grapegrowing
Sustainability
Australian technology transforming viticulture through 5G
Precision farming is about to get a whole lot more precise with a wave of 5G technology showing economic and productivity benefits to the viticulture industry, as Edon Abbot writes.
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rowers are increasingly interested in the advantages that 5G has to offer the industry by saving money, time and maximising yield. Platfarm is a spatially based tasking and GPS tracking app for the viticulture industry developed at Lot Fourteen in Adelaide that allows growers and farmers to manage their land via a smart device. CEO and Co-founder of Platfarm Lyndsey Jackson said that with a mobile
phone and a good antenna, you can get 1cm of accuracy. “Being able to really accurately know where either the machine is or fences vine rows, things like that are going to be really critical,” Jackson said. This precision is important in the viticultural industry by tracking what vine rows have been worked on to avoid complications.
“If you’re spraying for pests and diseases but have to go fill up your tank… when you come back and you’re a row out, then that can dramatically increase the chance of pests and fungi – that’s how outbreaks happen,” Jackson said. “But with 5G, if you get down to 1cm accuracy, then you’re starting to be really precise about where the location is.” Last month, Platfarm went to a demonstration day supported by Wine
We can definitely see that things are changing – the climate’s changing, fertilisers are getting more expensive, customers are demanding more sustainable growing methods that are improving the quality of the soil. Lindsey Jackson
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Grapegrower & Winemaker
www.winetitles.com.au
July 2022 – Issue 702
