AgTech Road Trip - Riverland
The need to connect AgTech startups with Agriculture is a critical component in the development of the AgriTech Eco-system.
A couple of months ago Oli Madgett and I thought an overnight road trip would be a fun and productive way to connect the Adelaide AgTech Meetup community with regional farmers. So with support from PIRSA and the Univrsity of Adelaide ThincLab we organized for 25 AgTech founders, developers and government leaders to jump on a bus and head to the Riverland on Friday the 29th of May 2021.
Setting off from ThincLab Waite we had a three hour trip ahead of us to get to our first destination in Loxton. After a few brief introductions it was time to get to know each other a bit better…break out the LEGO!
In a session facilitated by Frank Buechele, we were each given a small box of Lego and asked to build a LEGO model which told a story of who we were and what we do. This really got our brains ticking and got us into a relaxed and collaborative mindset for the day ahead.
Almond Centre of Excellence.
Our first stop was The Almond Centre of Excellence in Loxton, which is an experimental, demonstration orchard. The tour provided the group with an overview of monitoring and harvesting techniques within the Almond Industry and highlighted some of the challenges with current approaches. It was interesting to understand how research trails, referred to as Horizon 1, 2 and 3, are laying the ground work for increased robotic automation, autonomous monitoring and pruning methods which should enable more Almond trees to be planted per acre.
Key Insights -
Some LIDAR technology is being implemented into machinery to monitor harvest volumes.
Current harvest methodology of shaking trees can be improved as the practice is time consuming and can cause damage to the tree.
Bird management is key issue as netting is not feasible over large orchards.
Monitoring large orchards for pests and disease is currently a labor intensive process.
Monitoring and management at a tree level is a long term goal.
Woolenook Farms.
Our next stop was Woolenook Farms, where we were guided by Managing Director and Nuffield Scholar Ben Haslett. We started in the processing shed where a significant investment has been made into automation to facilitate sorting, packing and batch control of the citrus produce. Ben detailed many of the supply chain considerations to ensure food safety, traceability and management of Woolenooks position as a premium citrus supplier.
Out into the orchard we were able to see some of the Phytech sensors which have been deployed to monitor tree and fruit growth and we gained insight into how the data assists in the day to day management of the the orchard. We also discussed the impact of current bio security protocols to mitigate the risk of fruit fly.
Key Insights.
The value of data provided through AgTech systems must be site specific.
The cost and difficulty of sourcing labor for harvest is a significant challenge and risk that the citrus industry is seeking solutions for.
IOT sensors provide very useful information, but the cost is limiting factor to having them deployed at scale over the farm.
Y Fresh
Our visit to Y Fresh showed the group that smaller family owned farms are still sophisticated and involve many layers of complexity in their management. The farm grows Jujubes and Persimmons, both of which are an emerging crop used in foods such as quince past and beer. These emerging crops have increased in popularity as the Riverland region looks to diversify away from water intensive agriculture.
The farm was originally a vineyard, until the millennium drought restricted water allocations and fluctuating grape prices made financial management unpredictable. The owners Sandy Iosefellis and Bill Efrosinis decided that a shift to alternative crops was a more viable and sustainable path forward.
YFresh have invested heavily in on farm infrastructure such as netting and harvest processing equipment, with AgTech forming a key part of their long term infrastructure development strategy.
Key Insights.
Niche and emerging crops are often overlooked by AgTech providers.
Food safety and compliance is at the core of every practice on farm, which adds significant cost and time.
Increasing market access and direct sales channels is a key focus for emerging crops such as Jujubes.
Finding reliable workers is a key risk and challenge.
Loxton Demo Farm
Our final stop on the Friday was the SARDI Loxton Research center, which has become one of PIRSA’s AgTech demonstration farms over the past 12 months. The purpose of the demonstration farm is to enable local farmers to view commercially available AgTech in operation, whilst also providing AgTech vendors with an opportunity to have their technology tested in local conditions.
With the light fading, we were given a tour of the orchard where several sensors including the D3AG Arable and the Green Brain sensors have been deployed to monitor weather, canopy growth and soil conditions. These have been tested with a variety of connectivity options including direct to satellite, 4G and the Riverlands LoRaWAN network. The group finished the tour with a look inside the Loxton Research Centre which is also home to ThincLab Loxton.
Key Insights.
AgTech is being deployed onto the demonstration farm to validate in local conditions.
Screens in the Loxton Research Centre show a feed of the data from sensors on farm.
The Loxton Demonstration Farm will host an open day in August 2021.
ThincLab Workshop
During the day we gathered many valuable insights into challenges and farming system approaches, so it was important to capture these collective leanings and work towards some practical AgTech solutions. The group gathered at the Riverland Wine Center, along with the farmers and people from the local community such as members of the Berri Bamera Council, Regional Development Authority and the Renmark Irrigation Trust.
Together with Oli Madgett, I had the fun task of facilitating a workshop which was sponsored by the University of Adelaide’s ThincLab. During the evening we gathered the key pain points discovered during the day and broke into small groups, made up of AgTech developers and the farmers. Each group was tasked with defining the customer (farmer) needs before developing and presenting a solution to a specific pain point using the value proposition canvas.
There were several key outcomes of this exercise.
Creating an opportunity for farmers and AgTech developers to deeply connect and discuss on farm challenges.
Demonstrate the process that AgTech devlopers go through to build solutions.
Highlight the importance of starting with the customer profile and pain points, rather than the solution.
Drink wine and make lasting connections.
Costa Brothers.
On the way back to Adelaide we stopped into Swan Reach for a tour of the Costa Brothers hulling and shelling plant, hosted by Michael Costa.This was one of the longer site visits, with so much to see and an incredibly in depth discussion on the end to end process of Almond growing, processing and marketing.
The scale of the facility was incredible, built to grow over time to meet demand and new processing approaches. Walking around the outside of the facility we came across huge mountains of almond husks left over from the process, which are currently being used for mulching and animal feed.
The processing equipment inside the facility had started life at the Costa families Angle Vale property, before being shifted to the new Swan Reach facility in recent years. This older equipment is now connected with newer image recognition technology which had been implemented to assist in automating the sorting of the almonds based on their color, size and imperfections. It was an excellent demonstration of incremental process improvement through the integration on emerging technologies.
Key Insights.
Agricultural waste at scale is both a challenge and an opportunity.
Integration of new and old technologies can provide meaningful gains in productivity.
Heading Home
After an action packed 24 hours it was time to hit the road back to Adelaide. We had some great discussions on the way home, with plans for collabortions between AgTech developers, as well as ideas developing for the next AgTech Road-trip.
This trip was possible thanks to the generous sponsorship of PIRSA and the University of Adelaide’s ThincLab, so a huge thank you to Ben Baghurst and Eloise Leaver!
Thank you to Emma Leonard from Agri KnowHow, who assisted in planning and facilitating the site visits and provided valuable context and translation between the farmers and the AgTech developers. As always Oli Madgett did an amazing job co-ordinating a flawless AgTech meetup and keeping everyone engaged in the process.
Thank you to the farmers who welcomed us onto your properties and generously provided the group with honest insight into your operations.
And a huge thank you to all of the people who came along on the trip or joined us along the way.
Now to start planning the next AgTech Road Trip!
