We have a lot of agricultural land in Australia and much like other sectors, farming has its fair share of tech innovations that assist farmers with their work. Things such as livestock containment and for very large spreads, digital tags that help the farmer find the herd, are just a couple of ways technology helps the farmer to manage his spread.
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Drone Operation
Australian farmers make good use of drones, with small units that have hi-res digital cameras that can take crop images to tell the farmer how the crop is doing, which saves him going out into the fields to inspect his crop. The farmer can also tell if the crops show any signs of disease using these special video drones that are very light and have a long range. If password protection bothers you, here are a few tips from the cyber experts.
Heavy Duty Crop Spraying
While this used to be done by tractor, some tech companies in Australia are developing large drones that can spray a preset area at a defined height, ensuring maximum coverage. This will prove to be invaluable to the farmer and it might be a new sector, whereby the drone provider handles all spraying on a contract AI basis. These special drones require serious maintenance, more that the farmer could provide, so outsourcing is the best all-round solution.
Hunter Valley Vineyards
Perhaps this is the region that currently uses drones effectively and these flying devices can inspect the vine plant and the fruit, plus it can cover huge distances, giving the worker a clear image of the vines and grapes. Spraying is another task for the vineyard drone, saving the vineyard a lot in labour cost and it won’t be long before all wineries will be totally drone managed.
Looking for Suitable Grazing
This is another task that the drone can carry out, which quickly tells the farmer where to take the livestock next, which could save a lot of valuable time. Drone technology is always improving, meaning longer ranges, better control and higher resolution video and stills, while the future looks rosy for the drone in the agricultural sector.
Merging with AI
The eventual plan is to have a fleet of drones that automatically carry out tasks and send all the data to a central data collection centre that is managed by Artificial Intelligence. This will provide the farmer with essential data about temperature, humidity, the condition of the crop, while also patrolling electric fences, looking for issues.
Agriculture is one of many sectors that make good use of technology and with smart-farming solutions, productivity will be increased and the farmer can employ less workers.