A project to apply and integrate digital agriculture technology in a full-scale commercial farm to improve management and develop new decision support tools for farmers.
To create a digital learning and research environment within the 1,600 hectare mixed farm at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga.
The ‘Digital Twin Farm’ will develop an integrated system of data collection, management and analysis across all aspects of farm operations, including crops, pastures, livestock and environment.
Data will be used for a range of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects to contribute to the development of new decision support tools.
The first step in the ‘Digital Charles Sturt Farm’ has been the creation of a detailed map using high resolution aerial photography.
This will form the basis for an online Geographic Information System (GIS) and farm record keeping system.
To gain a better understanding the soil landscape, electromagnetic induction surveys have been conducted, along with targeted soil profile investigations.
Satellite imagery is also being used to track patterns of pasture and crop growth while data on grain protein and Canola oil content will also be compared against the soil landscape.
Other research is focused on precision livestock technology, including using livestock movement trackers such as MOOnitor’ cow collars.
Jon Medway: jmedway@csu.edu.au