The nation's first fully automated 'hands-free' mixed crop farm will soon be set up in Wagga as part of a $20 million plan for Charles Sturt University's soon-to-be expanded AgriPark venture.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Over the next couple of years, robotics and artificial intelligence will be deployed to manage 1900 hectares of cropping land owned by the university.
The Global Digital Farm initiative will be spearhead by Professor David Lamb.
As the chief scientist of the CSU partner, Food Agility Co-operative Research Centre, he was heavily involved in setting up a similar project at the University of New England (UNE), Armidale in 2009.
The 'smart farm' in Armidale, however, has a greater livestock focus than the Wagga farm will have.
"There is no hands-free farm in Australia, in a broadacre sense, there is no such thing. This will be the first of its kind," Professor Lamb said.
"When we're talking hands-free, we're talking about the things that will do the job of people but at the end of the day, we can't do without our farm managers."
Related:
With the partnership now announced, the university will begin its design phase and it is expected the entire project will be running within a few years.
"The first phase will be for the telecommunication and technology infrastructure so in the next few months we'll start getting it all lit up," Professor Lamb said.
Once complete, it will boast a range of fully autonomous machinery, robotic tractors, harvesters, and drones. Artificial intelligence will inform the management decisions around sowing and harvesting.
Cyber-security programs will also be installed, and sensor technology will measure the interactions of plants, soils, and animals.
Included in the final design will be a carbon management strategy and measurement model.
The entire cost of the set-up is not yet known, but it follows recent multimillion-dollar investments in the AgriPark hub by the federal government.
With technology advancing quickly, Professor Lamb said there is a chance what's installed at this early stage could become obsolete by the time the project is fully functioning.
"Technology is never made redundant, but it is refined," he said.
"With the UNE smart farm, we were beginning it before the NBN so compared to what we have now, the technology was patchy. But the fundamentals are in the background.
"Money spent today will not be redundant, it informs what will be there in the next generations."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters