a sense of community that I’ve never seen in another school.”
Among the many co-curricular programs offered at Clayfield is STEM2Plate, a new initiative that encourages students to put STEM principles into practice and con sider their own place in the food produc tion and consumption cycle. The program not only offers hands-on activities, but helps the children to connect to the land and rural Australia.
• The school’s boarding facilities are first-class, creating a vibrant, tight-knit and diverse community
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“Food and fibre production and sus tainability are obviously subjects the stu dents really enjoy learning about,” says Francisca. “The way they work together is very impressive – they get to take owner ship of a project and see it through to the end product. I think that’s what they love about STEM2Plate.” permanently onsite and there is an inhouse counsellor able to assist students suffering from homesickness or peer pressure.Italladds up to a boarding community that is diverse and inclusive, and one that helps students generate strong bonds in a welcoming and enjoyable environment.
BUILDING A CONNECTION TO FOOD PRO DUCTION AND THE LAND
Some of the STEM2Plate projects con ducted by students include the design and construction of an irrigated vege table garden, the creation and sale of beeswax wraps as an alternative to sin gle-use plastic and the design of a verti cal garden to optimise green space in the crowded inner city.
Jason Strong talks Australian beef innovation, investment, and promotion
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
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I was thinking about your years in Europe and Russia promoting Australian red meat. That taught me a lot many things about foreign markets and perceptions of Australian beef. During my time in the EU and Russia, those re
What I didn’t realise at the time, that in address ing that specific issue, it became one of the best ex amples of using socialised funds to solve an industry wide issue that has had a material impact on the in dustry to this day.
You will find few Australian managers with a track record so consistently devoted to the Australian red meat industry, and from so many angles. Jason Strong, recently appointed Managing Director of MLA, talks to The Australian Farmer about his long experience and the future, science, and the importance of the supply chain to productivity and profits for our farmers. This is your second time around at MLA, though in a different position. In fact the third, if you include my early experi ence at Meat Standards Australia (MSA), part of MLA in the mid 90’s. My time with the development and introduction of the MSA program was very formative. At the time, MSA was trying to solve a specific eating quality issue within our industry. There were problems with the quality and consistency of our beef product.
In R&D, in science, and in practical terms, about what is on offer to the farmer from MLA – I don’t think the levy payers have been given enough con sistent information from which they can directly benefit – in dollars. Communication and engage ment activities are a crucial area of delivery for MLA. Our ability to continue to share targeted infor mation about our work programs, in what is a con stantly changing operating environment, is more important than ever. You speak very often about the importance of the supply chain and improvements to it. Frankly we hear this term continually, and to the point where it has become something of a cliché. Can you share your thoughts on this?
the australian farmer 147 gions were large consumers of protein at the time. The introduction of a high quality product in Aus tralian beef had an impact mostly in the foodservice sector. We saw high-end restaurants that may not have previously had a beef item on the menu now have a high-quality grain fed beef – and of course the provenance of this product (both Australian and US beef) was forefront on the menu and a major selling point. If we look at Russia in particular, during my time in the region, we also saw the explosion of steak houses – particularly in Moscow and St Petersburg –which had a large impact on Australian beef in that market.Youneed patience in Europe when introducing something new like this. There is a lot of justifiable pride, traditions are strong. By communicating well, listening, according an appropriate amount of re spect, we were able to bring some new science and thinking in, and overall, very successfully.
Sure. And I agree, it is often too much theorized about, thrown around in very general terms. But it is important in our industry and that’s why I dwell on it. To be very specific, there are at least 5-6 steps in what happens from the paddock to the consum er’s plate – some observers could rightly say there are as many as 10 steps in the supply chain. But the
And what are its main purposes and practical uses?
While MLA delivers a broad range of marketing, re search and development programs for the future prosperity of Australia’s red meat sector, we need to ensure we continue to communicate the outcomes and value of this work, ensuring greater participa tion and adoption.
And what is the agenda, what will they be com municating to the farmers about? I am convinced that we need to explain more thoroughly the benefits of so many of our programs.
Let’s say you’re going to buy or sell a bull, or sev eral. This information is valuable. It’s a bit like intel lectual property. If you can establish say, that a bull has a genetic disposition to create beef with more marbling that is a value proposition, a fact. To be able to prove it through good science is meaningful.
The success in the end was the introduction of the grain-fed beef quota, which allowed Australian beef access into that market. I was thinking about your introduction work of DNA testing. Yes, that involved Europe but it was originated here by two CSIRO scientists and we pioneered it with Pfizer. And it is now widely used. Yes, the majority of progressive cattle breeders now consider it a must have. It’s established.
As in everything today, data is key, and DNA test ing gives valuable information to the producer.
As the new MLA Managing Director you have said a few times that you wish to continue with the programs in place within MLA. Are you bring ing in anything new? Yes, and what I believe is most important is our communications to our levy payers, the farmers. We have done a very good job informing the consumer in recent years about red meat. I think we may have done less well in communicating to our core con stituency, our farmers and levy payers. That’s hind sight of course, but I think it is so important to ramp this up. I have recently appointed a new General Manager of Strategic Communications & Corporate Affairs to bolster our communications and engage ment activities.
There is also the term value chain, which we hear about also to the point of irritation. No, understood—it’s another term too loosely discussed often enough. But that too is simple, and a very useful way to analyse the important busi ness of making money in our industry. If you look at the supply chain as a series of operational steps, then the value chain is like a parallel examination of the process but with dollars in mind. The two work together. They are just operational and economic planning and action tools. The value chain is about getting more margin for everyone, in the process.
point is simple – if we can ring some efficiencies out of each step, it means more profit for every partici pant, including the farmer.
There’s more margin, more money to be found in supply chain efficiencies than anywhere else in our industry, so it has to be the main focus.
Does the farmer need to know every step in the supply chain to benefit?
You believe increasing knowledge to farmers of the supply chain is part of the MLA core mission? Yes, very much so. That’s why I continue to speak about it.
Thanks that’s the clearest explanation we’ve heard. If it can be made to point out specific dollar benefits to farmers, you are more than half way there in our opinion. The other big area of knowledge giving – and we think this is the future – is about communicating the benefits of science and innovative thinking to the farmer. Now, the last figures we were able to review showed that MLA had an R&D fund for farmer assistance of $92.9m in 2014. That’s gone well up. In 2017-18 MLA invested $171.8m in research and development activities. That’s an impressive jump. In fact it would be probably in the top tier of all R&D budgets in the country at that level. And we see you have done a strong job in marshalling funds – I think our readers would like to know where all of this is coming from, since ultimately it is intended to help them.
Can you give a specific example of one step?
First and foremost, we utilise producer levies we receive from cattle, sheep and goat producers who pay a transaction levy on the sale of their livestock. These levies are distributed across R&D and marketing activities. The Australian Govern ment also contributes a dollar for each levy dollar MLA invests in eligible research and development. Processors and livestock exporters also pay lev ies. A portion of these levies, some from other RDCs like LiveCorp and Australian Meat Processor Corporation (AMPC), are invested in MLA-man
No, not in detail, but having an overall under standing is useful, and some steps are very import ant for the farmer. If we look at the wholesale and distribution elements of the supply chain, it’s about getting a better understanding of what the impacts are of where our product goes. One example from a producer at a recent forum I was at: a producer’s best steer got a discount because it was overweight. It was best performing steer but in the end it was discounted.Soforaproducer,
Well put it this way, isolated steps won’t work, if you are not aware of the whole supply chain. Spe cifically, there is, for example, no sense in funding a solution for the feed lot if there is no way to capture a benefit which aids the total outcome.
it is about understanding car cass weight and cut size, what are the drivers of value and what can we do to affect that. Is it too heavy or too light? What the customer is looking for is vital and should drive the decisions that produ cers make on farm. MLA helps the producer better understand this component of the supply chain through our detailed market information and insights. We continue to build and publish, providing producers with a better understanding of customers and consumers.
And if used correctly – and this really does need to be de-mystified for the farmer – it simply means this: more efficiency and more dollars for everyone in the process, including our levy payers.
INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
I would say this is an area where we have our work cut out for us and need to improve how we communicate. The ap preciation of this whole sector activity is where we will put a lot of emphasis in our communications to producers and industry stakeholders. This will be a key area for our enhanced communications functions.
Here we not only have private invest ment in important research, but we have strong sector collaboration and also tap into the expertise of several state gov ernments and organisations – and hope fully ultimately generate findings that will benefit producers.
We note you seem to have a well-organised system based on MDC, the donor subsidiary which co-funds science and innovation programs. Yes, there are many projects across MLA’s program of work that have private commercial investment utilising the MDC model. How do you rate the farmer know ledge of these, and their understand ing of impact of such science and innovation projects directly to them?
MLA also generates addi tional income for investment through MLA Donor Company (MDC), which at tracts commercial investment from indi vidual enterprises and others that share a mutual interest to co-invest in innov ation that will benefit the industry. The Australian Government matches volun tary partner contributions (up to 50%) through the MDC, where eligible projects deliver outcomes that address broader industry and/or government priorities and benefit the entire industry. The model complements levy investment through voluntary contributions and supports some of the more commercial aspects of R&D, benefiting the whole supply chain.
And when we say private business we are talking about a really broad range. It could be processors, pastoral com panies, breed societies, technology providers, entrepreneurs and start-ups, universities and state governments. We have a project running called the Northern Australian Climate Program (NACP). This is an $8m partnership be tween the Queensland Government, MDC, and University of Southern Queensland, with extra on-ground support from the Northern Territory and Western Austral ian governments and Rangelands NRM.
NACP research includes attempting to improve seasonal forecasts, predictions of multi-year droughts and wet season onset, and quantifying the development of fast developing or ‘flash’ droughts. A focus of the program is improving the knowledge and skills of producers across northern Australia to enable proactive management of climate variability, which minimises exposure to environmental, profitability and productivity losses.
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aged R&D and marketing projects that deliver cross-sector benefits beyond the farmImportantly,gate.
You receive R&D related funds from private business? Yes, it is not uncommon that we undertake some work which can benefit the entire industry which starts with a private company arrangement – mostly through the MDC mechanism. The pur pose of these investments through MDC are to accelerate innovation across the value chain so the Australian red meat and livestock industry can remain com petitive on the world stage.
An interview with Tony May of Bayer about the advances in science and biotechnology that are driving plant health in Australia
The little-known plant transformed into a world-first cash crop by Aussie scientists
Why misinformation over GM is harming our productivity and agricultural potential
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Plant Health
The genetic modification (GM) of crops helps growers around the world produce more food and fibre with fewer inputs and meet the nutritional needs of a booming population. And in a developed country such as Australia, GM science allows farmers to supply consumer demand for cheaper and more abundant food. So, why do GM products face such negativity or fear from many sections of society?
By Keiron Costello, Managing Editor of The Australian Farmer
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Humans have been modify ing crops for over 10,000 years through selective plant breeding.
In their article on the relation ship between science and food in the first volume of The Australian Farmer, Dr Heather Bray and Pro fessor Rachel A. Ankeny called the development of GM crops “argu ably the most important scientific intervention in the food system in recent years, and also the most contested.”
152 PLANT HEALTH
Here in Australia, William Far rer is celebrated as the father of the wheat industry for his plant breeding work just over 100 years ago. Yet today, the genetic modifi cation of crops – merely the mod ern, more efficient technological extension of this historical prac tice – faces significant commun ity and government opposition despite the benefits it delivers.
They posit that reasons for community opposition to GM often include ethical conundrums of whether nature should ever be manipulated, fears about food safety, a belief that GM is merely a way for big corporations to boost profits and even a lack of know ledge – “for many in the commun ity, uncertainty about benefits is reason enough to avoid consum ing GM foods.”
“If we are to produce more sustainable and nutritious food to meet the growing global de mand – in the face of challenges from pests and diseases, eroded soils, lack of water and climate change – we need to be able to take the best from the latest genetic technologies and from organic and agro-ecological farming practices.”
DID YOU KNOW GM crops use 37 per cent less pesticide and increase crop yields by 22 per cent and farmer profits by 68 per cent ?
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Pest-resistant and herbi cide-tolerant GM cotton was first introduced to Australia in 1996 when 40,000ha of the crop was planted – it has since grown to encompass 714,000ha. GM can ola was introduced in 2008, and by 2017 almost a quarter of the national canola crop was gen etically modified. GM safflower was approved for commercial growth only last year, and you can read more about this crop and its potential in the next article in thisBychapter.usingGM technology, Aus tralian farmers have gained an estimated $1.37 billion in income and produced an additional 226,000 tonnes of canola that would otherwise have not been possible with conventional crops. GM crops have also enabled farm ers to reduce their environmental footprint by eliminating the need for 22 million kilograms of herbi cides and insecticides.
“The future of literally billions of people depends on changing the narrative about how we view genetically modified food and genetic technologies,” says Pro fessor Ian Godwin, Director of the Centre for Crop Science at Queensland Alliance for Agricul ture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) and author of the book, Good Enough to Eat?.
One would think that com munication and education on the benefits of GM would be the key to overcoming this opposition. But GM crops have been around since the 1970s – and attempts to educate and communicate their benefits nearly as long – yet op position still remains. However, as GM science progresses and we learn how to develop more con sumer-friendly plant traits, will this situation change?
Genetic modification allows the transfer of genes between unrelated plant species to develop desirable traits – most commonly, herbicide tolerance or pest resistance. Only three GM crops are currently com mercially farmed in Australia, with their growth, transport and use strictly regulated by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR).
And with the world’s population growing to an expected 9 billion by 2050, GM technology is con sidered one of the best ways for farmers to meet the equivalent rise in food demands.
THE CURRENT SITUATION
DID YOU KNOW
And it’s not just South Austral ian growers that are missing out – the practicalities of bringing a GM product to market are only made more difficult in a country where the laws are different in eachForstate.companies that invest in GM technology, Australia is a difficult place to do business. And it’s easy to see why when GM canola seed grown in eastern Australia must be shipped to Western Australia rather than freighted by land due to South Australia’s moratorium, or when a farmer with property straddling the Victorian/SA bor der has to abide by different laws in different paddocks.
Almost 100 per cent of Australia’s cotton crop is genetically modified ?
South Australia’s peak grain as sociation, Grain Producers SA, has been a longstanding opponent of the moratorium and welcomed the results of review.
In South Australia, the situ ation may be changing after the newly-elected government commissioned a review into the moratorium and found it had negative economic con sequences for SA farmers. The review estimated that the mora torium had cost the state $33 million since 2004 in lost canola earnings alone, and found there was no premium price for the state’s GM-free grain.
“The opportunity cost of main taining the moratorium will only grow as new GM varieties from other crops are made available, such as super-high oleic safflower and omega-3 canola,” said GPSA Chair Wade Dabinett. “GPSA has consistently argued the mora torium offers little in the way of trade and marketing benefits to the majority of agricultural pro ducers in SA, and only removes the option of using safe and ef fective GM tools.”
COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN
154 PLANT HEALTH SOUTH AUSTRALIA MISSING OUT?
In Australia, federal legislation allows anyone to grow and sell GM crops, as long as they have OGTR approval and licencing. Most states follow the federal model, except for South Aus tralia and Tasmania, which both have a moratorium on the culti vation of GM crops. Western Aus tralia, where a moratorium on GM was only overturned in 2016, is now home to the nation’s lar gest GM canola crop.
“It’s a difficult area for bio technology and seed companies to navigate, for what are really expensive products to bring to market,” says Tony May, Head of Customer Marketing ANZ at Bayer Crop Science. “When there’s a clear legislative framework, you know what’s required. But when you overlay that with a patchwork of different legislative require ments, it’s difficult for companies to make investment decisions in the first place.”
While farmers in Australia are vot ing with their feet and embracing GM crops, there is still an element of society that remains opposed. Despite 23 years of use in Aus tralia, public misperception of the risks – health or otherwise – asso ciated with GM acts as a barrier to future use and technological ad vancement.“There’s a long-entrenched perception of GM that continues to be perpetuated without the intervention of facts,” says May. “And it does appear to be getting more difficult to counter fairly simplistic arguments with the use of Partscience.”ofthe problem is that GM food has been positioned in some quarters as the ‘oppon ent’ of organic food. The growth in the organic market has seen a newfound consumer interest in the provenance of food, which is undoubtedly a good thing. But organic and genetically-modified do not necessarily have to be at opposite ends of the scale – both methods of food production have their advantages and their place in “Wesociety.have to stop pretending that ‘natural is best’ and challenge the notion that organic food com panies are not actually big global companies with a conflict of in terest when it comes to the GM debate,” says Professor Godwin. “Our focus will continue to be on improving crop productivity, food quality and sustainability in the crop sciences, and we will use
FARMERS THE ANSWER?
Even though the science is clear, communicating the benefits of GM crops to the public has not been easy. Perhaps this is be cause explaining the benefits of current GM crops requires your audience to understand farming, the way food is produced and the challenges farmers face. This may soon change though, as we begin to grow crops such as super-high oleic safflower that have a direct consumer“Typicallybenefit.theGM crops that are in use around the world benefit farmers, which is great –they are herbicide or pest resist ant and really improve farming systems,” says Nick Goddard, Executive Director of Australian Oilseeds Federation. “But there hasn’t been consumer benefit, so consumers are sceptical because they haven’t really understood what happens on the farm.
It is clear that as long as pub lic mistrust or misunderstand ing of GM remains, Australia’s agricultural productivity and potential will be hampered. In order to embrace the science and the benefits that come with it, we need to better communi cate why it is needed in the first place and foster a nationwide legislative environment that encourages investment in GM technology.Farmersare the key to this, and we need to promote farming voices at both peak body level and on social media. Maybe, with a new wave of GM crops that de liver a direct benefit to the con sumer and more farmers making their voices heard in the public sphere, the tide will begin to turn for the public perception of GM. agricultural robots that could be coming soon to a farm near
“We’re now getting into the realm of genetically modified crops that produce an end bene fit for an end market, which might just change that paradigm a bit.”
Social media is also opening up new avenues for better communi cation when it comes to advan cing the benefits of genetically modified crops. Social media allows the general public – who often have little-to-no contact with the food production cycle in their lives – an opportunity to put a face to a name and interact with real“It’speople.about understanding what farmers do and how they produce food,” says May. “Some people probably aren’t going to listen to big corporations, but they might have more affinity with a farmer – seeing people’s individual stories on social media can be really powerful.”
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DID YOU increasedcorntoesbenefits,GMworkingScientistsKNOWarecurrentlyonavarietyofcropswithconsumerincludingtomahighinantioxidants,andsoybeanswithvitaminsCand E and allergen-free peanuts ? Click here to read about the
the australian farmer 155 every safe, effective and innova tive tool in the toolbox to do so.”
Safflower was once a widely-grown crop in Australia, used for margarine production and birdseed. But when the market collapsed a few decades ago, the plant declined in popularity to the point where as little as 10,000 hectares were planted nationally. But, thanks to an innovative ‘gene-silencing’ process developed by CSIRO, a new strain of the plant known as super-high oleic safflower is poised to become an extremely profitable oilseed.
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FROM LOW-VALUE TACTICAL CROP TO VALUABLE SEEDS
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Safflower is a yellow, thistle-like plant that has historically been used as a seed oil, birdseed and even as a substitute for saffron in cooking. It is an extremely hardy crop that can be grown in a very wide range of environments in Australia, from Kununurra in the northwest to the Grampians in the southeast and many points in between. It’s an ideal plant for crop rotation given its deep tap root enables it to access sub-soil water. It is also drought resistant and has a wide summer planting window of five to six months. Despite these unique prop erties, the seed’s low value and poor market return has led to inconsistent production in Australia. It is largely used as a break crop in the rotation for its agronomic benefits – the long taproot aerates soil and breaks hard pans, while the planting window allows for flexible sow ing after cereals, cotton and canola.Butthis is set to change in the near future, thanks to the hard work of CSIRO scientists in identifying safflower’s unique genetic properties. These prop erties, once modified by gene silencing, enable the plant to produce a super-high oleic oil that has extensive uses world wide as a high-grade indus trial oil with an unprecedented purity level.
In partnership with the Grains Research and Development Cor poration (GRDC), CSIRO had been trying to develop a new high value oil crop for Australian farming for at least 15 years. In 2011, the sci entists settled on safflower as that crop given its durability and unique – and untapped – oil pro duction properties.
PLANT HEALTH
SILENCING THE GENE
Safflower produces oleic acid – a monounsaturated fatty acid that exists in many animal and vegetable fats and oils. Oleic acid is used to create high-oleic oil, a sought-after product in the food production industry that is high in unsaturated fat and low in saturated fat, and thus can keep food shelf-stable and preserve flavour.“Modifying plant oils has been one of CSIRO’s strengths for 30 years,” says Dr Craig Wood, Team and Project Leader at CSIRO Agri culture and Food. “One of the key reasons we went with safflower was that CSIRO had developed some world-leading technology in this area, known as ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi), or gene silencing.”Generally, safflower seeds have an oleic acid content as low as 20 per cent. But thanks to CSIRO’s gene-silencing technol ogy, two of the oil-processing en zymes active within the seed can be inactivated – producing seeds with a much higher oleic acid content. Importantly, the pro cess has no side effects, as gene silencing only impacts the oil in the seed and leaves all the other oils in the rest of the safflower plant untouched.
All over the world, scientists have been attempting to produce a super-high oleic oil in a range of crops, such as soybean, canola, linseed and maize. All of these at tempts have failed due to the com plicated oil synthesis program of those seeds, but safflower’s unique genetic code made it different.
“In effect, we’re telling the plant what kind of genes we want the plant to reduce the ac tivity of,” explains Dr Wood. “In safflower, it prevents the plant from making more complex chemical bonds that lead to im purities in the oil.”
A WORLD-FIRST IN PURITY
The SHO safflower marks the first time CSIRO has used RNAi technology in an oil seed crop for a commercial release ?
DID YOU KNOW
The current ceiling for non-gen etically-modified, plant-based oleic oil is a purity level of around 80 per cent. CSIRO’s super-high oleic safflower pro duces oil that is 92 per cent pure oleic acid – significantly higher than any other com mercial plant-based oil in the world. And while a jump from 80 to 92 per cent might not sound overly exciting, that’s a sizable reduction in the impurities of the oil. Every percentage point higher in oleic acid eliminates impurities and makes the oil more valuable.
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After obtaining regulatory ap proval for commercial cultivation from the Office of the Gene Technol ogy Regulator (OGTR) last year, the modified safflower crops are now ready to roll out across the country.
GO Resources is targeting farm ers who currently grow canola, sorghum, rice and cotton, offering SHO safflower for both the agro nomic benefits and also a market return for the safflower crop.
“This is definitely a world first, there is no other super-high oleic acid in any crop other than our safflower,” says Dr Wood. “At CSIRO, we’ve developed gen etically-modified cotton and canola, but they are over-expres sion technologies, inserting new genes. Creating super-high oleic safflower is a unique process where we’re stopping safflower genetic pathways from working.”
“As the oil is going into spe cialty markets where we can sell at larger margins, the idea will be to go into long-term contracts with farmers at a farmgate price per tonne that they know they’re going to get year in, year out. We’re offering a superior product that nobody else can produce.”
A MARKET-READY OPTION FOR FARMERS GO Resources is planning its first large-scale market develop DID YOU KNOW $1.4 billion in income has been gained by Australian farmers with access to crop biotechnology over the last twenty years ?
The oil produced by the seeds, known as super-high oleic saf flower oil (or SHOSO, for short), is now the only plant-based source of oil with an oleic content high enough for use in high-value industrial applications. As it is sourced from a renewable crop and ecologically-friendly, SHOSO could soon challenge fossil fuels and other non-renewable sources in a global market for industrial oils that is worth an estimated $30 billion per year. Oleic acids give the oil prop erties that make it suitable for industrial uses – the more oleic acid, the fewer thermal or func tional problems in the oil. As a comparison, current high-oleic sunflower oil takes about 13 hours before it breaks down when heated at 100 degrees. SHOSO takes 53 hours.
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“We’ve done some intensive market research on the canola and chickpea returns and gross margins per hectare, and saf flower will be as good or better,” says Michael Kleinig, CEO and Managing Director of GO Resour ces. “It’s very hard to incentivise a farmer to change crops, so we need to target the sophisticated farmer who will see not only the benefits, but also the returns.
THE ROAD TO COMMERCIALISATION In 2013, GO Resources was founded to commercialise SHOSO and ob tained the exclusive worldwide li cence from CSIRO. The company will manage the whole supply chain – from selecting the variety and contracting growers right through to selling the oil.
“There’s no plant that can sup ply oil that pure anywhere – the only way to get these levels of purity is to chemically synthesise the oil, which is a very expensive process,” says Dr Wood. “Phar maceutical-grade oleic acid is al most 100 per cent pure, but it is expensive to produce. If you can make something that’s 92 per cent pure and just squeeze it out of a plant, that’s quite a valuable starting point.”
Interested in genetics? Click here to read a story on the latest innovations in livestock genetics ment of super-high oleic safflower crops for this year. While the com pany will start small – with only 3-4,000 hectares planted to be planted in 2019 – production will roughly double every year for the next few years and soon reach 100,000 hectares annually. And with the global market for biobased oils estimated at roughly 180 million metric tonnes, the opportunity – both agronomic and economic – is there for Aus tralian“Herefarmers.isacrop that you can put into your rotation and it will give you agronomic benefits and financial returns that will be con stant as opposed to trying to get a spot price,” says Kleinig. “This is a market that already exists –we’re not telling the world to turn to bio-based lubricants, we’re just providing a superior base oil into that
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DIDmarket.YOUKNOWGOResourcesexpects to have over 100,000ha of SHO safflower planted in Austra lia by 2023 ?
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Allmarket.”inall,super-high oleic saf flower is not only a ground-break ing development from Australian scientists, but an exciting new opportunity for Australian farm ers. It reinforces our nation’s status as a cutting-edge innovator on the global stage and offers our farmers a product with not only significant agronomic and en vironmental benefits, but a readymade
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“Very simplistically, in the past some of the innovations in crop science would happen one after the other – there might be a chemistry discov ered and then introduced, and then afterwards there might be an opportunity to derive a GM trait from that. Given the capacity of the combined com pany we have today, some of these innovations will happen together or in parallel. With the money that both companies were spending on R&D, which was very significant and is now combined, there’ll be a lot more effective use of that same spend.”
the australian farmer 161
“ The merger involved a lot of consolidation in the agri cultural space, but one of the strongest drivers for Bayer in purchasing Monsanto was looking for opportunities to combine seed, biotechnology and crop protection products with data and data science. Now we have the opportunity to bring these tools together to solve farmers’ problems.
The acquisition of Monsanto by pharmaceutical and chemical giant Bayer last year saw the merging of a wealth of knowledge when it comes to plant health and crop science. As the former Managing Director of Monsanto Australia and now Head of Customer Marketing ANZ at Bayer Crop Science, Tony May has plenty of insight to offer on the advances in science and biotechnology that are driving the Australian plant health industry.
The merger of Bayer and Monsanto represents a mas sive change in the industry –how does it actually benefit farmers and consumers?
We have to get products into the hands of farmers much quicker than we have in the past, so we really need to find opportunities to develop innov ations at a quicker rate. Data is a big part of that. As an ex ample, we’ve used data to de velop predictive models in plant breeding to give our products a greater chance of success. It sounds far-fetched to think that you would not want to see a product perform first in the DID YOU KNOW Crop protection practices prevent nearly half of the world’s wheat losses to pests ?
Interview with
Tony May, Head of ScienceatMarketingCustomerANZBayerCrop
You mentioned data science – how does that factor into the future of the crop science in dustry?“
“To use the example of Boll gard 3 in cotton, it really has al leviated the pressure and the time that farmers spend just thinking about and controlling that pest. The product controls a major insect pest very effectively, and it does it in such a way that is much more effective and easier
Click here to read about the innovative new water management tools doubling yields at a Victorian tomato farm
Weed control used to be done through cultivations and a cul tivation may have implications on irrigation timing, whereas RoundUp has been very effect ive and also incredibly flexible in terms of giving the farmer the ability to control their weeds. In short, farmers are able to see the value of GM technologies compared to alternative ways to grow their crops.”
DID YOU KNOW 73 per cent of the $28.2 bil lion Australian crop industry is attributable to the use of crop protection products ?
Australian farmers would be very familiar with the impact of GM products such as Bollgard in the cotton space, but what other crops do you think could benefit from GM technology in a similar fashion? “Any crop could benefit from GM technology. The limitations are really around the cost of bringing those technologies to market, and so far the focus has been on crops like corn, soybean, cotton and canola be cause of the size of those crops and the opportunities to solve problems. You could imagine that, in Australia for many re search organisations and uni versity programs, wheat could definitely be on the radar, as well as field crops of significant scale such as sorghum and barley.
“Really, the future is prob ably more around new breeding technologies. These technolo gies aren’t necessarily just in the hands of large organisations like Bayer, but they’re being used in universities, research organisa tions and small seed companies around the world, and there’s relatively easy access to these types of tools. New breeding technologies will certainly be very important in the future because they can be used in a whole range of crops very cost-effectively.“Thetechnology could be ap plied to a whole range of things, such as targeting disease in crops, or non-browning in fruit and vegetables or possibly a whole range of consumer or agronomic traits. They are not just limited to the applications we’ve seen traditionally in GM around weed and insect control. It will really broaden the oppor tunity to solve other issues that farmers have, or to change the produce and characteristics of those crops for consumers.”
In your opinion, why do farmers choose to grow GM crops? What are the advantages?
Back but using predictive mod els in the early stages can really speed up the product develop ment process and make it more accurate. And then obviously you need to have the phenotypic confirmation of the product in the field after that, but that’s one area where we’re already using data incredibly effectively.
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162 than it would be with conven tional chemistry. We have seen really large yield increases, not just because insects are controlled, but because farm ers have been able to put their attention on other aspects of the farm such as nutrition and irrigation.“It’sthe same for weed control. To be able to apply RoundUp to your crop really has taken out many of the chal lenges around weed control.
“I’m sure in time we will see insights gained from a whole range of sensors and imagery, and technology like crop pro tection products will be able to keep up with the developments that are happening in robotics and automation. It’s not just about reducing costs for farm ers, but dealing with problems such as herbicide resistance and being more precise with inputs to get the best out of the paddock. I think it is a combination of all of those areas working together that is going to be key for the farmer, as well as hopefully pro ducing innovations at a faster rate.”
the australian farmer 163
Mark Pawsey, General Manager of SST Software Australia
“We need to be clever about the way we adopt technology and make sure we aren’t suckered into trying to replicate what people do in other markets. If we adopt technology smartly and collaborate well, Australia could show the rest of the world how to be low-risk, high-value farmers.”
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Greg discusses the core principles and objectives of the modern biosecurity system relevant to Australian agriculture and provides advice on biosecurity best practice aimed at the forward thinking farmer.
Aside from those interventions, increased biosecurity awareness is an important tool, with farmers playing a key role in the early detection of exotic pests and dis eases. Contingency plans allow us to be prepared for the arrival of a new pest or disease, including informa tion on identification and management. The biosecurity spectrum is broad, encompassing pre-border, border and post-border. Pre-border activ ities occur in other countries, providing early warning of a new biosecurity threat, border covers interception of biosecurity risks before they can enter and establish in Australia, and post-border covers efforts to control any biosecurity threats that have made it past our border defence system. They also include prepared ness activities to ensure our industries are ready in the event that something serious is introduced.
Biosecurity is currently of increased importance in Australia, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the nation’s agricultural sector, it is a particularly “hot topic” given the recent arrival of destructive exotic pests such as the fall armyworm. But what is biosecurity exactly? Most people are familiar with the old Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) that is encountered when returning from overseas through via international airports. And while the name ”quarantine” officially changed to ”biosecurity” in Australia almost a decade ago, many people are still unfamiliar with its full meaning.
Australia’s biosecurity system, regarded as one of the best in the world, is large and complex. But how can one farmer make a meaningful difference? In everyday life, each person has a role to play. Australians have always, for example, been good at making declarations at the
Biosecurity is Everyone’s Business – Including our Farmers
Dr Greg Chandler is a national authority in biosecurity working at Hort Innovation. He has developed an array of knowledge of Australia's biosecurity system, encompassing all aspects of the biosecurity spectrum, over a 25 year career. His current role oversees the Research & Development portfolio for biosecurity, delivering high-quality R&D projects to Australia's horticulture industries.
Biosecurity, usually associated with the isolation of a biosecurity risk until it can be mitigated, is actually much broader than just quarantine. Other examples of biosecurity measures include outright exclusion of high-risk products, physical barriers such as netting in an orchard or light traps in warehouses, treatment options for goods either before or after they enter Australia (e.g., fumigation, heat, washing, or oxygen deprivation) and surveillance to test the measures.
Achieving ever greater controls, and applying innovation to this subject, will improve economic outcomes for the farmer. Ever since former Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb forged new trade deals with several countries in North Asia, export opportunities for Australian farmers have flourished, along with greater scrutiny. Our reputation for “clean and green” food products precedes us. Other nations are eager to consume our products, and their governments ever more vigilant about food safety issues. Our government ought re-double efforts, and at the same time be congratulated for fine achievements thus far. But there is no substitute for on-site, specific innov ation and care expressed by each farmer, and by their immediate community.
Demonstration of both stressed plants being sus ceptible and also abandoned orchards in a com munity garden on South Goulburn Island, NT. Plants like this in northern Australia are good sentinels for exotic plant pests that could enter through natural, unregulated pathways such as wind. These form an early detection system for our valuable industries, and illustrates the strong partnerships required in our biosecurity system, in this case with indigen ous ranger groups who are a vital cog in our north.
Photo supplied by Dr Greg Chandler.
EDITOR’S CONCLUSION: We commissioned this article for practical reasons as our mandate as an NFP Social Enterprise is to assist the Australian farmer achieve greater pro ductivity thus prosperity. Having surveyed the bio security realm in Australia extensively – especially for our major 2017 book Boundless Plains to Share – we saw something important to report on. Bio security concerns and the potential for negative economic impacts will continue to escalate. The pandemic has made this situation more acute.
the australian farmer 165 border for checking and reporting items that come in through the mail or a suspect new animal or plant pest or disease. This collective effort helps to maintain the integrity of our biosecurity system and continues to pro tect our industries and the natural environment from serious pests. The plant bacterium known as Xylella fas tidiosa, for example, is number one on our exotic plant biosecurity threat list that we have been successful in excluding from Australia through the activation of many biosecurity measures.
There are some really simple things that farmers can do to increase on-farm biosecurity awareness, in cluding erecting signs at main entry points and visitor reception areas that remind people that they are in a biosecurity zone - much like the safety signs that you see when entering an area with dangerous machinery or biological hazards. Basic requirements for visitors, such as ensuring that their boots are clean of soil from other properties and that any equipment brought onto the farm is clean, reinforce the message that bio security is a serious undertaking without making it an onerousAustralia’stask.Rural Research and Development Corpor ations invest in research and development programs that strengthen our biosecurity system and give our industries a competitive edge. These programs seek to minimise the harmful economic and social conse quences of new threats to farmers, their industry, and regional communities that support them. Australia’s world class biosecurity scientists are constantly pur suing and achieving novel, transformational research outcomes, ranging from automated insect and airborne disease spores traps to hyper-spectral imagery to detect disease in orchards before it is visible to the human eye to finding hitchhiker pests on sea contain ers. We have a shared responsibility to keep Australia free of as many exotic pests and diseases as possible and being prepared for their arrival just in case.
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Women
Machinery Field Days on the pathways for women in agriculture Verity Morgan-Schmidt of Farmers for Climate Action speaks about her work and women in leadership A profile of Erica Hughes, innovative young farmer and developer of the Farmer Meets Foodie app
Angela Elliott writes about the fiercely passionate women of Australian agriculture Dr Skye Saunders on the changing culture around women in ag and how we can do Anbetterinterview with Belinda Anderson of Henty
AgricultureAustralianin
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168 WOMEN IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE
By Angela Elliott, Farmer and Sales and Marketing Manager at George Weston Foods
Women have always had a role on Australian farms – steady, guiding, ever supportive and work ing for the love of the land and for the love of the families and animals they’ve nurtured and raised there. When I think of all the women I know, have spoken to, have worked with and those whom I call friends, certain words immediately come to mind: tenacious, resilient, courageous, kind, driven, cre ative, generous, pragmatic and intelligent. However, if I were to describe these women with a single phrase, “fiercely passionate” would be a good fit. Women working and living on the land know how to contribute to their immediate and wider network and community – they know who they are, what they want and are developing some unique and innovative ways in getting it.
If we are to look to history and remember the role women played on the land we might be tempted to call it a support role or a role that was secondary to men – washing clothes, cooking for the family, rais ing children and being a constant source of support and guidance. But was this support role secondary to male farmers? I don’t think so. It was a role in support of those around them, definitely, however it was a role distinct in the purpose it served and one that contributed to the development of the in dustry over time and lead to the opportunities we enjoy today.
Photo courtesy of Sophie Madge
The fiercely passionate women of Australian agriculture
Some of the female business success stories I have seen in clude:
•
Modern agriculture has com pletely reinvented itself in the past 10-15 years with opportun ities for women continuously opening up on multiple levels. Having close ties to the industry, I have not recently met any woman living on the land that does not play numerous roles on a daily basis – mother, wife, entrepre neur and business owner.
The avid foodie who has developed a nationwide app to connect local farm ers and producers to the food service industry.
•
• The dear friend running one of the most successful Dorper sheep studs in Aus tralia who raises free-range organic pigs for the love of being able to offer her friends pork that is com pletely toxin free.
I am lucky enough to be involved in and understand two distinct arms of opportunity for women in agriculture: making a living on the land or making a difference by working in corporate agriculture. I have spent my working career in corporate agriculture, and I have DID YOU KNOW Women make up 28 per cent of the Australian farming workforce, but on average earn 21.8 per cent less than men in the industry ?
• The wife, mother and grandmother producing eggs from laying hens raised on native pastures of grasses, wild flowers and herbages because she is passionate about the role nature plays in the health and wellbeing of those around her.
The heli-mustering pilot who runs an online busi ness connecting large agri cultural contractors with pastoral land owners.
The examples running through my head are endless – these are but a few of the women I am for tunate to know and call friends who are building successful busi nesses borne out of deep, pro found and directed passion.
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With increasing support from their families and the wider in dustry, as well as greater access to technology, rural women are turning their passions into busi nesses at a staggering rate. This is one of the strongest indicators of how the industry has shifted in its paradigms and how women are redefining their roles within theOneindustry.ofthe strongest traits I witness in women on the land is that they are highly pragmatic. As a result, they are natural experts at creative problem solving – the perfect skill for business creation. If several people have the same problem, it is likely that many do. Turning the solution into a ser vice that can be monetised is the method by which many women start highly successful busi nesses right from the laptop on the kitchen table, with very low start-up costs.
WOMEN IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE
Australian Women in Agriculture is the peak body for women in agriculture, committed to ensuring that women influence the agricultural agenda. Their Events page is a great resource to discover events for farming women to be involved in.
INITIATIVES FOR WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE
The WiRE Program – Women in Rural, Regional and Remote Enterprises – enables, guides and supports rural and regional women to become entrepreneurs and start or grow their own businesses. tunity and diverse thought that we have at our finger tips? We all play a role and I encourage you to play yours – what is it that you can give? Is it support in the way of mentorship? Do you have a passion for diversity and can get involved in some of the great initiatives that are happening in the industry? Or do you have a story you can share to encourage the development of diversity in the corporate sector?
The highest performing com panies around the world attrib ute their success to groups of directors, board members, sen ior executives and sales teams that are built on the foundations of highly diverse thought lead ers – women and men, people from different backgrounds and education levels, technology in novators and people innovators and people with high IQs and people with high EQs. So too does Australian agriculture re quire such diversity, and we have it at our fingertips.
The Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program is a partner ship between peak bodies and businesses across agriculture that is led by the NFF and aimed at mentoring aspiring female leaders
Corporate agriculture is the sector that is taking our agricul tural products to the world and the sector with the resources to have a voice that is heard by the masses, yet women make up only 2.3 per cent of roles at a CEO level compared to 17 per cent for other sectors. And in all leader ship roles, that figure is only 13 per cent in corporate agriculture compared to 28 per cent in other sectors. This is despite women comprising the majority of uni versity graduates and entry-level corporate positions in some cases.How have the two arms be come so disconnected? And how do we reconnect them back to the body that is the whole indus try and wrap them around the wonderful people, full of oppor
AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award is an annual event that acknowledges the essential role women play in rural industries, businesses and communities. Nominations for the award are open from September to October each year.
Rare Birds is a movement that is inspiring and supporting female entrepreneurs, with a particularly keen interest in mentoring and assisting women in agriculture. Their vision is to see a global community of one million women entrepreneurs by 2020.
170 also been privileged to live for a time on our family farm, raising my daughters and spending time in the ‘support role’ that is still so important. I have supported my husband in developing his career, as he has mine, and we both con tinue to play distinct roles in add ing value to the product our family produces.Beingheavily involved with opportunity on both sides of the industry is a gift of perspective. What I have come to understand is that with good there is bad, with positive there is negative, there is a summer to the winter and a win ter to the summer. The part of the industry with a widely-heard voice is the corporate sector, and it is this sector that is arguably most in need of the reinvention we are seeing from women on the land.
There are some amazing initia tives being led by prominent Aus tralian agricultural corporations in the quest to develop diversity in the sector. Two recent exam ples are the Diversity in Agricul ture Leadership Program and the 100 Days for Change initiative.
The 100 Days for Change initia tive ran from July to October in 2018, created and supported by Women in Leadership Australia. The initiative was a call to action for individuals and corporations to commit to practical, meas urable change in workplaces across the country to close the genderThesegap.and other initiatives (see the box on the left) will be successful if we all reach out and play our part. The future is par ticularly bright and full of oppor tunity for women in agriculture. I trust that you will enjoy the stories of the women that will be shared in this chapter; they are but a few examples of what is happen ing in the reinvention of Austral ian agriculture, where the fiercely passionate women working this land are playing a profound role with a distinct contribution.
DID YOU KNOW Do you know a rural woman who makes your commu nity a better place to live? her for the Hidden Treasures Honour Roll! here read about the young Aussie woman challenging traditional views on farm succession planning Photo courtesy of Karin Robinson
the australian farmer 171 and encouraging organisations in the industry to audit their gender diversity and pledge to make meaningful change.
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to
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Former Chief of Army, David Morrison, chose these words in 2013 to frame his legendary order for cultural change in the Australian Army. In his address, the Chief of Army drew a clear line. On one side of the line sat the tired, sexualised cultural norms that had been simmering away until that moment – every thing from the unwelcome com ments about a female soldier’s breasts to attempts to poke a ruler between her buttocks to unwelcome questions about her preferred sexual position.
On the other side of the line, was the ‘new normal’ that sim ply did not tolerate the humili ation or degradation of others. The new normal recognised that the behavioural ‘bar’ required some heavy lifting out of the dirt and into the realm of respect –and everyone had a role to play in ensuring that the new stan dard was maintained. The army had hit these cul tural problems because, over time, male dominance had been assumed by troops. Young men came to see that by engaging in sexual harassment (however subtle or overt), the blokes could retain the power to ‘call the shots’ over the women. In fact, if the sexual harassment was par ticularly potent, female soldiers were made to feel like outsiders in their very own workplace. In consideration of these factors, it’s very easy to see why the Chief of Army’s introduction of the ‘new normal’ was welcome. The truth is, however, that there are some aspects of rural culture that remain similarly seeped in the traditions of male influence. This fact is perhaps, historically unsurprising. Over time, for example, our grand fathers typically worked the
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A recent study has shown that 73 per cent of women in the Australian agricultural workforce have experienced unwanted sexual harassment in the workplace. We need to promote and develop a culture of encouragement and empowerment where rural men, women and employers work in harmony to effect meaningful change.
By Dr Skye Saunders, Associate Professor of Law, the founder of Strike a Chord, author and speaker.
WOMEN IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE
The standard you walk past is the standard you accept
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”
• Breasts repeatedly compared to cattle teats.
The above comment may seem a bit obvious – and on one level it is. However, despite the high statistical odds that a mod ern farmer in Australia will be a woman, we have a lot of catching up to do in our national recogni tion of women as equal to men.
• Women camping out on stock routes only to be subjected to the nearby sounds of porn coming from the portable
• Porn frequently pinned up beside annual rain calendars.
the australian farmer 173 land while our grandmothers were reminded that the bush was ‘no place for a woman’ (even as they hurried about, keeping hearts and bodies alive with love and warm tea).
• Women invited to put their tools down for a quickie, be cause ‘no one will know’.
In late 2015 I published a book called Whispers from the Bush – The Workplace Sexual Harass ment of Australian Rural Women The research showed that 73 per cent of all rural women inter viewed had experienced sexual harassment as part of their daily working life. For women inter viewed in the agricultural sector more specifically (albeit a rela tively small group), 93 percent had encountered unwanted sexual harassment in the rural workplace.Aspartof the research, I trav elled to rural and remote parts of Australia – from Kalgoorlie to Coolah and from Tenant Creek to Kangaroo Island – to conduct 107 interviews with employees and employers in relatively iso lated workplaces. Participants were employed in a wide range of occupations, including (but not limited to) mining, policing, shearing, cattle farming, nursing, tourism, horticulture and hospi tality. In speaking with individ uals about their experiences, I was conducting the first Austral ian research about workplace sexual harassment in the bush. It was both poignant and raw to hear, first-hand, some of the manifestations of sexual ha rassment for the 73 per cent of women who had experienced it. Here is a quick snapshot:
In a similar vein, the rugged strength of the Australian stock man as the iconic symbol of rur ality is enforced by cherished pop cultural depictions: Crocodile Dundee, the Man from Snowy River, the songs of Slim Dusty and the works of Banjo Patter son, to name a few. There is no doubt there is a treasured place in our Australian national iden tity for rural men, but the time is riper than ever for us to also take every opportunity to celebrate the women of rural Australia as worthy of equal value.
More information about the Strike A Chord program is available at www.skyesaunders. com.au
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Compoundinggoes.theextent of the harassment is the reality that 83 per cent of employers and managers tend to regard attending to sexual harassment issues as a pretty low priority in the bigger scheme of things. In fact, employers have a tendency to blame women for behaviour which they saw as ‘provoking’ sexual harassment. There is also often no recognition of the employ er’s underpinning duty of care to provide a safe working environment for all, just a strong preference for everyone to just get on with things, taking everything in their stride along the way. So, somewhere along the way between our Parliament and our shearing sheds, the intent and application of our sexual harass ment laws is totally lost in translation.
174 WOMEN IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE DVD players of her co-workers as she tries to go to sleep.
• And on it
• Work boots urinated on before a woman enters the mines.
The impact of this can be particularly dire for the woman who is sexually ha rassed in the rural workplace. Not only is the behaviour humiliating in itself, but the consequences of reporting the behaviour may be equally so. When the culture is per missive of sexual harassment as a norm, the person who seeks to report it may be labelled a troublemaker, an over-reactor, be targeted for further harassment or even risk losing her job. She will often weigh up these risks with the alternative of simply choosing to ‘grin and bear it’. And the latter often wins out, meaning that harassment as a norm remains culturally unchallenged.
In consideration of these cultural com plexities, I have developed a solution that aims to strengthen three workplace stake holder groups – men, women and employ ers – so that individuals within each group can be empowered to play to their truest strengths in effecting meaningful cultural change. This solution, called ‘Strike A Chord’ is depicted in the below diagram. With a philosophy of encouragement and empowerment rather than blame, the framework uncovers the perspectives and needs of different stakeholder groups with sensitivity. It also equips men, women and employers with insights and tools to dis rupt unhealthy behaviours, whether con scious or not. This is critical for our relationships in rural workplaces because the “standard that we walk past, is the standard we accept.”
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Belinda Anderson, CEO of MachineryHentyField Days
the australian farmer 177 Back ContentstoDownloadPDF
“It’s a co-operative of 100 mem bers and the majority are farmers – they walk away from their farms or jobs for a couple of weeks and come and run the event, which is pretty amazing in itself. In 2015 Crowe Horwath conducted an economic impact and found that HMFD actually puts $92 million back into the national economy annually through the field days, creating nearly 1,000 equivalent full-time jobs in the region. We knew we did a good job but didn’t realise it was on that scale. 50 per cent of the people who visit come from three or more hours away, so we’re drawing from quite a signifi cant area for our visitors.” How has the role of women in agriculture changed in your time in the industry?
Belinda Anderson and her husband run a 1,295ha sheep and grain farm at Pulletop, 40 minutes south of Wagga Wagga in NSW. After 20 years working at Local Land Services as well as on the farm, Belinda was named as the first female CEO of the Henty Machinery Field Days (HMFD) Cooperative Limited in 2014.
What can we do to encourage more pathways for women in agriculture?
“We see a lot of new businesses that are involving women in agri culture – and that’s great – but there’s still a lot of opportunities in existing businesses for women to be given the chance to get in volved and rise through the organi sation. I think we need to see a lot more self-confidence, both from women already working in agricul ture but also from employers who are willing to give these women the chances they deserve. We’re seeing women in agriculture more and more in everyday trading and it’s showing the next generation of young girls that you don’t have to start your own business to work in agriculture, there are many oppor tunities already.”
Henty Machinery Field Days is such a massive event now – how does it all come together and what effect does it have on the region?
“We’re seeing more and more women involved in agriculture and it’s not just as agronomists or advisors – they’re involved in ma chinery now and other areas that were traditionally male-based. Well, most of agriculture has al ways been traditionally malebased, but we’re just starting to see expansion in all areas now. “It’s definitely progressed in recent years, though. At the 2011 Field Day, I’d be standing on the front counter and somebody would say, ‘I want to see the person in charge’. I’d tell them that was me and get a surprised reaction. That still happens, but less and less –you don’t run up against that atti tude as much as you used to, that’s for sure. It is changing, and I think that comes from a grassroots level because there’s just more women involved at home on the farms.”
The annual Henty Machinery Field Days is held in September and attracts more than 60,000 visitors and 800 exhibitors each year. Taking place on 105ha of land halfway between Wagga Wagga and Albury and attract ing visitors from across the country, it is southern Austra lia’s biggest agricultural event.
“Having said that, I think there is a generational shift happening and there are fantastic programs in the sector starting to come together, such as the NFF’s Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program.
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“The gender imbalance issue is a real chal lenge, and I think when you’re deeply embed ded in agriculture, you just take for granted that that’s the way it is. When you step back, you realise that it actually doesn’t have to be this way. Women have so much to offer and already take such an incredible position within agricul ture, we just need to elevate that and make it more widely known.
“I’ve actually been relatively fortunate in my career, in that quite a few of my workplaces have been very supportive of flexible working arrangements and I have been able to do things like breastfeed through a board meeting. That
Verity Morgan-Schmidt, CEO of Farmers for Climate Action
We have the first female NFF president, which is a really positive step forward, but the reality is women are still frequently outnumbered and have to work incredibly hard to be listened to and re spected. I think that is probably the experience of many other young women and women in general in the sector, and we need to do more. It’s not just down to some inspirational female leaders – they are important, but we also need our men to be standing up for equality as well.”
WOMEN IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE
“I come at this not just as a woman, but I come at it from the perspective of a mother. One of the key things we can do is support family-friendly work environments and recognise that becom ing a mother does not actually reduce one’s cap acity to be a valuable contributor to a workplace – in fact, it enhances it.
Given your wide-ranging history across rural services, agripolitics and advocacy, how do you think the agricultural industry performs when it comes to gender balance and work place culture?
Verity Morgan-Schmidt grew up on a sheep and wheat farm in Bencubbin in Western Australia’s wheatbelt. She’s worked in remote shearing sheds, was Australia’s youngest female wool auctioneer, spent time at WA Farmers, formed a sustainable agriculture group in Queensland and is now the inaugural CEO of Farmers for Climate Action.
What do you think can be done to encour age more women to not only enter the agri cultural workforce but to rise to leadership positions?
“In my current workplace, I’m incredibly privil eged. I have some amazing female leaders – in my team, on my board, in my farm volunteers – and I also have some incredible men who are just so committed to equality across the board. But within the broader industry (and I’ve certainly had previ ous experiences) it is a major problem and we do have a long, long way to go.
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“In Australia, we are already living with one of the most variable climates in the world, so farmers have become very good at adapting because they have to. But the reality is that some of them are now being pushed a long way beyond their limits and we’re see ing that with the drought at the moment. People are resilient but we’re having this continual struggle and a big part of that is because we are dealing with basically runaway climate change.
WOMEN IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE
Why is the work of Farmers for Climate Action so important?
“We are Australia’s only agricultural advocacy or ganisation focusing purely on climate change, so we try to ensure that farmers are actually empowered to speak about their lived experience. We’ve had this mis conception for over a decade now that farmers don’t believe in climate change, that they’re all sceptics who don’t support renewable energy – nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that farmers are living out climate change.
“A key part of our role is empowering farmers to speak out on these impacts and to ensure that rural and regional politicians are actually hearing these messages. We need to recognise that farmers are not only critical voices in this discussion, but also a critical part of the solution with roles to play in carbon se questration, ecosystem management and renewable energy on farms. In all of these avenues, farmers have tremendous potential.”
How can we address climate change within the agricultural industry?
“To me, climate change is one of the biggest threats facing the agricultural sector and it is going to be the great accelerant of many of the challenges we are al ready facing. And I think we need to take a very open
180 Farmers for Climate Action is a not-for-profit alliance of farmers and ag leaders advocating for urgent cli mate action and investment in solutions that will help farmers adapt to climate change. FCA is an associ ate member of the National Farmers’ Federation and engages in media work, advocacy, farmer outreach, political engagement and volunteer campaigns to reach its aims. has enabled me to continue to have a career and I know that many women can’t do that. We need to re cognise that we are in the 21st century and have 21st century technology available to us, so we need to dis play 21st century values. Let’s actually move forward with that as a sector and make sure women are able to contribute.”
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“Because,them. quite frankly, the climate change chal lenge which we are currently facing needs all hands on deck. And we need diverse, inclusive, innovative and forward-thinking leaders to really come together to address these challenges, look at the elephants in the room and to really start mapping out a course for our future with eyes wide open. We cannot continue to exist in silos or pretend everything is going to be okay. We need to understand the critical nature of the challenges that we’re facing, and then we need to em brace the opportunities that are also presenting them selves.”
What do you most enjoy about your work?
the australian farmer and inclusive approach to addressing climate. We have to recognise the need to hear a diversity of voices, whether that be women or newer entrants to Australia who are engaged in agriculture and don’t necessarily fit the stereotype of your traditional Akubra-wear ing Aussie farmer. These people still have incredibly strong contributions to make and we need to encour age
“I get to work with the most inspirational people –there is this incredible sense of social responsibility and intergenerational and social equity in so many of the farmers we speak to. They have an incredible com mitment to leaving the land better than they found it. To be constantly surrounded by people who are deal ing with extremely challenging circumstances and yet be so inspired by them at the same time is an incred ible
“It’sexperience.alsoabout being able to reconnect that ruralurban divide and bring farmers’ stories into an urban environment. What I overwhelmingly find is that people trust farmers and want to know about what our farmers are experiencing, but our urban communities have lost that ability to really connect for themselves. To be able to bridge that divide in a small way and em power our farmers, who are already inspirational and incredible, is just an absolute honour and a privilege.”
“The app is all about connecting producers to commercial foodies – restaurants, cafes and caterers –so they can sell their produce dir ect and pass on the story behind the produce to the consumer. It’s also encouraging local Australian produce on the menus in our res taurants and cafes, and helping Australian producers to get a good return for their produce. I’m really passionate about getting that story behind the food and I think today’s consumers aren’t getting that story when they’re purchas ing food or eating at a restaurant. “When we brought our prop erty here in Mt Molloy, we were looking at what else we might be able to grow other than beef. We’re not far from Port Douglas – which has a lot of restaurants and cafes – and we envisaged going down there and speaking to all the chefs to see what pro duce they might be interested in and whether they’d want to buy direct from us. I quickly realised that I could use technology to make that process a lot easier –an app that could tell someone what products you’ve got avail able and enable the interested chef to find them directly. From there, Farmer Meets Foodie was born.”
The consumer awareness and desire to know where their food is coming from and whether it’s clean and green and ethically produced has become really prominent. However, that hasn’t really translated to the experi ence of eating out. When you go to a restaurant or even purchase food at the supermarket, unless
Erica
FoodieFarmerfounderHughes,ofMeets
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It seems society at the moment is getting more interested in food provenance in general, is that something that inspired you?
Erica Hughes grew up on a small beef cattle farm just north of Brisbane. After travelling all across the country working on cattle stations and in natural resource management, she settled on a small cattle farm in Mt Molloy in North Queensland. After speaking to farmers and restaurants in her area, she was inspired to create the Farmer Meets Foodie app to spark local business and connect consumers with the story of their food. Can you describe the Farmer Meets Foodie app for us? Why did you create it and what are you hoping to achieve?
“Definitely. There are loads of cooking shows on TV about that type of paddock to plate experi ence, and the demand certainly seems to be ever-increasing.
WOMEN IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE
“Technology is only useful if it solves a problem or makes you more efficient – there is no point in being more digitally involved just for the sake of it. Uptake of digital platforms will very much be an individual busi ness-by-business response based on farmers’ needs. There are a lot of people working on ideas and solutions, and I would en courage farmers to get involved and support these people – the more input from farmers in the development and testing of technology, the greater the out comes. We are really grateful to the farmers who have trialled and are still trialling our platform as we refine features and function ality – their input has helped us to shape what will hopefully be a really useful tool.”
“Creating the app has taken longer than I anticipated. Not having the skills to code has been a bit frustrating, as I generally like to do things myself, but I’ve had great support from the North Queensland farm and foodie communities. They’ve been very patient testing the app and giv ing feedback, that’s been very rewarding.“Thebest piece of advice I have is to be really clear about what you want your end product to be – map that out and plan it on your screen, because you’ve got to be able to give your vision to some one else to build. And be prepared to keep modifying it and getting feedback from the people who are going to be using it because it has to meet their needs. We’ve got a great product now, but it’s never really going to be finished – we are going to be constantly updating it and making changes as we get more users and more ideas about how we can make it better. We can’t just produce an app and that’s the end of it, be cause it won’t stay relevant.”
“The reaction has been posi tive. It’s early days and we’re still adding additional features and tweaking how the app works based on feedback, but many users have said they’ve been wait ing for something like this. Since launching, we’ve also expanded into northern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland, where there has been plenty of in terest in our app thanks to a num ber of producers in those areas with niche or boutique produce.”
the australian farmer 183 it’s distinctly labelled, you really have no idea of how and where the food was grown. There is some labelling, but there’s a long way to go before we know where the majority of our food comes from.”
You launched the app only a few months ago, what has the response been like from both farmers and foodies?
What has the app creation experience been like? Do you have any advice for people who want to do something similar?
Do you think farmers need to be more involved digitally?
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HealthAnimal
Kathleen Plowman of Animal Health Australia discusses how every farmer can play a part in the nation’s biosecurity Megan Beca of Genetics Australia writes about the latest in genetic technology that is unlocking productivity in livestock Scientists from QUT explore innovative new ways to feed the growing national herd
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Australia is fortunate to be free of many major diseases of livestock and wildlife. Our reputation for high quality and safe livestock and livestock products is a driving force behind the increasing value of our agricultural industries. Maintaining our enviable position in the global agri cultural trade means we need to ensure and dem onstrate our freedom from diseases which are of concern to our trading partners. Our domestic mar ket is no different; Australians are among the world’s biggest consumers of meat because we trust that our industries can supply high quality product that is safe to eat. The value placed on our product internation ally is also linked to the value placed on products do mestically. All of this makes biosecurity, traceability and surveillance absolutely crucial to the sustainabil ity and profitability of our primary industries.
ANIMAL HEALTH
In the FMD outbreak in the United Kingdom during 2001, more than 2,000 cases of this incredibly con tagious livestock disease were confirmed through out the UK and more than four million animals were culled as part of the response effort. The UK live stock industry lost over 350 million pounds (approx. AU$700 million) to control costs and lost assets.
That’s why when an emergency animal disease (EAD) is detected, a swift response is vital to con tain the spread of the disease and thereby enable a quicker return to market. Australian producers can rest easy knowing that the Emergency Animal Dis ease Response Agreement, known as the EADRA, is in
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CONTROLLING OUTBREAKS WITH SWIFT ACTION
By Kathleen Plowman – CEO, Animal Health Aus tralia
You only need to look at disease outbreaks abroad to understand why the national biosecurity, traceabil ity and surveillance system is so important. Any posi tive detection for diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), avian influenza, African Swine Fever (ASF) or countless others can wipe out millions – if not billions – of dollars of value from an affected in dustry in no time at all. Such diseases would continue to have a detrimental effect on a nation’s domestic and international livestock trade, as well as broader social impacts, for months or even years to come.
Ensuring and demonstrating our disease-free status is an enormous task involving the collective efforts of the federal, state and territory govern ments, livestock industries, private veterinarians and producers. Across the country, government, in dustry and collaborative programs gather data on various endemic diseases of significance and remain on the lookout for exotic threats. This kind of active and targeted surveillance is instrumental in proving our disease-free status to our trading partners and underpinning our access to international markets.
The first step is to keep a lookout for anything un usual on your property. You are positioned on the front lines in the event of a biosecurity emergency – nobody knows your property and what is or isn’t normal better than you, and nobody else is going to report an outbreak for you. This is what we call pas sive surveillance – keeping an eye out for unusual signs and symptoms or increased mortalities and reporting any suspect cases to biosecurity author ities in your state via the Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888. Remember, it’s better to have reported something and been wrong than to brush it off and let a possible EAD take hold on your property.Thenext step is to implement a simple but robust series of biosecurity measures on your property. Bio security means assessing risk factors and working to reduce those risks, remembering of course that not everything is within your control and there’s no such thing as zero risk. The Farm Biosecurity website is a great place to start with on-farm biosecurity and is DID YOU BIOCHECKKNOW®isaprogram run by members of the Australia Cattle Veterinarians that helps protect the biosecurity of Australia’s cattle farms ?
the australian farmer 189 place to help get the ball rolling. EADRA sets out the roles and responsibilities of governments and indus tries in controlling and eradicating an EAD, including a pre-agreed cost sharing arrangement, ensuring that animal health agencies and industries are able to act quickly. This unique model of collaboration, supported by AUSVETPLAN – a comprehensive set of manuals on diagnosing, controlling and eradicat ing EADs – is part of what makes Australia’s animal health system world-class.
DOING YOUR PART
In the face of so many threats to the health of our live stock and the sustainability of our industry, it’s easy to feel anxious. The Australian government works tirelessly inspecting people, vehicles, animals and goods arriving at our borders, but things do regret tably fall through the cracks. Incursions happen and not all risk factors are within our control. So how can you play your part in biosecurity and surveillance to ensure that your animals remain healthy and your business remains viable?
When highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) impacted the poultry industry in the United States Midwest in 2014 and 2015, it resulted in the death or destruction of nearly 50 million chickens and turkeys, costing upwards of US$3 billion. In Australia, seven separate outbreaks of HPAI have occurred in com mercial flocks, the most recent being in 2013. Thanks to our biosecurity, traceability surveillance and EAD response system, each of these outbreaks was able to be contained and successfully eradicated – the 2013 case was declared eradicated within six weeks of detection and involved the destruction of fewer than 500,000 birds across only two properties. As ASF continues to move through Europe and into China, animal health authorities across the globe are on high alert. In China – the world’s largest producer of pork, with a pig farming industry worth over AU$1 trillion – infected zones have been established in at least nine provinces, resulting in the culling of tens of thousands of pigs. Australian governments and the pork industry are busy preparing for the possibility of an outbreak here, through comprehensive aware ness campaigns and rigorous training in the princi ples and application of EADRA.
Click here to learn about the R&D funding and incentives available to farmers through the Department of Industry
Both on-farm and nationally, any biosec urity action is a step towards freedom from disease. Taking simple and practical steps to reduce your risk is the biggest thing you can do, not only for your livestock and your business, but for the sustainability and lon gevity of your industry. You’ll also be play ing your part in the national system. Every farm with a biosecurity regime is one less farm which might be the entry point for an EAD. Every farmer who is aware of and keeping an eye out for unusual signs and symptoms of disease is one more person to spot the problem and react before it can be come a national emergency and puts your market access at risk.
2. Report suspect cases on 1800 675 888
ANIMAL HEALTH
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Simple actions, such as using animal health declarations and creating and keep ing movement records for livestock entering and leaving the property, could save pre cious time in tracing an EAD outbreak back to its source or identifying other affected properties. In some states and industries, keeping these kinds of records, along with updating the National Livestock Identifica tion System database, is a legal requirement for all producers. Also bear in mind that while exotic threats may be the biggest con cern to the system as a whole, an outbreak of an endemic disease can also cause chaos for your business. Biosecurity activities, such as conducting a visual inspection of oncom ing plants, animals, resources, vehicles and visitors, may take a little more time but go a long way to protecting your property.
1. Keep a lookout for unusual signs of disease or pest activity
loaded with information, resources and tem plates to begin taking biosecurity action.
QUICK TIPS FOR FARMERS
3. Have an on-farm biosecurity plan which addresses the risks to your property
4. Keep accurate records and update databases where required
WHAT IS GENOMICS?
From genetics to genomics –unlocking productivity in your livestock
The swine genome is 2.7GB of basepairs, the equivalent of nearly 9000 novels. That’s over five years of continuous reading from start to finish. ?
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As an industry, we started with traditional genetics: hereditary traits, specific genes and family trees. All the way back in the 1800s, traditional genetics gave us the double muscle gene for some breeds of beef cattle, producing impressive increases in carcass weights. And today we can trace the pedigree of a calf with the birth defect brachyspina to discover which relatives are carriers and avoid breeding them together in the future. By contrast, genomics offers up information on more qualitative and less immediately obvious gen etic traits. If our calf was born healthy, what is her future potential as a milking dairy cow? If we have a newborn piglet, how well will it convert feed into product? This makes genomics an invaluable tool for measuring and maximising productivity. Genomics offers predictions about genetic potential on a wide range of productivity measures across a wide range of livestock species.
Genomics is the study of the entire DNA set of an ani mal at once, not just gene by gene. A single reference animal is taken and every single piece of DNA in its chromosomes is unravelled and transcribed, giving us a blueprint of all the genetic information they have to offer. The next step is ‘annotating’ this blueprint –looking for parts of the DNA that affect physical traits.
For agriculture, we’re looking mostly at traits that af fect productivity and profitability. In the past, genomics was out of reach for wide spread commercial use. Sequencing a genome was expensive and incredibly slow. The first bovine gen ome to be sequenced was an international collabora tion. It cost $53 million and took six years to complete. By contrast, today a farmer can send in some tail hairs from a promising calf the day after she’s born and get a meaningful genomic analysis for under $100 within a fewThismonths.incredible progress comes from equal ad vances in the technical machinery that unravels the DNA and from advances in computing power to process the vast amount of raw data coming out of those machines.
GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY INVESTMENT IN AUSTRALIA
Genetic science has reached out and changed the fundamental way we approach livestock management in Australia. Productivity, sustainability and progress are all underpinned by bioinformatic and genetic tools in the modern livestock industry.
All of these advances are only possible with dedi cated and sustained support from industry and the By Megan Beca, Genetics Australia DID YOU KNOW
There are a variety of Breeding Values across livestock species in Australia, measuring different traits depending on what’s rel evant to that market. Pigs work under the Estimated Breeding Value (EBV) system, allowing pro jections for traits like carcass fat or number of piglets born alive. Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) add an age component, allowing farmers to see the Breed ing Value for weight or worm egg count for a weaner or for an adult. This gives farmers a way to project the performance of their animals’ future offspring, helping to plan breeding with specific productivity goals in Australianmind.research institutions are now investing heavily in adding genomic information into Breeding Values, creating Genomic Austral ian Breeding Values (ABV(g)s). The added data boost makes predic tions faster, increases their reliabil ity and opens the door to develop new breeding values for traits that haven’t been captured yet. An ex ample is the brand-new heat toler ance trait in dairy cattle, developed in Australia for Australian dairy cat tle and released in December 2017. This Breeding Value is part of the new wave of Genomic ABV(g)s, rely ing heavily on genomic data to give farmers more management power over traits that are difficult to quan DID YOU KNOW ‘Indexes’ are
GENOMIC BREEDING VALUES
‘Breeding Values’ are a tool that livestock industries across the world use to predict the genetic po tential of animals, untangling the effect of environment and manage ment systems to describe what an animal has to offer the next genera tion. The Breeding Value combines all the data recorded for an animal, as well as its relatives and their ranking against other animals. Any aspect with a genetic component can be theoretically captured in a Breeding Value.
profit.net200above$5105tureIndexallimprovedbreedingingcombinationsuser-friendlyofBreedValueswithparticulargoalsinmind,likehealthoroverprofitability.TheDollarinsheepmeasuresfuprofitability.Anindexofforarammeansanextraperjoinedeweperyeartheaverage.Joiningewestothisramwouldanadditional$1000 ?
Both producer-owned industry bodies and government initia tives are channelling serious re sources into genomics research andAustralianapplications.dairy farmers are benefitting from collaborations be tween Dairy Australia and the Vic torian government with DairyBio, a dedicated bioscience initiative. There is already a very solid foun dation of genomic contributions to productivity in the Australian dairy industry. Current projects at Dairy Bio focus on supporting these al ready solid genomic foundations. Dairy farmers have highlighted calving ease and gestation length as key traits for good manage ment. DairyBio projects further support farmers with a focus on health traits as well as improving the overall reliability of the infor mation already being provided to farmers.Inthe Australian red meat indus try, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) invests up to $5 million each year into genetic research with matching funds from the Australian government for appropriate pro jects. Their current focus points for genetic research and development include the relationship between animals and their feed, reproduct ive success and extension services to effectively communicate new genetic tools to farmers. Advances in the genomic science space aren’t limited to animal-fo cused problems. CSIRO have been focusing on the use of bioinformat ics and how to improve the amount of bang for their computational buck. CSIRO Bioinformatics has developed a tool that identifies bottlenecks in their genomic data processing, allowing them to im prove analysis time by over 80 per cent.
192 ANIMAL HEALTH government. The Australian live stock industry is heavily invested in keeping up the momentum in genomics research across the board, acknowledging the in credible advantages to be had.
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the australian farmer just by looking at the animals in the field. THE FUTURE
193 tify
The upper limit of what genomics can do for the Australian livestock industry is still incredibly far off in the distance. As rates of gen etic gain keep accelerating, it’s not hard to picture a future where every animal is the perfect animal for their management system.
? Read our
The addition of genomics to the ABV(g) in dairy cows has increased reliability of pre dictions to the same effect as seven lactations for a cow, or 25-30 milking daughters for a young bull. ?
Every new trait researched and every new genome sequenced is another tool in our arsenal against the agricultural problems of the future: meeting an ever-growing demand with fewer resources, balancing productivity and sus tainability and adapting to farm ing in our changing climate. of genetic modification article on how misinformation about GM is harming farm productivity KNOW
DID YOU
• QUT
Australian farmers are actively looking for feed ingredients that are cheaper, more widely available and at least as nutritious as existing feed. In response, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researchers are finding new uses for sugar industry by-products that might not only feed the growing national herd, but also deliver significant benefits across the agricultural sector.
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Global demand for Australian animal products such as meat, cheese and milk powder is in creasing, particularly in Asian countries where changing popu lation dynamics are creating a burgeoning middle class. Our agricultural sector is responding to this demand by increasing ani mal production, which therefore means we need to produce more animal feed. As well as helping producers supply growing export markets, animal feed containing lower cost, widely available and nutri tious ingredients (such as dietary fibre, sugar syrups and protein) also helps to future-proof the live stock industry in times of drought by: QUT Associate Professor of Microbial Technol ogy, Robert Speight (@ portyrob) Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Tropical Crops and Bio commodities member, Dr Mark Harrison (@ MarkH_CTCB)
ANIMAL HEALTH Research for this article was contributed
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Innovation to feed the future of animal production
According to the Australian Sugar Milling Council, sugar is one of the nation’s largest rural industries with up to 35 million tonnes of sugarcane grown each year. The crop is primarily grown along the east coast – about five per cent in northern New South Wales and the rest in Queensland, where it is the state’s biggest agricultural crop and generates more than $2 billion dollars in annual export earnings.Australia’s annual harvest of 35 million tonnes of sugar cane produces a range of prod ucts: up to 4.5 million tonnes of raw sugar, about one million tonnes of molasses and 10 mil lion tonnes of bagasse, a fibrous residue left over when the cane is processed for its juice. Another by-product is cane trash – the tops and leaves of the sugarcane that remain in the field when the plant is harvested.
For QUT Senior Research Fellow Dr Mark Harrison, the mission to find efficient, economically viable ways of transforming bagasse and cane trash into animal feed is very much about upcycling – reusing materials and waste to create higher value
the australian farmer 195 or flood. The lower cost of these feed ingredients will help ensure that cattle, pig and chicken pro duction businesses continue to thrive.Crop by-products such as hay have long been used to feed ani mals. However, QUT scientists are now examining the by-products from Australia’s iconic sugarcane industry as a potential source of nutritious, sustainable and lowcost animal feed ingredients.
DID YOU KNOW
Animal feed diets typically contain a variety of different types of supplements such as probiotics and digestive enzymes to help livestock digest the feed and remain healthy ?
A SWEET SOLUTION
“Recyclingproducts.andupcycling are common practices in several in dustries, and they have many potentially profitable applica tions across the agricultural sec tor,” he says. “As we know from the sugar industry, large amounts of agricultural by-products are available across Australia and these by-products can contribute to farm income if converted into valuable, saleable products.
“We need to look to residues and by-products from agricul tural systems that are available at central locations like sugar mills as potential feed additives and feed Traditionally,ingredients.”sugarcane by-prod ucts have found other uses. For many years, Australia’s sugar mills have burned bagasse on site to produce heat, steam and electri city for their milling processes. Excess electricity generated from bagasse is then fed into the grid to supply nearby populations. It is possible to feed sugarcane bagasse and trash to animals, but this is not done in Australia because the by-products are not very digestible nor nutritious in their native state. By developing new bagasse and trash treatment processes, and probiotic and en zyme supplements, QUT scientists are changing the structure and chemistry of bagasse and trash to improve their nutritional value and transform them into quality feed ingredients for animals such as cattle, chickens and pigs. The re search also offers the opportunity to improve the nutritional value of crop by-products that we already use for animal feed.
QUT’s research into trans forming bagasse and cane trash into feed ingredients focuses on three processes:
“After pre-treatment with chem icals at high temperature, the fibre is softer and can provide more energy to the animal. We also know what conditions to use to partially dissolve the fibre and make a liquid sugar product that we could feed to pigs or chickens.”
Animal feed diets typically contain a variety of different types of sup plements such as probiotics and digestive enzymes to help livestock digest the feed and remain healthy. Probiotics are live microbial cells that enhance the health and per
At the Mackay Renewable Bio commodities Pilot Plant, scientists use chemicals, heat and pressure to break apart sugarcane bagasse or trash fibres, release sugars and make them accessible to the ani mal that eats the feed.
“We have a lot of experience in bagasse and trash pre-treatment at the pilot scale,” says Dr Harri son. “For example, we know what conditions we need to use to make the fibre more digestible for cattle.
ANIMAL HEALTH
MAKING THE MOST OF NATURE
Much of the research into trans forming these wastes into feed ingredients takes place at QUT’s Mackay Renewable Biocom modities Pilot Plant , based on the site of the operating Race course Sugar Mill in the central Queensland city. The pilot plant is a unique research and de velopment facility that can con vert biomass into biofuels, green chemicals and other bioproducts.
QUT’s Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant develops and scales up new technologies, and is located on the site of an operational sugar mill. (Images courtesy of QUT) Click here to take a video tour of the Mackay RenewablePilotBiocommoditiesPlant PLAY VIDEO
196 CONVERTING BIOMASS TO FEED
gle-cell microbial feed protein from crop by-products and pre-treated crop by-products.
• pre-treatment to change the structure and chemistry of fibre so that digestibility improves • processing to dissolve the sugar polymers in the fibre and produce a feed syrup with similar properties to molasses • solid-state and liquid fer mentation to produce sin
The benefits to Australian agri culture are significant, with these new technologies primed to cre ate flow-on effects in the form of more plentiful and cheaper feed ingredients for animal producers, new income streams for crop producers and processors and increased employment and eco nomic development opportun ities for regional areas.
“Weingredient.knowfibrous feeds such as bagasse can be challenging for an animal to digest,” he says. “So we’re looking at adding the pro biotics and enzyme supplements to the feed to make it more digestible and nutritious, which in turn produ ces an animal that is healthier and more profitable for the farmer.”
FIND OUT MORE: QUT’s Institute for Future Environ ments finds ways to make our world more sustainable, secure and resilient by studying inter actions between our natural, built and virtual environments.
“The potential is there to bring the best of biotechnology and hitech manufacturing to the regions using fermentation-type technolo gies,” Associate Professor Speight says. “It’s these new technologies that are going to make the differ ence in the end.
QUT researchers are developing innovative ways to upcycle sugarcane bagasse into low-cost, nutritious animal feed ingredients.
TheAcknowledgements:researchprojects described are part of QUT’s Biorefineries for Profit program, funded by the federal De partment of Agriculture and Water Resources as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program. The ‘bagasse to animal feed’ research program is also supported by Sugar Research Australia, while the ‘probiotics and enzyme supplements for enhanced livestock feed’ project also receives support from Advance Queensland.
Click here to read an interview with the CEO of the new Food Agility CRC on Australia’s innovative potential
the australian farmer 197 Back DownloadContentstoPDF formance of an animal, while en zymes are added to help break down feed to release extra energy andQUTnutrients.Associate Professor Robert Speight and his team of scientists are developing new probiotic and enzyme supple ments specifically for inclusion in sugarcane bagasse-based feed to add further value to this low-cost feed
QUT is currently working in part nership with Bioproton Pty Ltd, Rid ley Agriproducts, Kennedy Creek Lime and The University of Queens land on a government-funded project to scale up probiotic and enzyme supplement production to commercial levels and perform testing in livestock to show safety andTheefficacy.project will bring these new supplement products to mar ket faster and more efficiently. It will also demonstrate a stream lined lab-to-market platform for taking research discoveries through scaled-up production and field-testing. This platform and the capabilities developed in the pro ject are now being applied to a var iety of industrial bioproducts.
“It’s about protecting and growing the industry through fu ture-proofing. The great thing we can see is that this research rep resents real opportunities for the agricultural sector in Australia, particularly with the willingness of farmers and industry to get behind these ideas and technologies to realise their potential.”
ruin taken near Hawker in SA at the foot of the Flinders Rangers (Supplied by
Pearce,
Hydrosmart)
Photo of Paul CEO of
“The Murray Darling situation stems from a lack of a national strategy that incorporates the competing priorities, which are all highly interdependent. This undermines the uptake of novel solutions, including smart meters for real-time data gathering. Innovative management practices such as systems thinking can address the complexity of the problem, incorporating mixed opinions."
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Rob Kerin, Executive Chair - Primary Producers South Australia
Irrigation Australia outlines what is needed in technology and policy to keep Australian irrigators on top Former National Water Commission Chair Ken Matthews suggests a rethink for how we manage water in Australia From city toilets to country farms – the cheap fertiliser alternative delivering significant benefits
Anne of
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Currey
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WATER & IRRIGATION
Written by Anne Currey on behalf of Irrigation Australia Limited
Some of the major ways of main taining this record and continu ing to improve technology and practices to produce “more crop per drop” into the future in the agricultural sector will be through better trained irrigation managers and the adoption of best practices and of innovative technologies using the Internet of Things (IoT) and digital appli cations.Improving water use efficiency is still a priority for irrigators. Cli mate change adds complexity to the challenge of improving water use efficiency. In many irrigation areas, run-off into rivers is pre dicted to decrease and we are already seeing great variability in terms of rainfall and weather patterns.Forward thinking irrigation managers have examined their records and have incorporated risk management strategies into their enterprises. On farms, for example, this has meant prac tices including earthworks to capture and store more water, installing soil moisture sensors to keep a close eye on moisture and temperature levels and schedule planting and irrigation when it will have most effect, and keeping up with climate and weather forecasts.
Showcasing Australia’s irrigation innovation
INNOVATION THE KEY
With a history of policy imple mentation to provide a financial incentive for efficient water use, backed by regulatory require ments to do with environmental and social outcomes, and an irrigation sector willing to take on new challenges, Australia is regarded in many forums as a global leader in water govern ance and water use efficiency.
We all have heard many times that Australia is the driest in habited continent. It is less likely, however, that many people would be aware of how this has driven water policy in the last 30 years and how our 21,000+ irrigators have responded to the challenges of using this precious resource more efficiently.
As with most things in life, irrigation is becoming highly technical, and almost every day the suite of digital and comput er-based equipment for manag ing irrigation systems expands. Much of this technology is about collecting and analysing data such as evapotranspiration, soil moisture and weather conditions and applying it to scheduling ir rigation so that water is most ef ficiently applied. This means that learning the skills to effectively manage new technology and irrigation equip ment generally has become a priority with many irrigation managers for whom skills de velopment is now part of their farming strategy.
Irrigation Australia is the peak national organisation representing the Australian irrigation industry in all sectors from water users, consultants, designers and installers through to educational institutions, government, manufacturers and retailers. Irrigation Australia is also the Australian representative body of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID). Anne Currey discusses some of the latest advancements in irrigation innovation helping farmers around the country as well as the ICID congress being held in Adelaide mid 2022.
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• nurseries,
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During 2018-19, which was characterised by severe drought in eastern and southern Australia, reducing water availability for many Australian farming businesses in 2018-19:
www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/agriculture/water-use-australian-farms/2018-19Waterenvironmental-management/water-account-australia/latest-releasewww.abs.gov.au/statistics/environment/UseOnAustralianFarms. Back ContentstoDownloadPDF
• 21,900 farms applied water to their land (down 2%).
The exhibition promises to be a stand-out event, with irrigation manufacturers and suppliers from every corner of the globe showcasing the technology ran ging from pumps and emitters through to applications designed to equip irrigators with up-todate information for making the best decisions about managing irrigation and their crops.
* ABSSources:Water Account
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SHOWCASING AUSTRALIAN IR RIGATION
• 8,000 gigalitres of water was used in agricultural production (down 24% from 2017-18)
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Water used on Australian farms 2018-19
The international conference will feature the best speakers from and Australia beyond pre senting the latest on irrigation policy, technology and practices.
Best of all, entrance to the ex hibition is free. All you need to do before you attend is to go to the website au/iace-home/.siteconferencewillaboutingAndcom.au/iace-home/https://www.icid2020.andregister.ifyouareinterestedhearthebestandbrightestspeakallthingsirrigation,youbeabletoregisterforthelaterin2021atwebhttps://www.icid2020.com.
• 7.2 gigalitres of water was applied to crops and pastures (down 26%)
Figures* from the Australian Bureau of Statistics give an idea of the size of the on-farm irrigation sector.
the australian farmer 203 Irrigation Australia Limited sup ports a skilled industry through its training and certification pro grams that are designed for each major sector of the industry from irrigation manager through to retailer, contractor, agronomist, meter installer and designer.
• 2 million hectares of agricultural land was irrigated (down 15%)
In recognition of our world-lead ing record, in May and June 2022 the irrigation world will come to Adelaide, where Australia will be showcasing its achievements, practices and technology. Irrig ation Australia Limited, in part nership with the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), will stage the nation’s largest-ever irrigation event. The week will include an international congress, man aged by ICID, as well as Irrigation Australia’s renowned conference andTheexhibition.congress, which is the ir rigation and drainage sector’s most important international event, has been held triennially since 1951. It was last convened in Mexico in 2017, when it was opened by his Excellency Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico.
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And the value of production from that water use fell 7% from the year before to $16.4 billion. This fall was driven by a decline in water availability, particularly in New South Wales and Queensland. The key contributing commodity groups were: fruit and nuts (excluding grapes) at $4.5 billion, up 7% vegetables at $3.3 billion, down 1% dairy production at $2.2 billion, relatively steady year on year grapes at $1.3 billion, up 3% cut flowers, and cultivated turf at $1.3 billion, down 4% cotton at $1 billion, down 54%. website:
“Agricultural education can be challenging, but many children are attracted to the physical nature of it and appreciate the chance to get out of the classroom. They are passionate about farming lifestyles, working with animals and plant production. From an educator’s perspective, it is amazing to see children react so positively, with commitment and motivation to responsibly cater for the health and welfare of livestock and crops. Hands-on learning in a STEM-based course in agriculture can be very rewarding and is the perfect way for kids to prepare for life after school and develop resilience, independence and self-assurance.”
David Smith, Principal of Calrossy Anglican School, Tamworth
the australian farmer 205 A U S T R A L I A “
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Water Management in Australia – time for a rethink
Ken Matthews served as the National Water Commission’s inaugu ral CEO and Chair from 2004 until 2010 and was previously Secre tary of the Department of Primary Industries and Energy, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Sec retary of the Depart ment of Transport and Regional Services.
WATER & IRRIGATION
I suggest this because I have no doubt that the concept of such a so cial licence will be an increasing part of the public debate about water use in Australia in the years to come. It worries me that although the broader community’s goodwill towards farmers in general is strong (think of the charitable response to the current drought appeals), the irrigation industry continues to struggle for enthusi
the concept is that because water is owned by the community, water users need to gain, and retain, the permission of the community to use the resource. Irresponsible or un ethical use of the water may lead to the loss of the community’s confidence in water users – and thus implicit with drawal of the social licence to irrigate.
This article is an edited excerpt of the 2018 Peter Cullen Lecture, given by Ken Matthews AO at the University of Canberra. In a wide-ranging speech that addressed the issues of governance, climate change and decision-making in the irrigation industry in Australia, Matthews also touched on the importance of social licence and the need for reform at a policy level.
There is a term often used in Australia, but little understood: the social licence to Broadly,irrigate.
Although the term is often used, its meaning is rarely spelt out. To the ex tent that the concept is hazy or means different things to different people, there will be confusion. I think there is therefore an opportunity to build com munity confidence that water is being used responsibly by spelling out – codi fying – the social licence to irrigate.
• Urban water reform was given only a light touch in the reforms of the 90s and 2000s. Pricing, third party access, government involvement, city planning and regulation (environmental, health and economic) could all benefit from contem porary review.
• Despite much effort, processes for recognis ing Indigenous interests in water continue to be haphazard and ineffective. Indigenous eco nomic, cultural and social interests continue to be conflated. Input to decision making is low-im pact. There is great reform opportunity to set all this right.
Personally, I have no doubt about the tremen dous value of Australian irrigation and the high level of responsibility of most irrigators. But urban community acceptance is not strong and as a con sequence access to the water resource is not for everMyassured.proposal, therefore, is that water users (spe cifically irrigators) consider developing a set of principles by which they are prepared to be judged on their performance as responsible water users. It would be more than a code of good irrigation prac tice; it could also commit to maximise transparency about where, how and when publicly owned water is being used – one of the best means of building community confidence about water use.
the australian farmer 207 astic community acceptance – particularly by the metropolitan urban community.
DID YOU KNOW In 2016-17 the total amount of water used for irrigating crops and pastures in Austra lia was 9,048 gigalitres ?
THE FORWARD AGENDA
Having railed against expedient decision making by ministers, self-censorship in advice and public com ment by the rest of us, and the consequential loss of momentum in water reform, I now want to become a bit more positive by reminding us of how much re mains to be done. So, here is a shopping list of known obvious oppor tunities where more can be done in the water reform space:
• An independent panel be appointed to iden
• And Commonwealth/state relations in water continue to be fraught with dispute and dis appointment. It needn’t always be like this. Better intergovernmental processes can be designed. Better institutions can be built. Commonwealth funding can be used more creatively. Better Com monwealth/state relations can be developed. We certainly need them.
• Compliance arrangements continue to be found wanting. Public confidence and the social licence to irrigate is in jeopardy. Again, a serious publicly evident effort to strengthen compliance arrange ments is a big opportunity to build public confi dence in water management.
• Principles and criteria are lacking for government infrastructure investments in water. Reforms to develop, publish and observe such criteria would maximise their value and reduce suspicions of pork barrelling.
WATER & IRRIGATION
• Northern development continues to be dis cussed, indeed continues to proceed, without ser ious guiding policy principles and criteria. There is an opportunity to manage northern development much more strategically.
• Metering and monitoring of water extractions (or the lack of it) is a running sore. Most urban people are astonished to learn that there is not already universal water metering. This is a big opportunity to build public confidence in water management.
• Transparency of who’s using how much water, where and when, and how responsibly, continues to be lacking. If reasonable requests for informa tion cannot be met, the potential for public dis quiet increases. Improved transparency is a policy opportunity, not a problem.
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Potable re-use of recycled water is as inevitable as sunrise, but no minister wants to be known as its champion. Australia could be preparing the ground for the future.
• Processes for science input to water decision making are ad hoc and unsystematic and, as a consequence, science has less impact than it deserves. We have an opportunity to signifi cantly improve the rational foundations of water management decisions by bringing more scien tists to the decision-making table.
• Environmental water continues to cause dis pute. We have opportunities to tell the story of the effectiveness and efficiency of environmental waterings much better than we do. We have opportunities also to require the effectiveness and efficiency of the use of environmental water to be just as rigorous as the requirements we place on consumptive users.
• More dams (including in the Murray-Darling Basin) continue to be talked about without meaningful policy guidance about the best ways to evaluate the proposals, both as individual projects and as alternative investments.
DID YOU KNOW The annual gross value of irrigated agri cultural production in Australia is $15.5 billion, just over a quarter of all agricultur al production ?
I recognise that’s a lengthy list, and again, it’s not exhaustive. The point I really want to make is that there is much to do, and no time to be lost. Impres sive though they are, Australia’s water reforms are far from ‘done’. The water reform community-of-interest needs to make the case for progress to resume and press for the next reform chapter to begin. But I recognise I am not the first to call for a re newed water reform agenda. Yet nothing has hap pened. Why? I suspect it is because the processes for initiating and carrying forward national water reform are tired and compromised, and after the herculean effort of the Murray Darling Basin Plan our Common wealth/state processes for national water reform have ground almost to a standstill. So, here’s a suggestion for a better way. What if Aus tralia introduced a system for tackling water reform, as follows:
You can download the full lecture by clicking here
The independent panel could also put pressure on the Commonwealth itself, by independently designing and publishing reforms to Common wealth water arrangements and facilitating ne gotiations with Treasury/Finance on budget incentives to take them on.
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• The necessary funds to undertake reforms would become available to the water agencies (after all, serious reforms do typically have serious costs to implement).
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• A refreshed, coherent, mutually-reinforcing na tional water reform strategy could be developed by the independent panel, avoiding the stop/ start, uneven and partial efforts that have char acterised reform attempts over the last decade.
• The usual Commonwealth/state negotiated com promises in specifying the precise reform to be tackled, would be avoided.
The Commonwealth water minister would select from the menu of independently recommended reform options to develop and publish a ‘Water Reform Challenge Package’ for each state.
Because over twenty years ago, our friend Peter Cullen started us on a very long campaign to improve the way we manage water in Australia. Already we are enjoy ing some big benefits. But there is so much more to be done.Iworry that the water reform campaign has been slowly grinding towards a stop. Governments’ appetite for a new round of ambitious reforms is weak. Some ministers are sending signals that they just don’t want to hear about it. In this environment, the voices of rationality and science – people who would normally be pressing for reform to resume – seem to have be come muted, perhaps self-censored. We need to stand up, find our public voices again, and resume that long march. The ‘budget incentives for specific reforms’ approach might be one way of re starting the water reform journey.
Interested in the latest in water management? Check out the new digital tool delivering massive yield improvements in WA tify and recommend a menu of desirable water reforms for each state or territory. Given each state’s different legislation, institutional arrange ments, histories and regional water conditions, there would likely be a different set of reforms recommended for each state.
At the same time, the Commonwealth would pub lish an incentive payment offer for each reform in each state’s package. The payments would be matched to the degree of difficulty of each re form. Negotiations with the state on the size of the incentive payment would be possible.
The Commonwealth water minister would be able to show leadership in relaunching national water reform, while the states would not be obliged to participate unless they judged the incentive and other benefits to be adequate.
A process along these lines would have many advan tages:
the australian farmer 209 Back ContentstoDownloadPDF
• It would be up to each state to decide whether the ‘price is right’ to undertake any particular reform. The incentive payments could be used to meet the costs of the reform, or to compensate parties affected by the reform, or could simply go to the state’s budget bottom line.
• More difficult reforms from which governments have shied away for decades could be revisited.
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But why am I proposing this now for the water sector?
The specific reforms would be designed strictly in dependently by the panel, avoiding negotiations with the states which may otherwise rule out or ‘round down’ the most challenging reforms.
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Central agencies, especially treasuries, in state governments would bring pressure to bear on water departments to accept the reform chal lenges and collect the incentive payments. There may also be significant public pressure within a state if large incentive payments on offer were not taken up.
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Biosolids are a mix of water and organic materials, the major by-product of the wastewater treatment process. Material that gets flushed down the toi let or washed down sinks and drains in household bathrooms, laundries and kitchens eventually re quires treatment at a sewage treatment plant. During this treatment, microorganisms digest the sewage and completely break down the ori ginal organic solids that have entered the sewage system. This leaves a product known as sewage sludge, which is low in solid content. Once the sewage sludge has undergone further treatment to reduce water content, eliminate disease-caus ing pathogens and remove volatile organic matter, the resulting products are known as biosolids.
From city toilets to country farms
It might not sound pleasant, but farmers across Australia – especially those suffering from drought – are reaping the benefits of wastewater. Sewage generated in city households is treated and turned into biosolids, which can then be used as a nutrientrich fertiliser for farm soils. A cheap and sustainable alternative to many other types of fertiliser, biosolids are fast becoming a popular choice given the positive effects on yield and pastures.
Biosolids are normally composed of anywhere from 15 to 90 per cent solid material and contain the macronutrients nitrogen, phosphorous, po tassium and sulphur and micronutrients such as copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron. Aus tralia produces approximately 327,000 dry tonnes
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WHAT ARE BIOSOLIDS?
WATER & IRRIGATION
On farm, the biosolids are in corporated into the soil to add the nutrients and organic mat ter that help to stimulate plant growth. After a holding period, crops such as canola, wheat, barley and pastures can be sown, with the results achieved by NSW farmers so impressive that de mand for the biosolids is far out stripping
People may have an understand able aversion to using wastew ater products as fertiliser on their farms, but biosolids are perfectly safe. They are carefully treated, monitored and analysed to en sure they meet quality standards. Their use is also subject to strict regulatory requirements in every state and territory.
“Biosolids keep
the australian farmer 211 of biosolids annually, with three quarters of this amount applied to agricultural land and a further 19 per cent used for landscaping or land rehabilitation.
Sydney Water produces 180,000 tonnes of biosolids each year, collected from 23 wastewater treatment plants across Greater Sydney. 100 per cent of these bio solids are re-used, with the prod uct trucked to broadacre farms in the Central West and South West of NSW or used for mine rehabili tation or composting.
“Farmerssupply.using biosolids are praising the benefits created for the soil condition on their prop erties, the environmental bene fits of soil moisture retention and erosion reduction and the increases in yields for crops,” says Graham Keating, Contract Specialist at Sydney Water. “It also gives them the ability to run increased stock numbers on pad docks where biosolids have been added to the soil.”
tunateoutlookisbutassourcemanceout-of-this-worldprovidingperforyearafteryear.Theirmaybeperceiveddarkandmysterious,theirfinaldestinationcertainlybrighteningtheforthosefarmersforenoughtoreceiveit.”
Theapplied.website of the Australian & New Zealand Biosolids Part nership (ANZBP) has a wealth of further information on the cre ation of biosolids and their use for those interested.
Over thirty years of Australian and international research has concluded that, if correctly man aged, the application of biosolids to land has no adverse environ mental or human health impacts.
FROM SYDNEY TO THE SOIL
Biosolids provide large quan tities of slow release nutrients that can be stored in the soil and utilised as needed by plants over several years, saving farmers valu able time and money on re-appli cation. The nutrients enable not only a high level of growth, but also a healthy level of growth –plants grown on soils treated with biosolids are less prone to disease, more resilient in colder conditions and respond quicker afterDIDrain.YOU KNOW Biosolids are graded ac cording to chemical com position and the level of pathogens remaining after production – only the high est grade of biosolids can be used to grow crops for human consumption ?
ARE THEY SAFE?
Guidelines for biosolid use also recommend a withholding period of 30 days before stock is allowed to graze on land that had bio solids
A NEW FAVOURITE AMONG FARMERS
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Sheep farmer Gordon Nash started using biosolids on his property at Wattle Flat near Bathurst in Central West NSW about six years ago and has seen significant improvement in his soil structure.
It was a similar story for Stuart Kelly, a sheep farmer just south of Bathurst. By cutting down on syn thetic fertilisers and applying bio solids, he has been able to double the number of sheep on his prop erty despite a particularly challen ging winter, currently running 40 DSE per hectare on his property. With results like these, it is no surprise that demand for biosolids is on the rise. Biosolids might not have the most auspicious of origins as city wastewater, but they are de livering considerable benefits for Australian farmers.
“The vagaries of weather make yield comparisons difficult but croppers using biosolids are re ducing their input costs by $200 to $300 per hectare per year for up to five years,” says agronomist Roger Crisp. “Graziers have increased stocking rates by three to ten dry sheep equivalents (DSE) per hec tare. At a conservative sheep value of $100 per head, this equates to increased annual income of $300 to $1,000 per hectare.
WATER & IRRIGATION
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“Biosolids keep providing outof-this-world performance year after year. Their source may be perceived as dark and mysterious, but their final destination is cer tainly brightening the outlook for those farmers fortunate enough to receive it.”
Read about the efforts of Australia’s first National Advocate for Soil Health, Major-General Michael Jeffery, in shaping government policy on soil science.
“I just don’t think you could be lieve the difference after applying biosolids,” said Nash. “Previously this area was completely dead –nothing grew here except biddy bush and now it’s a productive piece of ground.”
the australian farmer 213 1300 130 898 toro.com.au WATERBIRD® - A TRUE AUSTRALIAN ICON MANUFACTURED IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA FOR AUSTRALIAN CONDITIONS. MEETING THE NEEDS OF GROWERS IN OVER 50 COUNTRIES. /toroaus /toroaus /toroaus/toroaustralia CALL FOR A QUOTE TO CHANGE TO A PC SYSTEMTODAY! Waterbird® Mini Sprinklers, available in Classic, PC, PC Olive and Trellis models: • Aerofoil shaped frame for superior water distribution pattern • Anti-dust and insect resistant spinner • Colour coded flow rates for easy identification • Two stage deflector spinner for irrigating young trees • Snap Fit bearing for easy in-field maintenance • UV stabilised components for long field life • Available with pre-installed tube and stake • Assembled with red stake for easy identification (PC Olive only) A sprinkler for every application: WATERBIRD® PC Next Level Of Uniformity. Increase Your Yield. • Patented Pressure Compensating diaphragm for uniform flow on undulating terrain • Precise distribution of water and nutrients for increased yield • Promotes even crop growth over long run lengths and varying elevationsANDVEGETABLESROWCROPS PLAY VIDEO “ “The veterinary profession may be facing a crisis in the nation’s country towns at a time when Australian agriculture is otherwise booming. While our tertiary institutions are very capable of ensuring an adequate supply of qualified veterinarians to service the livestock industry, all too often nowadays the veterinary graduate opts for a more lucrative career and better lifestyle working in the big cities and larger centres. In order to correct this, we need to come up with ways to make rural veterinary practice – and indeed, rural life as a whole – more appealing to our young vets.”
Professor Margaret Reilly, Academic Head of Veterinary Science at James Cook University.
214 8 ReadingAdditional Rural ScienceHealthand Innovation Youth and Succession Planning Soil Health and Sustainability Understanding Consumer Trends Farm Finance and Superannuation Agriculture in Education Natural Resource Management and Coping with Disasters Access our vast library of further articles on a range of topics from the first volume of The Australian Farmer
Rural Health
look
A at how talented Australians from all over the country are overcoming the barriers of distance and isolation to deliver mental and physical health services to those most in need.
ADDITIONAL READING
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one enterprising Queensland psychologist Dervla Loughnane hit on the idea of offering counselling via text message as an alternate and effective way to reach those rural and remote Australians in need of mental health support.
According to the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, rural Australians are a shocking 50 per cent more likely to commit suicide than their city cousins. Three years ago,
“About three years ago, I was working as a psychologist and got called to a critical incident where a young man had taken his own life,” she says. “Next to him was his mobile phone, and by checking his phone records we were able to de termine that he had made no attempt to phone anyone for help.
the australian farmer 217
Dervla started with just her own mobile phone, but in the past three years her idea has grown into a fully-fledged program that is changing the lives of rural Australians and farmers across the country – known as Virtual Psychologist The initiative is a 24-hour text support line staffed by qualified and experienced social work ers and psychologists. In the first year of the in itiative, the Virtual Psychologist text line has sent more than 15,000 text messages and counselled more than 700 rural Australians dealing with anger, bullying, domestic violence, relationship issues and stress.
For Dervla, the idea for the program came from a scene all-too-common in rural Australia.
“It made me wonder if reaching out by phone or face-to-face was too confrontational, and I wanted to know if this young man would’ve reached out if there’d been a less confronting way to do it. I won dered if a simple text message could save a life?”
Tackling rural mental health by text message
Inspired by the idea, Dervla quit her job that after noon and has since devoted her time and career to establishing a text message counselling service that
218 is aimed specifically at rural and regional Australians With support and funding from charities and organisations such as Aussie Helpers and Lions Club Australia , Dervla was able to grow her idea into a fully-fledged service with qualified staff and a proper IT platform to manage the incoming textDatamessages.collected by Virtual Psychologist indicates that 70 per cent of the rural and regional Austral ians who have messaged the service would not have reached out for psychological assistance in any other way – be it face-to-face or over the phone – if text counselling had not been available.
“In rural areas, the biggest issue is access to mental health services – in many places there sim ply isn’t anything available,” says Dervla. “The cul ture in regional and rural communities is that, even if there is a psychologist available, people may be hesitant to use their services because of the stigma of being seen to be seeking mental health support.
We’re quickly learning that this is a really good service for people in rural and regional areas.”
And after the session is concluded, Virtual Psych ologist staff will check in with the person via text over the following weeks to make sure they are okay and keep in touch.
Virtual Psychologist’s support line is staffed round the clock by qualified staff. Incoming texts go directly to a social worker or psychologist, and the first-level response time to a text is just three minutes. Sessions between the psychologist and the patient via text message can go for an hour or even longer, depending on the circumstances.
“I’ve had farmers say to me, ‘there’s no way I’d drive to that psychologist because everyone is going to see my truck parked out the front’. In 2017, Dervla was named an Optus Future Maker The funding from Optus allowed her to develop an IT platform for Virtual Psychologist.
While Dervla and her team are encouraged by the number of people using the service to seek professional help and support for their mental health issues, they know there are many more rural and regional Australians who need it. The hope is that by offering counselling services via text message, they can reach those who would otherwise stay silent.
“The message to any farmer or rural Austral ian struggling with mental health issues is that you don’t have to do it alone – don’t think that people don’t want to help,” says Dervla. “Be brave enough to ask for help, because there’s any amount of people willing to help, you’ve just got to ask for it.”
You can access the Virtual Psychologist counselling text line by sending a text to 0488 807 266 Whereas with a text service, nobody is going to see them, and they can access mental health services without the embarrassment or stigma.
And with the growing interest in the text coun selling service, Virtual Psychologist’s methods have recently expanded to include messages sent via Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. This en ables people in rural and remote communities who might not have phone reception but are able to access Wi-Fi or an internet connection to ac cess the service.
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the australian farmer 219 REMOTE BUT NOT APART Martin Laverty, CEO of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, explains how this famous and vital charity tackles the tyranny of distance to provide much-needed healthcare to the most remote Australians. CLICK HERE TO READ TELEHEALTH HAS RURAL AUSTRALIANS TALKING
TO READ CONNECTING THE
An article on NSW Health’s Rural Adversity Mental Health Program, which provides counselling and mental health services to farmers suffering from drought and aims to improve the quality of life in the bush.
A case study from the WA Country Health Service that shows how video conferencing technology is changing the lives and medical experiences of Western Australian CLICKfarmers.HERE DOTS FOR RURAL RESILIENCE
CLICK HERE TO READ Additional Reading
Science and Innovation
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The Australian agricultural industry needs to collaborate closely with science and nurture innovation in order to stay ahead on the global stage.
ADDITIONAL READING
Prof. Victor Sadras is a world authority on crop ecophysiology with an interest in the adaptation of crops to environmental stresses, including water deficit, extreme temperatures, nutrient deficit, soil physical and chemical constraints, pathogens and insects. He leads the team of Crop Ecophysiology at the South Australian Research & Development Institute (SARDI). Prof Sadras has distilled the background, objectives and findings in his co-authored paper Making Science More Effective for Agriculture published in the international journal “Advances in Agronomy”, Volume 163, 2020.
Our agricultural future will be defined by Science and Innovation – we need to get used to it.
the australian farmer 221
MAKING SCIENCE MORE EFFECTIVE FOR AGRICULTURE Australian agricultural output increased 2.8-fold since 1961, a growth trajectory only disrupted transiently by the widespread, persistent and severe millennium drought. Innovative producers engaged with an ef fective scientific community underlie this outstand ing trajectory. The evidence is clear – investment in agricultural research and development (R&D) is highly profitable for Australian agriculture; returns on invest ment are 10:1 and often much higher; few investments elsewhere in the economy are more profitable.
A group of scientists, breeders, economists, farm ers, managers and industry representatives met in Adelaide to pose questions about effective investment in agriculture R&D. Acknowledging Australia’s already high return on investment record historically, the meeting asked: “can we do better?”. Despite a com pelling case for more investment, we see less. In many countries, especially the high-income countries like the United States and Australia, public investment in agri cultural R&D has stagnated or is declining in real terms. At the same time, funding is occasionally misallocated to fashionable R&D programs with unlikely payoffs.
Additional concerns are many and varied including: (1) a shift towards bureaucratic industrial principles to organise scientific work; (2) the opportunity cost of the scientists’ time for applying and managing funds; (3) reduced scope to pursue the unexpected because of contractual constrictions, incentive structures, and restricted exchange of information between scientists; (4) and the erosion of scientific expertise in core disci plines including crop science and ecology. The core issue is to manage the tension between the fact that we cannot plan for the discovery of the unknown, but in agriculture, we cannot afford ex pensive distractions – nitrogen fixing cereals, for ex ample, are an expensive distraction. Julian Alston, an Australian economist that pioneered economic approaches for allocation of limited resources to R&D, formalises this tension: Food and Agriculture (FAO) Net Production Index aggregates all agricultural produce, weighted by price and normalised to 2004-2006.
222 Back ContentstoDownloadPDF ADDITIONAL READING “ …There is a demonstrated need for formal economic evaluation of alternative investments and priority-setting procedures but … formal evaluation and priority-setting procedures should not be used as a basis for replacing ingenuity, serendipity and scientific entrepreneurship with bureaucratic procedures…”
As publishers on the need for more science and innova tion in our society, we feel passionately about this. And we are experienced enough to know that if we don’t call out for it, define it , take a stand, the results will be lesser, or nil. Agricultural peak bodies also ought to lobby aggressively for this – many are already. The pace should increase. Rigorous science and innovation are critical to Australia’s farmers –at the farm, regional, state and federal government levels, all. No food pro ducing nation will grow its returns over the years to come without the fulcrum of intelligently applied sci ence and innovation. Such intelligent decisions can only be arrived at through greater interaction between farmers, scientists and government. And every farmer worthy of the name should grow in the Australian tradition of self–education, experimentation and now more than ever – engagement and collaboration. Our collective agricultural voice ought be heard at govern ment, and research priorities, key concerns for both SARDI and QAAFI, be refined, indeed defined, by the end beneficiary: our farmers.
EDITOR’S CONCLUSIONS:
1MG commissioned this piece originally from the outstanding Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), where one of Professor Sa dras’ co-authors Professor Daniel Rodriguez works as a Professional Research Fellow in the Centre for Crop Science. QAAFI is yet another of Australia’s many van guard research institutes ultimately serving our coun try’s farmers and the wider agricultural economy. We love their phrase about “ingenuity, serendipity and scientific entrepreneurship” because it describes not only scientists but also our innovative farmers. Aus tralian farmers have always exhibited creativity and experimentation in many ways, and this should grow.
Data-driven technologies, including “omics” and precision agriculture have overpromised and under-delivered. They share an emphasis on data (“we measure stuff because we can”). Big data is the next promise. The question must be asked: “To what extent are we limited by data, and to what extent by our understanding of the problem at hand”. Chief Research Scientist at the Division of Plant Industry, CSIRO, Dr John Passioura noted: “…major technological innovations have major consequences. Their inventors often develop them to solve problems that are otherwise intractable –such are their motives. However, as the appreciation of the power of these technologies spreads, fascina tion with them can change their role. They become seen as powerful tools to try in all sorts of novel ways. They may then become the (often inept) drivers of research, rather than the means to solve specific im portant problems…”
The meeting in Adelaide concluded: “…there is no silver bullet in agricultural R&D. Agricultural innovation emerges from new combina tions of existing technologies. Funding bodies should scrutinise carefully new ’bandwagons‘. Donors and investors who are reluctant to support ’more of the same‘ unintentionally favour spurious claims of breakthroughs that need to be challenged. Exces sive emphasis on data clouds the issues, whilst test able hypotheses remain paramount for robust and relevant science. …the situation is not static – the targets of agricultural R&D evolve. A likely future dir ection for R&D in agriculture and food will be to ask as much about the efficiency of demand issues as the past has been concerned with food supply. Environ mental resilience is expected to remain central, and the interface between agriculture, human nutrition, diet and obesity is increasingly important. Irrespec tive of the targets, investments in agricultural science and technology must be used more effectively, and declining public investment reversed. All actors must preserve the same high, evidence-based standards that has led to realised success – but also be prepared to move out of their intellectual comfort zones.”
Yes, government does need to increase R&D funding in agriculture, and do it well and knowingly. Farmers ought be more vocal about this subject with their local MPs, or direct to the Minister, at State or Federal levels.
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the australian farmer 223 AGRICULTURAL SCIENTISTS DELIVER ON INNOVATION
David Hamilton, Chair of Ag Institute Australia, explores the role of science in Australian agriculture and the close link between innovation and productivity.
CLICK HERE TO READ ‘IT’S COMPLICATED’: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND FOOD
Dr Heather Bray and Professor Rachel A. Ankeny from the University of Adelaide analyse the sometimes controversial role science plays in food production. case study of the research at UTS that aims to develop an artificial intelligence system that can give farmers an objective assessment of the condition of their livestock.
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Youth and Succession Planning
This chapter highlights the great work being done by young people in agriculture and raises the question of when to start talking about succession planning on the farm.
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Succeeding in succession
My life changed after asking my mother the simple question, “why are we not on the farm anymore?”
Like most families, it’s difficult to explain our experience with succession. My ancestors, the Applebees, migrated to Australia from Yorkshire in the 1860s and settled on a little hill atop the Great Dividing Range. And we’ve never left – the original farm is still in the family today, just not within my direct line. My grandfather, Jack, grew up on the farm. Jack left school at age 12 to contribute to the family business and spent his time pick ing apples and cherries and tend ing to livestock. It was an idyllic albeit modest life, though with two brothers and six sisters the farm couldn’t realistically sup port them all. When Jack’s father died, the farm was left to his two other brothers and not another word was said about it. I have no doubt that my grandfather suffered a lot of self-doubt from missing out on the farm and his sisters were expected to marry farmers – not become one. The fact that only the sons were considered for succession is not lost on me. In Australia it is estimated that only 10 per cent of farm successors are daugh ters. Jack and his sisters lost an important part of their identity when they lost the farm and it’s something I’m still trying to understand. My cousin Colin now runs the farm and generations later we’re healing old wounds. In compari son to other local families who have experienced a messy succes sion, we’re lucky that all brothers stayed close until their deaths and Colin is a close part of our family. Because of this closeness, Colin told me he always felt a sense of guilt from Jack missing out which led him to sell some of the prop erty to my brother to, in Colin’s words, “right a past wrong”.
Succession planning on family farms is an essential part of a successful business, but in Australia it is an underappreciated and often messy matter. Founder of Fledgling Farmers and 2018 ABC Trailblazer Alana Black writes about her personal experiences with succession planning and how communication is key.
From Temora to Tenterfield you could go into any pub, mention suc cession planning, and hear a similar story of broken families and broken dreams. But why, after years of suc cession being in the spotlight, are we still getting it so wrong?
FROM FATHER TO SON
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A 2007 study from the University of New England re ported “close to 50 per cent of farmers in Australia had not identified a successor”, indicating that succession is not extensively discussed by farming families, re sulting in a lack of preparedness.
2. Truly listen My mother always said: “If your mouth is open, your ears are closed”. It’s a saying which can translate to all businesses, not just family owned farms.Active
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listening is hard. We’re often so keen to get our side of the story across that we forget to listen to what our colleagues and family members are trying to say. The key to becoming a better listener is to stay quiet and hear the other person out fully, without interrupting, and to keep an open mind when dis agreements arise. It’s a lot harder than it seems!
3. Give it time It’s going to take time and a great deal of dedica tion and effort to build an environment of open and transparent communication within your family and business. But the rewards far out weigh the sacrifices, as effective communication not only improves the family business dynamics but helps ensure the proud continuation of family farming in Australia.
Every family is different, with unique systems of management that inform their rules or “norms” of communication.
ADDITIONAL READING
On the simplest level, farming families need to learn how to communicate better with each other.
I’ve been told that to be successful in business there’s a lot of room for passion, but no room for emo tion. But for farmers, their home, family and work are so intimately woven that it makes generational transi tions difficult. And this can ultimately result in issues with farm productivity, ownership and income.
SOWING THE SEEDS OF SUCCESSION
HOW TO BE A BETTER COMMUNICATOR
I know that sounds like an incredibly basic answer to an extremely complex topic, but how many of us can put our hand up and say that we’re a truly ef fective communicator? The statistics regarding rural mental health speak volumes about the communi cation deficit in regional Australia.
1. Meet regularly A good starting point to integrate communication structures into family farming businesses is to gather all stakeholders on a regular basis. These gatherings (frequency can vary between families but it is widely recommended at least twice a year) are an opportunity to discuss the progress of the business with the family and will create an environment where family members feel comfortable to ask questions. This is also the right communication venue for family members who are not involved in the day-to-day running of a business to get their concerns heard. Each meeting provides stakeholders with a forum to be heard with open and honest communication that is understood and respected by all.
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MACADAMIA FARMERS EASING THE PATH TO SUCCESSION A case study on how a Queensland macadamia farmer and his grandson have handled the succession of the business through lease agreements and a shared payment structure.
the australian farmer 227 THE IMPORTANCE OF FARM SUCCESSION PLANNING Professor John Hicks of Charles Sturt University discusses the need to transfer farming experience from one genera tion to the next and how we can best achieve this. CLICK HERE TO READ YOUNG IDEAS AND FARMERS FEEDING THE WORLD A profile on the work done by youth advocacy groups such as the Future Farmers Network in building a platform for and sharing the voice of young Australian farmers. CLICK HERE TO READ
Soil Health Sustainabilityand the way we manage and nurture our soil is the key to productivity, and the importance of sustainability in projecting the agricultural industry’s social licence to operate.
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Why
“The core message of the report is to have the gov ernment agree to a national policy to restore and maintain the health of the national agricultural landscape,” says General Jeffery. “We want to put systems in place where every farmer adapts to re generative agricultural practices and really under stands the integrated management of plants, soil and water, so that we rebuild or continue to build our soil health and resilience.” He explains that successful Aussie farmers must uphold a delicate balance of the three key aspects of agricultural management: soil, water and plant assets.“What we’re really talking about here is an in tegrated management system. If you mess up any one of the three, the other two will fail as well,” says General Jeffery. “To a degree, that’s what’s happen ing with some of our farmers who are not managing those assets adequately because they don’t know how, or haven’t been taught. “We’ve done a lot of work behind the scenes and I’ve spoken to roughly 6,000 farmers in the last three or four years about this. I think we have to use every channel of communication to get our message across, whether it’s to the public, the politicians, the farmers or to departmental agencies. All those avenues have got to be utilised to spread the word about the importance of soil health.”
Farmers the key to national soil health
According to General Jeffery, one of the keys DID YOU KNOW In Australian soils, organic carbon generally makes up less than eight per cent of total soil weight. Increasing the total organic carbon in soil can decrease carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and increases soil quality ?
In his third report as Australia’s National Advocate for Soil Health, titled ‘ Restore the Soil: Prosper the Nation’, General Jeffery focuses on the importance of soil to Australia’s farmers and food supply and declares that immediate action is needed to implement and encourage sustainable management practices in order to ensure agricultural productivity.
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After a decorated career in governance and the military, Major General Michael Jeffery – former Governor-General and now Australia’s National Advocate for Soil Health –is playing a leading role in shaping government policy when it comes to soil science and natural resource management.
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The Soils for Life organisation – founded by General Jeffery – is developing case stud ies on examples of Australian regenerative land management practices that cover over 1,087,555 hectares of land!
“By the time every child reaches 16, he or she should have a good knowledge of how soil, water and plants function,” he says. “That way, we’ll also develop a much closer linkage with our farmers, and more kids will take up farming and agricultural sci ence.“Ifwe’re able to get every child onside for that, we will have a far better chance of reconnecting urban and rural Australia. People will become a lot health ier and it will reduce the cost of the health budget. Our farmers will be better supported, we will pay a fair price for food and we will get the landscape re generated because everybody will know not only that it’s got to be done, but how it should be done.”
In 2012, Soils for Life published a series of case studies looking at the impact of sustainable and re generative practices, with reports finding that 50 per cent of the rainfall on the Australian landscape is lost due to poor soil structure and insufficient ground cover. When asked whether this rate has improved since, General Jeffery points out that the drastic loss of soil carbon has not allowed any improvement in rainfall capture.
“And for the most part, it can’t get into the soil because of insufficient soil carbon. The soil is com pacted, or it’s running off because it doesn’t have suf ficient top cover and that then erodes the streams. The streams then flow below the floodplains and take a lot of topsoil out to sea.”
DID YOU KNOW
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For General Jeffery, one of the keys to changing the prevailing mindset about Australian farms is for schools to invest more in agricultural education. He recommends that every primary and high school in the country set up a communal vegetable garden, supported by a mandated agricultural curriculum and properly trained agricultural teachers.
“I think that while we do have very smart farmers and very good science, by and large we have been mining our soils rather than building them up,” he says. “We have been losing too much water to evap oration – about 50 per cent of our rainfall – when we want that rainfall actually filtrating into the soil.
ContentstoDownloadPDFto maintaining soil health is the nurturing of microbe-rich soils that can adequately absorb water to sustain healthy plant growth. Australian soils, which previously had soil carbon levels of roughly three to four per cent (where one gram of soil carbon holds up to eight grams of water), are now experiencing soil carbon levels at one per cent or less.
Walter Jehne of Healthy Soils Australia asks how we can feed well beyond population while protecting our degraded soils. APPROACH TO SOIL case study on the Victorian vegetable company that turned to regenerative soil practices to improve yields after years of reli ance on synthetic fertilisers.
CLICKstewardship.HERETO READ CELEBRATINGART4AGRICULTURE:YOUNG FARMERS A
the australian farmer 231 CRACKING THE SOIL DEBATE
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our
Paul Martin of the University of New England discusses the role of the farmer in modern society and the challenges of rural profile of the new programs and voices challenging the status quo in Australian agriculture and connecting students to the industry in innovative ways.
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This explains how farmers can increase their profit at the farm gate and get ahead of the curve when it comes to knowing what consumers want.
ADDITIONAL READING
232 Understanding Consumer Trends
Profitable businesses under stand what drives consumer be haviour. They constantly adapt their value proposition to give their customers what they need before anyone else does. This is a key principle of what it means to be Achievinginnovative.thisdepends on how much intellectual capital the business holds. Intellectual cap ital refers to the extent to which
Yet we have a national food vision based largely on the prop osition that by producing more of the same, farmers will be able to sell their way out of trouble. But concentrating on volume is cruel for the many farmers whose busi nesses are not healthy enough to benefit.‘Doing things right’ is undeni ably important, but true oppor tunity is captured when farmers ask if they are in fact ‘doing the right things’. Often this comes down to how they can add value to what they’re already doing.
Australia has often been men tioned as the agricultural power house most able to capture the opportunities in emerging food markets, but in many cases our farmers have been distanced from the action and remain price takers, not price makers.
To be profitable, farmers must not only increase productivity and reduce costs, but increase the value of their outputs. Food innovation in Australia requires farmers to have the information to identify emerging consumer trends and adopt new ways of thinking.Adifferent story has been emerging in recent years. Aus tralian farmers are increasingly concentrating on productivity, not profitability. According to the latest research from IBISWorld, the profitability of agriculture in Australia is slipping. Survival means farmers have adopted a short-term approach resulting in two key challenges: the problem of shifting the burden and the problem of diminishing goals.
It’s better to be different than just better Despite the hype about food bowls and dining booms, the harsh reality is Australia’s farmers are precariously exposed to the globaltransformationcontinuedofthefoodsystem.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF CON SUMER BEHAVIOUR
By Jeremy Lomman of SOS Interim Management
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There is much work to be done in Australia’s agricultural industry to help farm ers strengthen their knowledge about markets and who they should rely on to provide that information.
QUICK TIPS
1. Understanding what consumers want doesn’t have to be like asking a magic 8-ball what your future holds. Consider your business plan. Are you doing things right or doing the right things? Answering this can be helpful in adding value to your production. The Australian govern ment has a list of apps and plan tem plates available for free.
There are two types of businesses – price mak ers and price takers. The first group comprises consumer-centric businesses that follow market signals. The second group is product-centric and follows price signals. Market signals are driven by emerging trends, while price signals are driven by historical demand, often based on numbers that are past their profitable peak. Price makers are concerned with making profit, and will only produce more if it is profitable to do so. Price takers must produce more just to cover costs, even if it is not profitable to do so. Sound familiar?Iftheprice
Click here to read the full article from Jeremy Lomman in the first edition of The Australian Farmer It’s the productivity versus profitability discus sion we need to have.
2. Market researchers like IbisWorld offer access to reports, research and data on more than 500 industries. Organisations like this usually send free newsletters which offer market insights and tips and 3.tricks.Ifyou aren’t involved with the peak body or organisation relevant to your industry, consider joining. Horticulture Australia produces a quarterly maga zine with a grower focus and undertakes research that benefits its growers. Rice Growers Australia works with SunRice, plant breeders and growers to ensure they’re meeting emerging trends as well as meeting demand.
4. Get proactive – make sure your in dustry body is helping its members stay ahead of the curve. This might mean join ing the board, taking time out to attend meetings or penning some stern letters. Your industry’s future and its profitability are what matter!
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ADDITIONAL READING
business has an advanced understanding of what people care about, then using these trends to create new value.
The only way Australian farmers can solve the long-term challenge of poor profits is by getting the incentives right for emerging markets, not by simply producing more of the same for existing markets. An example of this is producing non-gen etically modified canola for markets demanding it. But information to help farmers understand consumer trends in advance is often not making its way back to them in a timely or accurate manner. This means farmers are not able to implement the detailed knowledge needed to improve returns. They remain constrained by the basic forces of supply and demand and have little impact on the price received for their products.
you receive is driven by demand, then your business will always be a price taker. So while there is a lot of talk about food trends, Australian farmers very often only get to respond to demand, by which time the market is congested and com petitive. Although the product may be preferred, there is no premium.
TO READ DOES AGRICULTUREAUSTRALIANNEED A NATIONAL BRAND? A
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CLICK HERE TO READ Additional Reading
EXPORTING TASMANIAN GOLD
A look at how one Tasmanian apple farmer successfully experimented with his apple varieties to target the Chinese CLICKmarket.HERE thought-provoking essay from journalist Matthew Cawood on the benefits and challenges of establishing a national brand for agricultural products.
CLICK HERE TO READ
GROWING PASSION FEEDS case study on the world-class product development in the Australian rice growing industry and the innovative ways a NSW grower has got ahead of the pack.
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236 Farm Finance Superannuationand Explore the best ways to secure your farm and your future, with financial and superannuation advice for farmers from industry experts. ADDITIONAL READING
“You don’t have to look much further than the CSIRO or our net work of CRCs and RDCs to see that innovation is part of the DNA of Australian agriculture. In a global context, Australia is in an interest ing position as the transparency of our supply chain makes innova tion easier, but we have to contend with a tyranny of distance that many of our competitors don’t face. Looking across the globe, it’s easy to spot the countries that are really leading the way on agri cultural innovation, such as Israel, which has capitalised on a govern ment-backed technological busi ness incubator program. Back here in Australia I think we measure up pretty well, but with competition from lower cost producers an everpresent challenge, we can’t afford to be complacent.”
Executive
“Farming has changed signifi cantly in Australia over the past two decades and farm finance has evolved with these changes. Farms continue to get bigger and more complex and in response we’re seeing more sophisticated banking products, such as technol ogy-driven asset loan documents and program partnerships that help connect farmers, accountants and bankers. We’re also seeing that, with very high farmland val ues, it’s become harder for farm ers to own property. That’s led to more farmers leasing land, which is also something the finance sec tor has adapted to.”
How has farm finance changed in Australia over the past 20 years?
Commonwealth
DID YOU KNOW
Interview with Grant Cairns General Manager of Regional and Agribusiness Banking at Bank
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On average, farmers say en ergy costs make up 11.4 per cent of their farm inputs. 92 per cent of Australian farm ers say they’d like to invest in energy efficiency, with 76 per cent interested in solar with battery storage. ?
What needs to happen for the Australian agriculture industry to become a $100 billion per annum industry, as suggested by the AFR recently? “To get there we need to work both smarter and harder. That includes continuing to improve on the things that set us apart on the world stage – our clean, green image and the important ‘Brand Australia’ among them. Finance also has an important role to play in reaching that $100 billion target. With the average Australian farmer 56 years of age, the finance sector will need to help farms transition to the next generation and can also encourage ‘patient capital’ to invest for the long term.”
How does innovation in Aus tralian agriculture compare with other world agriculture econ omies?
“There are two big areas we see – and get a lot of feedback on from rural communities – and the first is succession planning. Succession planning is a big area and a lot of farming communities want to make sure their farms that they’ve worked hard for and built up all their lives actually get passed on to their future generations.“Thesecond area is the preservation and protec tion of farmers’ salaries. I’m conscious that farming is hard and there are many people who do so much hard work on farms and in rural communities. We have to help protect them so that if there are issues, or they have an accident or suffer an illness, there are options in place to preserve their wealth and income. The abil ity to earn is crucial for farmers.”
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In your experience, in what areas do farmers generally need the most assistance when it comes to financial planning?
“Robo-advice,choice.however, doesn’t yet understand a person’s thoughts, feelings and the emotions that drive them to seek advice. And when it comes to finan cial assistance, these people really want some assur ance from a real person. That’s why it is so important that we’ve got a specialist there to advise them.”
As more and more generations are becoming increasingly adept online, do you see further innovations in digital technology – such as robotic advisers – impacting the way you offer financial advice?
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We spoke with Tony Beaven – General Manager of Elders Financial Planning – about the way the financial services industry in rural Australia is changing, the challenges of providing financial advice in the bush and how farmers are getting savvier with their money. How has the financial planning offering for farmers changed in recent years?
Times changing,are but faceto-face financial advice is still king in rural Australia
“Digitalisation and advancements in technology are already happening at a rapid pace in Europe and the UK – and we will gradually see the flow on effect of this in Australia over the next year or two. One key learning from events in Europe and the UK is that people still want face-to-face advice, they want somebody there they can talk to. Don’t get me wrong, robo-advice is probably going to gain traction at some stage, but there is still a very core base of people – even digitally savvy people – who want a more informed
“People in general are becoming more aware of fi nancial planning and financial services, and we try to accommodate that by providing more of the informa tion they’re looking for. We see generational changes as younger people are becoming digitally savvy and want more of an informed choice when it comes to fi nancial planning, and we try to meet that demand by offering video conferencing and other online services.”
the australian farmer 239 WHAT DOES FINANCIAL PLANNING MEAN FOR FARMERS? Isobel Knight of ProAgtive explains the intricacies of finan cial planning for farm businesses and how farmers can manage their wealth for the future. CLICK HERE TO READ PLANNING FOR A SUCCESSFUL LIFE AFTER WORK A profile of the various different ways farmers can plan for retirement, looking at succession planning, superannu ation, estate planning, retirement funding and much more. CLICK HERE TO READ TELOPEA DOWNS: FROM DE SERT TO PASTURE A case study showing how the investment of foreign capital has revitalised an agricultural area in northwest CLICKVictoria.HERE TO READ Additional Reading
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Agriculture in Education
How the next generation of Australians are being encouraged to get into farming, from toddlers to tertiary students.
Interview with Dr Terry McCosker, Director of RCS Australia
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“This leads to an acid test: am I better off – by the numbers – if I lease or agist some of my land to another party? Or can I boost productivity on that land myself and exceed what I would earn if I leased it? Management accounting can also answer questions about the contribu tion of each enterprise to cover ing overheads, the appropriate level of overheads and whether the turnover is appropriate for the overheads.”
What is your foremost recom mendation to farmers today?
“Not many farmers regard their business as two separate businesses: a production and a land business. This perspec tive creates a realistic view of what is actually happening on a farm in terms of profit and wealth creation. The land busi ness frequently subsidises the production business. The land business is a long-term invest ment, which should make its money from both capital gain and a lease rate from the pro duction business.
“A very small percentage, unfortunately. It takes practice and understanding to really master the principles and instil them in regular work habits. Farming is a tradition-bound profession and adoption of management accounting does not come without effort, pa tience and tenacity, but the benefits are clear. Unfortu nately for most farmers, the only accounts they see are done for taxation reasons, they do not tell you anything about business performance.” Can you elaborate on the benefits?
Dr Terry McCosker was regarded over 30 years ago as highly controversial for his support of cell grazing rather than continuous grazing –a remarkable fact in retrospect today. He has devoted decades to analysis of farming techniques and agricultural practices, often at odds with conventional thinking. His stature among his many thousand students is that of a folk hero – a champion of both common sense and the intelligent use of cutting-edge science.
“The adoption of manage ment accounting to provide detailed analysis of where a business is performing well and where it needs improvement.” What percentage of our farmers would you say do this properly now?
In an exclusive interview with The Australian Farmer, he speaks frankly to farmers on a variety of practical improvements needed in Australian agriculture.
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How do you define precision farming and is it playing a role in improving profitability?
“By some measures we no doubt are. But sheer productivity is not profitability, is it? The raw creation of high volumes is not an indicator of profitability. The farmer needs to take this down to a level of analysis of, say, cost per head or cost per kilogram. For example, a two tonne per hectare yield from a $20 direct cost will be making a lot more money than a three tonne per hectare yield with direct costs of $200 per hectare.
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Yield is what gets talked about at barbecues, but profit per hectare is a better measure for business.”
“Certainly, some good is com ing out of them, as the younger generation seem much more aware and curious and open. I believe the younger group are thinking more systematically. But I think there remain some major problems.” Such as? “Some of it has to do with the training of the people doing the teaching – they are often out of date. I think the entire curriculum needs a major re-think. An example would be a lack of focus on soil biology, an extension of Michael Jeffery’s view of soil as nothing less than a critical national asset. At the universities, agronomists are taught about use of chemicals, technology, soil chemistry and soil physics, but nothing or not enough about soil biology. Now that DNA and RNA knowledge and technology is available, through some excellent research around the world, the potential to under stand soil and crop micro-biology is immense, but not being afforded the focus it deserves.”
What, if anything, do you think the government ought to be doing, or doing better, to aid our agriculture?
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What is your impression of our major agricultural schools?
Yet we are often told that Aus tralian farmers are among the most productive in the world?
“Precision farming really started nearly 20 years ago with the advent of GPS. It is a growing force through technology. I would say its benefits are in minimising soil damage and in accurate yield measurement and chemical application. More accurate seeding can create higher yield and impact profitability. Pre cision farming no doubt has an in creasing role as new technologies become available.”
“Two things stand out: Firstly, a lack of research and short term thinking in regard to really es sential R&D – again, relevant to the farmer – is an area which can only be consigned to government. For example, in my opinion, only 30 per cent of the $27 million in funding released recently under the Smart Farm initiative is likely to impact farm profits in any meaningful way. And secondly, training and skill development is needed in all aspects of running a farm business. This is a hobby horse of mine, but we have sound data showing that for every dollar of long-term training support sub sidy, the farm profit increases by an incredible $50.”
the australian farmer 243 ACCESSING AND ENGAGING WITH AG AT SCHOOL The work being done by the Primary Industries Education Foun dation Australia (PIEFA) in sharing knowledge about agriculture in our schools. CLICK HERE TO READ MAKING FARMING COOL FOR LITTLE TACKERS A profile of the children’s entertainment sensation, George the Farmer, who is taking children across Australia by storm with fun and informative farm-related material. CLICK HERE TO READ Additional Reading VIRTUAL FARMS TAKE AG LIFE TO CITY STUDENTS Explore how the University of Melbourne is using virtual tech nology to educate the next generation of the nation’s rural CLICKveterinarians.HERETO READ PNG VEGETABLES ARE EDUCATIONAL HEALTH GEMS FOR TOP END CHILDREN The Australian Centre for Agricultural Research (ACIAR) reports on how vegetables from Papua New Guinea are helping Darwin children learn about agriculture and food. CLICK HERE TO READ
244 Natural ManagementResourceand Coping with Disaster This chapter looks at people from all over Australia and how they cope with the worst nature can throw at them. ADDITIONAL READING
Paula Pipan, director and sec retary of Into Our Hands, owns a small vineyard not too far from Loretta’s property in Mudge gonga. She says her family was lucky to escape the blaze.
“It went right through our prop erty, so my husband and I saved the house, we got the kids out and we were just extremely lucky,” says Paula. “When the fireball hit the vineyard, the wind changed. We only lost about a hundred plants out of several thousand.”
As a result of the generosity of Australian and international donors – more than $315 million was raised by the Australian Red
The ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires of February 2009 – Australia’s worst ever bushfires – cut a swathe through rural Victorian communities and resulted in the deaths of 173 people. But in the wake of such devastation, some of the areas affected have only become stronger thanks to the efforts of their communities. YOU KNOW
From devastation to recovery
DID
The Black Saturday fires burnt 450,000ha total, with over 7,500 people displaced and 3,500 structures destroyed ?
Community strength in the face of disaster
The Beechworth-Mudgegonga fire complex burnt 33,577 hectares of land in north east Victoria, threat ening several rural communities. You can see the extent of the dam age in ‘43 degrees at midnight,’ a short film which was part of ABC Open’s ‘Now and Then’ project. The communities’ response to the disaster led to the formation of the Into Our Hands Community Foun dation.Loretta Carroll, Chair of Into Our Hands and a Mudgegonga farmer producing beef and sheep, recalls the impact of the bushfires clearly.
Despite her own luck, Paula saw first-hand the devastation the fires caused and is full of praise for the efforts of people like“ILoretta.thinkeverybody was pretty shaken and shocked, but it was just tremendous how people got together – they just rallied, checked in on each other and figured out who needed what,” says Paula. “Loretta is a force of nature, every community needs a Loretta. She ended up with the hay depot at her place, so she organised the distribution of hay because most people lost all of their feed, a lot of people also lost animals.”
the australian farmer 245
“The fires really struck us all, because they ripped through the whole area and a large number of people were affected just in our small community,” says Loretta. “People were coming in with all sorts of problems, and because they were shocked they didn’t really have the ability to fix things.”
The amount of energy released by the firestorm in the Kinglake-Marysville area (the site of the worst damage) was estimated to equal 1,500 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs ?
“I guess what it presented was an opportunity for the community to direct how they wanted money spent, what projects they have identified as being really important to them – so the agenda is trans ferred to the community, out of the political arena,” says Paula. article about Into Our Hands in the first edition of Australian Farmer DID YOU KNOW
Bushfire Appeal – recov ery efforts began across Victoria as soon as the fires were extin guished. The Australian Red Cross established the Victorian Bush fire Appeal Fund (VBAF) as an in dependent charity to distribute theseAndfunds.while this money helped in the short term, the communities of northeast Victoria were in need of solutions that tackled mediumand long-term issues. By 2011, the VBAF had accrued $16 million in interest from the initial donations, and decided to distribute it to the affected communities in the form of funding for medium- and longterm recovery needs.
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“Along the way you tend to get advice from government bodies telling you what you shouldn’t be doing, but I tend to think commun ities know,” says Loretta. “You get a group of people together in a community and you listen to them, you can get good ideas out of it, take it all on board.”
“It allowed people to think big picture and to start looking at mas ter plans like ‘what would we like our community to look like in twenty years?’” says Paula. “So we put in a submission to VBAF, and put in a couple of projects we wanted up front, and also a foundation where every year there would be a round of funding made available and people could apply for funding for their vari ous community projects, and that way the money could be used for long-term resilience projects.”
A community advisory commit tee was set up (with Loretta as the northeast’s representative) and after extensive community consultation, it became appar ent that what the people of these fire-affected communities wanted in the long-term was simple. They wanted their properties and local areas to be more resilient to bush fires, and they wanted a stronger community, not just in the im mediate future, but for genera tions to come.
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The Into Our Hands Founda tion was launched in 2013, with a focus on community involvement rather than government oversight. According to both Loretta and Paula, this was a result of a drive to keep decisions in the hands of the people, rather than have them lost in the morass of bureaucracy.
“VBAF went to the communities and said, 'well, we’re going to dis tribute this money, what would you like?’ and we said ‘there’s a couple of things we can think of to spend the money on immediately, but it would be really great to have that money available for mediumand long-term stuff as well,’” says Paula. “And that’s where the idea of a foundation was born.”
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the australian farmer 247 LAND OF THE RAINBOW GOLD AND ITS PAYBACK Dr Richard Thornton, CEO of the Bushfires and Natural Hazards CRC, talks about how we can improve disaster response by studying the past. CLICK HERE TO READ MANAGED BY US MOB A case study of the remote Northern Territory indigenous community that is completely cut off from the outside world during each wet season. CLICK HERE TO READ Additional Reading
248 Our valued partners were invited to join the second volume of The Australian Farmer not only because of their relevance to farmers, but because of their innovative and high quality products and services. The companies and institutions below have proven track records in research and development, a history of pioneering and unconventional thinking and a patient and unstinting dedication to the Australian farming community. You can click on the logos below to directly access individual stories on each organisation. Our Partners
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the australian farmer 251 Irrigation Automation Credits PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Audrey Murugasu CEO Jim Eggleton MANAGING EDITOR Keiron Costello ART & DESIGN Craig Burkill PUBLISHING CONSULTANT John Dwyer EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Grace Entry Sarah Payne SENIOR COORDINATORSPROJECT Daniel GeorgeChanAlam SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATORS Carla KennyWongCheung ONE MANDATE GROUP PTY LTD (02) 9884 www.onemandate.comsolutions@onemandate.com9660
MAJOR GENERAL MICHAEL JEFFERY – PATRON
We are indebted to our esteemed editorial advisory board for their guidance and assistance on the second volume of The Australian Farmer. We thank them all for their invaluable contributions, but in particular our patron, Major General Michael Jeffery, for his particular devotion and leadership.
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ROS HARVEY Ros Harvey is an experienced entrepreneur and executive in technology, particularly the Internet of Things (IoT) and us er-centric design. Since found ing Australian agtech company The Yield in 2014, it has be come one of the industry’s fast est growing technology success stories, backed by several lead ing global businesses including Bosch, KPMG and Microsoft.
Major General the Honourable Michael Jeffery AC, AO (Mil), CVO, MC (Retd) was Govern or-General of Australia from 2003 to 2008 and is Australia’s first Advocate for Soil Health – a position quickly emulated by other countries. His role is to raise public awareness of the critical role soil plays in underpinning sustainable pro ductivity and to advise the gov ernment on soil science.
BoardAdvisoryEditorial
Prior to this, he had a distin guished military career, see ing action in Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam, where he was awarded the Military Cross and South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He commanded Aus tralia’s elite Special Air Service Regiment and became Dep uty Chief of the General Staff in 1990 before retiring from the army in 1993. He was the first Australian soldier to be appointed Governor-General, after having served for seven years as Governor of Western Australia.
Ros is passionate about tech nology playing a role in the sustainable governance of the Major General the Honourable Michael Jeffery
ANDREW WEIDEMANN Andrew Weidemann is Chair man of Grain Producers Australia, an association repre senting Australia’s broadacre, grain, pulse and oilseed pro ducers. He has also served as Group Deputy President of VFF Grains, Deputy Chairman of the Birchip Cropping Group and Deputy President of the Grains Council of Australia. Holding an Advanced Diploma in Agriculture, Mr Weidemann is passionate about sustain ability and applies the latest technology to his own mixed grain farm in Victoria, which is one of only three in the country that supplies barley for Crown Lager brewery.
JAN DAVIS Jan Davis is Managing Direc tor of Agribusiness Tasmania and a Councillor at Northern Midlands Council in Tasmania. She is a farmer with a long history of senior roles repre senting Tasmanian and Aus tralian farmers, most notably she was CEO of the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Associ ation for five years and CEO of the Agribusiness Association of Australia. She is currently a member of the boards of Landcare Australia and Aus tralian Shellfish Industries Ltd, and has previously served on the boards of Plant Health Australia Ltd, the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, Horti culture Australia Ltd and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
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DAVID LAMB Professor David Lamb has been at the forefront of precision agriculture in Australia for the past 25 years and was recently appointed as Chief Scientist of the Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). He es tablished the University of New England’s Precision Agriculture Research Group, and the inter nationally renowned SMART Farm project. He has led more than 40 industry-funded R&D projects and is the Australian representative to the Inter national Society for Precision Agriculture. In 2016 he received the McClymont Distinguished Professorship at UNE in recog nition of his ongoing service to agriculture innovation and re search leadership.
ANGELA ELLIOTT Angela Elliott has 15 years of experience in corporate agri culture across a number of companies including George Weston Foods and Ridley Cor poration and is also a found ing partner of a company that connects Australian farming families with Chinese business partners. She holds a degree in Applied Science and is a scholarship recipient for her work in agriculture, studying leadership at the Macquarie School of Business. Angela is passionate about bringing di versification and innovation to Australian agriculture, as well as promoting the agricultural sector as a career path for young Australians.
the australian farmer 253 planet, and is an accomplished speaker on agtech, IoT, con verting data to knowledge and the future of food.
The cover image is a painting by Australian artist Dave Sturmer created especially for The Australian Farmer In support of our farmers Dave has graciously offered this artwork to be auctioned with all of the proceeds going to drought relief. Details on the auction can be found on www.theaustralianfarmer.com
“I love painting the land and the people that make up our great country.” You can see Dave’s body of work by visiting www.onemandate.comwww.davesturmer.com
Artist Dave Sturmer is based in Tweed Heads and studies a diverse array of artistic subjects. Recently Dave won the ADFAS Acrylic Award 2018 at the Royal Queensland Art Society annual exhibition.
