Ag Tech Sunday - Farms of the Future pilot program to showcase Ag Tech

By NSW Government

The NSW Government is running a Farms of the Future pilot program on three farms around regional NSW.

The Farms of the Future pilot program will showcase the benefits and opportunities agricultural technology (ag tech) can deliver for drought resilience, improved productivity and enhanced water security.

Led by the NSW Department of Primary Industries, the Farms of the Future pilot program has installed a range of commercially available connectivity solutions and field sensor technology on three properties to test and demonstrate the benefits that can be delivered to farming via ag tech.

The pilot program will showcase and educate on the benefits and opportunities offered through ag tech, to see where the NSW Government can help farming communities to adopt new technologies to improve resource management, including water efficiency and drought preparedness.

The Pilot farms

The three pilot farms cover diverse topography and a range of farming practices commonly used across regional NSW, including dryland cropping, irrigation, livestock farming and viticulture.

Blayney – a diverse family-run winery and farm with Angus cattle.

Ag tech installed includes irrigation management, soil moisture monitoring, weather and crop-data collection, cattle monitoring and farm safety management.

Narromine – a large-scale family farm with a mix of broadacre dryland cropping, sheep and irrigation.

Ag tech installed includes water and irrigation management, general farm communication, weather monitoring, soil moisture, crop health sensors and security monitoring.

Coonamble – mainly livestock farm with a mix of sheep and cattle and occasional dryland cropping.

Ag tech installed includes water monitoring for stock, weather measurements, soil moisture and stock tracking.

Want to learn more?

A series of webinars and virtual field days will be held to showcase the various technologies available, present insights from the pilot farms and provide access to ag tech providers.

Some onsite farm tours for farmers will also be held at the three pilot farms, however numbers will be limited due to COVID-19.

To learn more, register your interest.

Next steps

The pilot program will inform scoping studies on the benefits ag tech can deliver to farming and see how the NSW Government can help deliver the connectivity needed for farming communities to adopt new technologies.

The Farms of the Future pilot is part of the $400 million Regional Digital Connectivity program.

For more information on the Regional Digital Connectivity program or the Farms of the Future pilot, please contact the Department of Regional NSW at RDC.program@dpc.nsw.gov.au

https://www.nsw.gov.au/