The Australian Farmer - Print edition

The

Australian Farmer A Digital Publication and Knowledge Tool for the Forward-Thinking Farmer

Volume II

Australia’s Farming Future

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CONTENTS

12 – Foreword from Major General Michael Jeffery, Australia’s National Advocate for Soil Health 13 – Our gratitude to Australia’s peak farming bodies

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY 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

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CSIRO scientists discuss whether digital agriculture is just hype or if there is real benefit for farmers

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Ros Harvey of The Yield on the growth of agtech in Australia and how tech companies need to work with farmers

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What happens to rural communities if digital technology brings city slickers to the land?

Learn about the Mt Isa Mines Rodeo – the largest rodeo in the Southern Hemisphere!

AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY

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The robotic systems coming soon to a farm near you, by Professor Salah Sukkarieh of the University of Sydney

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Gary Northover of the Tractor and Machinery Association speaks about the impact of automation on the industry

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40 Drones in agriculture: what farmers need to know

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An interview with Herby Whyte of Landpower on the impact of technology on farm machinery

What brings a glimpse of country life and food and fibre production to nearly one million city dwellers every year?

PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES Massey Ferguson’s IDEAL new combine harvester is a technological game changer

54 While Titan Australia might be known for tyres, wheels and axles, the company also excels in custom machinery manufacturing

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56 Allianz harnesses the power of agtech to improve farm insurance

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CONTENTS Cutting-edge Australian tech company Decipher gives farmers the power to increase yield and improve efficiency

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60 Woolworths is driving the organic food boom in Australia with a $30 million innovation fund

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ZIPMIN: The program making business meetings easier for rural Australia

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Time for farmers to rethink IT purchases in light of agtech revolution?

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Rivulis provides world-leading drip irrigation tech for Australian farmers

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The unique and innovative robotic dairy farmhand from Lely Dairy Australia

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Bank of Queensland brings a personal touch to agribusiness banking

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Philmac: A triumphant story of Australian innovation and hard work

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Integrated irrigation technology from Lindsay International improves yields and drives efficiency

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Locally-made Dean Trailers thrive in tough Australian conditions

With a personal touch and a nationwide footprint, Prime Super puts rural Australians first

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SWAN Systems cloud-based software delivers massive yield improvements for WA irrigator

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Valvoline: a famous brand dedicated to improving Australian agriculture

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IPSTAR provides a connection across the digital divide

100 Drones take power network inspection to new levels

Innovation in water tanks from National Poly Industries delivers a wholistic farming solution

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Wise, efficient, automated irrigation with WiSA

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Precision, safety and control: the Rotor Solutions advantage

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The federal Department of Industry provides crucial support for innovative farm businesses

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Battery World charged to help farmers reduce costs

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IGA champions true blue Aussie heroes helping out those in need

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Ecotech Energy’s solar pump delivers cost savings fast

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Omnia Nutriology System – a holistic approach to managing soil health

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P2PAgri software enables farmers to plan ahead like never before

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Easy and professional Labour Solutions for hard-working farm businesses

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National Ag brings the best in grain handling and storage to Australian shores

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Spraygro are the experts in liquid fertilisers

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Calrossy Anglican School hits 100 years of educating youth on the land

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MarchNet delivers 21st century internet solutions for remote Aussie agribusinesses

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Solar pumping gets serious with ReAqua installing the largest hybrid system in Australia

139 Pump damage costs farmers thousands – how can you prevent it?

The Power that drives farming and marine engines

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Learn more about solar pumps from an industry pioneer

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Clayfield College is an academic leader with outstanding facilities

PLANT HEALTH

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Why misinformation over GM is harming Australia’s productivity and agricultural potential

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The little-known plant transformed into a world-first cash crop by Aussie scientists

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An interview with Tony May of Bayer about the advances in science and biotechnology that are driving plant health in Australia

Check out these photos of the Deni Ute Muster – one of rural Australia’s biggest and wildest parties!

WOMEN IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE

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Angela Elliott writes about the fiercely passionate women of Australian agriculture

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Dr Skye Saunders on the changing culture around women in ag and how we can do better

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An interview with Belinda Anderson of Henty 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

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A profile of Erica Hughes, innovative young farmer and developer of the Farmer Meets Foodie app

See the best of the best in Australian rodeo

ANIMAL HEALTH Kathleen Plowman of Animal Health Australia discusses how every farmer can play a part in the nation’s biosecurity

188 Megan Beca of Genetics Australia writes about the latest in genetic technology that is unlocking productivity in livestock

SXS Racing taking Australian motor sports by storm

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CONTENTS Scientists from QUT explore innovative new ways to feed the growing national herd

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WATER AND IRRIGATION

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Anne Currey of Irrigation Australia outlines what is needed in technology and policy to keep Australian irrigators on top

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Former National Water Commission Chair Ken Matthews suggests a rethink for how we manage water in Australia

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From city toilets to country farms – the cheap fertiliser alternative delivering significant benefits

ADDITIONAL READING

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Rural Health: How text messages are being used to combat mental health issues in rural areas

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Science and Innovation: An interview with CEO of the Food Agility CRC, Mike Briers

CONTENTS

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Youth and Succession Planning: The young Aussie woman challenging traditional views of farm succession planning

Soil Management and Sustainability: An interview with Major General Michael Jeffery Australia’s National Advocate for Soil Health

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229 Understanding Consumer Trends: It’s better to be different than just better

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Farm Finance: Interviews with Grant Cairns of Commonwealth Bank and Tony Beaven of Elders Financial Planning

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Agriculture in Education: An interview with Terry MCCosker from RCS Australia

Natural Resource Management and Coping With Disasters: Community strength in the face of disaster

248 – Partners

251 – Credits

252 – Editorial Advisory Board

254 – The story behind the cover of The Australian Farmer

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Foreword Major General the Honourable Michael Jeffery Australia’s National Advocate for Soil Health Patron of The Australian Farmer project 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 access to practical information and new ideas that help the farmer to get ahead and stay ahead. Particularly sought after is information 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.

The first volume of The Australian Farmer, released just over a year ago, delivered valuable 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 visited and revisited on countless occasions.

I am delighted to say the second volume of The Australian Farmer not only reaches the high standards of the first volume, but exceeds 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.

I recommend this book – and its predecessor – 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 agricultural industry in an efficient and sustainable manner, and strengthen the reputation of our farmers as leaders in innovation.

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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 encouragement was equally vital to the health of this book, the second volume of The Australian Farmer.

Our gratitude is owed to the excellent and hardworking peak farming bodies for their much-appreciated assistance in distributing both volumes of The Australian Farmer to their many farming members.

In doing so, they continue to provide Australian 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 important 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.

Finally, we are particularly appreciative of regional federal MPs the Hon. Bob Katter and the Hon. Michelle Landry for their enthusiastic embrace of this project and willingness to share The Australian Farmer with their farming constituents.

• NSW Farmers Association • Queensland Farmers’ Federation • Victorian Farmers Federation • Primary Producers South Australia • WA Farmers Federation • AUSVEG • Future Farmers Network • Australian Grape & Wine Inc • Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association • CANEGROWERS • Angus Australia • Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia • Grain Producers Australia • Society of Precision Agriculture Australia • Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia • Apple and Pear Australia Ltd • Herefords Australia • Australian Brahman Breeders’ Association • Australian Mango Industry Association • Avocados Australia • Soil Science Australia • Australian Certified UAV Operators • Australian Limousin Breeders’ Society • Santa Gertrudis Breeders’ Association

• Australian Table Grape Association • Australian Macadamia Society • South Australia No Till Farmers Association • Australian Women in Agriculture • Cherry Growers Australia • Australian Association for Unmanned Systems • Australian Brangus Cattle Association • NT Farmers Association • Australian Lot Feeders’ Association • Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association • Onions Australia • Almond Board of Australia • Supply Chain & Logistics Association of Australia • Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Australia • Australian Seed Federation • Country Rugby League of NSW • Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology • Australian Dairy Products Federation • WoolProducers Australia • Australian Banana Growers’ Council • Australian Olive Association

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Digital Technology 16

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

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CSIRO scientists discuss whether digital agriculture is just hype or if there is real benefit for farmers

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Ros Harvey of The Yield on the growth of agtech in Australia and how tech companies need to work with farmers

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What happens to rural communities if digital technology brings city slickers to the land?

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DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

Data, data everywhere, but does it make us think?

By David Lamb, Megan Tudehope and Ashley Rootsey of the Food Agility CRC Ltd

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 user-friendly digital tools to transform all that data into something useful. To do that, tech companies should focus more on what farmers need and less on impressing investors and drumming up venture capital.

And there are examples of great, functional and, most importantly, effective agtech. Moreover, Australia boasts a solid cohort of experienced, internationally-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 instruments 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 telecommunications 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

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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 garner feedback, continuously, along the way. A product’s success is the user’s success, not the other way around. After all, isn’t the ultimate (and oldest) form of ‘big data’, as Megan Garber 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 transform Australia’s agrifood sector through the power of digital technology is only half of the endeavour. 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 designing an agile activity can actually be quite time consuming

DID YOU KNOW

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Australian agriculture has always been a step ahead of international competitors, returning average productivity growth of 2.7 per cent per year over a 30-year period

– 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 manufacturing and mining sectors have excelled at it. So why is our agrifood sector any different? Where is

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our agility?

Perhaps there are two reasons. The first is that those experienced in this agile form of design in other tech sectors often lack the real-world, industry knowledge (farming is a classic 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 cooking in the ever-heating pot of ‘innovation water’ (much like the frog) and not realised we have to do things differently. It’s time to bridge the cultural divide between 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 sustainable.

WHERE TO NEXT FOR AGTECH? A lot of the agtech we’ve got in the market today focuses on driving efficiency at the production 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 integrated 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’ challenge for precision agriculture later issued at the 2018 Society for Precision Agriculture Australia

that can accelerate the de-commoditisation process. Precision agriculture inside the farmgate will allow farmers to produce exactly the right thing. Beyond the farmgate, 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-

(SPAA) Conference in Adelaide.

De-commoditisation will require data to do its share of heavy lifting, but it is precision agriculture

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

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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 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 agriculture in the 18th century (known as the first agricultural revolution), we’re starting to see the gap between producers and consumers narrow, rather than widen.

Farmers can now use technology to engage directly with consumers. More than ever before, people care about where their food comes from and how it was produced.

The Australian 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, blockchain technology is creating an unbreakable record, tracing products from the farmgate to the supermarket shelf and assuring customers that this is the real deal.

We’re developing sensors that detect volatile compounds, effectively sniffing out any lapses in the cold chain and giving buy-

DID YOU KNOW

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Several Australian blockchain start-ups, such as AgUnity, AgriDigital and BlockGrain, have emerged recently to track produce from paddock to plate

ers confidence 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 iceberg.

Just as blood pumps through the heart to the head and back again, so too does information (and data) throughout the supply chain. 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 dynamic in responding to consumer demand.

If you can get ahead of the curve and use data to spot emerging market trends, you can adjust production to get maximum value for your produce.

RETHINKING THE DIGITAL VALUE CHAIN Agtech enables the de-commoditisation 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

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consumers at the head, because their decisions drive demand.

There are a range of other vital organs crucial to keeping the whole system on its feet.

Finance, technology, research, policy, regulation, insurance, agricultural services – they all interact and affect each other.

Sure, it’s great if you can use data to make your farm more efficient, 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?

In this case, farmers get better lending terms, banks reduce risk and best practice becomes common practice, making the whole industry more sustainable. Everybody wins.

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 government, less burdensome for producers and consumer safety is protected.

Let’s make our data work harder and use it in more innovative ways. It’s time to drink some of that water lying around.

Farmers will get more money in their back pocket, consumers will have safe, sustainable and healthy food and the Australian agrifood industry will be an increasingly competitive force on the global stage.

Check out our article on Decipher, the new Australian software platform improving farm efficiency and increasing yield

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Digital agriculture – what’s all the fuss about?

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?

As in other industries, the ‘digital revolution’ will create a new way of doing business in agriculture; new jobs will be required, existing jobs will change and some jobs may even disappear. For example, the improved efficiencies from digital agriculture – especially robots – will increase the number of hectares and animals that one farmer can manage.

This is the continuation of a century-long trend that has major social consequences in rural Australia.

While there are many players vying for a share in the digital agriculture market, not all technologies on offer will deliver on

their promise. Those that remain isolated from knowledge of agriculture and an understanding of actual on-farm realities and business problems won’t contribute to solutions but will remain on the shelf or be of interest only for niche hobbyists.

A key challenge is to find simplicity. Technologists need to appreciate that farmers do not need high frequency and precise data for every decision.

One example is a newly-created app, Graincast, that draws on satellites, climate forecasts and crop models to provide near real-time soil, water and yield information at any time without

the need to input a lot of detailed information.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR PRODUCERS? 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 efficient sharing and learning using data from multiple enterprises.

We believe these developments offer three big opportunities: 1. increasing management precision, with producers able to use better information to

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make more timely decisions with more predictable outcomes 2. automating tasks using sensing technologies and machine learning could cut costs and increase reliability 3. better categorising, differentiating and tailoring agricultural products and services, which will open up new markets.

All these opportunities are around the point where development 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 characteristics and then put into different processing and marketing streams to maximise their value.

CROSSING KEY TECHNOLOGY FRONTIERS Just as exciting as creating new business models and technologies is creating innovative ways of putting together existing ones.

SENSING SYSTEMS New remote sensing systems, such as the European Sentinel satellites, will overcome many of the shortcomings of the estab-

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lished Landsat satellites. They will provide data at improved frequency, 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 information can have a wide range of end uses: farm management, farm advice, input supplies, risk assessment, planning for logistics and handling and assessment for drought relief.

Remote sensing systems will be complemented by proximal systems, such as handheld devices or even cameras on smartphones. In precision irrigation,

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for example, there are exciting possibilities of linking satellite information, weather forecasts and crop models with ground-based, spot sensing of crop canopy temperature to inform irrigation scheduling.

DID YOU KNOW

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Different industries use different tech. GPS-enabled technologies are widely used on vegetable and grain farms, while electronic identification and herd management tools are commonly used on dairy farms.

Distributed sensing systems can form the basis for knowledge platforms for social learning. For example, our Chameleon soil moisture sensing system, used by smallholder 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.

While sensors abound on the market, there are still some notable gaps. For instance, we still don’t have a sensing system that can non-invasively measure soil fertility or diagnose animal health.

PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS At the moment our ability to collect vast amounts of data easily outstrips our ability to convert it into usable information. Predict-

ive analytics uses techniques that range from data mining, statistics, modelling, machine learning and artificial intelligence, helping decision makers to predict unknown future events.

We have developed solar-powered 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 potential to control the movement of livestock with ethical virtual fencing, it is easy to see how digital agriculture is well placed to transform traditional livestock farming.

BLOCKCHAIN Agriculture and food are ideal domains to exploit the potential of distributed ledgers or blockchain.

Blockchain technology allows information 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.

Through blockchain, producers will be able to escape the trap of commodity production, where products cannot attract premium

DID YOU KNOW

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According to KPMG, in order to maintain our international advantage by 2025, Australia must be a leader in blockchain digital platforms that provide real-time supply chain monitoring and validation

prices. Blockchain will open up ways for farmers to put their products into differentiated markets by allowing verification of provenance and other attributes. It will meet the demand by consumers for better quality assurance of their food and fibre.

NOVEL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS A range of new players and enterprising producers are developing solutions to the chronic lack of connectivity and poor mobile coverage 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 communications networks.

VALUE-ADDING TO FARM DATA There is a huge opportunity in

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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 benchmark their production against others. For example a farmer could develop more precise soil maps for their farm based on aggregated soil test results, or gain a more accurate picture of rainfall patterns in the locality.

Governments and research bodies already pool lots of ‘small data’ and use it to monitor performance trends in the industry. 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 explanation of how it will be used to benefit them and others.

CSIRO is a partner in a new company, Digital Agriculture Services (DAS), which is creating digitised valuations, automated risk assessment, insight and productivity trends for rural land. Such intelligence is of interest to farmers and institutions alike including banks, governments, agribusiness and commodity handlers.

INVENTING E-EXTENSION How do we link farmers with the most relevant and knowledgeable agricultural advisor anytime, anywhere? This is particularly important in an era where one-on-

one extension advisory services are in decline. Artificial intelligence systems can now be used to mine and interpret knowledge banks. For farmers it opens up fragmented and inaccessible extension 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.

ENABLING DIGITAL AGRICULTURE TO FLOURISH All of these developments show why there is such excitement about digital agriculture.

CSIRO is working broadly across this field and actively filling vital information gaps that will enable digital agriculture to flourish. This includes driving the creation of useful data assets, developing monitoring products and climate forecasts at new scales, upgrading past decision-making tools and building 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 innovative digital agriculture products in domains as diverse as grains, aquaculture, sugarcane, irrigated crops and carbon farming.

We realise it is our role to catalyse commercial activity in digital agriculture and not ‘crowd out’ private and other public sector

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players. The start-up community for digital agriculture in Australia is still young and needs vital core technologies that have underpinned 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 partnerships or free distribution.

WARNING – DISRUPTION AHEAD Digital transformation is everywhere and agriculture is no exception.

The relationship between farmers and service providers will become more about information 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 incumbent. 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. Australia is a major trading nation and the highly competitive nature of international commodity markets means that we ignore these technologies at our peril.

Check out our article on HP and the IT hardware powering Australian farms

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Technology transforming the future of farming

By Ros Harvey, founder and managing director at The Yield

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 technology, has grown out of the need to meet our future demands for food security and will increasingly become the key enabler of sustainable intensification of agriculture.

It forms at 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), robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing.

Australia is the perfect breeding ground for agtech innovation; 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 exciting time as so many new technologies are being developed to meet the challenges we’ll face in the future, not just on farm but along the entire food supply chain.

To truly change the future of how we farm here in Australia and around the world, we need to focus on long-term transformation over short-term disruption. To transform an essential industry like agriculture – which has a reputation for deeply ingrained practices and passionate, knowledgeable practitioners – requires an unconventional approach.

THE NEED FOR AGTECH INNOVATION IN AUSTRALIA The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) predicts the value of Australia’s agricultural sector will almost double by 2030, creating 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 NFF predictions.

According to KPMG’s ‘Powering Growth: Realising the potential of

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AgTech for Australia’ report, Australian agriculture represents more than $43 billion in exports (including 15 per cent of merchandise exports), supplies 93 per cent of Australia’s food and uses 50 per cent of Australia’s land.

That same KPMG report states that Australia’s food wastage has an estimated cost of $8 billion annually, representing 4 million tonnes of produce. These sobering numbers highlight the importance of innovation in our

sector. According to KPMG, agtech can save the Australian agricultural industry $1.5 billion in weed control and a further $2.5 billion in lost production, alone.

THE GROWTH OF AGTECH 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

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data, analytics and AI is becoming more prevalent and more mature. There are dozens of ways we can put data to work

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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in agriculture – from using it to enhance decision-making on farms and creating process efficiencies across the food chain, to fine tuning the products and services available to growers.

Robotics and augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) will also have a big impact, particularly on the pressing issue of labour costs. Robotic systems for fruit picking are in development, 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.

The financial 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 companies globally use blockchain across the ag space in new and game-changing ways, particularly in provenance and supply chain.

Here in Australia, wheat farmers began trialling blockchain technology to reduce settlement risks. In India, there is an online marketplace connecting small plot farmers with agronomic advice and support. In Europe we are seeing new business models (not dissimilar to Uber) emer-

ging for sharing agricultural equipment. And in small, densely-populated countries, hi-tech urban or vertical farming is taking off.

TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES NEED TO MAKE TECHNOLOGY WORK FOR GROWERS As an industry, agriculture in Australia 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 other sectors.

Agriculture is an essential industry, where the consequences of failed or ill-conceived technology can impact the entire com-

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munity. Many growers are aware of the magnitude of such failures and have understandably developed a level of cautiousness about the impact of new technology 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 – growers are willing to accept technology if it is easy to use and consistently delivers meaningful value to them.

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 sustainable and successful.

Growers are busy people with a unique combination of pressures, so any new technology also needs to be fast, easy and user-friendly. Most of all, it needs to benefit growers.

At The Yield, our first employee 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 growers have become some of our biggest champions, because they saw how serious we were about understanding their pain points.

The lesson for the technology industry is that they need to understand growers in order to solve their problems. We need better technology that’s accessible to growers and products need to be intuitive, easy to use and reliable.

Real 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.

DID YOU KNOW

?

Agtech could save the Australian agricultural industry $4b in weed control and lost production

TECHNOLOGY 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 element of farming, from the paddock to the entire supply chain. There are apps for recording activities, monitoring weather and tracking commodities prices. There are converters and calculators, farm management systems, drones, pest guides and countless other tools.

In a world in which growers are increasingly expected to do more with less, this influx of easily 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.

Interested in the changes tech is making in crop science? Click here to read our case study on the latest innovation from CSIRO

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DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

What happens to rural communities if digital technology brings city slickers to the land?

Research for this article was contributed by: • 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.

Digital technology promises to increase profits, reduce yield uncertainty and improve quality of life on the land by reducing the farmer’s workload. The emergence of broadband and greater digital access is also making the bush a more accessible and attractive place to live for city folk.

The new digital economy allows people to generate income remotely and provides greater flexibility 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 expensive and too congested, while regional areas are getting muchneeded infrastructure improvements. 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 profitable, sustainable and enjoyable lifestyle in the bush.

MODERN FARMING: THE IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES Digital technology has the potential to create an agricultural revolution with hi-tech machinery and better farming. Increasingly, farmers are starting to experiment with digital and autonomous 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 involved for farmers. Robot pickers can harvest and load goods into autonomous refrigerated trucks.

A product’s origin can now be recorded 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.

DIGITAL AGRICULTURE: TECHNOLOGY MAKING LIFE ON THE LAND EASIER In the coming decades, agricultural robots will play a vital role in helping farmers manage the daily operation of farms. Jobs

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like weeding, fertilising and controlling pests and diseases will be standard operation, and the robots will also collect vast amounts of data to further improve 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, intended to work in autonomous groups across both broadacre and horticultural crop management 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, providing a tool for farmers to help reduce operational costs and efficiency losses. The AgBot II provides multiple benefits including improved yield, better soil health and data-driven decisions while

allowing farmers to manage their farm remotely (click here to find out more).

But agtech isn’t just about technology, systems and products. It’s about people and business improvement too. Techsavvy entrepreneurs are seeking agtech accelerators in regional towns. New agtech consulting firms are bringing together farmers, entrepreneurs, government, investors and corporations to create new economies. Creatives are selling their wares online be-

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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, technology 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.

Smaller farming 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 developed by QUT researchers, will play an increasing role in farm production

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DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

in remote areas. Fences won’t need repairing anymore, because they’ll be virtual.

DID YOU KNOW

?

Agbots could reduce a farm’s annual expenditure on products such as insecticides, herbicides and fertilisers up to 40 per cent THE SHIFT TOWARDS REGIONAL AREAS Major capital cities in Australia such as Sydney and Melbourne are some of the most expensive 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”, leading to a new social trend.

One in six Australians (16 per cent) are unhappy with their current lifestyle due to work commute times, and it’s estimated about 400,000 Aussies have already 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 communities 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 barriers to living in rural areas have been issues such as poor internet connectivity and a lack of infrastructure, but this is slowly changing. Also, if rural areas grew in population, then hospitals, 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 agricultural 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.

CITY SKILLS COME TO THE COUNTRY Farming enterprises are changing, and some Australian farmers are upscaling. These larger enterprises need strategic thinkers, operations experts and systems managers to manage huge agricultural production,

manufacturing and distribution centres. With an increase of urbanites 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 agriculture consultants, agronomists and more. A well-rounded farmer of the future might now have mechanical, strategic, communication 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 professional ambitions. However, it is now increasingly possible to stay plugged into the business world from almost any location that offers an internet connection. This could even mean an influx of foreigners attracted to Australia’s outback.

CAN CITY DWELLERS ADAPT TO COUNTRY LIFE? Life in the bush is different from the city. Sparse, geographically

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CAN REGIONAL TOWNS MANAGE THE DIGITAL TRANSITION? There are great risks that technology could increase inequality and deepen segregation if digital disruption is not managed through good government policies for regional Australia. Many Australian regional cities and towns have struggled in a post-industrial economy filled with fastpaced technology change and digital disruption. Early examples of regional cities adopting metropolitan urban policies have not resulted in the promised economic development and regional prosperity. If anything, pushing urbanisation and gentrification without paying attention to the specific circumstances of regionality will lead regional towns into a similar urban crisis as their city counterparts.

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 continue to foster and maintain bush values despite technological, economic and lifestyle changes.

CONCLUSION The rise of agtech and increasing 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 populations will be further disadvantaged by a digital revolution.

The challenge is for policy-makers to ensure that local popu-

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 infrastructure 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. Sometimes 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?

DID YOU KNOW

One in six Australians (16 per cent) are unhappy with their current lifestyle due to work commute times

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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 sustainable Australia.

FIND OUT MORE This article was partly inspired by the Australian Farm Institute’s ‘Digital Farmers: Bringing AgTech to Life’ Conference in June 2018.

QUT’s Institute for Future Environments studies how our natural, built and virtual environments interact, change and converge, to find ways to make them more sustainable, secure and resilient.

Largest rodeo in the Southern Hemisphere turns 60 The Mount Isa Mines Rodeo is an icon of the Australian outback – growing from humble beginnings in 1959 to celebrating its 60-year anniversary as the largest rodeo in the Southern Hemisphere. The four days of rodeo action will take place this year from the 8th to the 11th of August and draw 750 competitors and over 17,000 spectators.

The event is a bucket list item for many Australians and it’s clear to see why – aside from the world-class rodeo competition, the week-long event includes a street festival, free live concerts, horse racing and plenty of genuine outback hospitality! Every year, the rodeo donates proceeds back into the local community and has raised almost $5 million to date.

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Automation and Machinery 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 know An interview with Herby Whyte of Landpower on the impact of technology on farm machinery

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AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY

The robotic systems coming soon to a farm near you

By Professor Salah Sukkarieh, Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at The University of Sydney

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 conditions, while also advancing their international competitiveness.

Agriculture, although relatively new to the area of field robotics, has rapidly adopted the technology, benefiting from the investment and experience of other Australian industries.

Field robotics promises benefits

to farmers in the form of continuous monitoring, precision information acquisition, input cost reduction, reduction in their own time labouring, external labour savings and improvements in yield and minimisation of yield variability.

This recent adoption has also been facilitated by the reduction in computing, sensing and actuation costs, making it cheaper and easier to have on-farm robots. 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 estimates 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 Perception and Precision Application) are now solar electric, providing green alternatives to onfarm platforms and the ability to self-charge and operate over long periods of time. RIPPA, developed by Sydney University’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR) in collaboration with Horticulture Innovation Australia, is a useful example of what can be done in a relatively

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SwagBot also opens up the possibility of animal monitoring as there have been extensive demonstrations 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.

PLAY VIDEO Click here to see a video of the first field test of SwagBot

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 individual crop detection, weed classification, directed spray targeting of crop and weeds and research into individual crop health and yield estimation.

PLAY VIDEO Click here to watch a video of RIPPA in action

SwagBot, on the other hand, is an all-terrain robot focusing on unstructured environments also developed by the ACFR with contributions from Meat and Livestock Australia and philanthropic funds. This includes hilly and rugged country 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.

The ACFR’s Digital Farmhand – also developed with the aid of philanthropic funds – takes robotics 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 previous two robots, can still undertake tasks such as intelligent spraying and weeding and crop monitoring. Delivering robustness 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, Indonesia, Fiji and Samoa, along with a rollout into rural schools to encourage children to take on a digital career in agriculture.

PLAY VIDEO Click here to watch a demonstration of the Digital Farmhand

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AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY

ROBOTS IN THE FUTURE 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 detection, 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.

Simultaneously, we will see major advances in robotic technologies because of the robotic building blocks. Faster computing 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 intelligent 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.

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 consultants 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 advanced 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.

A further benefit that we will see in Australia, 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 temperatures 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 conditions will find friends in field robots.

Click here to read about the innovative company creating dairy-farming robots

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YOUR THING IS COMMITMENT TO THE LAND. OUR THING IS COMMITMENT TO YOU.

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.

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.

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.

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“

“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.”

Michael O’Connor, CEO of Gessner Industries

For a more personal approach to farm insurance, our way never gets old.

At Elders Insurance, we know farming extends to much more than just your farm itself. It encompasses your home, your belongings, and your whole lifestyle. So if the unexpected happens to your home, property, equipment, or impacts the property of others, it’s important to make sure you’re covered. Our agents live and work in the local community, so we understand your local conditions and circumstances. We’ll work with you to find the right insurance package, to help protect you if the worst should happen.

Talk to your local agent for a personalised quote.

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Interview with Gary Northover, Executive Director of the Tractor and Machinery Association 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.

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 consolidation 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.”

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?

“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 systems to assist tractor movement – they’ve been the big features the industry has adopted. And going forward we see more of that occurring, with enhancements in engine technology, the use of hybrid technologies and the imposition

of engine emissions standards providing new challenges for machinery manufacturers.”

Is there a fear in the industry that the technology on the horizon could overwhelm the farmer?

“I think that’s a bit of an alarmist view, from my experience in the industry. We continue to hear stories about how challenging it is to get labour in regional areas, and technology 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

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AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY

farmer get involved in more productive activity.”

How is the industry changing in terms of the relationship between manufacturers, dealers and customers?

“The farmer is telling us that it’s not just about selling product 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 servicing 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 service that needs to be developed.

“That extends to the tech conversation too – it’s not just about delivering the technology and letting 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.”

DID YOU KNOW

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Estimates indicate that there will be around 700,000 tractors equipped with autosteer or guidance sold in 2028, with 40,000 fully autonomous or unmanned tractors sold in 2038 “As to the distribution model for ag machinery in Australia, I don’t

think the importance of dealerships 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 seeing 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.”

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 capable of being more productive

the australian farmer

with larger tractors and other pieces of machinery. Also, increased automation is going to happen – we’ve seen the first driverless tractors make an appearance, 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.

“One of the things we continue 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

Click here to read about Massey Ferguson’s innovative and technologically-advanced combine harvester

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NFF in particular have been very vocal about that for a long time.

A lack of connectivity is acting as a bit of a handbrake on product development and adoption in Australia.”

Download PDF Back to Contents

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AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY

Drones in ag: what farmers need to know Article courtesy of the Society for Precision Agriculture Australia (SPAA)

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.

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 satellites 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 technology 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

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drone to perform?’

• The platform (type of drone) and accessories such as camera and sensors.

A comprehensive factsheet has been produced by the Society for Precision Agriculture Australia (SPAA) with technical information to assist with your understanding of these considerations. 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.

DRONES IN ACTION 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.

The Kochs crop 1,800 hectares 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 cereals including wheat and barley, 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.

Since Joe came back on the farm in 2007, and Jess finished an Agriculture degree at Roseworthy College, both have developed a keen interest in

precision agriculture and have employed as many technologies as possible. Jess is also the current President of SPAA, and has recently started her own precision agriculture business, Breezy Hill Precision Ag Services, providing consultancy in map processing and analysis.

DID YOU KNOW

?

The global market for agricultural drones is expected to hit US$2.9 billion by 2021

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 farmers in the local area. There are now over 55 farmers using the service. The RTK signal is repeatable and accurate to 2cm, allowing the Kochs, like many other farmers, to adopt autosteer. 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 we use has allowed us to visualise the impacts 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.”

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The Kochs are currently on their second ‘Phantom’ drone, which Jess says is a relatively inexpensive piece of technology 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 foolproof.

“This model has a GPS homing device, meaning it will return 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.

“The drone has proven its value by giving instantaneous, relevant information and saving time when inspecting crops and mustering.”

The Kochs use their drone in a number of different ways to monitor and assess their crops, livestock and farming assets: • Monitoring canola maturity: According to Joe, when

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it comes to precision agriculture, 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’ property has followed soil type.

Although no variable action took place from this information, it gives a far better indication of the flowering stage throughout the entire crop when compared to assessing from the ground.

DID YOU KNOW

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Thermal cameras on drones can be used to detect leaks and determine if crops are getting too much or too little water • 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.

• 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 settings on the chopper by putting the drone up in the sky,” says Jess. “This is far quicker than making little adjust-

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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 Robert were suspicious that the slugs preferred the cracking soil types. “It would be useful to compare these affected patches to an EM38 or pH map to look for correlations,” says Joe. “Perhaps in the future we could selectively bait with this knowledge.”

As the technology progresses, Jess and Joe will continue to strive for even more uses for the drone.

“There are so many developments with drones, many that could have a place in our farming 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.”

DID YOU KNOW

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Farmers in New Zealand and Ireland have been using remote-controlled drones to herd their sheep and cattle over long and difficult terrain

click here to read about how farmers are using city sewerage to boost farm production

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AUTOMATION AND MACHINERY

Interview with Herby Whyte, Chairman of Landpower 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!

Agriculture has changed a fair bit since you started out… how would you describe it generally?

“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?

“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 mechanical 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 production volume, thus allowing huge improvements in efficiency and

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protection from the risk of bad weather.

What advice would you give farmers about risk?

“Look at things very carefully.

Take risks, but make them calculated. Ask yourself, ‘what do I need to learn now?’. Speak to people, learn from others. This is especially true when raising capital.

Remember your financial backers are interested in the return they receive 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.”

What is your opinion of the state of agricultural education today?

“My greatest belief in education is that you will do it all your life, so if a school or university has a primary purpose it is teaching people how to learn. I can’t judge individual 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 particular. And if someone has the ability to learn and the hunger for knowledge, this is going to lead to innovation, 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?

“There is a lot of opportunity in

farming if you get it right. I think young farmers should think carefully 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 different avenues in and around agriculture to grow in. There are no better tools for choice than following your passion and balancing that with some sound thinking, in this case about markets.”

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Agricultural robots and drones are predicted to be a US$35 billion industry by 2038 What is your definition of precision farming?

“That’s a big one, so let me divide it into two parts. On the machine part, with the rise especially 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 accurate or more optimal levels of fertiliser or pesticide application, seeding times, maximal cropping times and a number of thinking actions to decrease waste and increase yield. That’s a simple compact answer to a big subject which is about man-machine interaction and a number of related sciences, techniques and practices.”

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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 broadacre 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 immediate – that sector will be a high point. But the point that brings autonomous vehicles and precision farming together, the real point of interest here, is data.

“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 beginning and is something to embrace 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 usefulness, 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.”

Click here to read about Titan Australia’s custom manufacturing capability

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Easter Show brings ag life to city folk

All images courtesy of the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW the australian farmer

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The Sydney Royal Easter Show is the largest agricultural show in the Southern Hemisphere, attracting an average of nearly one million people through its gates each year. And it’s not just about showbags and rides – everyone from the very young to the very elderly has abundant opportunity to engage in and learn about Australia’s food and fibre production.

The Easter Show gives city folk a glimpse of what country life is about, where they can meet farmers, get up close to animals and taste some rural produce. It’s the perfect showcase for rural culture in the nation’s largest city.

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Proven and Premium Farm Products and Services

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

IDEAL combination of efficiency, technology and comfort is a game changer

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 farmers wanted from their machines. This was

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followed up by extensive analysis in different 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, technology 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.”

As a result of this extensive farmer involvement, 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.

The Dual 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.

PRODUCT SPECS Click here to see specifications of the three IDEAL models

Added to this are new engines to provide increased horsepower, additional creature comforts in the cab, track options to provide a lighter footprint and self-adjusting technology that is customisable for different outcomes from the combine, such as

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faster speed or improved grain quality. Different to anything else on the market, the IDEAL is truly a revolutionary update for the combine harvester.

“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 machine,” says Fergal. “That’s why it’s such a game changer – it’s driven by the customer, not the manufacturer.”

KEY BENEFITS • The IDEAL combine was designed in collaboration with farmers from across the globe

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• It has the largest threshing area, biggest grain tank and fastest unload rate of any combine harvester on the market

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Titan: more than just a tyre company 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.

With the backing of parent company Titan International – a supplier of tyres, tracks and wheels to OEM markets globally – Titan Australia has become the leading provider of tyres, tracks, wheels and axles in Australia. In recent years, the company 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 manufacturing 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 agricultural productions and the experience in specialised 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.

For spraying equipment manufacturer Croplands, Titan’s engineering expertise in wheels, tyres and axles is crucial to the performance of

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their finished sprayers. The two companies partner together in the development and design of new products that are specifically suited to the Australian farming landscape.

INFORMATION LINK Click here to read about Titan’s innovative Low Sidewall tyre technology “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 another 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.

“Rather than just viewing Titan as a supplier, we work with them on the design aspect of our requirements and really utilise their expertise in machinery – it’s a very collaborative process.”

Another local company thriving with Titan’s assistance is Toomey Earthmovers, which designs and manufactures specialist graders for earthmoving. For Toomey, Titan provides machine components and fabrications that make up around 40 per cent of the finished graders.

Toomey had been using Titan wheels, tyres and axles from day one, but the relationship 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.

“Titan have been generous on the manufacturing cost in order to establish themselves as a long-term partner for us,” says Toomey Earthmovers Project Engineer 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 enables us to be ready when the time comes and double or triple output with ease.”

KEY BENEFITS • 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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Allianz harnesses power of agtech to improve insurance

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.

Advances in agricultural technology are increasingly 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 customers.

“Farming knowledge passed down from generation to generation can be quickly validated through the use of farm management software which maps and monitors crops,” says Brett Williams, 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.”

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 efficiency 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

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world-leading crop satellite imagery technology to help manage their farms and reduce risk.

“We 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, particularly 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 difficult to do using the human eye.”

Customers may not see this technology in action, but they benefit from the improved 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 settle 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 assessor to access a remote property – now with satellite and mapping technology, we can start working on a claim almost immediately.”

And as the agtech 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

collation of data, which has significant implications for farmers and insurers alike.

“What will change drastically in agriculture in the next five years is the ability to analyse data on a much larger scale via machine 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 insurers.

“Simply put, pricing of insurance products 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.”

For further information, please contact your local broker

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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 Division of Wesfarmers, Decipher is an easy-to-use decision 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 cutting edge spatial technology from Google and

Microsoft, remote sensing and big data analytics to provide farmers with a wealth of information about their crops.

In order to inform these crucial decisions about crop nutrition and pasture management, Decipher uses advanced satellite imagery combined with ground-truthing data taken from soil and plant samples. While it may sound like complicated technology, the key to the award-winning

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Decipher software is its simplicity for users in bringing farm data to life.

“We take complex, reliable technology and provide it in a simple-to-use service that farmers can access anywhere and anytime,” says Decipher CEO Anthony Walker.

“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 and efficiency.”

Walker was appointed Decipher’s CEO in September 2018, tasked with deploying, scaling and growing the software globally.

With a rural upbringing and a deep history in software development and geo-

INFORMATION LINK Click here to try Decipher for free! 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 better decisions, farm more sustainably and, most importantly, improve their yield.

“I want farmers to think of Decipher as a key tool which influences the profitability of their operations, whether they’re farming in Western Australia, Argentina or Sussex,” says Walker. “For us it’s about unlocking all the tools that will help farmers make decisions to improve productivity; not just creating another pretty map.”

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 company to spend time and money perfecting and constantly updating its technology and allows Walker to keep one eye on the

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TESTIMONIALS Click here to read a testimonial from a WA farmer using Decipher opportunities that agtech could deliver to farmers in the near future.

“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 improve and artificial intelligence becomes more mainstream in the sector.

“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 updates 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.”

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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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 total sales.

One of the reasons for the low organic market share in Australia is that there is not enough supply of organic produce to meet consumer demand. In order to help grow this supply, Woolworths recently launched the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund – a $30 million, 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, Woolworths 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.”

The interest-free loans from Woolworths can be used by existing organic operations to acquire land, develop new varieties or

purchase new equipment, and are also available to help growers convert conventional farm operations to organic production. Financial grants will also be awarded to proposed 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 product 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 vegetables to Woolworths.

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INFORMATION LINK Click here for more info on the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund, including how to apply “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.”

The first recipient of the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund is Tasmanian apple grower R&R Smith. Located in the Huon Valley, the company 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 appetising properties for consumers.

“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 summer!”

For Andrew, the involvement of Woolworths has made the development of the new variety a reality.

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Woolworths has partnered with Queensland-based Heritage Bank on this program, a bank which is committed to innovation and sustainable farming practices in Australia.

“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 marketing of the new variety is integral, and nothing says ‘I love what you’re doing’ like funding.”

KEY BENEFITS • Woolworths 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

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“

“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.

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.”

Brett Williams, Head of Regional and Rural, Allianz Australia

Heritage proudly supporting Australian farmers 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.

For more information visit woolworths.com.au/organicgrowthfund Heritage Bank Limited ABN 32 087 652 024. AFSL and Australian Credit Licence 240984.

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The program making business meetings easier for rural Australia Businesses and organisations across the country lose untold time and money due to inefficient meetings that cover old ground and are difficult to track. Two former farmers from Orange have come up with an answer: ZIPMIN. ZIPMIN is a new, easy-to-use cloud-based platform that allows you to better organise, track and record business meetings. Built with rural Australians in mind, it is the perfect tool to make meetings more efficient, productive and professional, and suitable for succession planning, sporting clubs, committees, not-for-profits and boards. ZIPMIN is designed to safely record, store and manage all of your meeting agendas and notes, and is capable of handling meetings with just two attendees or meetings with thousands of attendees.

INFORMATION LINK Click here to start a free trial of ZIPMIN The platform does most of the work for you by auto-filling relevant information and auto-generating minutes, action items, motions and attendance reports from previous meetings. ZIPMIN not only allows for greater tracking of tasks and agenda items across meetings, but it greatly reduces the data entry workload for the user. It’s as easy to use as Microsoft Word, but with much of the data pre-filled, ZIPMIN is much quicker to type and provides a much more professional look.

As meetings are ‘live’ on the platform, attendees can also join remotely – thus saving on lengthy and expensive travel for many rural businesses. The software makes it easy to review previous meetings and generate action items and reports, and its versatility makes it perfect for everything from AGMs to small team meetings.

KEY BENEFITS • ZIPMIN makes tracking and recording business meetings, minutes and action items easier • The software is easy to use, enables remote attendance and saves on time-consuming data entry

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IT investment takes on new importance for farming businesses

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 THE SPIRIT OF REINVENTION HP’s tagline is ‘keep reinventing’, 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 particularly 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 technologically to keep up. To do that, the farmer will require stronger,

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cial gear can meet the environmental conditions that farmers have to deal with day-to-day, especially extreme heat or extreme cold,” says Paul Burman, HP’s Consumer Training Specialist.

“Our devices have operating temperatures – especially in the commercial space – which far exceed any other piece of technology, designed to function from minus 29 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius.”

“HP’s vision as a company is to try to make life better for everyone everywhere.

We’re not creating technology 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

faster and more secure computers 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 withstand the toughest conditions.

DIGITAL HARDWARE FOR AUSTRALIAN FARMS 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 farmers who are not only very mobile, but – given their isolation and limited access to support services – need to be able to trust their technology will perform regardless of conditions.

“We make sure our commer-

HP’s commercial devices are also tested for their ability to endure condensation build-up, salt erosion and sand and dust – important features in the harsh Australian outback. The Elitebook range is even built out of an aircraft-grade metal alloy, able to withstand frost, extreme heat, direct sunlight and – for the clumsier user – able to survive falls from desk height onto the screen or edge.

In terms of processing capacity and data crunching, HP products are unrivalled. HP’s Workstations range is used by NASA, Disney,

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Dreamworks and most of the Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects in the last 15 years.

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 involves crunching vast amounts of data around the clock.

“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 applications, waiting for the hard-

INFORMATION LINK Click here to check out HP’s product range and find the right PC for your farm

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.”

And in a dangerous new age where hackers could theoretically destroy digital crop management systems and put food security at risk, security is paramount at HP. It is an area the company specialises in, committed to being a leader in security for all devices.

A CASE FOR UPGRADING 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 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 farmers.

Closer 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.

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to harnessing the power of agtech is ensuring 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 current 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-leading Workstations support 3,000GB of RAM, a processing power unfathomable just five years ago.

And 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 $1,000.

“People 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 products are going to last a lot longer if you buy the right machine.”

INVESTING IN THE NEXT GENERATION HP is also lending its expertise to the next generation of farmers through an innovative rural funding program that targets rural schools.

The HP Kids Fund was launched in 2017, supporting digital literacy in schools around the country by offering grants of $10,000 that can be spent on any HP technology.

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Through the fund, HP has committed to investing $500,000 in Australian schools – many of them rural. The focus is on supporting schools that may not have access to technology or the funds to purchase it, rather than wealthy private schools.

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 indigenous students.

“By giving these grants we’re able to support STEM learning and ensure kids across the country have access to technology 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.”

“65 per cent of these kids will eventually 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-related. We need to make sure we’re getting technology into schools to prepare kids for the jobs of the future.”

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“Australia’s history and evolution in agriculture has fascinated me personally over the past eight years –the level of sophistication and the interest in technology advances here are world class. We enjoy meeting the challenges posed by this massive country, with its extreme variations in climate and soil conditions. Indeed, it is a two-way relationship – we learn from each other. Our robust R&D centres around the world have developed a special excitement towards feedback from this great farming nation.”

Bruno Fetiveau, CEO of Kuhn Australia

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Photo Courtesy Angela Elliott

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“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.

The next big change in the industry must centre on delivering rural communities the modern infrastructure services that farmers need to truly thrive.”

Col Murray, Mayor of Tamworth Regional Council

Photo courtesy of Karin Robinson

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

World-leading irrigation tech for cutting edge Aussie farmers 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 according 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.

“I’ve worked in and managed factories across a number of different countries, and Australia is considered 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.”

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 recommendations that are crop-specific and sitespecific – without the need for on-farm sensors.

INFORMATION LINK Click here to see Rivulis’ full product range “Using Manna, irrigators can tell where they’ve got issues and where water needs are to develop accurate irrigation schedules,” says Greig. “Our algorithms can, for example, tell you how much water needs to be applied per crop per day for the next seven days.”

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Apart from the latest technology, Rivulis’ drip irrigation expertise naturally extends to the infrastructure itself. The company’s extensive range of drip irrigation products can not only deliver significant water savings, but is suitable for any farm and can be custom-made to individual specifications.

Rob Tuck, a fourth-generation farmer from Narromine in New South Wales, recently 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.

After laying 1.7 million metres of Rivulis 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 advantages, Rob is also saving when it comes to

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fertiliser costs due to the efficient application 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 more

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

A unique dairy farmhand 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.

Lely’s latest innovation, the Lely Astronaut A5, has set a landmark in robotic milking for the dairy industry, 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, improves animal welfare and farmer safety and reduces the farmer’s workload, freeing time for a better work and life balance.

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 separate 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.

INFORMATION LINK Click here to read more about the Astronaut A5’s unique energysaving design

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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 robotics – embarrassed because we should have considered it ourselves.”

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 automated milking system, all managed through the Lely T4C system.

“As soon as we saw the relaxed cows on these farms – cows that basically run the system – we were sold,” says Symone. “The difference between the old herringbone dairy and the new Lely dairy is night and day.”

In order to get any data from the old dairy, the Vines needed to herd test, which only provided 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 production, cell count, fat/protein breakdown, activity, rumination and health problems.

INFORMATION LINK Click here to find out more about Lely’s innovative robotic solutions for every facet of dairy farming “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.”

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.

“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 interaction with our cows.

“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 allows 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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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

BOQ brings a personal touch to Agribusiness banking 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.

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 leaders, such as Dubbo-based Head of Agribusiness Lucinda Hawkins, are accessible and available to farming clients.

“Time and time again, when we meet with customers 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 haven’t come from the land or are involved in a family farming operation, then they’ve worked in the industry as service providers or agronomists.”

This innate understanding of the farming business 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 understand 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.”

“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.”

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.

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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 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 successful – I wish we had swapped sooner.”

For Fiona, the BOQ Agribusiness team’s understanding of her local area – along with their customer service – is the strength of the bank.

“The 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.

“BOQ put absolutely no pressure on us

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during the drought because they knew how quickly we’d be able to bounce back – they understood dry years were part of the business. This understanding allowed us to expand or update our machinery and build sheds in the dry years so that we were ready to go in the wet years.”

KEY BENEFITS • BOQ’s Agribusiness team understand agriculture and can tailor banking products to suit farming cashflows • BOQ bankers are hands-on with clients due to small portfolios and a focus on personal relationships

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

An innovative history for a modern market leader 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 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 button 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 survived and even succeeded after winning a contract to make gas meter components and pipe fittings for the South Australian Gas Company.

The company soon expanded into pumps, washing machine components and plumbing fittings 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 company Aliaxis, providing the expertise and resources 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

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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.

“Our biggest advantage is that our products last for generations,” says Geoff Puckett, Philmac 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.”

TESTIMONIALS Click here to read a case study from a Queensland cattle farmer using Philmac products For Australian farmers, the Philmac Rural compression fitting range provides the perfect connection for Australian Rural B Class poly pipe, recognised by the trademark terracotta 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 service life.

Adding 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 Australian market in 2010, each fitting is manufactured from high performance thermoplastic materials that are non-toxic and taint free. The 3G metric compression fittings are pre-assembled and sold ready-to-use for ease of installation, providing outstanding impact, UV and corrosion resistance.

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.

KEY BENEFITS • Philmac’s Australian-made fittings and valves are trusted by farmers across the country for their reliability, durability and water-saving capacity • The company’s float valves, rural and metric fittings are made specifically for tough Australian farm conditions and are resistant to corrosion

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“The education sector has a key role to play in the growth of Australian agriculture. As global demand for food and fibre climbs, it is vital that our education system is able to promote interest in the industry and inspire the next generation of farmers, scientists, engineers and researchers. It is these young people who will be the innovators of tomorrow, ensuring Australia remains a leader in the world agricultural market.

Industry partnerships with educational institutions are vital to engage and develop the students who will guide our future.”

Clint Gallagher, Principal of Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School

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Photo courtesy of Angela Elliott

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Integrated irrigation technology to improve yields and drive efficiency

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.

Kagome Foods is Australia’s largest tomato processor, 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 Kagome’s yields nearly double at the tops of the dunes.

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 provide greater control over water assets and the ability 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 immediately,” 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

TESTIMONIALS Click here to read a case study about a South Australian farmer tackling yield loss with Growsmart Precision VRI

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tonnes per hectare to 100 tonnes per hectare.”

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,

VIDEO LINK Click here to watch a video of Growsmart Precision VRI in action 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.

“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 constant communication with farming customers.

Lindsay is very cognisant of the needs of its customers, and specifically designs products that will help them solve problems and make decisions as easily as possible.

“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 Bradbury, Innovation Leader and Engineer at Lindsay International. “It’s not just a matter of creating a product that fits into the farmer’s operation, you’ve got to design the product to fit into their lifestyle.”

VIDEO LINK Click here to watch a video explaining how FieldNET Advisor works “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 Australasia. “And that gives us the ability to create 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.”

KEY BENEFITS • 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

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Locally-made trailers thrive in tough Australian market Celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2018, Dean Trailers is the perfect case study of how an Australian company can survive and even prosper in the tough equipment manufacturing industry. In a market crowded with cheaper imports, Dean Trailers’ ongoing success and unparalleled reputation for quality is testament to its craftmanship, durability and connection with Australian farmers.

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PROUD HISTORY OF QUALITY Dean Trailers was born in the garage of Eric Dean’s family home on Ascot Rd in Bowral, where he began manufacturing custom trailers for local customers.

Demand for high-quality trailers from local farmers soon outstripped the humble family garage and Dean Trailers quickly moved to bigger and better things on Bowral’s main street. 70 years later, Dean Trailers has expanded from farm trailers to supply the industrial and road markets and is now a brand recognised nationally for its reliability and durability.

The company might still be based in Bowral, but the needs of its customers have changed significantly over the past 70 years. Historically, farmers only needed a trailer for work on the farm. But now, farmers are buying tipping trailers for use both on the farm and on the road, and Dean Trailers has had to adapt its design to meet this changing demand.

The company’s most popular farm trailer today is

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the 6-tonne capacity trailer with hydraulic tipper and removable sides.

One thing that hasn’t changed over time is Dean Trailers’ commitment to quality. To maintain a high standard of fabrication and workmanship, all the company’s fabricators and welders are qualified tradesmen.

“We make a durable, premium commercial trailer – something that can go to work every day for the farmer or the business guy who needs his trailer to last the distance,” says Managing Director Chris Guy. “The quality of a Dean trailer remains long after the price is forgotten.”

PRODUCT SPECS Click here to see the specifications of the 6-tonne tipper trailer

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

HOW TO SURVIVE IN A TOUGH MARKET It is this commitment to quality and consistency that has ensured Dean Trailers’ survival in competition with cheaper imports. With Dean Trailers, farmers might be buying a premium product, but they know they are paying for a trailer that will stand up to the tough Australian conditions – and the even tougher demands of Australian farmers.

“The fact we’ve been in this business for so long, people accept we know what we’re doing,” says Chris.

“We’ve got so many trailers working in the field that

our repeat business comes from word of mouth – we like to say that every trailer will sell another trailer.”

Unlike many of the cheaper imports they compete with, Dean Trailers makes trailers that last. For a farmer using the trailer every day, a Dean trailer will exceed all expectations when it comes to durability – indeed, there are many trailers that have been passed on from one generation of farmer to the next.

So, while the initial outlay for a Dean trailer may be higher than competing models, their durability ensures that it is more cost-effective in the long run.

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It is this connection with farmers that ensures Dean Trailers’ survival in the market. Indeed, many of the company’s new ideas for product development come directly from farmers at field days, as well as clients who request custom designs.

INFORMATION LINK Click here to see when Dean Trailers is exhibiting at a field day near you!

Dean Trailers have come a long way since the early days, as this ad for one of their original models shows

INFORMATION LINK Click here to see a gallery of Dean Trailers through the ages In addition to their durability, Dean Trailers enjoy their enviable reputation among Australian farmers because the company makes the effort to get their products out in front of farmers as often as possible.

Dean Trailers exhibits at agricultural shows around the country and has been at every AgQuip since the mid-1970s.

“We make the effort to take our products to farmers and regional areas to ensure consistency and that people know our brand,” says Chris. “We are one of the few trailer companies out there that would be known by the brand name right across Australia.”

And while the agricultural industry may look very different in the future as innovations such as automation and robotics change the way we farm, Chris is confident that Dean Trailers will go on providing Australian farmers with durable and dependable trailers for a long time to come.

“No matter how much the industry changes, I believe there’s always going to be a need for a trailer,” says Chris. “I don’t think we’re ever going to get away from that.”

KEY BENEFITS • Dean Trailers has 70 years of expertise in manufacturing trailers to handle Australian conditions

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• Built to last, customers can expect a lifetime of service from their Dean trailer

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Prime Super puts rural Australians first 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.

The Australian farm employment and superannuation landscape can be difficult to navigate, for both employers and employees. Seasonal workers, 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 industry, Prime Super is not only well-equipped to untangle these complexities, but keen to contribute to the health of the agricultural sector as a whole.

“We’ve been involved in the Australian agricultural 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 Lachlan 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 superannuation requirements.”

INFORMATION LINK Click here to read more about your superannuation responsibilities as an employer

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.”

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

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Super provides much-needed assistance with payroll and the employment of seasonal workers and backpackers. They were also available to give Rien’s employees personal advice about the approach to retirement.

“Prime 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 relationship manager was professional, helpful and kind in assisting that family to have access to their life insurance.”

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

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 Australia and the agricultural industry.

“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 superannuation.”

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

New software delivers massive yield improvement for WA irrigator 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 collect inputs from flow meters, weather observations and soil moisture readings and provides the farmer with the information required for irrigation scheduling – 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.

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.

A trial of the SWAN Systems software was recently conducted by Western Australian table grape producer Fruitico on a vineyard of newly-established vines. The grape varieties were planted in November 2016, with the first crops planned for autumn 2018 and an expected yield from these immature vines of five kilograms per vine.

SWAN Systems staff worked with Fruitico on the functionality of the software, helping to set

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parameters and model sites. Given the importance of soil moisture balance at Fruitico, SWAN Systems was used to ensure optimal water application to the grape vines in order to prevent them from becoming stressed.

INFORMATION LINK Get 30% off your first year of SWAN Systems by using the code ‘AUSFARM30’ (valid until September 2019) Using the dashboard 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 evapotranspiration 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 depending on the seven-day weather forecast 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 expectations. 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 expected to yield more than five kilograms per vine.

Receiving daily feedback on soil moisture 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.

KEY BENEFITS • SWAN 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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“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.�

Sir William Gallagher, Chairman and CEO of Gallagher Group

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Valvoline: a famous brand dedicated to improving Australian agriculture Valvoline is a household name across Australia – a brand forever synonymous with improved engine performance and protection.

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 distributor of high-quality lubricants and oils with products 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.

“A high percentage of working vehicles throughout regional Australia are operating with Valvoline lubricants – we’re a brand that’s trusted and known in the commercial, heavy duty and automotive space,” says Graham Hutton, Valvoline’s Director for the Commercial and Industrial Division. “Over recent decades our focus and product development has shifted towards also fulfilling the requirements of agricultural equipment, with much success.”

The company offers a complete line of engine oils, greases, hydraulic fluids and driveline oils that have been specifically formulated to withstand the harsh Australian agricultural environ-

ment. Valvoline has also partnered with some of the world’s leading agricultural equipment manufacturers such as Kubota, a company that relies on the performance and quality of Valvoline oils to provide a more tailored solution.

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 variety of applications and conditions.

“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.”

As a company with a commitment to its agricul-

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tural customers, Valvoline’s national footprint extends across 27 warehouses around the country, including 20 in regional areas.

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.

And to make life easier for rural customers, Valvoline has created an easy to use online ordering platform with extensive product information. The platform is supported by a range of distributor partnerships in regional centres that ensures farmers have ample opportunity to access Valvoline’s product range.

“It’s all about relationships – we have strong long-term relationships with our distributors and resellers. They are respected in their communities and have the long-term relationships with local primary producers,” says Graham. “We’re commit-

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ted to the ongoing production of Valvoline oils and lubricants in Australia and have been doing so since 1964.”

KEY BENEFITS • Valvoline manufactures oils and lubricants in Australia specifically for Australian agricultural conditions • 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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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

IPSTAR: A connection across the digital divide

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.

“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.”

IPSTAR’s NBN Sky Muster Satellite service has been designed to provide faster and better broadband connectivity, allowing those living in rural areas to stay connected not just with each other and

their urban cousins, but to the world.

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.

“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

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for better speeds and connections for video streaming sessions and services (such as Netflix) that were previously not so common.”

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.

“Our goal is to satisfy our customers’ needs and to overcome their challenges by providing solutions that are focused on their specific business requirements,” says Shannon. “These requirements can range from broadband connectivity to cloud and infrastructure solutions, IT performance and security solutions.”

While IPSTAR services a range of customers from SMEs to multinational corporations and governments, it is first and foremost a rural, regional and remote area telecoms service provider.

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“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.

“We are entering an exciting period of technological 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 available 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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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Innovation in water tanks provides a wholistic farming solution Rainwater tanks are an ever-present feature of rural life in Australia. Given how precious water is to an Aussie farmer, it is vitally important to capture and preserve every last drop.

By integrating technology into water tanks and developing innovative designs, local tank manufacturer National Poly Industries is doing just that.

Some of the recent innovations from National Poly Industries have been as simple as changing the structure of the tank roof to be concave rather than convex (making the tank a water capture device in its own right) or using technology to improve the filtration and agitation of water to prevent sediment build-up. But the company’s latest and most significant innovation is the unique integration of a solar pump into the design of a tank.

Produced in partnership with pump experts Davey Water Products, the hybrid pump and tank

solution means farmers won’t have to think about how to move the water they are storing – particularly useful for farmers storing and using bore water.

And as a solar solution, prohibitive fuel costs or access to wind power become a thing of the past.

“We partnered with Davey, probably the biggest and one of the most reputable brands in pumps, to develop a number of pump water tank solutions, and at the more complex end is the solar-driven pump and tank solution,” says Matthew Roughan, CEO of National Poly Industries. “This product has

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“If you’ve got a farm with multiple, widespread tank locations and you want to make sure they’re getting water, this technology enables farmers to better manage their scarce time,” says Matthew. “You can remotely check flow rates, volumes and storage capacities, so there’s no need to ever physically attend to each tank.”

With this and the other innovative water management solutions on offer, National Poly Industries is changing the way farmers look at their rainwater tanks. In an industry where every drop of water is so vital, it is outside-the-square thinking like this that is needed to ensure Aussie farmers stay ahead of the competition.

“People don’t appreciate it, but most of this country’s successful farmers are very good at adopting new technology, and we’ve recognised that with our new products,” says Matthew. “Depending on what liquid you’re trying to store and how you’re trying to move that liquid, we have an outof-the-box tank and pump solution for you.”

KEY BENEFITS been developed specifically to address particular usage issues around bores and dripfed solutions, as well as tackle the rising costs farmers face in moving their water.”

The integration of technology in this product doesn’t stop there, however, as the solution can be enhanced with Davey’s pumping app. The app enables the user to remotely track and control the quantity of liquid in the tank and its flow rate.

• National Poly Industries new solar pump and tank solution makes remote management of water resources easy for farmers • The product comes with a 25year guarantee and is backed by the company’s extensive experience in water storage and tank design

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“To truly change the future of how we farm here in Australia and around the world, we need to focus on long-term transformation over short-term disruption. To transform an essential industry like agriculture – which has a reputation for deeply ingrained practices and passionate, knowledgeable practitioners – requires an unconventional approach.”

Ros Harvey, Founder and Managing Director at The Yield

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Drones take power network inspection to new levels Essential Energy is using innovative drone technology to inspect power poles, zone substations and other critical electrical assets to drive business efficiencies and improve network safety for its regional and rural customers. Drones provide an efficient, cost-effective alternative to the regular ground-based and aerial inspections Essential Energy undertakes as part of its extensive maintenance program.

The drones – or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – capture vital data on the condition of network assets. Their bird’s-eye view reduces the need for Essential Energy’s inspectors to use elevated work platforms or climbing techniques to access poles or towers in areas that are inaccessible by vehicle.

For example, technicians sometimes need to climb communications towers that are well over 40m high, with associated inherent risks. A drone was recently used to inspect a 90m tower in Moree, mitigating those risks for Essential Energy employees.

The drones also provide a snapshot of

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the internal condition of power poles and equipment using thermal imaging.

Not only can the condition of network assets be assessed in a safer manner, but drone technology dramatically reduces the time needed to complete inspections, delivering a safe and reliable network more efficiently.

For example, a ground-based patrol of nine powerline towers located in mountainous terrain near Burrinjuck in the NSW Riverina generally takes an asset inspector around ten hours to complete. A drone can complete the same task within two hours. This ultimately benefits all Essential Energy customers by contributing to lower network charges.

General Manager Network Services, Luke Jenner, said the drone fleet was supporting Essential Energy’s workforce with mobile solutions that enhance safety and drive efficiency and productivity.

“Successful trials have shown the value drones add by putting staff safety at the forefront, delivering productivity outcomes and returning vital data on the condition of assets,” he said.

Registered as an operator with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Essential Energy has a fleet of 45 drones – each weighing less than two kilograms – currently in operation across its electricity distribution area. Trials are being undertaken with a range of larger and smaller drones to expand the range of technology applications.

Approximately 80 employees have been trained as drone operators to date.

You can find out more at the Essential Energy website.

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

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.

WiSA began in humble circumstances, created on the kitchen bench of founder Graeme Wright in 1996. His success in developing sustainable automated irrigation systems that allow growers to monitor, control and remotely manage their water use saw the company develop a formidable reputation.

WiSA’s system uses weather data and sensors to provide real-time weather, soil and en-

vironmental updates and control water and nutrient application.

The data collected from sensors and field units is automatically mapped and can be accessed via smartphone or laptop.

This automated system ensures 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 design, allowing customers to add to the system over time.

“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 customers’ systems at minimal cost.”

With increasing demand on limited water resources and the need to increase productivity throughout the agriculture industry, WiSA is continually looking for ways to improve the efficiency of automated irrigation systems. As such, the company has recently developed a new system specifically 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.”

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WiSA’s new two-valve board system can independently open actuators at different positions in order to better and more efficiently control the water flows.

“Instead of operating just one field unit that manages three irrigation units, for example, the grower is now able to independently operate all three irrigation units for the same price of one field unit,” explains Paul.

WiSA has simultaneously developed a single 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.

“We are one of the oldest companies around when it comes to automated irrigation systems,” says Paul. “But unlike other

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companies, once you buy one of our systems it really is yours and there is no ongoing costs and no third party involved.

“Once we have a customer, we have a customer for life.”

KEY BENEFITS • WiSA’s Australian-made automated irrigation control systems ensure precise applications of water and fertiliser • WiSA has a range of solutions that can be tailored to any farm type

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Precision, safety and control: the Rotor Solutions advantage

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.

While fixed-wing planes dominate the aerial agriculture scene in flatlands, helicopters have found a niche on more congested, hillier farms where manoeuvrability 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.

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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 themselves at risk for any type of farming, no matter what.”

Helicopters can also get much closer to the ground, so there is the added environmental benefit of a greatly reduced risk of spray drift. And for fertiliser application, helicopters provide a much more even coverage with less wastage.

It is also important to remember that helicopters provide not only greater precision but also lower transport costs. Unlike planes, helicopters can take off and land on the farm, thus negating the need to transport the payload to the nearest airport and saving money and time.

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 paddocks. He had used planes for both spraying and application in the past, but went to Rotor Solutions looking for a better result.

“I’m much happier with the results from the helicopter as opposed to planes,” says James. “We no longer have to rely on a neighbouring airstrip and the biggest advantage is the amount of time we save – Rotor Solutions can have the spraying done in a tenth of the time it would take us on the ground.”

And as experiences like James’ become the norm, the helicopter spraying industry – and Rotor Solutions – will only continue to grow.

“So many places we go to have had aeroplanes do spraying,” says Hugh. “But as soon as we’ve flown over once, they’ll never go back to aeroplanes again.”

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KEY BENEFITS • Helicopters are much more suited to aerial spraying or fertiliser application in hilly country

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• They are safer, faster, much more precise and reduce transport costs

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Government provides crucial support for innovative farm businesses 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.

The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science plays a two-pronged role in supporting the agricultural industry in Australia: providing farming businesses 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 support takes on added importance.

SUPPORTING INNOVATION The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science offers a wide range of initiatives and programs for businesses of all kinds via the dedi-

cated, easy-to-use business.gov.au website. Two of the most relevant programs for farmers are the Entrepreneurs’ Programme and the R&D Tax Incentive.

The Entrepreneurs’ Programme offers business support through experienced advisers and facilitators, co-funded commercialisation grants for novel products and services, funding for growth opportunities 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 enterprising agricultural start-ups receiving support.

Assisted by the University of New England’s SMART Region Incubator, SmartShepherd is an

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innovative technological solution that enables livestock breeders to collect maternal pedigree information quickly and cost effectively. The start-up has received oneon-one mentoring and support via the incubator that has been crucial in developing the business for both the domestic and export markets.

The R&D Tax Incentive is the government’s single largest investment in business innovation, with over 13,000 businesses benefiting 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 Incentive.

With more than 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 insects) 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.

ACCESS TO SCIENCE The Industry, Innovation and Science portfolio includes science agencies the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Geoscience Australia.

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 creation of Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM), one of the two most widely used crop simulation models worldwide.

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.

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

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.

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 farming batteries.

Jared Cox, who owns both Tamworth and Dubbo Battery World stores, talks with farmers daily.

“Batteries are most commonly left to go flat or dry out, which shortens the life of the battery considerably,” 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.

“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.

“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 batteries lasted after following this advice.”

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 vehicles 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

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the right cables for even the most difficult of projects.

“Many farmers are running European equipment that require larger format specialist batteries such as VARTA and we can easily supply those.”

In Victoria’s fruit belt, Swan Hill’s Adam

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 Best regularly meets with farmers and says a flat battery is not necessarily a dead battery, and that farmers should be using their battery chargers as a daily tool instead of waiting until a battery needs to be charged.

“For over four years we have been offering free maintenance audits to our producers,” 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.

“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.”

INFORMATION LINK Click here to find your nearest Battery World store!

Many in the rural sector might be unaware that Battery World stores are owned and operated by locals invested in their community. All stores offer 24-hour battery assistance and can come to the farm to change a battery, jump start heavy vehicles and trucks or help with other farming and non-farming power solutions.

KEY BENEFITS • Planning a simple maintenance schedule for batteries can help save farmers thousands of dollars in energy costs • Battery World stores offer not only the best in batteries, but also 24-hour assistance and farm visits

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“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

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

IGA: Championing true blue heroes

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.

IGA’s support of regional communities extends beyond championing 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 current drought. Numerous retailers throughout the country have put their hands up to engage in the cause.

One 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.

Brad came up with the Raindrop Token Campaign for his stores, where for each $2 donation, a raindrop 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.

“There are a lot of customers who want to support farmers and their families because, even in cities, they have a connection with people from the bush,” says Brad.

“The IGA family gives us the capDrought 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.

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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 difference – just a gold coin goes a long way.”

For over two decades in Victoria, Michael Lorenz’s IGA stores have given close to $2 million to community groups and contributed to fundraisers for disasters such as the 2004 tsunami, 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 struggling 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.”

Taking the pressure off not only financially 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 donation from Drought Angels spurred other

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IGA retailers all around the country have raised funds to help the farming community. Other initiatives include: • Mint Fresh IGA stores in NSW have set up money collection tins to raise funds for the Buy a Bale appeal • Rigters IGA stores in Western Australia have pledged to match customer donations up to $100,000 to help drought-affected Australian farmers businesses to donate to the cause, and John was able to enlist Aussie rockers Shane Howard of Goanna and John Schumann to perform for the 800 people in attendance.

“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.

Throughout the country, IGA retailers are doing what they can to help their communities and local producers, whether through financial, 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.

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

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 throughout 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 decision-making, Ecotech also offers local or back-to-base monitoring solutions. These enable you to access information about the

performance of your solar pumping system online and in real time, anywhere in the world.

Karl Hooke, a broadacre farmer in northwest Victoria, recently contracted Ecotech Energy to install two 100kw ground-mounted solar power systems to offset the costs of running bore pumps used for

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INFORMATION LINK Got questions about installing a solar system? Check out Ecotech’s handy FAQ section for the answers irrigation. Karl currently uses irrigation bores running on 100 per cent grid power to irrigate his lucerne pasture from October to March.

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.

“We were originally looking at a five-year payback period for the cost of the solar system 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.”

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.

Given the cost savings on offer, it is no surprise that farmers across the country are considering solar power for their pumping needs. And for Karl, what made Ecotech stand out in this space was the company’s experience and professionalism.

“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.

“It’s one of the main reasons we went with Ecotech – that experience, coupled with their excellent customer service.”

KEY BENEFITS • 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

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Omnia’s Nutriology System – a holistic approach to managing soil health The Omnia Group has been operating for 75 years, but its history in Australia only began in 1990, when rich brown coal deposits located in the La Trobe Valley were found to contain a special resource from which agricultural-grade humic acid could be produced. The discovery was a gamechanger for the company, leading to the development of K-humate – a rich humic-based soil conditioner and biostimulant that has a positive impact on soil and plant health.

Omnia’s K-humate range is made from the highest quality raw materials utilising humic acid, which is naturally derived from the breakdown of plant and microbial matter. Extracted from the brown coal fields of Victoria – sometimes called the ‘50 million-year compost’ due to its thick layers of peat and humic materials – humic acid stimulates and maintains soil health with greater nutrient holding ability and water holding capacity. It is a readily available carbon food source for beneficial soil microorganisms, resulting in better soil structure.

This ‘natural fertiliser’ has been nature’s way of

minimising nutrient losses in order to maintain long-term soil fertility and ensure sustainable plant growth. Manufacturing this organic biostimulant is just a part of Omnia’s ‘Nutriology System’ – a company philosophy that Managing Director James Freemantle attributes to Omnia Australia’s growing popularity with farmers.

INFORMATION LINK What is humic acid? Click here to find out

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“When the company was founded over 75 years ago in South Africa, we wanted to do more than just provide products,” says James. “Instead, we wanted to provide a more holistic approach to soil health and crop nutrition.

“We look at the physical, chemical and biological aspects of soil health and provide solutions based on what the soil and crop needs – and we do this sustainably.”

At the core of the company’s success is its clear dedication to science. Omnia Australia invests heavily in R&D to develop sustainable solutions, and manufactures organic products that not only promote better soil health but also improve fertiliser efficiency.

To this end, the company has an ongoing partnership with Monash University that explores the different aspects of humic acid and the best ways to extract, utilise, process, produce and apply it efficiently.

“We are looking to raise awareness of the benefits of using biostimulants,” says James.

“We are very aware that there are a lot of poor quality, low concentration and badly formulated products on the market – we want to show that there is good, high-quality organicANALYSIS biostimulants that really do work.” %W/W

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Omnia’s holistic approach also includes offering farmers a separate range of services tailored to finding the best crop solution. This involves agronomists and agricultural scientists working with the farmer to manage consistent peak crop performance and optimise soil health through soil and plant analysis and a precision mapping system.

“The company’s values centre on creating a better world by facilitating strong customer relationships and providing innovative and sustainable solutions for our customers,” says James. “We want farmers to know that we pride ourselves on delivering what we say we are going to deliver.”

INFORMATION LINK Interested in learning more?

Click here to read about the biological, chemical and physical benefits of K-Humate

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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

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.

P2PAgri is an online platform – written for farmers and their advisors – that provides both historical financial reporting and forward planning, accessible 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 expanding the property. It can significantly improve risk management and long-term profitability.

The beauty of P2PAgri is that it can be used by

both farmers and their advisors to improve decision-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 sophisticated, and we need to become more sophisticated if we’re going to continue to push forward

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on what is a challenging playing field.

“P2PAgri allows us to do that – it’s a wonderful piece of software and I can’t imagine running a business without it. If you’re not using it, you’re doing it tough.”

For Tony, P2PAgri has a significant influence on his clients. It not only creates discipline around financial planning and provides clarity for the long-term production cycle but is also easy to use – farmers can become proficient with the software in as little as two days.

“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.

“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 succession planning?’ – we can model all that and more.”

For 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 modelling tools of a spreadsheet, a pen and the back of an envelope.

“We’ve just had to work through an expansion phase in our business, and P2PAgri has allowed us to get a better idea of what we can do and model different scenarios to

TESTIMONIALS Click here to learn how Corey Uebergang – a farmer and advisor – uses P2PAgri to get ahead

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 disposal to assess your decisions, so P2PAgri is a great benefit.”

KEY BENEFITS • 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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“Australia punches way above its weight in agricultural innovation. Many of our farmers use the world’s best technologies – often developed locally. From emerging robotics and autonomous vehicles, to 24/7 connectivity and some of the most powerful big data tools available, much of it is already here. These smart technologies will need to become commonplace for our farming future given the food security and resource challenges the world is facing.”

John Chalmers, Managing Director of FarmscanAG Pty Ltd

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Easy and professional Labour Solutions for hard-working farm businesses

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.

Labour licencing laws have changed in Queensland and Victoria in the last year in an attempt to curb the exploitation and mistreatment of workers, particularly in the agricultural industry. While the changes are a blow to the many ethically dubious labour hire companies that have been underpaying workers and providing labour to employers at what can only be seen as illegitimate pay rates, for Labour Solutions Australia the changes

are business as usual.

“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 responsibility to understand the market and what they should be paying their workers,” says Labour Solutions Australia CEO Edwin Cooke. “They need to know there are legitimate options out there and Labour Solutions Australia is one of them.”

Labour Solutions Australia (est. 2004) manages workforces, hires skilled and unskilled labour and provides tailored employment solutions across a broad range of industries all over Australia. The company has a proven track record in regional and metropolitan locations and is also a registered provider for the well-regarded Seasonal Worker Program and Pacific Island Scheme.

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One of the advantages of Labour Solutions Australia is the fact it is a large company – a subsidiary of international workforce company Adcorp – with a culture of compliance and efficiency and the resources to operate at any scale.

“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 because we’re a part of a listed entity we can operate sustainably in the long-term.”

The key to the Labour Solutions offering is the effort that goes into recruiting and screening candidates. A comprehensive selection process utilises referrals and work histories to ensure the workforce matches the skills and attitude needed by the workplace. For the farm business, the amount of work needed is minimal – Labour Solutions handles everything.

“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 workers 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.”

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 farmer’s behalf.

“Key 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 superannuation,” says Edwin. “We allow senior

managers to do what they should be doing rather than worrying about menial administrative tasks.

“It’s about allocating your resources correctly – if you can have an organisation like ours come and do everything from start to finish and deliver a workforce to run a project, that allows your existing management team to focus on more important things such as yield, quality, infrastructure and expansion.”

KEY BENEFITS • 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

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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’s current product range includes 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 different 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 eliminate 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.

KEY BENEFITS • National Ag imports the best grain handling equipment from around the world • The equipment comes with a full parts and service backup as standard

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Spraygro – the experts in liquid fertiliser 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.

The use of liquid fertilisers on farm has significantly 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 furrow or drip irrigation systems, enabling the farmer to precisely fertilise thousands of hectares with just the push of a button.

INFORMATION LINK Click here to hear from Spraygro Managing Director Simon Blackwood on the importance of liquid fertilisers on Australian farms

Spraygro’s liquid fertiliser range is among the most comprehensive in the world, providing 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 consistent results.

Spraygro specialises in custom liquid fertiliser 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 manufacturing speed and can deliver products to customers just 2-3 days after they were ordered.

KEY BENEFITS • 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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100 years of educating youth on the land It is no surprise that a school based in the agricultural hub of Tamworth has strong links to the farming community, but at Calrossy Anglican School the connection to the land is integral. The School – celebrating its centenary this year – has a long history of involvement in agriculture that includes a modern-day educational experience incorporating a working farm and even a cattle breeding program.

Established in 1919 as a secondary school for girls, Calrossy originally drew many of its students as boarders from farming families in the area. This gave the school a close connection to the land, and it is a connection that has been nurtured over time.

Now a coeducational school, two of the most popular Year 12 elective subjects at Calrossy are Agriculture and Primary Industries, and with good reason. Calrossy is not only the top-ranked school in the New England and North West (based

on results in the 2018 Higher School Certificate), but Calrossy students regularly place in the top five in the state in both Agriculture and Primary Industries.

Key to this exceptional performance is the school’s ‘Tangara’ farm property, purchased with the assistance of government funding in 2009. A 93-hectare, irrigated working farm, Tangara gives Calrossy students hands-on experience in every facet of agriculture – the perfect preparation for a career in farming, agronomy or agricultural science.

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“Our boys and girls are getting their hands dirty on our working farm every week, it helps them learn skills such as resilience and independence and they also gain a deep agricultural knowledge,” says Calrossy Principal David Smith. “Whether it’s putting fence holes in or assisting with the insemination process, it’s a very practical experience for them.”

INFORMATION LINK Click here to read about Calrossy’s history

To enhance Calrossy’s well of agricultural knowledge and offer activities for those students interested in the beef industry, the school established a Shorthorn stud and breeding program in 2003. Known as Kamilaroi Shorthorns, the school’s breed made an early splash when a calf sold for $75,000 at the 2006 Shorthorn National Show & Sale – just three years after the program started. Indeed, the price is a record for the breed that still stands today.

The breeding program runs roughly 45 breeding cows, tended to by not only senior students studying Agriculture and Primary Industries but also volunteer members of the Calrossy Cattle Team (open to students from Years 7-11). The best animals of the breed are shown at shows around the state including the Sydney Royal Easter Show, accompanied and handled by Calrossy students.

“We send a team of students to a whole lot of regional shows and it’s a great experience for them,” says David. “When the animals get sick they have to know how to treat them – it helps them to develop initiative and a lot of self-assurance and I’m amazed at what they can do.”

Given the School’s outstanding track record of producing high-performing students and its exceptional farming facilities, it’s clear to see that Calrossy is playing its part in making agriculture a viable and attractive career option for young men and women.

KEY BENEFITS • Calrossy is the top-ranked school in the New England and North West NSW region, offering K-12 education and secondary boarding through a unique diamond model • The School’s facilities include a 93ha working farm, home to an award-winning cattle breeding program

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21st century internet solutions for remote Aussie agribusinesses

In today’s digitally-enabled world, a dependable communications setup has never been more essential to a farm’s operation. A fast and reliable internet connection can enable a farm business to not only keep up with and deploy the latest in agtech, but also to attract and communicate with staff. To keep Australian farmers competitive in the 21st century, innovative and tailored communications solutions are needed.

MarchNet specialises in the provision of tailored highspeed internet and wireless networks to regional and rural agribusinesses. Working Australia-wide, the company uses hi-tech and durable communications infrastructure to deliver remote internet and fixed wireless solutions to rural businesses.

“A lot of farmers are told that they’re going to fall behind without technology – they need this app and the latest software in order to keep up,” says Geoff Marsh, MarchNet’s Director of Business Develop-

ment. “But if they can barely make a phone call on their property, how can they run an app?

“These basic needs are a real barrier for the industry. In many areas, there’s very little hope for farmers to implement the technology that will allow them to improve productivity.”

Many farmers don’t realise that if one of the big carriers, such as Telstra, is unable to deliver a workable or affordable solution to their internet and communications woes, there are other options out

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there. MarchNet’s niche is to think outside the square and find innovative and affordable ways to solve the problems the big carriers won’t touch.

An example of the improved services MarchNet can deliver is the Australian Country Choice (ACC) Brindley Park Feedlot, northwest of Roma in Queensland. Managing 23,000 head of cattle, ACC had been using 3G data sim cards for communication throughout the feedlot – a service that would drop out frequently during peak periods, for example when children in the local area all came home from school.

MarchNet was able to provide a reliable 20Mbps internet connection that connected the office, staff houses and worker camps, with Wi-Fi coverage across the whole feedlot. This solution enabled ACC head office staff to access and analyse real-time data from the feedlot at any time without the delays and frustrations of a 3G connection.

It also allowed staff access to reliable Wi-Fi in the camp and kitchen in order to contact family and friends.

It was a similar story at a feedlot near Dalby in southeast Queensland. The familyrun business was looking to adopt new technology and improve management systems, but was constrained by an unsatisfactory network that frequently dropped out. As a solution, MarchNet constructed a fixed wireless internet link delivering a reliable 30Mbps with no limit on usage.

This allowed staff anywhere on the property to connect to the private network and monitor critical systems and meant that important data was captured automatically, rather than entered manually periodically.

Enhanced internet speeds and reliability can give farmers greater visibility and control of their farm operations, with real-time savings in terms of maintenance and water costs.

But equally important is the improved ability to attract and communicate with staff.

“One of the most common pieces of feedback we get from these remote properties is they find it impossible to get and keep staff because of the lack of communications infrastructure,” says Geoff. “It’s something that is becoming more and more of a requirement – reliable internet used to be a ‘nice to have’, but it’s turned into a ‘need to have’.”

KEY BENEFITS • MarchNet provides tailored and affordable internet solutions to rural businesses, enabling agtech innovation • As a responsive and flexible company, MarchNet has a track record of solving the problems the big carriers won’t touch

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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.”

Anthony Ladds, General Manager of Fairbank’s Selected Seed Co. Pty. Ltd.

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Photo courtesy of Karin Robinson

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Solar pumping gets serious with largest hybrid system in Australia A cotton farm just outside Narromine in central NSW is now home to the largest solar diesel hybrid pumping system in Australia – and maybe the world. The 500-kilowatt system on Jon Elder’s farm ‘Waverleigh’ was built and installed by ReAqua in late 2018. It will halve Jon’s diesel costs and reduce the farm’s carbon dioxide emissions by 500 tonnes each year.

Australia’s hot, dry climate means farmers are heavily reliant on pumps and therefore more exposed to the rising costs of power. Given these conditions, the industry needs to innovate in order to build resilience, and more and more farmers are turning to solar power. A solar diesel hybrid pumping system enables farmers to harness solar energy with the security of a diesel option as backup during night time or inclement weather.

However, it’s the sheer scale of the system at Waverleigh that’s attracting attention across the country. At 500 kilowatts, pumping 15 megalitres

a day, it’s five times the size of the previous largest hybrid pumping system in Australia. And according to ReAqua Managing Director Ben Lee, it’s bigger than any similar system in Europe and possibly North America as well.

“On a global scale, this is right up there at the top echelon – and the beauty of it is that Jon doesn’t have to change his existing farming systems to accommodate it,” says Ben. “The water he will be getting is just cheaper, or even free.

“We make sure our systems can be easily integrated into your business because there’s no point

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having the greatest solar pumping system in the world if it doesn’t give you water when you need it. Particularly for a cotton farmer, what’s the point in being able to deliver water if you can’t do it in the middle of January when it’s 42 degrees in the shade?”

Jon runs more than 500 hectares of irrigated cotton, with the majority of his water sourced from bores. When water demand is high in summer, his pumps run around the clock to produce 12-15 megalitres of water per day. It takes roughly 100 litres of diesel to pump one megalitre of water, and Jon estimates he goes through 350,000 litres of diesel per year. But the new hybrid system from ReAqua will change all that, and the diesel savings aren’t the only benefit.

“We had been looking to go solar for a number of years but only took the step when we found a reputable company who had expertise and understood both pumps and water, as well as solar.”

“We are expecting diesel savings of more than 150,000 litres annually, which will enable us to pay off this investment in under five years on the diesel savings alone,” says Jon. “We’ve done the business case on the diesel savings and anything else we consider a bonus, but the savings are actually significant.

“As an irrigation development it’s 100 per cent tax deductible in the first year and the system will generate more than $100,000 in income from the sale of large-scale generation certificates. It also reduces our reliance on diesel engines, which aren’t as durable as the electric ones that will now be doing our pumping.”

And with solar technology still improving, the benefits of systems such as Jon’s will only grow. More efficient solar panels will mean that installations need fewer

panels to generate power, thus making them cheaper to construct. The system can also be monitored and operated remotely, giving the farmer real-time data for decision making.

“We’ve reached the tipping point now where solar pumping is economically viable,” says Ben. “And it will only become more viable as time goes on and the efficiency keeps improving.”

KEY BENEFITS • ReAqua’s solar diesel hybrid pumping systems save farmers money, reduce emissions and enhance the long-term resilience of their farms • The hybrid system pumps 15 megalitres a day and allows 24/7 access to water regardless of weather or light conditions

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Environmental Benefits: The hybrid system at Waverleigh will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 500 tonnes per year, the equivalent of the emissions produced by roughly 30 Australian households.

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The Power that drives farming equipment

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.

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 industrial 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, propellers, marine shaft seals and genuine parts.

INFORMATION LINK Click here to find a Power Equipment dealer near you!

With a dedicated focus on the diesel engine sector and a well-established dealer network that stretches to over 500 independent retailers around the country, Power Equipment can meet the engine, pumping and generator needs of any rural Australian.

The company’s dealer network covers all major rural areas in Australia, supported

by a commitment to customer and dealer satisfaction.

In Yanmar and John Deere, Power Equipment stocks two of the most popular engine brands in the world, with John Deere industrial 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.

KEY BENEFITS • Power Equipment’s network of over 500 retailers means you can easily find the engine you need, no matter your location • Stocking Yanmar, John Deere and many other brands, Power Equipment provides farmers with only the best engines, generators and parts

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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.

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.

Maric Flow Control has a 55-year history of manufacturing 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 manufacturer and supplier of constant flow valves.

Easy to install, reliable, cost-effective and tamperproof, 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

INFORMATION LINK 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

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water pressure applied to it. The greater the pressure, the smaller the opening, therefore maintaining a constant and even flow and preventing pump damage.

Many farmers may not know this, but using pumps outside their specifications can cause thousands of dollars in damage. 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 damage they can do to a pump by using it outside 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.”

Maric manufactures and tests every valve individually, ensuring they can provide the best in pump protection. The valves are maintenance-free and self-cleaning, requiring absolutely no attention during their 20-plus year lifespan. The valves are also manufactured to be deliberately non-adjustable, preventing owners from increasing the flow beyond their design limits.

While they may not be a household name in the agricultural industry, Maric valves have gained an enviable reputation in the pumping community all across the country for their reliability and simplicity. Greg Simms, Managing Director of Bungendore Rural Services, is one such happy distributor.

TESTIMONIALS Click here to read more testimonials from Maric customers “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.”

KEY BENEFITS • Maric Flow Control valves are easy to use, cost-effective, reliable and tamperproof, needing no maintenance over their 20-plus year lifespan • The valves also prevent operators from unwittingly damaging pumps

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Learn more about solar pumps from an industry pioneer 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.

The windmill has been the visual symbol of agriculture for hundreds of years, but they are now a dying breed on Australian 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 maintenance costs rise, more and more farmers are turning to solar for their pumping solutions. According 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.

“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.”

DID YOU KNOW

?

Part of the attraction of solar pumps in modern agriculture is the cost. Pumps now cost roughly $4,000, whereas 20-30 years ago a solar pump would set you back $35,000!

While it may sound simple, there’s actually considerable science involved when it comes to matching the pump to the farm – but luckily for the farmer, experts like Kym and his team are on hand to ensure farmers get

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the best solution for their requirements.

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 expensive decision.

“There are plenty 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.”

“When it comes to pump brands, they all have their positives 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.”

INFORMATION LINK Click here to get a quick and easy quote for a solar pump that matches your needs

Kym’s expertise when it comes to which brand of pump to choose can be very valuable 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, actually outperforms the Lorentz.

“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.”

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KEY BENEFITS • Selecting the right solar pump is crucial to reduce costs and ensure you’re getting the most out of your solar pumping system • 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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PROVEN AND PREMIUM FARM PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Clayfield: An academic leader with outstanding facilities

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’s boarding community comprises students in Years 5-12 from a variety of backgrounds – city, rural, remote and international. With an extensive program of activities that includes socialising 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 opportunities they get beyond just education.”

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

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permanently onsite and there is an inhouse counsellor able to assist students suffering from homesickness or peer pressure.

It all adds up to a boarding community that is diverse and inclusive, and one that helps students generate strong bonds in a welcoming and enjoyable environment.

“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.”

BUILDING A CONNECTION TO FOOD PRODUCTION AND THE LAND Among the many co-curricular programs offered at Clayfield is STEM2Plate, a new initiative that encourages students to put STEM principles into practice and consider their own place in the food production and consumption cycle. The program not only offers hands-on activities, but helps the children to connect to the land and rural Australia.

“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.”

Some of the STEM2Plate projects conducted by students include the design and construction of an irrigated vegetable garden, the creation and sale of beeswax wraps as an alternative to single-use plastic and the design of a vertical garden to optimise green space in the crowded inner city.

“Food and fibre production and sustainability are obviously subjects the students really enjoy learning about,” says Francisca. “The way they work together is very impressive – they get to take ownership of a project and see it through to the end product. I think that’s what they love about STEM2Plate.”

KEY BENEFITS • Clayfield College is one of the country’s leading schools, with a strong academic record and an emphasis on student growth • The school’s boarding facilities are first-class, creating a vibrant, tight-knit and diverse community

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“Opportunities in the agricultural industry have grown substantially in recent years. One of the reasons for this is the influx of foreign capital, though there are pros and cons to this. We ought to realise that our domestic view of capital investment in the agricultural sector has often been short term, and thus limiting. Foreign investors, however, tend to take a medium to long term view. We Australians can learn from this, as the prospects for sustainable growth in the agricultural sector are very promising.�

Robert Hammond, CEO of Clark Equipment

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“It is widely understood that advanced technology in agriculture in general – and specifically in irrigation – has the potential to effect major improvements in farm productivity and profitability. Much less appreciated is the fact this technology can reduce actual physical labour for the hardworking farmer, hence improving their quality of life. Increased investment in advanced technology that lightens the workload for the next generation of farmers is key to keeping them on the land and therefore safeguarding the agricultural industry into the future.”

Levy Schneider, Managing Director of Netafim

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Plant Health

Why misinformation over GM is harming our productivity and agricultural potential The little-known plant transformed into a world-first cash crop by Aussie scientists An interview with Tony May of Bayer about the advances in science and biotechnology that are driving plant health in Australia

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PLANT HEALTH

Misinformation over GM is harming our agricultural productivity and potential

By Keiron Costello, Managing Editor of The Australian Farmer

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?

Humans have been modifying crops for over 10,000 years through selective plant breeding.

Here in Australia, William Farrer 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 modern, more efficient technological extension of this historical practice – faces significant community and government opposition despite the benefits it delivers.

In their article on the relationship between science and food in

the first volume of The Australian Farmer, Dr Heather Bray and Professor Rachel A. Ankeny called the development of GM crops “arguably the most important scientific intervention in the food system in recent years, and also the most contested.”

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But GM crops have been around since the 1970s – and attempts to educate and communicate their benefits nearly as long – yet opposition still remains. However, as GM science progresses and we learn how to develop more consumer-friendly plant traits, will this situation change?

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 knowledge – “for many in the community, uncertainty about benefits is reason enough to avoid consuming GM foods.”

One would think that communication and education on the benefits of GM would be the key to overcoming this opposition.

THE CURRENT SITUATION 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 commercially farmed in Australia, with their growth, transport and use strictly regulated by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR).

Pest-resistant and herbicide-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 canola was introduced in 2008, and by 2017 almost a quarter of the national canola crop was genetically 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 this chapter.

By using GM technology, Australian 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

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possible with conventional crops.

GM crops have also enabled farmers to reduce their environmental footprint by eliminating the need for 22 million kilograms of herbicides and insecticides.

DID YOU KNOW

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GM crops use 37 per cent less pesticide and increase crop yields by 22 per cent and farmer profits by 68 per cent

And with the world’s population growing to an expected 9 billion by 2050, GM technology is considered one of the best ways for farmers to meet the equivalent rise in food demands.

“The future of literally billions of people depends on changing the narrative about how we view genetically modified food and genetic technologies,” says Professor Ian Godwin, Director of the Centre for Crop Science at Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) and author of the book, Good Enough to Eat?.

“If we are to produce more sustainable and nutritious food to meet the growing global demand – 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.”

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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 Australia and Tasmania, which both have a moratorium on the cultivation of GM crops. Western Australia, where a moratorium on GM was only overturned in 2016, is now home to the nation’s largest GM canola crop.

In South Australia, the situation may be changing after the newly-elected government commissioned a review into the moratorium and found it had negative economic consequences for SA farmers. The review estimated that the moratorium 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.

DID YOU KNOW Almost 100 per cent of Australia’s cotton crop is genetically modified

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South Australia’s peak grain association, Grain Producers SA, has been a longstanding opponent of the moratorium and welcomed the results of review.

“The opportunity cost of maintaining 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 moratorium offers little in the way of trade and marketing benefits to the majority of agricultural producers in SA, and only removes the option of using safe and effective GM tools.”

And it’s not just South Australian 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 each state.

For 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 border has to abide by different laws in different paddocks.

“It’s a difficult area for biotechnology 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 requirements, it’s difficult for companies to make investment decisions in the first place.”

COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN While farmers in Australia are voting with their feet and embracing GM crops, there is still an element of society that remains opposed.

Despite 23 years of use in Australia, public misperception of the risks – health or otherwise – associated with GM acts as a barrier to future use and technological advancement.

“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 science.”

Part of the problem is that GM food has been positioned in some quarters as the ‘opponent’ 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 society.

“We have to stop pretending that ‘natural is best’ and challenge the notion that organic food companies are not actually big global companies with a conflict of interest 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

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DID YOU KNOW

?

Scientists are currently working on a variety of GM crops with consumer benefits, including tomatoes high in antioxidants, corn and soybeans with increased vitamins C and E and allergen-free peanuts

every safe, effective and innovative tool in the toolbox to do so.”

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 because 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 benefit.

“Typically the GM crops that

are in use around the world benefit farmers, which is great – they are herbicide or pest resistant 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.

“We’re now getting into the realm of genetically modified crops that produce an end benefit for an end market, which might just change that paradigm a bit.”

Social media is also opening up new avenues for better communication when it comes to advancing 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 people.

“It’s about understanding what farmers do and how they produce

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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.”

It is clear that as long as public mistrust or misunderstanding 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 communicate why it is needed in the first place and foster a nationwide legislative environment that encourages investment in GM technology.

Farmers are 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 deliver a direct benefit to the consumer and more farmers making their voices heard in the public sphere, the tide will begin to turn for the public perception of GM.

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Little-known safflower transformed into world-first cash crop by Aussie scientists 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.

FROM LOW-VALUE TACTICAL CROP TO VALUABLE SEEDS 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 taproot 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 properties, 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 sowing after cereals, cotton and canola.

But this is set to change in the near future, thanks to the hard work of CSIRO scientists in identifying safflower’s unique genetic properties. These properties, once modified by gene

silencing, enable the plant to produce a super-high oleic oil that has extensive uses worldwide as a high-grade industrial oil with an unprecedented purity level.

SILENCING THE GENE In partnership with the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), CSIRO had been trying to develop a new high value oil crop for Australian farming for at least 15 years. In 2011, the scientists settled on safflower as that crop given its durability and unique – and untapped – oil production properties.

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“In effect, we’re telling the plant what kind of genes we want the plant to reduce the activity of,” explains Dr Wood. “In safflower, it prevents the plant from making more complex chemical bonds that lead to impurities in the oil.”

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 Agriculture 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 technology, two of the oil-processing enzymes active within the seed can be inactivated – producing seeds with a much higher oleic acid content. Importantly, the process 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.

A WORLD-FIRST IN PURITY The current ceiling for non-genetically-modified, plant-based oleic oil is a purity level of around 80 per cent. CSIRO’s super-high oleic safflower produces oil that is 92 per cent pure oleic acid – significantly higher than any other commercial 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.

DID YOU KNOW

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The SHO safflower marks the first time CSIRO has used RNAi technology in an oilseed crop for a commercial release 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 attempts have failed due to the complicated oil synthesis program of those seeds, but safflower’s unique genetic code made it different.

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“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 genetically-modified cotton and canola, but they are over-expression technologies, inserting new genes. Creating super-high oleic safflower is a unique process where we’re stopping safflower genetic pathways from working.”

The oil produced by the seeds, known as super-high oleic safflower 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 properties 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.

“There’s no plant that can supply 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. “Pharmaceutical-grade oleic acid is almost 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.”

THE ROAD TO COMMERCIALISATION In 2013, GO Resources was founded to commercialise SHOSO and obtained the exclusive worldwide licence from CSIRO. The company will manage the whole supply chain – from selecting the variety and contracting growers right through to selling the oil.

DID YOU KNOW

?

$1.4 billion in income has been gained by Australian farmers with access to crop biotechnology over the last twenty years

After obtaining regulatory approval for commercial cultivation from the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) last year, the modified safflower crops are now ready to roll out across the country.

GO Resources is targeting farmers who currently grow canola, sorghum, rice and cotton, offering SHO safflower for both the agronomic benefits and also a market return for the safflower crop.

“We’ve done some intensive market research on the canola and chickpea returns and gross margins per hectare, and safflower will be as good or better,” says Michael Kleinig, CEO and Managing Director of GO Resources. “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.

“As the oil is going into specialty 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-

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ment of super-high oleic safflower crops for this year. While the company 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 Australian farmers.

“Here is a crop that you can put into your rotation and it will give you agronomic benefits and financial returns that will be constant 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 market.”

DID YOU KNOW

?

GO Resources expects to have over 100,000ha of SHO safflower planted in Australia by 2023

All in all, super-high oleic safflower is not only a ground-breaking development from Australian scientists, but an exciting new opportunity for Australian farmers. 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 environmental benefits, but a readymade market.

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Interview with Tony May, Head of Customer Marketing ANZ at Bayer Crop Science 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 massive change in the industry – how does it actually benefit farmers and consumers?

“The merger involved a lot of consolidation in the agricultural 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.

“Very simplistically, in the past some of the innovations in crop science would happen

one after the other – there might be a chemistry discovered and then introduced, and then afterwards there might be an opportunity to derive a GM trait from that. Given the capacity of the combined company 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

DID YOU KNOW

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Crop protection practices prevent nearly half of the world’s wheat losses to pests

more effective use of that same spend.”

You mentioned data science – how does that factor into the future of the crop science industry?

“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 innovations at a quicker rate. Data is a big part of that. As an example, we’ve used data to develop 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

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field, but using predictive models in the early stages can really speed up the product development 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.

“I’m sure in time we will see insights gained from a whole range of sensors and imagery, and technology like crop protection 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 farmers, 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 producing innovations at a faster rate.”

In your opinion, why do farmers choose to grow GM crops?

What are the advantages?

“To use the example of Bollgard 3 in cotton, it really has alleviated 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 than it would be with conventional chemistry. We have seen really large yield increases, not just because insects are con-

trolled, but because farmers have been able to put their attention on other aspects of the farm such as nutrition and irrigation.

“It’s the same for weed control. To be able to apply RoundUp to your crop really has taken out many of the challenges around weed control.

Weed control used to be done through cultivations and a cultivation may have implications on irrigation timing, whereas RoundUp has been very effective 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.”

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 because of the size of those crops and the opportunities to solve problems. You could imagine that, in Australia for many research organisations and university 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 probably more around new breeding technologies. These technologies aren’t necessarily just in the hands of large organisations like Bayer, but they’re being used in universities, research organisations 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.

DID YOU KNOW

?

73 per cent of the $28.2 billion Australian crop industry is attributable to the use of crop protection products

“The technology could be applied 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 opportunity to solve other issues that farmers have, or to change the produce and characteristics of those crops for consumers.”

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“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.”

Mark Pawsey, General Manager of SST Software Australia

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Women in Australian Agriculture 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 better An interview with Belinda Anderson of Henty 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

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WOMEN IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE

The fiercely passionate women of Australian agriculture

Photo courtesy of Sophie Madge

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 working 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, creative, 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, raising 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 industry over time and lead to the opportunities we enjoy today.

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Modern agriculture has completely reinvented itself in the past 10-15 years with opportunities 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, entrepreneur and business owner.

With increasing support from their families and the wider industry, as well as greater access to technology, rural women are turning their passions into businesses 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 the industry.

One of the 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 service that can be monetised is the method by which many women start highly successful businesses right from the laptop on the kitchen table, with very low start-up costs.

Some of the female business success stories I have seen include: • The heli-mustering pilot who runs an online business connecting large agricultural contractors with

pastoral land owners.

• The avid foodie who has developed a nationwide app to connect local farmers and producers to the food service 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 dear friend running one of the most successful Dorper sheep studs in Australia who raises free-range organic pigs for the love of being able to offer her friends pork that is completely toxin free.

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The examples running through my head are endless – these are but a few of the women I am fortunate to know and call friends who are building successful businesses borne out of deep, profound and directed passion.

DID YOU KNOW

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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 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

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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 continue to play distinct roles in adding value to the product our family produces.

Being heavily 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 winter 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.

Corporate agriculture is the sector that is taking our agricultural 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 leadership 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 university graduates and entry-level corporate positions in some cases.

How have the two arms become so disconnected? And how do we reconnect them back to the body that is the whole industry and wrap them around the wonderful people, full of oppor-

INITIATIVES FOR WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE 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.

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.

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.

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 companies around the world attribute their success to groups of directors, board members, senior executives and sales teams that are built on the foundations of highly diverse thought leaders – women and men, people from different backgrounds and education levels, technology innovators and people innovators and people with high IQs and people with high EQs. So too does Australian agriculture require such diversity, and we have it at our fingertips.

There are some amazing initiatives being led by prominent Australian agricultural corporations in the quest to develop diversity in the sector. Two recent examples are the Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program and the 100 Days for Change initiative.

The Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program is a partnership between peak bodies and businesses across agriculture that is led by the NFF and aimed at mentoring aspiring female leaders

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Photo courtesy of Karin Robinson

and encouraging organisations in the industry to audit their gender diversity and pledge to make meaningful change.

The 100 Days for Change initiative 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, measurable change in workplaces across the country to close the gender gap.

These and other initiatives

(see the box on the left) will be successful if we all reach out and play our part. The future is particularly bright and full of opportunity 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 happening in the reinvention of Australian 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 community a better place to live?

Nominate her for the Hidden Treasures Honour Roll!

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The standard you walk past is the standard you accept

By Dr Skye Saunders, Associate Professor of Law, the founder of Strike a Chord, author and speaker.

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.

“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”

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 – everything from the unwelcome comments 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 simply did not tolerate the humiliation 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 standard was maintained.

The army had hit these cultural 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 particularly 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 grandfathers typically worked the

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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).

In a similar vein, the rugged strength of the Australian stockman as the iconic symbol of rurality is enforced by cherished pop cultural depictions: Crocodile Dundee, the Man from Snowy River, the songs of Slim Dusty and the works of Banjo Patterson, to name a few. There is no doubt there is a treasured place in our Australian national identity 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.

The above comment may seem a bit obvious – and on one level it is. However, despite the high statistical odds that a modern farmer in Australia will be a woman, we have a lot of catching up to do in our national recognition of women as equal to men.

In late 2015 I published a book called Whispers from the Bush – The Workplace Sexual Harassment of Australian Rural Women.

The research showed that 73 per cent of all rural women inter-

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viewed had experienced sexual harassment as part of their daily working life. For women in the agricultural sector more specifically, 93 per cent had encountered unwanted sexual harassment in the rural workplace.

As part of the research, I travelled 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 isolated workplaces. Participants were employed in a wide range of occupations, including (but not limited to) mining, policing, shearing, cattle farming, nursing, tourism, horticulture and hospitality. In speaking with individuals about their experiences, I was conducting the first Australian research about workplace sexual harassment in the bush.

It was both poignant and raw to hear, first-hand, some of the manifestations of sexual harassment for the 73 per cent of women who had experienced it.

Here is a quick snapshot: • Breasts repeatedly compared to cattle teats.

• Porn frequently pinned up beside annual rain calendars.

• Women invited to put their tools down for a quickie, because ‘no one will know’.

• Women camping out on stock routes only to be subjected to the nearby sounds of porn coming from the portable DVD players of her co-workers as she tries to go to sleep.

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• Work boots urinated on before a woman enters the mines.

• And on it goes.

Compounding the extent 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 employer’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 harassment laws is totally lost in translation.

The impact of this can be particularly dire for the woman who is sexually harassed 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 permissive 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

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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 complexities, I have developed a solution that aims to strengthen three workplace stakeholder groups – men, women and employers – 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 disrupt unhealthy behaviours, whether conscious or not.

This is critical for our relationships in rural workplaces because the “standard that we walk past, is the standard we accept.”

More information about the Strike A Chord program is available at www.skyesaunders. com.au

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“Imagine being a farmer and being able to task a sub-meter satellite to fly over your farm, with the results sent directly to your mobile device so you can make informed decisions about when to harvest or when to seed. That might sound far-fetched but at the rate agtech is advancing today, it isn’t actually that far off. The future of agtech will be all about delivering previously-complicated technological data to the farmer, simply, to help them make key decisions which have a huge economic impact on their businesses.”

Anthony Walker, CEO of Decipher

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Belinda Anderson, CEO of Henty Machinery Field Days 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.

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?

“It’s a co-operative of 100 members 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 significant area for our visitors.”

How has the role of women in agriculture changed in your time in the industry?

“We’re seeing more and more women involved in agriculture

and it’s not just as agronomists or advisors – they’re involved in machinery now and other areas that were traditionally male-based.

Well, most of agriculture has always 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 attitude 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.”

What can we do to encourage more pathways for women in agriculture?

“We see a lot of new businesses that are involving women in agriculture – and that’s great – but there’s still a lot of opportunities

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 attracting visitors from across the country, it is southern Australia’s biggest agricultural event. in existing businesses for women to be given the chance to get involved and rise through the organisation. I think we need to see a lot more self-confidence, both from women already working in agriculture 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 Download are many opporPDF tunities already.”

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Verity Morgan-Schmidt, CEO of Farmers for Climate Action 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.

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 workplace culture?

“The gender imbalance issue is a real challenge, and I think when you’re deeply embedded 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 agriculture, we just need to elevate that and make it more widely known.

“In my current workplace, I’m incredibly privileged. 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 previous experiences) it is a major problem and we do have a long, long way to go.

“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.

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 respected. 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.”

What do you think can be done to encourage more women to not only enter the agricultural workforce but to rise to leadership positions?

“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 becoming a mother does not actually reduce one’s capacity to be a valuable contributor to a workplace – in fact, it enhances it.

“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

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Farmers for Climate Action is a not-for-profit alliance of farmers and ag leaders advocating for urgent climate action and investment in solutions that will help farmers adapt to climate change. FCA is an associate 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 recognise that we are in the 21st century and have 21st century technology available to us, so we need to display 21st century values. Let’s actually move forward with that as a sector and make sure women are able to contribute.”

Why is the work of Farmers for Climate Action so important?

“We are Australia’s only agricultural advocacy organisation 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 misconception 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.

“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 seeing 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.

“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 sequestration, 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 already facing. And I think we need to take a very open

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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-wearing Aussie farmer. These people still have incredibly strong contributions to make and we need to encourage them.

“Because, quite frankly, the climate change challenge 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 embrace the opportunities that are also presenting themselves.”

What do you most enjoy about your work?

“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 commitment to leaving the land better than they found it.

To be constantly surrounded by people who are dealing with extremely challenging circumstances and yet be so inspired by them at the same time is an incredible experience.

“It’s also about 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 empower our farmers, who are already inspirational and incredible, is just an absolute honour and a privilege.”

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Erica Hughes, founder of Farmer Meets Foodie 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?

“The app is all about connecting producers to commercial foodies – restaurants, cafes and caterers – so they can sell their produce direct and pass on the story behind the produce to the consumer. It’s also encouraging local Australian produce on the menus in our restaurants 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 purchasing food or eating at a restaurant.

“When we brought our property 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 produce 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 available and enable the interested chef to find them directly. From there, Farmer Meets Foodie was born.”

It seems society at the moment is getting more interested in food provenance in general, is that something that inspired you?

“Definitely. There are loads of cooking shows on TV about that type of paddock to plate experience, and the demand certainly seems to be ever-increasing.

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 experience of eating out. When you go to a restaurant or even purchase food at the supermarket, unless

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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.”

What has the app creation experience been like? Do you have any advice for people who want to do something similar?

“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 giving feedback, that’s been very rewarding.

“The best 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 someone 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, because it won’t stay relevant.”

You launched the app only a few months ago, what has the response been like from both farmers and foodies?

“The reaction has been positive. It’s early days and we’re

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still adding additional features and tweaking how the app works based on feedback, but many users have said they’ve been waiting 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 interest in our app thanks to a number of producers in those areas with niche or boutique produce.”

Do you think farmers need to be more involved digitally?

“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 business-by-business response based on farmers’ needs. There are a lot of people working on ideas and solutions, and I would encourage farmers to get involved and support these people – the more input from farmers in the development and testing of technology, the greater the outcomes. We are really grateful to the farmers who have trialled and are still trialling our platform as we refine features and functionality – their input has helped us to shape what will hopefully be a really useful tool.”

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See the best of the best in Australian rodeo Each year in January, the nation’s finest cowboys, cowgirls and ranch sorters congregate in Tamworth for a week of adrenaline-packed action. The Australian Bushman’s Rodeo and Campdraft Association (ABRCA) National Finals are held at the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre (AELEC) in Tamworth, a state-of-the-art facility which has a capacity of over 4,000.

The stakes are high: a $250,000 cash prize and the glory of being crowned ‘Australian Champion’. Competing are Australia’s top 15 rodeo cowboys and cowgirls, top 25 campdraft competitors and top 25 ranch sorters – all from the highest echelons of their respective sports. With years of training and hard work behind them, each competitor’s performance will be shaped in mere minutes in the arena.

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Animal Health 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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Playing your role in the animal health system

By Kathleen Plowman – CEO, Animal Health Australia

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 agricultural trade means we need to ensure and demonstrate our freedom from diseases which are of concern to our trading partners. Our domestic market 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 internationally is also linked to the value placed on products domestically. All of this makes biosecurity, traceability and surveillance absolutely crucial to the sustainability and profitability of our primary industries.

CONTROLLING OUTBREAKS WITH SWIFT ACTION You only need to look at disease outbreaks abroad to understand why the national biosecurity, traceability and surveillance system is so important. Any positive 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 industry 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.

In the FMD outbreak in the United Kingdom during 2001, more than 2,000 cases of this incredibly contagious livestock disease were confirmed throughout the UK and more than four million animals were culled as part of the response effort. The UK livestock 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 contain the spread of the disease and thereby enable a quicker return to market. Australian producers can rest easy knowing that the Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement, known as the EADRA, is in

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place to help get the ball rolling. EADRA sets out the roles and responsibilities of governments and industries 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 eradicating EADs – is part of what makes Australia’s animal health system world-class.

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 commercial 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.

DID YOU KNOW

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BIOCHECK® is a program run by members of the Australia Cattle Veterinarians that helps protect the biosecurity of Australia’s cattle farms 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 awareness campaigns and rigorous training in the principles and application of EADRA. Ensuring and demonstrating our disease-free

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status is an enormous task involving the collective efforts of the federal, state and territory governments, livestock industries, private veterinarians and producers. Across the country, government, industry 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.

DOING YOUR PART In the face of so many threats to the health of our livestock 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 regrettably 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?

The first step is to keep a lookout for anything unusual 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 passive surveillance – keeping an eye out for unusual signs and symptoms or increased mortalities and reporting any suspect cases to biosecurity authorities 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.

The next step is to implement a simple but robust series of biosecurity measures on your property. Biosecurity 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

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ANIMAL HEALTH

loaded with information, resources and templates to begin taking biosecurity action.

Simple actions, such as using animal health declarations and creating and keeping movement records for livestock entering and leaving the property, could save precious 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 Identification System database, is a legal requirement for all producers. Also bear in mind that while exotic threats may be the biggest concern 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 oncoming plants, animals, resources, vehicles and visitors, may take a little more time but go a long way to protecting your property.

Both on-farm and nationally, any biosecurity 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 longevity of your industry. You’ll also be playing 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 become a national emergency and puts your market access at risk.

QUICK TIPS FOR FARMERS 1. Keep a lookout for unusual signs of disease or pest activity 2. Report suspect cases on 1800 675 888 3. Have an on-farm biosecurity plan which addresses the risks to your property 4. Keep accurate records and update databases where required

Click here to learn about the R&D funding and incentives available to farmers through the Department of Industry

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From genetics to genomics – unlocking productivity in your livestock

By Megan Beca, Genetics 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.

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 genetic 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.

WHAT IS GENOMICS? Genomics is the study of the entire DNA set of an animal 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 affect productivity and profitability.

In the past, genomics was out of reach for widespread commercial use. Sequencing a genome was expensive and incredibly slow. The first bovine genome to be sequenced was an international collaboration. 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 few months.

This incredible progress comes from equal advances 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 All of these advances are only possible with dedicated and sustained support from industry and the

DID YOU KNOW

?

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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government. The Australian livestock industry is heavily invested in keeping up the momentum in genomics research across the board, acknowledging the incredible advantages to be had.

Both producer-owned industry bodies and government initiatives are channelling serious resources into genomics research and applications.

Australian dairy farmers are benefitting from collaborations between Dairy Australia and the Victorian government with DairyBio, a dedicated bioscience initiative.

There is already a very solid foundation of genomic contributions to productivity in the Australian dairy industry. Current projects at DairyBio focus on supporting these already solid genomic foundations.

Dairy farmers have highlighted calving ease and gestation length as key traits for good management. DairyBio projects further support farmers with a focus on health traits as well as improving the overall reliability of the information already being provided to farmers.

In the Australian red meat industry, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) invests up to $5 million each year into genetic research with matching funds from the Australian government for appropriate projects. Their current focus points for genetic research and development include the relationship between animals and their feed, reproductive success and extension services

to effectively communicate new genetic tools to farmers.

Advances in the genomic science space aren’t limited to animal-focused problems. CSIRO have been focusing on the use of bioinformatics 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 improve analysis time by over 80 per cent.

GENOMIC BREEDING VALUES ‘Breeding Values’ are a tool that livestock industries across the world use to predict the genetic potential of animals, untangling the effect of environment and management systems to describe what an animal has to offer the next generation. 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.

There are a variety of Breeding Values across livestock species in Australia, measuring different traits depending on what’s relevant to that market. Pigs work under the Estimated Breeding Value (EBV) system, allowing projections 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 mind.

DID YOU KNOW

?

‘Indexes’ are user-friendly combinations of Breeding Values with particular breeding goals in mind, like improved health or overall profitability. The Dollar Index in sheep measures future profitability. An index of 105 for a ram means an extra $5 per joined ewe per year above the average. Joining 200 ewes to this ram would net an additional $1000 profit.

Australian research institutions are now investing heavily in adding genomic information into Breeding Values, creating Genomic Australian Breeding Values (ABV(g)s). The added data boost makes predictions faster, increases their reliability and opens the door to develop new breeding values for traits that haven’t been captured yet. An example is the brand-new heat tolerance trait in dairy cattle, developed in Australia for Australian dairy cattle and released in December 2017.

This Breeding Value is part of the new wave of Genomic ABV(g)s, relying heavily on genomic data to give farmers more management power over traits that are difficult to quan-

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tify just by looking at the animals in the field.

DID YOU KNOW

?

The addition of genomics to the ABV(g) in dairy cows has increased reliability of predictions to the same effect as seven lactations for a cow, or 25-30 milking daughters for a young bull.

THE FUTURE The upper limit of what genomics can do for the Australian livestock industry is still incredibly far off in the distance. As rates of genetic gain keep accelerating, it’s not hard to picture a future where every animal is the perfect animal for their management system.

Every new trait researched and every new genome sequenced is

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another tool in our arsenal against the agricultural problems of the future: meeting an ever-growing demand with fewer resources, balancing productivity and sustainability and adapting to farming in our changing climate.

Interested in the effects of genetic modification? Read our article on how misinformation about GM is harming farm productivity

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Innovation to feed the future of animal production

Research for this article was contributed by: • QUT Associate Professor of Microbial Technology, Robert Speight (@ portyrob) • QUT Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities member, Dr Mark Harrison (@ MarkH_CTCB)

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.

Global demand for Australian animal products such as meat, cheese and milk powder is increasing, particularly in Asian countries where changing population dynamics are creating a burgeoning middle class. Our agricultural sector is responding to this demand by increasing animal 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 nutritious ingredients (such as dietary fibre, sugar syrups and protein) also helps to future-proof the livestock industry in times of drought

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or flood. The lower cost of these feed ingredients will help ensure that cattle, pig and chicken production businesses continue to thrive.

Crop by-products such as hay have long been used to feed animals. 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.

A SWEET SOLUTION 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 sugarcane produces a range of products: up to 4.5 million tonnes of raw sugar, about one million tonnes of molasses and 10 million 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 products.

“Recycling and upcycling are common practices in several industries, and they have many potentially profitable applications across the agricultural sector,” 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.

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“We need to look to residues and by-products from agricultural systems that are available at central locations like sugar mills as potential feed additives and feed ingredients.”

Traditionally, sugarcane by-products have found other uses. For many years, Australia’s sugar mills have burned bagasse on site to produce heat, steam and electricity 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 enzyme 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 research also offers the opportunity to improve the nutritional value of crop by-products that we already use for animal feed.

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

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CONVERTING BIOMASS TO FEED Much of the research into transforming these wastes into feed ingredients takes place at QUT’s Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant, based on the site of the operating Racecourse Sugar Mill in the central Queensland city. The pilot plant is a unique research and development facility that can convert biomass into biofuels, green chemicals and other bioproducts.

QUT’s research into trans-

forming bagasse and cane trash into feed ingredients focuses on three processes: • 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 fermentation to produce sin-

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)

gle-cell microbial feed protein from crop by-products and pre-treated crop by-products.

PLAY VIDEO Click here to take a video tour of the Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant At the Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant, scientists use chemicals, heat and pressure to break apart sugarcane bagasse or trash fibres, release sugars and make them accessible to the animal that eats the feed.

“We have a lot of experience in bagasse and trash pre-treatment at the pilot scale,” says Dr Harrison. “For example, we know what conditions we need to use to make the fibre more digestible for cattle.

“After pre-treatment with chemicals 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.”

MAKING THE MOST OF NATURE 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.

Probiotics are live microbial cells that enhance the health and per-

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formance of an animal, while enzymes are added to help break down feed to release extra energy and nutrients.

QUT Associate Professor Robert Speight and his team of scientists are developing new probiotic and enzyme supplements specifically for inclusion in sugarcane bagasse-based feed to add further value to this low-cost feed ingredient.

“We know fibrous feeds such as bagasse can be challenging for an animal to digest,” he says. “So we’re looking at adding the probiotics and enzyme supplements to the feed to make it more digestible and nutritious, which in turn produces an animal that is healthier and more profitable for the farmer.”

QUT is currently working in partnership with Bioproton Pty Ltd, Ridley Agriproducts, Kennedy Creek Lime and The University of Queensland on a government-funded project to scale up probiotic and enzyme supplement production to commercial levels and perform testing in livestock to show safety and efficacy.

The project will bring these new supplement products to market faster and more efficiently. It will also demonstrate a streamlined lab-to-market platform for taking research discoveries through scaled-up production and field-testing. This platform and the capabilities developed in the project are now being applied to a variety of industrial bioproducts.

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QUT researchers are developing innovative ways to upcycle sugarcane bagasse into low-cost, nutritious animal feed ingredients.

The benefits to Australian agriculture are significant, with these new technologies primed to create 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 economic development opportunities for regional areas.

“The potential is there to bring the best of biotechnology and hitech manufacturing to the regions using fermentation-type technologies,” Associate Professor Speight says. “It’s these new technologies that are going to make the difference in the end.

“It’s about protecting and growing the industry through future-proofing. The great thing we can see is that this research represents 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.”

FIND OUT MORE: QUT’s Institute for Future Environments finds ways to make our world more sustainable, secure and resilient by studying interactions between our natural, built and virtual environments.

Acknowledgements: The research projects described are part of QUT’s Biorefineries for Profit program, funded by the federal Department 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

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SXS races torque up to new heights SXS racing (for side-by-side or four-wheel off-road vehicles) has grown exponentially in popularity in recent years, along with the sophistication of the vehicles. In earlier times, the ‘buggies’ – as they are sometimes called – raced head to head against two-wheelers, such as in the thrilling 460km Finke Desert Race. Now, SXS racers have their own category, a legion of dedicated fans and committed vehicle manufacturers such as Polaris, Yamaha and Can-Am. Two of the stars of the sport are Simon Evans and Cody Crocker (pictured below).

Evans, a Polaris driver, won the 2018 Australian SXS Championship by two points.

Crocker is a pioneer of the sport who transitioned to SXS after a decade of dominance in rally driving and proceeded to win the SXS Challenge in four consecutive years.

2019 will see four rounds of the SXS Australian Championship, with races in NSW in May, in South Australia in July and in August and October in Victoria.

See www.sxs-racing.com for details.

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Simon Evans

Simon Evans

Cody Crocker

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Water and Irrigation

Anne Currey of 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

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Irrigation and water management in Australia Written by Anne Currey on behalf of Irrigation Australia Limited

Irrigation in Australia might have had a slow start, but significant reform in the last few decades has seen irrigated agriculture punching well above its weight in terms of profitability and productivity. Today, the annual gross value of irrigated agricultural production is $15.5 billion, which is produced from just 0.6 per cent of all agricultural land in Australia. In the future, new technologies and policy changes will help to ensure efficient and sustainable water use continues, keeping Australian irrigators at the top of their game.

FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS: IRRIGATION IN AUSTRALIA The story of irrigation in Australia began in the early 1800s with some enterprising individuals who developed water resources to ensure feed for their livestock.

It might be a surprise to discover that the first government involvement in irrigation was in Tasmania in the 1830s, when a small scheme was developed along the Derwent Estuary.

Almost 50 years later, irrigation development began in earnest in Australia. Larger, government-sup-

ported schemes were developed in the late 1870s in Victoria and South Australia (the Renmark and Mildura schemes), and in the early part of the 20th century in New South Wales (the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area) and in Western Australia (the Harvey Irrigation Scheme).

In the 1940s, Australia embarked on what was then the nation’s biggest infrastructure project, the Snowy Mountains Scheme. This complex integrated water and hydro-electric power scheme had a huge impact on the expansion of ir-

rigation in the Murray-Darling Basin in south-eastern Australia.

By the early 1990s, irrigation development was in high gear, especially in the Murray-Darling Basin states from Queensland in the north to South Australia in the south. In fact, by this time, concern was growing that there was too much irrigation development. An audit in the Murray-Darling Basin in the early 1990s concluded that water use was unsustainable, and that continued growth would reduce security for existing users and ex-

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acerbate river health problems. In response, a ‘cap’ was set with the maximum amount of water that could be diverted from rivers at 1993-94 levels of development.

The cap, formally put in place on the 1st of July 1997, has been critical to the long-term health of the basin’s rivers and underpinned the emphasis since then on achieving greater efficiency in water use.

REFORM PROMOTES SUSTAINABILITY Since 1997, reform of water use in Australia has continued. An important part of this reform was the setting up of the National Water Initiative (NWI) in 2004. Under the NWI, governments around Australia made commitments to: • prepare comprehensive water plans • achieve sustainable water use in over-allocated or stressed water systems

• introduce registers of water rights and standards for water accounting • expand trade in water rights • improve pricing for water storage and delivery • better manage urban water demands.

Funding for modernisation required as part of the NWI is available under a variety of programs and through partnerships with all the states. Through these programs, on-farm and supply level water efficiency projects have been implemented with the water savings being shared by users and the environment.

IRRIGATION: ESSENTIAL STATISTICS While irrigated land is a tiny proportion of the total area of land devoted to agriculture in Australia, it punches well above its weight in terms of gross value of production. In fact, irrigation con-

Gross value of irrigated agricultural production, Australia, year ended 30 June 2017 (Source: ABS)

Value $m

Rice for grain Cereals for grain and seed (excluding rice) Cotton lint Sugar cane - Cut for crushing

252.4 308.8 1,517.9 834.6

Nurseries, cut flowers and cultivated turf Other broadacre crops Hay Vegetables (human consumption) Fruit and nuts (excluding grapes) Grapes Dairy production (based on milk production) Production from meat cattle Production from sheep & other livestock (e.g. eggs, pork)

1,326.4 161.3 209.7 3,295.6 3,525.4 1,340.6 1,623.5 684.7 431.1

TOTAL

15,512.1

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tributed 25 per cent of the gross value of agricultural production of $61 billion (2016-17) from 0.6 per cent of all land devoted to agriculture in Australia, making it much more profitable and productive on a per hectare basis than dryland agriculture.

In 2017 there were about 88,100 agricultural businesses in Australia, of which 22,100 (25 per cent) used irrigation. The total volume of water used by the businesses for irrigating crops and pastures was 9048 gigalitres. The biggest percentage of this irrigation water is sourced from irrigation channels, followed by rivers, creeks and lakes, groundwater and then on-farm dams and tanks.

DID YOU KNOW

?

There are 40,000 irrigators in Australia, using 9.2 million megalitres of water every year to support agricultural production!

TRENDS The irrigation industry in Australia recognises that while big improvements have been made in water use efficiency, especially as a result of programs funded by the Australian and state governments in the last 15 years, this is no time to stand still.

Improving water use efficiency – or achieving more crop per drop – is still a priority for irrigators.

Climate change, which is having an impact on all agriculture and irrigation, adds complexity to the challenge of improving water use

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efficiency. In many irrigation areas, run-off into rivers is predicted to decrease and we are already seeing great variability in terms of rainfall and weather patterns.

Forward-thinking irrigators have examined their records and incorporated risk management strategies into their irrigation farming. This has meant doing earthworks to capture and store more water, installing soil moisture sensors to keep a close eye on moisture and temperature levels, scheduling planting and irrigation when it will have most effect and keeping up with climate and weather forecasts.

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As with most things in life, irrigation is becoming highly technical, and almost every day the suite of digital and computer-based equipment for managing irrigation systems expands. Much of this technology is about collecting and analysing data such as evapotranspiration, soil moisture and weather conditions and using it to schedule irrigation so that water is most efficiently applied.

This means that learning the skills to properly manage new technology and irrigation equipment generally has become a priority with many irrigators for whom skills development is now part of their farming strategy.

Irrigation Australia Limited supports a skilled industry through its training and certification programs that are designed for each major sector of the industry – from irrigation manager through to retailer, contractor, agronomist, meter installer and designer.

Adopting new technology doesn’t only apply to irrigators. Water supply authorities across Australia, such as Coleambally Irrigation, Murray Irrigation, Murrumbidgee Irrigation and Goulburn-Murray Irrigation have installed systems (using total channel control technology) that allow them to determine when and how much water is delivered to individual irrigators. As a result, water is delivered and used much more efficiently, and waste is significantly reduced.

We have also recently seen a major policy change across Australia to ensure greater compliance

with water regulations by monitoring and measuring how much water is harvested by irrigators, particularly from rivers and streams. While much of the water used for irrigation in most states is already metered, a national framework has been developed where all meters must now comply with standards to ensure water is being measured as accurately as possible. This means that many irrigation meters across the nation are being checked for compliance with these national standards, and compliant meters are being installed where necessary.

DID YOU KNOW

?

Irrigated agricultural land in Australia makes up 2.2 million hectares, or just 0.6 per cent of all agricultural land

SETTING THE GLOBAL PACE Over the last two decades, many irrigators have shown their willingness to adopt new, more efficient technology and practices. At the same time, policymakers, water supply authorities, irrigator organisations and other stakeholders have worked to develop legislation aimed at ensuring the sustainability of the industry and the precious water resource on which they rely. The result has been a productive and profitable irrigation sector, increased awareness of the importance of maintaining the environmental health of our waterways and a policy framework that is recognised as a global benchmark.

Check out the latest innovations in drip irrigation that are helping Aussie farmers save water

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“

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“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

AUSTRALIA

XAG Plant Protection UASs are Now Available in Australia

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Ken Matthews served as the National Water Commission’s inaugural CEO and Chair from 2004 until 2010 and was previously Secretary of the Department of Primary Industries and Energy, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Secretary of the Department of Transport and Regional Services.

Water Management in Australia – time for a rethink 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 irrigate.

Broadly, 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 unethical use of the water may lead to the loss of the community’s confidence in water users – and thus implicit withdrawal of the social licence to irrigate.

Although the term is often used, its meaning is rarely spelt out. To the extent 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 community confidence that water is being used responsibly by spelling out – codifying – the social licence to irrigate.

I suggest this because I have no doubt that the concept of such a social 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-

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astic community acceptance – particularly by the metropolitan urban community.

Personally, I have no doubt about the tremendous value of Australian irrigation and the high level of responsibility of most irrigators. But urban community acceptance is not strong and as a consequence access to the water resource is not forever assured.

My proposal, therefore, is that water users (specifically 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 practice; 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.

DID YOU KNOW

?

In 2016-17 the total amount of water used for irrigating crops and pastures in Australia was 9,048 gigalitres

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THE FORWARD AGENDA Having railed against expedient decision making by ministers, self-censorship in advice and public comment 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 remains to be done.

So, here is a shopping list of known obvious opportunities where more can be done in the water reform space: • 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 contemporary review.

• Despite much effort, processes for recognising Indigenous interests in water continue to be haphazard and ineffective. Indigenous economic, cultural and social interests continue to be conflated. Input to decision making is low-impact. There is great reform opportunity to set all this right.

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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.

• 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.

• 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 arrangements 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 information cannot be met, the potential for public disquiet increases. Improved transparency is a policy opportunity, not a problem.

• 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 significantly improve the rational foundations of water management decisions by bringing more scientists to the decision-making table.

• Environmental water continues to cause dispute. 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Northern development continues to be discussed, indeed continues to proceed, without serious guiding policy principles and criteria. There is an opportunity to manage northern development much more strategically.

• And Commonwealth/state relations in water continue to be fraught with dispute and disappointment. 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 Commonwealth/state relations can be developed. We certainly need them.

DID YOU KNOW

?

The annual gross value of irrigated agricultural production in Australia is $15.5 billion, just over a quarter of all agricultural 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. Impressive 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 renewed water reform agenda. Yet nothing has happened. 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 Commonwealth/state processes for national water reform have ground almost to a standstill.

So, here’s a suggestion for a better way. What if Australia introduced a system for tackling water reform, as follows: • An independent panel be appointed to iden-

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•

•

•

•

•

tify and recommend a menu of desirable water reforms for each state or territory. Given each state’s different legislation, institutional arrangements, histories and regional water conditions, there would likely be a different set of reforms recommended for each state.

The specific reforms would be designed strictly independently by the panel, avoiding negotiations with the states which may otherwise rule out or ‘round down’ the most challenging reforms.

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.

At the same time, the Commonwealth would publish an incentive payment offer for each reform in each state’s package. The payments would be matched to the degree of difficulty of each reform. Negotiations with the state on the size of the incentive payment would be possible.

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.

The independent panel could also put pressure on the Commonwealth itself, by independently designing and publishing reforms to Commonwealth water arrangements and facilitating negotiations with Treasury/Finance on budget incentives to take them on.

A process along these lines would have many advantages: • A refreshed, coherent, mutually-reinforcing national water reform strategy could be developed by the independent panel, avoiding the stop/ start, uneven and partial efforts that have characterised reform attempts over the last decade.

• The usual Commonwealth/state negotiated compromises in specifying the precise reform to be tackled, would be avoided.

• More difficult reforms from which governments

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have shied away for decades could be revisited.

Central agencies, especially treasuries, in state governments would bring pressure to bear on water departments to accept the reform challenges 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.

• The necessary funds to undertake reforms would become available to the water agencies (after all, serious reforms do typically have serious costs to implement).

• 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.

But why am I proposing this now for the water sector?

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 enjoying some big benefits. But there is so much more to be done.

I worry 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 become 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 restarting the water reform journey.

You can download the full lecture by clicking here.

Interested in the latest in water management? Check out the new digital tool delivering massive yield improvements in WA

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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.

WHAT ARE BIOSOLIDS? Biosolids are a mix of water and organic materials, the major by-product of the wastewater treatment process. Material that gets flushed down the toilet or washed down sinks and drains in household bathrooms, laundries and kitchens eventually requires treatment at a sewage treatment plant.

During this treatment, microorganisms digest the sewage and completely break down the original 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-causing pathogens and remove volatile organic matter, the resulting products are known as biosolids.

Biosolids are normally composed of anywhere from 15 to 90 per cent solid material and contain the macronutrients nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and sulphur and micronutrients such as copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium and iron. Australia produces approximately 327,000 dry tonnes

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“Biosolids keep providing out-of-this-world performance year after year. Their source may be perceived as dark and mysterious, but their final destination is certainly brightening the outlook for those farmers fortunate enough to receive it.”

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.

ARE THEY SAFE? People may have an understandable aversion to using wastewater products as fertiliser on their farms, but biosolids are perfectly safe. They are carefully treated, monitored and analysed to ensure they meet quality standards.

Their use is also subject to strict regulatory requirements in every state and territory.

Over thirty years of Australian

and international research has concluded that, if correctly managed, the application of biosolids to land has no adverse environmental or human health impacts.

Guidelines for biosolid use also recommend a withholding period of 30 days before stock is allowed to graze on land that had biosolids applied.

The website of the Australian & New Zealand Biosolids Partnership (ANZBP) has a wealth of further information on the creation of biosolids and their use for those interested.

FROM SYDNEY TO THE SOIL Sydney Water produces 180,000 tonnes of biosolids each year, collected from 23 wastewater treatment plants across Greater Sydney. 100 per cent of these biosolids are re-used, with the product trucked to broadacre farms in the Central West and South West of NSW or used for mine rehabilitation or composting.

On farm, the biosolids are incorporated into the soil to add the nutrients and organic matter that help to stimulate plant growth. After a holding period,

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crops such as canola, wheat, barley and pastures can be sown, with the results achieved by NSW farmers so impressive that demand for the biosolids is far outstripping supply.

“Farmers using biosolids are praising the benefits created for the soil condition on their properties, the environmental benefits 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 paddocks where biosolids have been added to the soil.”

Biosolids provide large quantities of slow release nutrients that can be stored in the soil and utilised as needed by plants over several years, saving farmers valuable time and money on re-application. 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 after rain.

DID YOU KNOW

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Biosolids are graded according to chemical composition and the level of pathogens remaining after production – only the highest grade of biosolids can be used to grow crops for human consumption

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“The vagaries of weather make yield comparisons difficult but croppers using biosolids are reducing 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 hectare. At a conservative sheep value of $100 per head, this equates to increased annual income of $300 to $1,000 per hectare.

“Biosolids keep providing outof-this-world performance year after year. Their source may be perceived as dark and mysterious, but their final destination is certainly brightening the outlook for those farmers fortunate enough to receive it.”

A NEW FAVOURITE AMONG FARMERS 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.

“I just don’t think you could believe 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.”

It was a similar story for Stuart Kelly, a sheep farmer just south of Bathurst. By cutting down on syn-

thetic fertilisers and applying biosolids, he has been able to double the number of sheep on his property despite a particularly challenging 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 delivering considerable benefits for Australian farmers.

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Read about the efforts of Australia’s first National Advocate for Soil Health, Major-General Michael Jeffery, in shaping government policy on soil science.

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“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.

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Additional Reading Access our vast library of further articles on a range of topics from the first volume of The Australian Farmer

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Rural Health A look 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.

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Tackling rural mental health by text message 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, 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.

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 workers and psychologists. In the first year of the initiative, 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.

“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 determine that he had made no attempt to phone anyone for help.

“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 wondered if a simple text message could save a life?”

Inspired by the idea, Dervla quit her job that afternoon and has since devoted her time and career to establishing a text message counselling service that

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In 2017, Dervla was named an Optus Future Maker.

The funding from Optus allowed her to develop an IT platform for Virtual Psychologist. 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 text messages.

Data collected by Virtual Psychologist indicates that 70 per cent of the rural and regional Australians 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 simply isn’t anything available,” says Dervla. “The culture 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.

“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’.

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Whereas with a text service, nobody is going to see them, and they can access mental health services without the embarrassment or stigma.

We’re quickly learning that this is a really good service for people in rural and regional areas.”

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.

And after the session is concluded, Virtual Psychologist staff will check in with the person via text over the following weeks to make sure they are okay and keep in touch.

And with the growing interest in the text counselling service, Virtual Psychologist’s methods have recently expanded to include messages sent via Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. This enables people in rural and remote communities who might not have phone reception but are able to access Wi-Fi or an internet connection to access the service.

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 Australian 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

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Additional Reading 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.

TELEHEALTH HAS RURAL AUSTRALIANS TALKING 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 farmers.

CONNECTING THE DOTS FOR RURAL RESILIENCE 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.

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Science and Innovation The Australian agricultural industry needs to collaborate closely with science and nurture innovation in order to stay ahead on the global stage.

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How to facilitate innovation in the digital age We spoke with Mike Briers – CEO of the new Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) – about the opportunities offered to the food and agriculture industry by digital technology, how innovators can be the bridge between farmers and technologists and the innovative potential on our doorstep.

Food Agility is a $150 million innovation hub funded by the federal government and a long list of prominent partners in agribusiness, technology and research.

The CRC’s mission is to lead a digital revolution in food production and supply by brokering innovative research, educating the industry workforce and influencing policy in the sector.

How can Australian agriculture embrace the opportunities offered by digital technology, particularly big data and the Internet of Things (IoT)?

“Six or seven years ago, agriculture was considered to be at the bottom end of the scale in terms of digital maturity. But with the rise of IoT and the development of

DID YOU KNOW

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One of the Food Agility CRC’s projects uses blockchain technology and secure payment systems to fight counterfeit Australian beef being sold in China.

a proliferation of instruments that measure the physical environment, we are starting to overcome the challenges of measurability and help agriculturalists make better decisions around when to harvest, when to plant, when to spray and when to water. Historically these have been made on guesstimates and a lot of uncertainty, particularly concerning weather.

“Complicating this is the nature of the industry – agriculture is a very risky and uncertain area to apply data science to. However, the improvement in devices and connectivity has created a flowing stream of reliable data that is improving exponentially. It is an environment that is uncertain, but can be rendered more certain by measuring things with confidence.

“In our favour is the fact that Aussies are very well known as early adopters. We take up things really quickly, but the big challenge has been the rift between the very complex and uncertain rural environment, and the technologists who tend to be in urban areas. The key is empathy – how

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do we cross that empathy divide and have the technologists better understand the decisions that need to be made on the farm?”

What is the key to crossing this empathy divide?

“If I’m trying to design something that’s simple, robust and reliable to use for a farmer, then I’ve got to imagine what a farmer wants. Part of the challenge has been that agriculture has not been particularly well served by technologists, who would typically impose their existing products or solutions on farmers without really understanding how farmers will use it. Growers can tell you plenty of stories about tech they’ve been sold rusting in their barns.

“I think this is where our work at the CRC for Food Agility, as well as others like us, can really help by being the fluid in the ecosystem – the broker who tries to introduce technologists to growers and vice versa and bring them together in a deliberate innovation to co-design

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DID YOU KNOW

?

The world’s population will be 9 billion by 2050. To feed this many people we need to increase current food production by 70 per cent. a solution. There is a challenge for farmers to discern what is good and bad technology and they need a trusted third party who can help them make that decision. What we’re starting to see is players in the ecosystem who can fill that role.”

Where can Australia look to and take lessons from to accelerate our innovation in this area?

“Sometimes we look overseas too quickly. There’s a lot we can learn from ourselves and so much talent in this country, we just haven’t figured out how to work together properly and leverage it.

The celebrated examples in agtech and adoption are the US, Israel and the Netherlands. The latter

are tiny countries compared to Australia, but somehow they have developed an amazing entrepreneurial agtech ecosystem. There’s clearly a lesson to learn from what they’re doing, but you can’t just pick that up and replicate it.

“We can’t be afraid to look overseas, but I think we have enormous talent in Australia. Our only challenge is we don’t think big enough. When you look at Australia, we have high labour costs, the highest variability of weather in the world, very challenging conditions, pretty much every crop there is to grow and a very open export system – all these things make people more creative and innovative. So, while we are naturally innovative, we have a very complex R&D and incubator environment. We need to learn to collaborate better to all rise on the same tide when it comes to digital agriculture.”

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Additional Reading 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.

‘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.

HI-TECH IMAGING OF LIVESTOCK, FROM PADDOCK TO PLATE A 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 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 FATHER TO SON 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 picking apples and cherries and tending to livestock. It was an idyllic albeit modest life, though with

two brothers and six sisters the farm couldn’t realistically support 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 daughters. 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 comparison to other local families who have experienced a messy succession, 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 property to my brother to, in Colin’s words, “right a past wrong”.

From Temora to Tenterfield you could go into any pub, mention succession planning, and hear a similar story of broken families and broken dreams. But why, after years of succession being in the spotlight, are we still getting it so wrong?

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SOWING THE SEEDS OF SUCCESSION A 2007 study from the University of New England reported “close to 50 per cent of farmers in Australia had not identified a successor”, indicating that succession is not extensively discussed by farming families, resulting in a lack of preparedness.

I’ve been told that to be successful in business there’s a lot of room for passion, but no room for emotion. But for farmers, their home, family and work are so intimately woven that it makes generational transitions difficult. And this can ultimately result in issues with farm productivity, ownership and income.

On the simplest level, farming families need to learn how to communicate better with each other.

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 effective communicator? The statistics regarding rural mental health speak volumes about the communication deficit in regional Australia.

HOW TO BE A BETTER COMMUNICATOR Every family is different, with unique systems of management that inform their rules or “norms” of communication.

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 underDownload stood and respected by all.

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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 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 disagreements arise. It’s a lot harder than it seems!

3. Give it time It’s going to take time and a great deal of dedication and effort to build an environment of open and transparent communication within your family and business. But the rewards far outweigh the sacrifices, as effective communication not only improves the family business dynamics but helps ensure the proud continuation of family farming in Australia.

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Additional Reading THE IMPORTANCE OF FARM SUCCESSION PLANNING Professor John Hicks of Charles Sturt University discusses the need to transfer farming experience from one generation to the next and how we can best achieve this.

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.

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.

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Soil Health and Sustainability Why 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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Farmers the key to national soil health 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.

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.

“The core message of the report is to have the government 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 regenerative agricultural practices and really understands 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 integrated 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 happening with some of our farmers who are not managing those assets adequately because they don’t know how, or haven’t been taught.

DID YOU KNOW

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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

“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.”

According to General Jeffery, one of the keys

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to 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.

In 2012, Soils for Life published a series of case studies looking at the impact of sustainable and regenerative practices, with reports finding that 50 per cent of the rainfall on the Australian landscape is lost due to poor soil structure and insufficient groundcover. 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.

“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 evaporation – about 50 per cent of our rainfall – when we want that rainfall actually filtrating into the soil.

“And for the most part, it can’t get into the soil because of insufficient soil carbon. The soil is compacted, or it’s running off because it doesn’t have sufficient top cover and that then erodes the streams.

The streams then flow below the floodplains and take a lot of topsoil out to sea.”

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DID YOU KNOW

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The Soils for Life organisation – founded by General Jeffery – is developing case studies on examples of Australian regenerative land management practices that cover over 1,087,555 hectares of land!

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.

“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 science.

“If we’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 healthier 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 regenerated because everybody will know not only that it’s got to be done, but how it should be done.”

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Additional Reading CRACKING THE SOIL DEBATE Walter Jehne of Healthy Soils Australia asks how we can feed well beyond our population while protecting our degraded soils.

A FRESH APPROACH TO SOIL A case study on the Victorian vegetable company that turned to regenerative soil practices to improve yields after years of reliance on synthetic fertilisers.

PARTNERS IN RURAL STEWARDSHIP? Paul Martin of the University of New England discusses the role of the farmer in modern society and the challenges of rural stewardship.

ART4AGRICULTURE: CELEBRATING YOUNG FARMERS A 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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Understanding Consumer Trends This chapter 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.

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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 continued transformation of the global food system.

By Jeremy Lomman of SOS Interim Management

Australia has often been mentioned as the agricultural powerhouse 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.

Yet we have a national food vision based largely on the proposition 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 businesses are not healthy enough to benefit.

‘Doing things right’ is undeniably important, but true opportunity 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.

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.

A different story has been emerging in recent years. Australian 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.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Profitable businesses understand what drives consumer behaviour. 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 innovative.

Achieving this depends on how much intellectual capital the business holds. Intellectual capital refers to the extent to which

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the 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-genetically 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.

There are two types of businesses – price makers 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?

If the price 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 competitive. Although the product may be preferred, there is no premium.

There is much work to be done in Australia’s agricultural industry to help farmers strengthen their knowledge Download about markets and who they should PDF rely on to provide that information.

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It’s the productivity versus profitability discussion we need to have.

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 government has a list of apps and plan templates available for free.

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 tricks.

3. If you aren’t involved with the peak body or organisation relevant to your industry, consider joining. Horticulture Australia produces a quarterly magazine 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 industry body is helping its members stay ahead of the curve. This might mean joining the board, taking time out to attend meetings or penning some stern letters.

Your industry’s future and its profitability are what matter!

Click here to read the full article from Jeremy Lomman in the first edition of The Australian Farmer

the australian farmer

Additional Reading GROWING PASSION FEEDS MILLIONS A 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.

CLICK HERE TO READ

EXPORTING TASMANIAN GOLD A look at how one Tasmanian apple farmer successfully experimented with his apple varieties to target the Chinese market.

CLICK HERE TO READ

DOES AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE NEED A NATIONAL BRAND? A thought-provoking essay from journalist Matthew Cawood on the benefits and challenges of establishing a national brand for agricultural products.

CLICK HERE TO READ

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Farm Finance and Superannuation Explore the best ways to secure your farm and your future, with financial and superannuation advice for farmers from industry experts.

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Interview with Grant Cairns Executive General Manager of Regional and Agribusiness Banking at Commonwealth Bank

How has farm finance changed in Australia over the past 20 years?

“Farming has changed significantly 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 technology-driven asset loan documents

DID YOU KNOW

?

On average, farmers say energy costs make up 11.4 per cent of their farm inputs. 92 per cent of Australian farmers say they’d like to invest in energy efficiency, with 76 per cent interested in solar with battery storage.

and program partnerships that help connect farmers, accountants and bankers. We’re also seeing that, with very high farmland values, it’s become harder for farmers to own property. That’s led to more farmers leasing land, which is also something the finance sector has adapted to.”

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 Australian agriculture compare with other world agriculture economies?

“You don’t have to look much further than the CSIRO or our network of CRCs and RDCs to see that innovation is part of the DNA of Australian agriculture. In a global context, Australia is in an interesting position as the transparency of our supply chain makes innovation 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 agricultural innovation, such as Israel, which has capitalised on a government-backed technological business incubator program. Back here in Australia I think we measure up pretty well, but with competition from lower cost producers an everDownload present challenge, PDF we can’t afford to be complacent.”

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Times are changing, but faceto-face financial advice is still king in rural Australia 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?

“People in general are becoming more aware of financial planning and financial services, and we try to accommodate that by providing more of the information 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 financial planning, and we try to meet that demand by offering video conferencing and other online services.”

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?

“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 Download traction at some stage, but there is PDF still a very core base of people – even digitally savvy people – who want a

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more informed choice.

“Robo-advice, however, doesn’t yet understand a person’s thoughts, feelings and the emotions that drive them to seek advice. And when it comes to financial assistance, these people really want some assurance from a real person. That’s why it is so important that we’ve got a specialist there to advise them.”

In your experience, in what areas do farmers generally need the most assistance when it comes to financial planning?

“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.

“The second area is the preservation and protection 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 ability to earn is crucial for farmers.”

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Additional Reading WHAT DOES FINANCIAL PLANNING MEAN FOR FARMERS? Isobel Knight of ProAgtive explains the intricacies of financial 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, superannuation, estate planning, retirement funding and much more.

CLICK HERE TO READ

TELOPEA DOWNS: FROM DESERT TO PASTURE A case study showing how the investment of foreign capital has revitalised an agricultural area in northwest Victoria.

CLICK HERE TO READ

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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.

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Interview with Dr Terry McCosker, Director of RCS Australia 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.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian Farmer, he speaks frankly to farmers on a variety of practical improvements needed in Australian agriculture.

What is your foremost recommendation to farmers today?

“The adoption of management 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?

“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. Unfortunately 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?

“Not many farmers regard their business as two separate businesses: a production and a land business. This perspective creates a realistic view of what is actually happening on a farm in terms of profit and wealth creation. The land business frequently subsidises the production business. The land

business is a long-term investment, which should make its money from both capital gain and a lease rate from the production business.

“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 contribution of each enterprise to covering overheads, the appropriate level of overheads and whether the turnover is appropriate for the overheads.”

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Yet we are often told that Australian farmers are among the most productive in the world?

“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.

Yield is what gets talked about at barbecues, but profit per hectare is a better measure for business.”

How do you define precision farming and is it playing a role in improving profitability?

“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

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yield and impact profitability. Precision farming no doubt has an increasing role as new technologies become available.”

What is your impression of our major agricultural schools?

“Certainly, some good is coming 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 understand 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?

“Two things stand out: Firstly, a lack of research and short term thinking in regard to really essential 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 subsidy, the farm profit increases by an incredible $50.”

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Additional Reading ACCESSING AND ENGAGING WITH AG AT SCHOOL The work being done by the Primary Industries Education Foundation 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

VIRTUAL FARMS TAKE AG LIFE TO CITY STUDENTS Explore how the University of Melbourne is using virtual technology to educate the next generation of the nation’s rural veterinarians.

CLICK HERE TO 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

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Natural Resource Management and Coping with Disaster This chapter looks at people from all over Australia and how they cope with the worst nature can throw at them.

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Community strength in the face of disaster

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.

The Beechworth-Mudgegonga fire complex burnt 33,577 hectares of land in north east Victoria, threatening several rural communities.

You can see the extent of the damage 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 Foundation.

Loretta Carroll, Chair of Into Our Hands and a Mudgegonga farmer producing beef and sheep, recalls the impact of the bushfires clearly.

DID YOU KNOW The Black Saturday fires burnt 450,000ha total, with over 7,500 people displaced and 3,500 structures destroyed

?

“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.”

Paula Pipan, director and secretary of Into Our Hands, owns a small vineyard not too far from Loretta’s property in Mudgegonga. She says her family was lucky to escape the blaze.

“It went right through our property, 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.”

Despite her own luck, Paula

saw first-hand the devastation the fires caused and is full of praise for the efforts of people like Loretta.

“I think everybody 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.”

From devastation to recovery As a result of the generosity of Australian and international donors – more than $315 million was raised by the Australian Red

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Cross Bushfire Appeal – recovery efforts began across Victoria as soon as the fires were extinguished. The Australian Red Cross established the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund (VBAF) as an independent charity to distribute these funds.

And 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.

“VBAF went to the communities and said, 'well, we’re going to distribute 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.”

A community advisory committee was set up (with Loretta as the northeast’s representative) and after extensive community consultation, it became apparent 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-

DID YOU KNOW

?

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 fires, and they wanted a stronger community, not just in the immediate future, but for generations to come.

“It allowed people to think big picture and to start looking at master 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 upfront, and also a foundation where every year there would be a round of funding made available and people could apply for funding for their various community projects, and that way the money could be used for long-term resilience projects.”

The Into Our Hands Foundation 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.

“Along the way you tend to get advice from government bodies telling you what you shouldn’t be doing, but I tend to think communities 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.”

“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 transferred to the community, out of the political arena,” says Paula.

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Click here to read the full article about Into Our Hands in the first edition of The Australian Farmer

the australian farmer

Additional Reading 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

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Our Partners 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.

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ANALYSIS ANALYSIS ELEMENT ANALYSIS

ANALYSIS

N U T R I O L O G Y * N G U Y T R N T RR I I OOL LO ** I O L O G Y * NU N UU TT R science I O L of OO G GY Y* *the growing

%W/W ELEMENT ELEMENT %W/W Total Potassium Humate and Fulvate 70-75 ELEMENT %W/W 60-65 Total Potassium Total Potassium Humate and Fulvate 70-75 Humate and Fulvate Potassium (K) Humate and Fulvate 70-75 13.00 Total Potassium 10.00 Potassium(K) (K O) Potassium (K) Potassium 13.00 Particle Size: 2-5mm Potassium (K) 2 13.00 Particle Size: Particle 2-5mm 2-4mm ParticleSize: Size: 0-2mm Particle Size: 2-5mm 0-2mm 0-2mm 0-2mm

*the science of growing *the science of growing *the science of growing

%W/W 70-75 13.00 2-5mm 0-2mm

POTASSIUM HUMATE

DIRECTIONS FOR USE: DIRECTIONS FOR USE: DIRECTIONS FOR USE: DIRECTIONS FOR USE: APPLICATION: APPLICATION: APPLICATION:

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POTASSIU HUMATE

Benefits to your soil include: Benefits t Benefits to your soil include: to your soil include: •Benefits Improves the efficiency of fer • Improve • Improves the efficiency of fer the efficiency fer • Improves water holding of capac • Improve • Improves water holding capac Improves water holding capac • Promotes microbial activity Promot • Promotes microbial •activity microbial activity • Promotes plant uptake of ess • Promot • Promotes plant uptake of ess • nutrients Promotes plant uptake of ess nutrient nutrients nutrients penetration and rete • Improves • Improve • Improves penetration and rete • calcium Improvesinpenetration and rete the soil calcium calcium in the soil calcium in the soil

90% HUMIC ACID POTASSIUM SOLUBLE HUMIC ACID (AS HUMATE) POTASSIUM HUMATE) 90% SOLUBLE SOLUBLE90% HUMIC ACID (AS (AS POTASSIUM HUMATE) 90% SOLUBLE HUMIC ACID (AS POTASSIUM HUMATE)

An application rate of 2-10 kg/Ha each growing An application rate of 2-10 kg/HaAneach application growingrate of 2-10 kg/Ha each growing season is recommended.

An application rate of 2-10 kg/Ha each growing season is recommended. season is recommended. season is recommended.

For greater effect and convenience, it is recommended For greater effect convenience, Formixed greater it is recommended effect that K-humate S90and Granulated is the and convenience, it is recommended For greater effect and convenience, it is with recommended that Potassium Humate is mixed with K-humate S90 Granulated is that mixed K-humate with the S90the Granulated is mixed with the fertilizer to be applied in Granulated the field. that K-humate S90 Granulated is mixed with the fertilizer to be applied in the field. fertilizer to be applied in the field. fertilizer to be applied in the field.

K-humate S90 Granulated can be applied in conjunction Potassium Humate canapplied be applied in like K-humate S90 Granulated can be K-humate S90 in conjunction Granulated can be applied in conjunction with agricultural lime,Granulated and conventional fertilizers K-humate S90 Granulated can be applied in conjunction conjunction with lime, agricultural lime, conventional with agricultural and conventional with agricultural fertilizers like and conventional fertilizers like urea, superphosphate andconventional DAP toand maximise thelime, with agricultural lime, and fertilizers like fertilizers like urea, superphosphate and DAPthe to urea, superphosphate and DAPurea, to maximise superphosphate and DAP to maximise the efficiency of the fertilizers. urea, superphosphate and DAP to maximise the maximise thethe efficiency of the fertilizers. efficiency of fertilizers. efficiency of the fertilizers. efficiency of the fertilizers.

When mixing with other liquid fertilizers, test When mixing with other liquid fertilizers, Wheninmixing test for compatibility with a small atest jar. with other liquid fertilizers, test When mixing with other liquidquantity fertilizers, for compatibility with a small quantity for compatibility in a jar. with a small quantity in a jar. for compatibility with a small quantity in a jar.

Suitable all Suitable for types. use with all soil types.

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Apply pre-planting or during the active growing Apply pre-planting or during theseason. active growing season.

Apply pre-planting or during the active growing season.

Apply pre-planting or during the active growing season.

CONDITIONS OF SALE: CONDITIONS OF SALE:the manufacture CONDITIONSthis OFproduct.

SALE: Every care is taken CONDITIONS OF during SALE: Every care isof Every care is taken during the manufacture oftaken this product. during the manufacture of this product.

However, conditions can vary Every careasis environmental taken during the manufacture of this product.

However, as environmental conditions However, canasvary environmental conditions can vary considerably, no responsibility can be taken by the However, as environmental conditions can vary considerably, no responsibility can considerably, be taken by nothe responsibility can be taken by the manufacturer, importer or his agents any by injury, considerably, no responsibility can befor taken the manufacturer, importer or his agents manufacturer, for anyuse injury, importer or his agents for any injury, damage, loss or other results following or misuse manufacturer, importer or his agents forthe any injury, damage, loss or other results following damage,theloss useororother misuse results following the use or misuse of this product. damage, loss or other results following the use or misuse of this product. of this product. of this product.

Reg. No. 3456M Reg. No. 3456M Reg. No. 3456M

25kg 25kg 25kg 200kg 200kg 200kg 1000kg 1000kg 1000kg

Reg. No. 3456M

CAUTION: CAUTION: Avoid contact with eyes. Keep CAUTION: out of reach CAUTION:

Avoid contact with medical eyes. Keep Avoid out of contac reach IfAvoid swallowed advice. contactseek with eyes. Keep out of reach If swallowed seek medical advice.

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Omnia Specialities Australia Pty Ltd Omnia Specialities AustraliaOmnia Pty LtdSpec (ACN 102Specialities 717 019) Omnia Australia Pty Ltd (ACN 102 717 0 (ACN 102 717 019) Tramway Road (ACN 102 717 019) Tramway Roa Tramway Road Morwell Tramway3840 Road Morwell 3840 Morwell 3840 Victoria, Australia Morwell 3840 Victoria, Aust Victoria, Australia Tel: +61-3-5133 Victoria, Australia9118 Tel: +61-3-51 Tel: +61-3-5133 9118 Fax: +61-3-51339118 9114 Tel: +61-3-5133 Fax: +61-3-5 Fax: +61-3-5133 9114 www.omnia.com.au Fax: +61-3-5133 9114 www.omnia. www.omnia.com.au www.omnia.com.au

25kg 200kg 1000kg

PROUDLY MADE IN AUSTR PROUDLY MADE MADE IN IN AUSTR AUSTR PROU PROUDLY

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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

Irrigation Automation

SENIOR PROJECT COORDINATORS Daniel Chan George Alam SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATORS Carla Wong Kenny Cheung

ONE MANDATE GROUP PTY LTD (02) 9884 9660 solutions@onemandate.com www.onemandate.com

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Editorial Advisory Board 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.

Major General the Honourable Michael Jeffery MAJOR GENERAL MICHAEL JEFFERY – PATRON Major General the Honourable Michael Jeffery AC, AO (Mil), CVO, MC (Retd) was Governor-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 productivity and to advise the government on soil science.

Prior to this, he had a distin-

guished military career, seeing action in Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam, where he was awarded the Military Cross and South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He commanded Australia’s elite Special Air Service Regiment and became Deputy 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 HARVEY Ros Harvey is an experienced entrepreneur and executive in technology, particularly the Internet of Things (IoT) and user-centric design. Since founding Australian agtech company The Yield in 2014, it has become one of the industry’s fastest growing technology success stories, backed by several leading global businesses including Bosch, KPMG and Microsoft.

Ros is passionate about technology playing a role in the sustainable governance of the

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planet, and is an accomplished speaker on agtech, IoT, converting data to knowledge and the future of food.

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 established the University of New England’s Precision Agriculture Research Group, and the internationally renowned SMART Farm project. He has led more than 40 industry-funded R&D projects and is the Australian representative to the International Society for Precision Agriculture. In 2016 he received the McClymont Distinguished Professorship at UNE in recognition of his ongoing service to agriculture innovation and research leadership.

JAN DAVIS Jan Davis is Managing Director of Agribusiness Tasmania and a Councillor at Northern Midlands Council in Tasmania.

She is a farmer with a long history of senior roles representing Tasmanian and Australian farmers, most notably

she was CEO of the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association for five years and CEO of the Agribusiness Association of Australia. She is currently a member of the boards of Landcare Australia and Australian Shellfish Industries Ltd, and has previously served on the boards of Plant Health Australia Ltd, the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, Horticulture Australia Ltd and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.

ANGELA ELLIOTT Angela Elliott has 15 years of experience in corporate agriculture across a number of companies including George Weston Foods and Ridley Corporation and is also a founding 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 diversification and innovation to Australian agriculture, as well as promoting the agricultural sector as a career path for young Australians.

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ANDREW WEIDEMANN Andrew Weidemann is Chairman of Grain Producers Australia, an association representing Australia’s broadacre, grain, pulse and oilseed producers. 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 sustainability 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.

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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 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.

“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.davesturmer.com

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