Dr. Rohan Rainbow discusses agricultural robots and the global market. Australia has been a world leader in adopting no-till and controlled traffic farming techniques. Australia was also the first to commercialize 2 cm autosteer technology using GPS. Fully autonomous spraying is a logical next step but faces challenges with regulations. New autonomous technologies have the potential to increase production efficiency, reduce costs and waste, reduce crop damage, and unlock new ways of farming that could significantly improve productivity over the next 10 years. Australia is well positioned as an ideal market to commercialize agricultural robotics first due to fewer regulatory barriers and large-scale farming operations.

1. Dr Rohan Rainbow –- Director AgTechCentric
Agricultural Robots a Global Market
Australia
10 December FIRA 2019 – Toulouse France

2. No-till & CTF in Australia – a world leader in adoption
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Farmers%
Years
NSW Central West
NSW Riverine Plains
VIC Mallee
VIC Wimmera
VIC Loddon
SA Mallee
SA Central
SA UpperEP
SA LowerEP
Source: R. Llewellyn CSIRO Used with permission

3. Australia was the first to commercialise 2 cm autosteer

4. Autosteer using GPS – Australia is a world leader in adoption
Source: R. Llewellyn CSIRO Used with permission

5. www.crdc.com.au/precision-to-decision

6. Potential digital agriculture impacts in the Grains industry
Practice/decision Impact Impact on GVP
($ million)
Planting Beyond NVT - Improved variety matching to
climate and soils. Increase in yield of 10%
Equates to a productivity increase of 3.28%
1152.2
Crop weed and pest
control
Targeted application using sensing and
automation Chemical use reduced by 4%
91.0
Crop nutrition Optimised fertiliser use results in 2% lift in
output and 5% reduction in fertiliser costs
97.6
Yield Forecasting Forecasting using remote sensed data allows
higher confidence in marketing programs
Overall productivity increased by 2%
702.8
Labour saving Labour costs reduced by 12% 878.0
https://www.crdc.com.au/sites/default/files/P2D%20Ecomomic%20impact%20of%20digital%20ag%20-%20AFI%20Final%20Report.pdf

7. Fully Autonomous spraying a logical step - But challenges with regulations….
Autonomous weed spraying – Australia was first for camera sprays!

8. Swarm Farm Robotics
Small platform autonomy commercialisation – Australia has started!
Source https://www.swarmfarm.com/

9. The farming game changer……!
New autonomous technologies will:
• Increase production efficiency
• Reduce costs and wastage
• Reduce crop damage and disease
• Have a significant role in crop monitoring & management
• Unlock potentially new ways of farming
• Create a step change in productivity improvement
• Farming systems will change in the next 10 years!

10. Considerations for farm automation
• Australia is market ready!
• Australia is an ideal location to commercialise first
• Few regulatory barriers for autonomy on-farm
• Large scale tractor autonomy is a key priority
• Challenges for autonomy of chemical application
Industry code of practice for field machine autonomy
• Field connectivity needs
• Come to the market down under!

11. www.agtechcentric.com
rohan.rainbow@agtechcentric.com 0418 422 482
Thank You
AgTechCentric is all about ironing out the speed humps of regulation and red tape to
create a climate of investment confidence to put technologies into producers pockets