Category Archives: Automation

AgTech, Automation, Precision Agriculture, Research

Sprout: Accelerating New Technologies

June 21, 2016 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

AgTech Start-ups

Stu Bradbury, Tom Rivett and Julian McCurd

Sprout is a start-up accelerator programme delivered by The BCC, Building Clever Companies in Palmerston North. The programme is designed to inspire, inform and support the next generation of Ag Tech start-ups.

Every year Sprout selects eight Ag Tech start-ups. Over 20 weeks the start-ups and entrepreneurs receive funding, alongside world class mentoring and training from leaders in technology, research and business growth.

Companies receive unparalleled access to the New Zealand and global farming network to validate and grow their businesses. At the end of the programme start-ups will have an opportunity to pitch to a hand-picked group of investors, corporate partners and potential customers to support the continuation of the rapid progress achieved through the Sprout programme.

Dunedin entrepreneurs Andrew Humphries and Tom Rivett created AgriTrack to help large scale crop farmers with the multitude of logistical challenges during harvest time, particularly those associated with vehicle management. Their solution enables live tracking of vehicles and is already being used in more than 30 farms in Western Australia.

Mangere Bridge duo Julian McCurdy and Peter Bennett set up Beez Thingz using technology to develop a platform for hive management so a network of kept bees could be accessed by everyone in the industry.

Agronomy, AgTech, Automation, Controlled Traffic Systems, MicroFarm, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Sensing

Trans-Tasman Grower Day

May 4, 2016 Dan Bloomer Leave a comment

Looking for answers - LandWISE 2015 — Looking for answers – LandWISE 2015

What’s the Trans-Tasman Day about?

Given there are two dozen top Australian growers, agronomists and researchers joining us for our conference, arranging more time to discuss issues of interest was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The programme for the day is less structured than a normal conference day. The morning is inside discussion, the afternoon getting out and about. But it does follow two days of conference, so we’ll be well primed.

We will spend time discussing some key crops – onions and potatoes included – and importantly technologies we can use to better understand and manage them.

We aim to identify areas of common interest and possible collaboration. What topics are relevant in both countries? What joint research opportunities are there? Where to from here?

After lunch we travel to a local farm, True Earth Organics, where Scott and Vicki Lawson and staff grow and pack a range of field, vegetable and berry crops. From there we go to a local major vegetable processing factory to view the next stage in the value chain.

TrueEarthHeader

Agronomy, AgTech, Automation, Controlled Traffic Systems, LandWISE People, MicroFarm, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Sensing, Soil, Water

Excellent LandWISE 2016 Conference Speakers

May 2, 2016 Dan Bloomer Leave a comment

We published the list and short biographies of our invited speakers today. We are again privileged to have an extremely knowledgeable group representing farmers, technologists and researchers from both sides of the Tasman Sea.

Conference keynotes and new LandWISE Australians include Ian Layden and Julie O’Halloran, precision horticulture researchers and extension specialists from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF).

Ian and Julie are leading a group of two dozen top growers and agronomists for a week of related events built around the LandWISE Conference. Queensland farmer Ben Moore and Tasmanian farmer Robbie Tole will present their own experiences investigating precision horticulture opportunities.

Returning LandWISE Australians are Tristan Perez from Queensland University of Technology and John McPhee from the University of Tasmania. Tristan will update us on progress with weeding robot AgBot II and Harvey the capsicum picker. John will tell us about precision horticulture research underway in Tasmania.

Parallel work is being done in New Zealand. Look for reports from Plant and Food researchers Sarah Sinton, Paul Johnstone and long serving LandWISE Board member Bruce Searle. Chris Smith from AgriOptics, Jane Adams of OnionsNZ and LandWISE’s Dan Bloomer and Justin Pishief will overlay a series of precision cropping and related topics. Charles Merfield from the Future Farming Centre will give a review of biostimulants and related technologies – a different aspect of the agritech revolution.

Rounding out Day 1 are agritech accelerator Sprout Entrepreneur in Residence Stu Bradbury and two accelerating companies represented by Tom Rivett and Julian McCurdy.

Day 2 has a focus on value from data and robotics. We hear a lot about “big data” and “value chains”: what are they? Alistair Mowat, James Beech and Megan Cushnahan will tell us how they and others are getting real value, and where there’s still value to be tapped. Roger Williams will outline how Plant and Food is investing in digital horticulture research.

Lincoln Agritech’s Armin Werner has been a regular attendee at LandWISE. This year he takes the stage with a global review of field robotics and weeding technologies in particular. Kit Wong will tell us about Callaghan Innovation development of systems for machine vision to manage onion crops.

David Herries of Interpine will take us to a different sector and explain how UAVs are giving value in forest research and management. And rounding it all up, Simon Morris of ALtus UAS will make sure we understand the regulations governing our use of this still new but very powerful technology.

So come to LandWISE 2016: the value of smart farming. Have you mind expanded, your knowledge updated and your excitement kindled. Mix and mingle with leaders in farming, agronomy and agtech!

Conference programme here>

Speaker biographies here>

Conference registration here>

AgTech, Automation, LandWISE People, Precision Agriculture, Research

A visit to Climate Corporation

April 29, 2016 Dan Bloomer Leave a comment

LandWISE’s Dan Bloomer joined a large group of New Zealand ag-tech organisations for a week getting to know the Silicon Valley venture capital and tech start-up scene.

The first visit was to Climate Corporation, recently acquired by Monsanto. How can you not be impressed by a three metre 3D projection screen? One you can control from a tablet, make it spin like the earth, view the globe from any angle, and project any theme you like.

ClimateCorpGlobe — Climate Corp Chief Technology Office, Mark Young, demonstrates the globe.

Climate Corporation seeks to understand the world and its climate, map it in real time and make useful information available to the world’s farmers. We saw time lapse of global cloud cover, near real time views of sea surface temperature and as shown above, global ground cover allocated to food for animals and food for people.

But their interest is wider than the weather. The Climate Corporation aims to build a digitized world where every farmer is able to optimize and flawlessly execute every decision on the farm.

They are investing heavily in agronomy and creating growth models to help predict crop development. To achieve greater seed placement accuracy they developed SpeedTube, a precision elevator to replace drop tubes. This is said to allow more precise seed spacing at twice the normal planting speed. Same quality at twice the rate? Sounds attractive!

This visit was organised by Wharf42, NZTE, Callaghan Innovation and the Silicon Valley Forum.

Agronomy, Automation, MicroFarm, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Sensing

Scouting by Consumer UAV

January 4, 2016 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

Consumer UAVs are increasingly seen as farm tools. Some come with camera and packaged tech for easy flying, pretty much straight out of the box.

But before you leap in, please be aware there are RULES.

We suggest you spend time on the AirShare www.airshare.co.nz and CAA www.caa.govt.nz/rpas/ websites before you get started. Designed specifically for UAV users they have easy to digest information setting out what you can and cannot do.

Our package came with all equipment, an extra battery and optional propeller guards packed in a tough custom carry case. The camera is on a gimbal for steady shots, panning and tilting. Zoom in by getting closer!

A downloaded smartphone or tablet app shows flight information such as height, position and battery charge and lets you see exactly what the camera sees with no delay.

In windy conditions, we achieved about 13 minutes of flight time rather than the 23 minutes stated for each battery charge. Rules say you must be able to see the aircraft with your own eyes so you are probably limited to under 100ha. You could make a reasonable inspection in that time.

We used the UAV to scout at the LandWISE MicroFarm. Viewed from 30m up, crop variation is immediately obvious. Pea flowering striping seems to match drill widths. We had variable emergence too so ponder the link. Sprayer runs are visible too.

On the onion side we see thinner areas to the bottom right, and patches where Plant & Food have harvested sample plants as part of our joint OnionsNZ research project.

Viewed from directly overhead we see more of Plant & Food’s research plots, some harvested and some still being followed through to final harvest. The image indicates all these plots are within a reasonably good and even part of the crop.

To the bottom right, a lower wetter area shows lower populations where plants are smaller and fewer made it through establishment.

Dropping to a metre of two above the crop and tilting the camera, we see up close. Because we are seeing what the camera is seeing, we can choose exactly what we want to check and go there immediately.

So we’ve scouted the whole paddock, had a closer look here and there, and if we need to, we can walk to the spots we want to check in detail. The thing is, we know where we should be looking.

Automation, Nutrients, Precision Agriculture, Research, Sensing

Pioneering Precision

August 5, 2015 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

Aerial Imaging for Better Data Collection

Rural Delivery Series Eleven, Episode 24
Saturday 22 August 7am TVOne

The use of sensors of one kind or another is nothing new in agriculture, particularly in the hands of cropping farmers. But a new imaging tool is currently being evaluated at Massey University. It was originally designed for space exploration and military operations but is now being adapted for data collection, to help farmers make the best management decisions possible.

The sensor is flown over land, gathering images from more than 450 wavebands including visible, near, short and infra-red. Maps of farms are developed, identifying pasture quality, nutrient content, potassium and sulphur levels, land surface temperatures, and areas of poor drainage as well as nutrient movements on slopes.

Professor Ian Yule of Precision Agriculture at Massey University says in the past, remote sensing has tended to focus on nitrogen use but the more sophisticated sensors allow the presence and concentration of other nutrients to be determined.

The technology is being used as part of Pioneering to Precision, a Primary Growth Partnership Programme (PGP) with particular interest in fertiliser application on hill country, but Professor Yule says it will also have significance for the dairy industry.

Agronomy, Automation, Drainage, Irrigation, MicroFarm, Nutrients, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Sensing, Soil, Tillage, Water

Onions Research – three year project

June 14, 2015 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

LandWISE has partnered with Onions New Zealand and Plant & Food Research in a three year project focused on understanding variability in onion crops. The project is funding by Onions NZ and the MPI Sustainable Farming Fund.

Dr Jane Adams, OnionsNZ Research and Innovation Manager, says the project, “Enhancing the profitability and value of New Zealand onions” is designed to provide the industry with tools to monitor and manage low yields and variability in onion yield and bulb quality.

It will incorporate precision agriculture with initial work to be done at the LandWISE MicroFarm. At the MicroFarm, we have been building increasing knowledge of the site, but will ramp that up with more layers of soil and crop information as we try to unpick factors contributing to lower yields and reduced quality.

Information about the 2014-2015 MicroFarm Onion crop can be found on the MicroFarm website.

The project proper starts on 1 July, but there has a lot of preparatory activity to ensure everything kicks of smoothly.

Anyone interested in joining a regional Focus Group supporting the project should
contact us>

Agronomy, Automation, Precision Agriculture, Sensing

LandWISE 2015: The Farm of 2030

May 25, 2015 LandWISE Admin

20-21 May 2015, Havelock North, NZ

Farmof2030Web

Looking for the next big thing in agriculture?

Maybe the next big thing is a small thing. Bigger equipment has given amazing work efficiencies and helped drive production and productivity. Are there any downsides?

As we seek to achieve efficient crop production, we need to manage variability. What are the drivers, what tools can help us? How do we link technology and agronomy?

Leave LandWISE 2015 with new understanding of where technology has taken us, where current development is opening possibilities and which things may yet be some way off.

The theme “The Farm of 2030” comes from a prediction made in 1980 by John Matthews of the UK National Institute for Agricultural Engineering Describing a farm fifty years in the future, soil quality and alternative machinery featured strongly. Computers and robotics were becoming available but GPS, internet and wireless were not.

Join us at our 13th Annual Conference, a meeting of technologists, farmers and their many support providers, where you can engage with leading researchers and practitioners.

Top presenters from Australia and New Zealand will update you on sensors, networks and robots, crop and field variability and what we can do to manage it. Dealing with troublesome weeds, identifying pest outbreaks, monitoring soil moisture and automating irrigation management. Can a robot do our scouting, our weed control, our mowing?

Ultimately, what will a farm look like in 2030? What do we need to be doing to make sure we are ready?

More here>

Sponsor_Sheet_600

Automation, LandWISE 2015, LandWISE People, Precision Agriculture, Sensing, Soil, Tillage, Uncategorized

The Mechanical Farm of 2030

May 25, 2015 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

LandWISE 2015 Presenter, Dan Bloomer

DanBloomer200 — Dan is the Manager of LandWISE Inc, an independent consultant, and a member of the Precision Agriculture Association of New Zealand Executive.

In 1981, John Matthews of the UK National Institute for Agricultural Engineering described what a farm would look like in 2030; a fifty year horizon.

“The mechanical farm of 2030” identified four factors that would influence the farm of 2030; social factors including employment, preservation of the environment, animal welfare and primary energy sources.

NIAE_Cover

Soil quality and alternative machinery were high on their list. Computers and robotics were available but GPS, internet and wireless were not.

In 2015, with all the benefits of knowing what happened in the last 35 years, we revisited the question to ask, “What will a cropping farm look like in 2030?” Were John Matthew’s predictions of technology on-track? And importantly, what must farmers do to ready themselves for next year, five years and fifteen years down the track?

The general consensus was a resounding round of applause for John Matthews. The issues he identified continue to be key drivers today. The technological developments he envisioned are progressing towards the 2030 deadline with examples of commercially developed gantries now being tested on farms in Europe.

MatthewsGantry — The NIAE Gantry image from John Matthews paper

John Matthews article included a robotic harvester. We know the computing and actuation required for that is still tricky, but it seems quite probable robotic harvesting will be feasible and possible it will be relatively common by 2030.

The NIAE robotic harvester image from Matthews' paper — The NIAE robotic harvester image from Matthews’ paper

Perhaps his control tower windows are more likely to be computer monitors, and he didn’t know about smart phones, but his vision of the role computing would play is remarkably close – though perhaps thanks to Moore’s law and compounding development we have already got further than he estimated.

MatthewsComputer — The NIAE image of a farm computer appears to have a rack for storage disks, but also shows a microphone and aerial perhaps for wireless communications.

Maybe the design (how) is different to now, but much of the what of John Matthews’ predictions suggests he deserves a high score.

Agronomy, Automation, LandWISE 2015, LandWISE People, Precision Agriculture, Sensing

Agri-Intelligent Systems: robots, data, and decisions

May 25, 2015 LandWISE Admin Leave a comment

LandWISE 2015 Presenter, Tristan Perez

Tristan Perez Professor of Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Queensland University of Technology, QLD, Australia — Tristan Perez
Professor of Robotics and Autonomous Systems,
Queensland University of Technology, QLD, Australia

Since the 1960s, agriculture has seen significant advances in agrochemicals, crop and animal genetics, agricultural mechanisation and improved management practices. These technologies have been at the core of increased productivity and will continue to provide future incremental improvements. Data analytics, robotics, and autonomous systems are transforming industries such as mining, manufacturing, and health. We are starting to see automation of single agricultural processes such as animal and crop remote monitoring, robotic weed management, irrigation, nutrient decision support, etc. However, we envisage that the integration of these technologies together with a systems view of the farming enterprise and its place within the agri-food value chain will trigger the next wave of productive innovation in agriculture.

The challenge of the next agricultural revolution is to assist farming enterprises to make the management and business decisions that will optimise inputs such as labour, energy, water and agrochemicals and explicitly account for variability and uncertainty across the production system and along the agri-food value chain.

The opportunity for increased profitability, sustainability and competitiveness from finer-scale sensing and whole-farm decision-making and intervention requires farmers to have greater access to digital data and technologies to extract information from data. The agricultural landscape will rapidly change due to low-cost and portable ICT infrastructure.

Agri-intelligence is the integrated collection of tools and techniques – from robots, unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs) and sensor networks to sophisticated mathematical models and algorithms – that can help farmers make sense of large amounts of data (agronomic, environmental and economic) to make risk-informed decisions and run their farms more profitably and sustainably.

Perez AgriIntelligence

The figure below shows the ubiquitous emerging vision of a farm in the second machine age, where computer systems are used to augment human perception and capacity for decision making in complex situations.

PerezAgriIntelligentFarmSystem

The farming enterprise is considered a system that interacts with the environment (through climate, markets, value chain, etc.) The key objective is to make sound decisions about management in order to optimise inputs, yield, quality, and at the same time make the system robust against yield and quality volatility due to climate, commodity market fluctuations, and incomplete information about the state of crop, soil, weeds and pests.