Category Archives: Data Analytics

Agronomy, AgTech, Conference, Data Analytics, Fertiliser, Innovation, New Crops, Nutrients, Orchard, Orcharding, Plant Health, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Robotics, Sensing, Soil, Vegetables, viticulture, Water, Weeds

LandWISE 2021: Working Smarter

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Havelock North, 19-20 May 2021

Thanks to everyone who made LandWISE 21 such a successful Conference!

We were a touch nervous after Covid-cancelling last year, but so heartened when our sponsors jumped on-board, and delgetaes began registering earlier than usual. Perhaps there was a vacuum . . .
The speakers’ presentations are summarised in a series of blog posts, many with a short sound clip. The time put in to create the presentations is clearly huge, it is a very large gift each one makes. Thanks each and every one of you!

Topics covered:

  • Best Practice and Beyond
  • Future Proofing Vegetable Production
  • Carbon and Water
  • Smart Technologies for Permanent Crops
  • Herbicide Resistance Management
  • Agritech in NZ and Hawke’s Bay

Jump to the Conference Page for links to presentations

AgTech, Conference, Data Analytics, Precision Agriculture

Data Farming – Tim Neale

Measurable Value from Spatial Data and Precision Agriculture

Tim Neale is Managing Director at Datafarming, where he leads a  team of spatial data experts, agronomy consultants, software developers and field technicians are closely aligned to agronomists and the agriculture industry in Australia and New Zealand.

Based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Tim is well known to many LandWISE members. He was ICT Entrepreneur of the Year 2019, and Australian Rural Consultant of the Year 2018.

Tim will describe the various tools in development and available via the DataFarming Platform.  He proudly describes DataFarming as Australia’s most popular precision ag software, a claim he can well justify. 15 years in the making, DataFarming continues to develop web mapping applications for Digital Agronomy and Agri-Intelligence. Their aspirational aim is to have 50% of agronomists using spatial data. DataFarming is also developing tools for machine learning using spatial data to deliver deep insights into ag production.

See www.datafarming.com.au

Agronomy, AgTech, Conference, Data Analytics, Irrigation, Precision Agriculture, Sensing

Simple tools for complex problems – Aaron Furrer

Aaron is a Stanford University graduate with both a technical and agricultural background. Aaron has prior experience in running his own company as well as being involved with several start-up opportunities and VC firms in Silicon Valley.

Aaron moved to New Zealand in 2016 where he co-founded an AgriTech company specializing in smart irrigation control. At the end of 2020 he joined CropX, a global AgAnalytics company whose vision is to revolutionize and automate the farm and the decision-making process.

At LandWISE 2021, using case studies of growers from around the world, Aaron illustrated examples of the myriad of tools and technologies growers have at their disposal, and how CropX helps connect the dots between these data layers to make management decisions with tangible outcomes.

Listen to a Summary Sound Clip here:

AgTech, Automation, Conference, Data Analytics, Fruit, Innovation, Orchard, Precision Agriculture, Robotics, Sensing

Counting and mapping flowers and fruit – David Manktelow

David Manktelow founded Applied Research and Technologies, providing contract and independent research work in horticultural plant protection, pathology and spray application technology.

A life-long innovator, he constantly seeks technologies that do tasks better. Whether simple strips of water sensitive paper or a fast laser scanner, he finds ways to help growers constantly improve practices.

At LandWISE 2021, David described the Green Atlas system of automatic counting and mapping of flowers and fruit in orchards.  Together with Fruition Horticulture’s Jack Hughes, David has trialled the Green Atlas system in Hawke’s Bay and displayed the equipment at the field event.

Green Atlas Cartographer is a combination of hardware and software that allows flower and fruit counts to be quickly and accurately mapped over entire orchards. An unprecedented level of detail allows crop management to be tailored to every tree.

Listen to a Summary Sound Clip here:

 

AgTech, Automation, Data Analytics, Fruit, Innovation, Orchard, Precision Agriculture

Automating Harvest Data Collection – Matty Blomfield

Matty Blomfield grew up in a small town in New Zealand. He took a chance and moved to Japan at 17, and later New York to broaden his view of the world. When he asked growers and packhouses what their biggest problem was they answered, “How do I know what fruit I have to store/pack/sell?”

Committed to reducing the amount of fruit wasted globally, by giving growers the platform to capture data, analyse their orchard in ways they’ve never done before, and improve the consistency of high quality, safe fruit, Matty co-founded Hectre to provide an orchard management software tool. Their super quick and simple fruit sizing app, Spectre, is an example of the innovation they’re bringing to the fruit industry.

Spectre uses computer vision AI technology to detect fruit size and colour, all from the simple click of an iPad or iPhone. Sample sizes captured by Spectre are 100 times those obtained in traditional sizing practices and accuracy levels are extremely high at 95%+. Results are served up within seconds making Spectre the simplest, fastest and most accurate, portable computer vision fruit sizing tool available on the market.

Agronomy, AgTech, Automation, Conference, Data Analytics, Fruit, Innovation, Orcharding, Precision Agriculture, Sensing, viticulture

Unlocking the Value in Maps – Matt Flowerday

Matt Flowerday has been involved in farming and horticulture his whole life.

Matt started using GPS to map farms and orchards in 1998. In 2001 he set up GPS-it to carryout GPS mapping, with a focus on kiwifruit.

From beginnings in a small office on a kiwifruit orchard, with just one staff member and a GPS unit, the business has evolved significantly. GPS-it is now an established aerial farm mapping and software development company, providing high-quality customised geospatial solutions to our clients, using ESRI technology.

At the LandWISE 21 Conference, Matt will show how Landkind, an interactive platform that lets orchards and packhouses unlock the value of their maps, improves productivity and profitability by allowing users to create, manage, and interact with orchard data effortlessly.

Thanks to all our sponsors!

 

Agronomy, AgTech, Conference, Data Analytics, Innovation, LandWISE People, Projects, Research, Weeds

Anticipating Herbicide Resistance

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Distinguished Professor Philip Hulme is a leading international invasion biologist in the Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University, New Zealand. His primary research focus is predicting the risks arising from plant invasions. 

A scientist working on the MBIE funded AgResearch project “Managing Herbicide Resistance”, Philip joins Georgia to discuss the research he and colleagues are doing into non-herbicide weed control. Podcast here>

Philip’s recent work includes examining the traits that underpin the success of invasive species; clarifying the main routes by which these species are introduced to a region, quantifying the impacts of invasive species on these habitats and predicting the potential impact of climate change on invasive species distributions.

Philip and colleagues are applying a “big data” approach to the problem of herbicide resistant weeds (HRW) to improve our information and evidence-base to raise NZ economic productivity. 

Only now are sufficient data available globally on HRW for innovative analyses to quantify the future risks of HRW for NZ – through both unintentional introduction and in situ evolution of resistant genotypes. To date, all approaches worldwide to predict HRW risks have focused on individual weed species and have adopted a population genetic modelling approach to assess the conditions under which resistance may evolve. However, these approaches cannot predict potential risks of new HRW and are not appropriate for screening large numbers of HRW.

Philip’s group is using global datasets on HRW worldwide to establish prior probabilities of HRW risks. The research is structured along four sequential aims that will
a) Predict the assemblage of HRW worldwide that have a high probability of becoming established in NZ and distinguish both onshore and offshore risks
b) Assess the species characteristics that predispose a weed to become herbicide resistant and forecast new HRW threats to NZ
c) Characterise the climatic, agricultural and socioeconomic correlates of global HRW richness to identify the potential drivers of future HRW in NZ, and
d) Formulate and disseminate national and sector-specific strategies for avoidance of future HRW in NZ.

Many thanks Philip, and our virtual conference sponsors

Agronomy, AgTech, Automation, Conference, Controlled Traffic Systems, Data Analytics, Drainage, events, Fertiliser, Innovation, Irrigation, LandWISE 2015, LandWISE People, Membership, MicroFarm, New Crops, Nutrients, Orchard, Orcharding, Plant Health, Planting, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Robotics, Sensing, Soil, Tillage, Uncategorized, Vegetables, viticulture, Water, Weeds

Memberships Open for 2020-2021

Calling all followers and friends of LandWISE, we invite you to become a financial member this year.

Your support is vital for LandWISE to continue doing what we do. We rely on farmer support to ensure the backing of new projects, discover new areas for research or technology adoption, and to fund field days, workshops and the development of practical resources. 

LandWISE Membership is a great way to support the mission of sustainable production in New Zealand, and as a member you’ll benefit from:

  • Results from on-farm trials
  • Projects focussed on real farmer and grower problems
  • Regional field days and workshops on a range of topics from conserving soil to nutrient management and novel fertiliser technology
  • A discounted registration at the 2021 LandWISE Conference
  • Subscription to our annual LandWISE News publication

Membership is open to all who are interested in primary production and share our values. We hope you’ll consider becoming a member, or forward this on to a non-member if you already are!

Sign up here >

Agronomy, AgTech, Automation, Data Analytics, Fertiliser, Innovation, Irrigation, LandWISE People, Membership, MicroFarm, New Crops, Nutrients, Orchard, Plant Health, Precision Agriculture, Projects, Research, Robotics, Sensing, Soil, Tillage, Vegetables, viticulture, Water, Weeds

Help Wanted

We’re not quite sure what to call the job: science manager, extensionist, project manager, consultant? We know it offers diverse activities and needs excellent communication skills and practical knowledge of horticulture and technology.

We are looking for someone to help identify and lead research projects and extension activities across a variety of issues and regions. For the right person, this is a role with considerable potential to grow.

This will be a Page Bloomer Associates appointment. They provide our science, management and support services while having addditional private consultancy activities.  Working closely together, we know they share our passion for sustainable land and water management.

Since the dawn of the new millennium we’ve been providing progressive, pragmatic and independent services through projects and consultancy. A key feature of our work is close collaboration with end users, researchers and developers. We talk about “linking thinking from the farm out”.

The role includes engaging with growers, industry and researchers to identify opportunities to review practices and integrate new technologies to create sustainable cropping systems. The appointee will develop and manage projects and support services that support economically and environmentally sustainable primary production.

If you know someone with passion for smarter farming who wants a key role in a small dedicated organisation, Page Bloomer Associates would like to chat with them!

More Info on TradeMe Jobs

AgTech, Data Analytics, events, LandWISE People, Plant Health, Precision Agriculture, Research, Robotics, Sensing

2018 Technical Session: Implementing new technologies to manage crop health

The Technical Session is an opportunity for lead farmers, researchers and technologists to workshop a topic, hearing from different perspectives and seeking opportunities for collaboration.

Looking for answers – LandWISE 2015

In May 2018, the topic is “Implementing new technologies to manage crop health”. The day will start with presentations from lead farmers followed by presentations from research and tech perspectives. There will be much discussion, connections will be made and links forged.

The Technical Sessions are “by application” events with numbers limited to ensure good dialogue and quality discussion.  If you would like to be part of the 2018 Technical sessions, contact us and explain why you need to be there! (See below)

Programme:

Scoping research and farm technology needs and creating networks of people.

  • 60 second introductions (all)
  • Lead presentations
  • Defining future farm problems and challenges
  • Discussion of key issues

From an earlier event:

“LandWISE was one of the best forums I’ve participated in. The sense of goodwill and teamwork was extraordinary” Professor David Lamb, University of New England, Australia

Your investment for this event:

  • 2018 Conference Attendees:  $75+GST
  • Others: $150+GST

Apply and pre-register here>