How data and analytics are improving farming

As more Australian farmers are leveraging agriculture technology (agtech) to improve various dimensions of their businesses the role of data and analytics becomes more important than ever.

Authors at McKinsey noted that agriculture is in the early stages of "another revolution" with data and connectivity at the centre. 

They said, "Artificial intelligence, analytics, connected sensors, and other emerging technologies could further increase yields, improve the efficiency of water and other inputs, and build sustainability and resilience across crop cultivation and animal husbandry."

Justin Webb, co-founder of digital platform AgriWebb said the only way to future-proof production while profiting today is for farmers to take control of their own operations by capturing data and leveraging insights. 

“Farmers looking to streamline operations and improve efficiencies can gain an incredible amount of detail from digital platforms and supporting data," he said.

Webb said if farmers are looking for answers on how productive their fertiliser usage is or the year-on-year mortality of their livestock, digital platforms can play a pivotal role in providing answers.

“Figures once confined to notebooks become valuable data points, capable of showcasing trends, discovering underperforming livestock or paddocks, and allowing producers to remedy any shortcomings before business goals fall off track,” Webb said.

According to Webb, streamlining operations through the farm management software individualised datasets improves productivity and profitability.

He said, “There are hundreds of different outputs to consider on a farm, different for livestock and arable farmers, and keeping across each of these metrics manually. Tracking data and insights through one platform automates the process and leads to far greater financial results.”

Technology adoption within the agricultural industry isn’t a new phenomenon with a NAB survey noting that 75 percent of Australian farmers used at least one agtech product or service in their operations.

And while a growing population demands a more efficient agricultural industry, the Australian Farm Institute highlights that holistic adoption of digital technology across Australia’s agricultural sector could boost productivity by $20.3b each year.

Bernadette McCabe, director of the Centre for Agricultural Engineering at the University of Southern Queensland explained that Australian farmers are particularly cutting-edge due to Australia’s unique features and characteristics.

She said, “Australian farmers are particularly innovative due to the harsh climatic conditions, geographic variation, and remoteness of farming properties across Australia. Farmers are very interested to adopt new technologies, and even build their own machinery solutions.”

Using precision farming

According to the CSIRO, precision farming seeks to exert more control over a production system by recognising variation and managing different areas of land differently, according to a range of economic and environmental goals

McCabe discussed the effectiveness of precision farming and its relationship with digital technology.

“Precision farming requires digital technology as it treats a single field as thousands of different management units with various treatment methods,” she said.

“However, digital technology is required to sense and process data, and actuate a site-specific response. This would be a prohibitively time-consuming and labour-intensive task for humans to perform manually.”

Webb said precision farming is more attainable now more than ever.

“Precision farming may have seemed like a luxury in yesteryear. However, as consumer demands for traceability and regulatory enforcement of sustainability continue to increase, controlling your own data generated in your fields is going to be the difference for successful, growth-oriented farms,” he said.

Sustainable farming

Agtech also helps farming processes become more sustainable.

Webb said technology plays an integral role in the drive to make farming more sustainable whilst ensuring producers maintain profitability.

“Whether it be reducing carbon emissions or improving biodiversity, moving to sustainable practices takes time,” he said.

“This new suite of sustainable or regenerative practices must be chosen carefully based on operation style, soil type, vegetation, financial resources and livestock type. As producers look to test new approaches, digital record-keeping and data insights will play a pivotal role in tracking the impacts of production outcomes and financial success.”

Through a rapidly growing population, the UN suggests that by 2050, the global population would need the natural resources of three planets in order to sustain our current lifestyle.

Leveraging agtech tools could be a remedy to this issue according to McCabe.

“There is a growing global population on a finite amount of land on Earth. Some agricultural tasks need a lot of human labour, such as fruit picking, or inspecting crops for signs of disease, however, staff availability can be limited including recently with Covid. New digital tools can assist farmers do more with less,” she said.

“There are many opportunities for digital technologies to be used in agriculture, especially in the digital age where in general the population is ‘tech-savvy’ and smartphones with advanced computing capability are commonplace.”

Room to grow

Despite the increase in technology adoption, there are some barriers facing agtech implementation. One of the barriers, is internet connectivity, McCabe said.   

 “A big issue is internet connectivity. Capturing data from digital sensors is limited by the ability to stream data to the cloud or a central processing computer,” she said.

“Other potential barriers might be ease of use, training requirements, support when using the digital tech, expense to buy and maintain, and interfacing with different digital tools as they become available.”

While these barriers may be in place, technology will ultimately improve the workforce.

McCabe said as farmers are exposed to more digital technologies in their jobs, farmers can continue to learn new digital skills.

“If digital tools can reduce the physical requirements of certain jobs, this has the potential to expand the diversity and longevity of the workforce,” she said.

“A greater range of people may also be attracted to work in agriculture. For example, ‘app developer’ is a new career option that has come about because of digital technology.”