The way agronomists do their job is constantly changing, especially as agricultural technologies (agtech) on farms become the norm. When NSW Central West agronomist, Greg Miller, began his career 20 years ago, the triplicate recommendation book was still in vogue and widely used.
“You hand wrote all your recommendations and gave the top copy to the farmer, dropped the second copy back at the store and kept the third copy in the book for your records,” he said.
“If a farm worker went to the store and forgot their piece of paper, and you forget to drop off the store copy, nobody knew what they were supposed to pick up. These days I send that information digitally, so everyone can access it, I don’t even have to go to the store.”
That’s just one tiny example of how technology makes life easier: it saves time and money; everyone who needs it can access the information and it simplifies record keeping because there’s a digital record of what was recommended and bought.
Where agtech is set to have an even bigger impact is where the information (data) flows back and forth between agronomists and their clients.
Greg says agronomic software, including Back Paddock and Agworld, takes some of the guesswork out of his job and saves him time when he’s formulating recommendations. It also delivers the information to clients in a user-friendly format that is easily shared among the whole team.
“Nowadays some of our clients use Agworld, that talks to the John Deere Greenstar in their tractor, so they can do their actuals as their driving along, so if we’re wondering about whether that job’s been done, whether that’s the first or second spray application we can tell pretty quickly.”
Through initiatives like the NSW Farms of the Future program, many of Greg’s clients now use digital weather stations and soil moisture probes, and he’s getting very positive feedback on how useful they are finding these types of decision support tools for calculating stocking rates and inputs.
He’s also seen a big uptake in remote water tank and trough monitoring, which saves farm workers driving around to check gauges, and delivers peace of mind to the farmer knowing the stock has enough water.
Greg reckons the two biggest challenges facing farmers across his region, and probably all of Australia, are rising input costs and staffing.
Convincing farmers that agtech is worth the investment is about demonstrating how the right combination of technologies can increase efficiencies and reduce those input and labour costs.
He is currently working on a pasture and crop growth prediction tool project using weather station and soil probe metrics and physically cutting dry matter of different pasture types to develop an algorithm for better predictions.
“Our soil temperature is x, our soil moisture is y, the outside temperature is z, therefore we should be growing that much lucerne today. I think that’s where the big gain is going to be in the not-too-distant future. What we need is to identify the patterns so we can look forward and make predictions from the information the agtech is feeding in.”
Right now, pinpointing the best windrowing time might involve Greg making four or five visits in a fortnight to inspect the canola crop, but as drone and satellite imagery, and the predictive algorithms improve, he may well be able to spend less time in the paddock and pass that saving onto the farmer.
Even when it’s not harvest time, Greg’s ability to see weather data and soil moisture probes from all his clients’ farms across the region means he can adjust his plans for the week to use his time more efficiently.
“In the morning if I see 60mm fell in Canowindra last night, I’m not going there today because I know I can’t drive over those paddocks for two or three days, so I’ll go elsewhere. So again, employing technology makes my job more efficient and easier to run and the same goes for farmers who adopt agtech.
“Another aspect of using agtech is how it collects so much data that can be used to automate reporting. With new carbon reporting laws coming into effect, businesses will be looking to source grains and other products from farms with low emissions intensity. To access those markets the farmers need to be able to report on that – so they need to collect data.”
Greg can understand the resistance to agtech adoption. His father, who still works on the family farm, doesn’t like to use a computer – worried that he’ll break it or somehow corrupt the program. As the next generation of farmers – those who’ve grown up with computers come through – using agtech will be like using a tractor instead of a horse drawn plough. They’ll wonder how the previous generation managed without it.
Pairtree is the Australian market leader in agtech data centralisation and integration. It provides tools to help farmers and their trusted advisors access, view and interpret all their different data feeds and digital services more easily, enabling better informed decisions for more efficient and profitable farming and streamlined reporting.
Sign up to our e-News and be the first to hear about Pairtree’s latest offers & news and receive fresh insights on new trends in Australian farming and agricultural technology.
