AgTech Finder agtechfinder

Today we’re speaking about technology helping producers monitor their livestock’s health and emissions - picture being able to breathalyse a cow to see if she's pregnant or finding out about methane emissions when the steers eat at the trough.
We speak to Food Agility CRC chief scientist David Lamb about how more extensive, large-scale farming, combined with a reduced workforce, has led to agtech often needing to fill the gap when it comes to livestock monitoring. AgScent founder Bronwyn Darlington tells us about working with NASA and explains how their non-invasive diagnostic technology could be a gamechanger for the livestock industry. We also talk to Simone Barakat from Number 8 Bio, a company developing feed additives to reduce methane emissions. They’ve been using AgScent Air to measure methane reduction during their trials.  
www.agtechfinder.com 

In this episode we’re speaking about tools that help farmers assess and plan for changes in climate.  
A lot of the agtech we speak about is used by farmers to help with everyday decision making. But the tools we’re hearing about in this episode are mostly focused on long-term management, how to prepare for a future that might be decades or even generations away.  
We speak to Dr Tim Cowan a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Climate Sciences at the University of Southern Queensland about agtech’s role in preparing farmers to respond to more extreme climate scenarios.  
We’re also joined by the Bureau of Meteorology’s Stephanie Dickson. She tells us about My Climate View, a digital tool which provides location and commodity specific climate predictions for the next 50 years.  
And we chat to Western Australian beef producer Dale Park, who says information from My Climate View has influenced his on-farm decision-making, including what pastures they plan to grow.  
www.agtechfinder.com  
 

In this week’s episode we’re talking about innovations and technology within the shearing industry.  
The wool and shearing industry is probably not the first people think of when it comes to agtech, being one of the more traditional within agriculture.  
But the shearer shortage and rise of large sheep within the industry has encouraged the sector to develop new technology that will offer wool growers more options and help attract and retain shearers. 
In this episode we speak to Carolina Diaz from the Australian Wool Innovation about some of the new technology coming through the pipeline, in particular biological wool harvesting.  
We also talk to brothers Glenn and Chris Haynes about shearing modules that eliminate the need for shearers to catch and drag the sheep, the part of the process that often leads to the most injuries. 
Glenn is from the Shearer’s Contractors Association Australia (SCAA) Shearer Woolhandler Training Inc. and designed the modules in collaboration with AWI, woolgrowers and champion shearers.  
While, Chris is from Haynes Engineering, one of several companies building the shearing modules and seeing them implemented by growers across the country.  
And we catch up with wool grower Will Shippen, who started using the shearing modules out of necessity during a flood, but found they improved efficiency and so has continued to use them ever since. 
www.agtechfinder.com  

In this episode we’re talking about technology helping growers improve water efficiency on-farm.  
We’re joined by podcast regular, Food Agility CRC chief scientist, David Lamb, who tells us about the role agtech will play in reporting growers’ water efficiency credentials to consumers.  
We speak to Goanna Ag’s John Pattinson about their smart irrigation management solution, GoField. GoField is used across 250,000 hectares of cotton and aims to deliver water, energy and workforce efficiencies.     
We also chat to Queensland cotton grower Nigel Corish, who has been using the GoField solution to improve irrigation workflows, increase yield and reduce the amount of water needed to produce each bale of cotton.  
www.agtechfinder.com 

In this episode we’re speaking about pasture management and the technology helping producers maximise profit and protect their environment.  
We welcome back South Australian sheep and cattle farmer and agtech adoption specialist Penny Schulz, who tells us about how technology in this area has undergone a major step change in recent years.  
We speak to Cibo Labs co-founder Phil Tickle about their pasture management tools which use a combination of satellite remote sensing imagery, machine learning and ground-truthing to offer objective pasture estimates, informing decision-making on stocking rates.  
We’re also joined by Philip Hughes, who along with his family, runs a backgrounding and finishing cattle operation on the Western Downs in Queensland. The Hughes have been using Cibo Labs’ tools to help protect their ground cover, making sure their country remains “rain ready”.   
Philip’s son Lachlan tragically died in 2018 in an on-farm accident. To honour Lachlan’s commitment to regenerative farming practices the family set up the Lachlan Hughes Foundation (www.lachlanhughesfoundation.org.au) to support regenerative agricultural, through scholarships, projects & mentoring programs.  
www.agtechfinder.com  

In this episode we’re talking about communication. It’s a topic at the heart of agtech adoption and there are also now agtech tools and platforms available to help the industry disseminate knowledge and build communities.  
We speak to Food Agility CRC chief scientist David Lamb about the correlations between the use of social media and agtech adoption.  
We’re joined by Emma Ayliffe, an agronomist and farmer, who co-founded Yacker, a social media app for farmers and the ag industry to share ideas and connect with each other.  
And we chat to Queensland cattle farmer and podcaster Sam Fryer, who has been using Yacker to gain insights from farmers and others in the ag industry, particularly those operating a long way away from his north Queensland home.