The requirement for significant productivity gains in the agricultural sector is undeniable. Sustainable, viable industries must be capable of consistently producing a margin above the base costs of production. This is particularly challenging for the extensive grazing enterprises in Australia as the operating environment has become increasingly complex, dynamic and challenging and there is a continual and increasing need to demonstrate improved efficiency to the wider community with respect to environmental stewardship and animal welfare.

 

Viable and resilient farm businesses must make sense of what they know as they come to know it, and then make very fine-grain, accurate and timely decisions. More accurate, timely and efficient management (operational, tactical and strategic) across the farm business would be enabled by the timely, accurate and objective measurement of resources (from soil and water to feed, animals and product quality and quantity) coupled with sound interpretation and understanding.

 

In a joint initiative between CSIRO, James Cook University (JCU), Qld Dept Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT), a ‘Digital Homestead’ has been established to explore how electronic services enabled by connectivity to the National Broadband Network can support greater productivity for farming enterprises, as well as providing related support and social services to rural residents.  Based currently at CSIROs Lansdown Research Station in Northern Australia (a tropical environment near Townsville, QLD), it is implementing sensor and related technologies to provide information to simple and usable cloud-based decision support systems for farmers and agriculture advisers. Key technological solutions will then be further evaluated on a commercial scale at QLD DAFFs Spyglass Beef Research Station at Charters Towers, QLD.

 

A demonstration site has been established at Lansdown to monitor growing steers in an extensive grazing environment. Three groups of thirty steers each graze one of three paddocks in rotation. The paddocks are 15 ha and have one permanent water point per group of three paddocks that is fenced off and has two spear gates, one for entry and one for exit. At the entry of each pen is a walk over weigh station which is connected to wireless sensor network. The sensor network collects data streams from a range of sensors. The data are uploaded to a central server and can be viewed in real time via the web. In addition to animal live weight, static wireless sensor network nodes collect climate data, soil moisture and pasture/soil reflectance values. New livestock monitoring collars record animal location and activity continuously and relay this data through the static nodes back to one of the two gateways and into the database.

 

A web-based ‘dashboard’ has been developed to capture, integrate and present all the data streams from both in situ and external sources (e.g. climate forecasts and market information). The key requirement here is that information is presented in a timely and simple manner, can be tailored to individual users’ needs and preferences, and actually enables more informed decisions. The design and functionality was shaped by ongoing engagement with industry stakeholders.

 

We gratefully acknowledge funding through the Queensland Government Smart Futures fund.