Scott Mckinnon
Manager Regional Digital Connectivity Pilots
Climate Branch, DPI Agriculture
The Regional Digital Connectivity Program is funded by the Snowy Hydro Legacy Fund and aims to address the digital divide experienced between regional and metro NSW. The focus areas include:
Digitisation of the farm presents an immense opportunity for agriculture in Australia. Unconstrained digital adoption by Australian agriculture has been estimated to yield an additional $20.3billion GVP.
Precision to Decision, 2017
There are significant barriers that prevent the natural adoption of new technologies such as:
In 2019, KPMG was engaged to identify the role of the NSW Government in driving adoption of digital agriculture and develop a range of potential connectivity infrastructure support options for Farms of the Future. The options involve different levels of cost, intervention, complexity to deliver, and expected impact.
DPI has designed the Farms of the Future Pilot program to practically test options presented by KPMG through Farms of the Future farms. These farms provide a location to test the recommended options in partnership with farms and communities while providing a place for farmers to see Agtech working on site in commercial farming environments.
Over the course of 2019/20, DPI has set up commercial demonstration farms to showcase available technology to groups of farmers and provide insight into the return on investment for various connectivity and sensor types.
This involves:
The Farms of the Future project provides an opportunity for farmers to experience a range of digital connectivity options and understand the types of sensors they can implement on-farm from commercial providers.
A range of digital resources, including a 3-part webinar series and virtual farm walks, have been produced to showcase the on-farm technology in use, to provide producers with unique insight and an opportunity to learn about the farmers' first-hand experiences and the benefits to their farming enterprises.
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