Crop count research Imagine if you could confidently forecast yield each season for drastically less time than it takes you now. Crop Count has the potential to give accurate yield forecasts of above 90% along with orchard variability maps calibrated for yield, fruit size and health. For a number of years, the research team at the Applied Agricultural Remote Sensing Centre (AARSC) at the University of New England (UNE), has been evaluating the accuracies of remote sensing for yield forecasting in a number of horticulture tree crops, including avocado. Whilst this evaluation has included UAVs and on ground sensing, a methodology developed for satellite imagery has been determined to be the most effective at delivering consistently accurate measures of yield forecasting for avocado. Currently, the AARSC, led by AARSC Director, Professor Andrew Robson, are undertaking a Horticulture Innovation funded project Implementation of precision agricultural solutions in Australian avocado productions systems. One of the key outputs of this project is to deliver a minimal viable (MVP) product that will provide avocado growers with access to high resolution satellite imagery as well as the ability to calibrate the imagery for yield, fruit size and tree health. Enter MVP ‘Crop Count’, a prototype mobile application that has been developed to do just this. “We’ve had the pleasure of working alongside a number of progressive growers throughout this project who have provided invaluable support, it’s been exciting to see the Crop Count methodology delivering consistent levels of accuracies for yield forecasts,” Professor Robson said. Professor Robson commented that in order to establish support from growers it was important that they were provided with a basic understanding of the technology, as well as evidence that the approach could achieve positive results. It is not just about pushing a technology and hoping it works. “Researchers can often get caught up in the technical side of explaining the madness behind their methodologies, and that can become a barrier to entry for growers’ engagement or their desire to adopt research outputs in their on-farm practices,” he said. “This time around we wanted to do things differently and deliver a tool that could be easily used on farm for the benefit of the grower,” Professor Robson said. To physically put their work into the hands of growers, AARSC teamed up with award winning, digital creative agency, Circul8, who specialise in bridging the gap between research and real life. Circul8’s Head of Production Janine Googan was instrumental in bringing this research to life.
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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Dr Moshiur Rahman (AARSC) and Alanha Stokes (Circul8 Managing Director) in the field.
TALKING AVOCADOS AUTUMN 2021
