When less is best

The idea of using the latest technologies to drive efficiencies and increase profits on farms is an exciting prospect for some farmers and completely daunting for others.

Farmers want to know the ‘return on investment’ before they fork out money for new equipment, but that can be hard to calculate on smaller, family run or hobby properties when work hours aren’t strictly accounted for.

There’s no shortage of high-tech solutions for complex operations. For example, Farmbot’s premium Water Level Sensor has the ability to connect to 15 add-on sensors, including pump controls, rainfall, pressure and flow gauges and cameras that can be monitored from your phone.

Taking it to the next level, that Farmbot data can then be integrated onto a Pairtree farm dashboard so it can be viewed & analysed alongside data from equipment supplied by dozens of other leading agtech companies for a whole of operation view.

Farmbot’s latest offering however, Farmbot lite, acknowledges that not everyone wants or needs all the bells and whistles.

It delivers a basic, easy to install, remote water tank monitor that uses satellite technology to send tank level data and real-time alerts by text and email or viewed on the app.

Farmbot’s website has a great ‘savings calculator’ to work out the value of remote monitoring water assets, based on worker hours, vehicle fuel and other costs involved in checking water assets, which can be substantial for larger operations.

The one big factor that I can see Farmbot lite delivering to smaller operations is hard to calculate – yet priceless to every farmer – and that’s peace of mind.

I’d also like to congratulate Farmbot for continuing their commitment to manufacturing their products in Australia.