Variable Rate Technology Taking a site-specific approach Frank D’Emden Technology Development Manager

Overview Data Yield Biomass Geophysical Soil Data interpretation Innovations arising from UAV technology Autonomous Livestock Monitoring Systems (ALMS)

Data Yield Take time to set up monitor (i.e. paddock names and calibration) Copy and securely store raw data from card at end of day/paddock/season Biomass Satellite Low cost, inaccurate, unreliable but watch this space… UAV Moderate cost, highly accurate, versatile acquisition Data heavy (lots of MB)

Data (cont’d) Geophysics Electromagnetics and gamma radiometrics Objective soil reference layers Need to be ground-truthed ($) Soil Keep going (every 3 years) Go deep (at least 20cm) Go back to the same spot (Georeference)

Measures soil electroconductivity Primarily influenced by salinity Clay and moisture also influence EM Electromagnetics

Measures naturally occurring gamma radiation 90% of gamma radiation emitted from top 45cm of soil. Differentiates between sand and gravel (low EM) and different clay types (high EM). Radiometrics

Interpretation: Ground-truthing

Interpretation: Correlation

Extrapolation

Weed mapping for targeted spraying

Numerical analysis

Buffering

Vector export

Biomass mapping

Autonomous Livestock Monitoring Systems Animal tracking Behavioural modelling

Virtual fencing Water monitoring Mark Trotter University of New England Precision Ag Research Group Autonomous Livestock Monitoring Systems

Automatic rain gauges The Internet of Things

Knowledge Information Data