Data and data management are set to revolutionise the agricultural industry, but for growers to willingly participate, trust needs to be established.
How to use data and build trust will be explored at the upcoming BCG Expo where BCG CEO Chris Sounness will discuss weather station networks with growers Paul Petering from Murtoa and Chris Colbert from Watchem.
Mr Petering and Mr Colbert both own weather stations as part of the Data Farmer weather stations network, which enables participants to monitor weather data collected on their properties 24 hours a day.
Mr Sounness explained that the convenience of the information provided by this automated system is assisting growers with many different farm management decisions.
“Farmers farm because they want to farm, not because they want to spend time in the office keeping records. Anything that will increase the time for record keeping is probably not going to be used,” he said.
“What we come up with will need to be automated so that workloads aren’t added to. The internet allows things to happen virtually automatically.”
Connectivity is still an issue for many growers, which can restrict access to their weather information when smart devices do not have adequate internet access. Mr Sounness recognises that these connectivity issues need to be tackled to ensure that farmers get fit-for-purpose solutions.
Attendees at the BCG Expo can also learn more about farm data collection in a session with 2015 Nuffield scholar and Kaniva grower, Jonathan Dyer. Mr Dyer will discuss how his farming operation uses yield and protein monitors during harvest to effectively market their grain and make agronomic management decisions for the following season. BCG Bronze partner Next Instruments will be available throughout the day in the exhibitors section to demonstrate their range of grain analysers.
“The wider farming sector and the rest of the value chain are very keen to get on board with data monitoring, but farmers are very wary of the value chain with a long history of feeling like they have come out second best whenever technology has been adopted” says Mr Sounness.
“Industry needs to ensure the farmer gets the value proposition first, then the rest of the value chain gets some value from it and we’re keen to facilitate these discussions at the BCG Expo.”
The BCG Future Farmers Expo is at Birchip P-12 School on July 5 from 11am to 5pm. Entry is free for BCG members and $50 for non-members. A tapas style dinner will follow the event from 6pm at the Birchip Hotel, tickets are $30 per person and can be purchased by phoning BCG on (03) 5492 2787 or visiting www.bcg.org.au.
