Technology - expensive toys or great management aids?

Take home messages

• There is an adoption cost threshold where the cost of adopting new technology is out-weighed by the productivity gain achieved.
• Connectivity is the infrastructure underpinning most digital technology in agriculture, getting it right is critical to farm business success.

Background

To be successful, today’s farmers must manage their resources to meet the challenges of varying costs, prices and climatic conditions. As available land for farming decreases and water resources for farming decline, we are challenged to increase yields in a sustainable manner to meet the needs of a growing population. Farmers have access to a variety of technologies that they can use to improve farming practices with the ultimate goal of improved profit margins. Some of these technologies include satellite and drone imagery and analysis, air and soil sensors, equipment monitoring, farm automation and precision agriculture. Adoption of technology and its integration into sound farm business management strategies will help farmers take their enterprise to the next level.

Australian farm food production is worth more than $60 billion annually, and is predicted to increase to $100 billion by 2030 (Neales 2017). The top 20% of farmers, who rapidly adopt new practices and technology, produce 80% of the farm food output in Australia (Neales 2017). Interest in digital technology is experiencing extraordinary growth, with a rapid increase in technology adoption by Australian farmers (Locke 2016). Today’s top farmers put city tech geeks to shame, controlling million-dollar high tech pieces of equipment with a simple joystick whilst collecting real time crop data as they perform other operations such as spraying and harvesting (Dyck 2017).

Work smarter, not harder

Technology is changing the way farms are managed and operated, moving agriculture away from skills-based management to a more industrialised model where decisions are based on objective data (Locke 2016). Toil is no longer the measure of success in a farming enterprise, with agricultural success being reserved for those with the time and capacity to figure out which technologies will most benefit their farm and working out the best way to implement those technologies.

Some examples of technologies that are helping farmers work smarter include:

• Real time sensors coupled with software and apps enable nutrients and moisture to be applied to crops in a timely manner.
• Technology that digitises farm records allows farmers to make data-driven decisions leading to increased productivity, efficiency and profits.
• WEEDit is a technological innovation that combines weed sensors and software with the variable rate application to individual nozzles to achieve targeted spraying of weeds (Chong 2016).
• Satellite imagery when combined with software to ‘interpret’ the image provides highly detailed pictures of variations in the productivity of the crop. This is a technology that provides objective data to make informed farm business management decisions to improve yields and profits. Instead of waiting until harvest to measure yield, interim yield results can be analysed and adjustments made to benefit the crop. The more we measure, the greater the opportunities for improvement with the added benefit of reducing risk, since the problems can be addressed in a timelier manner.

The banks also see the results in implementing technology into agriculture, with the NAB announcing increased funding to farmers looking to adopt technology to lift productivity (Neales 2017). With improved performance and more objective data, the NAB values the improved lending confidence that technology in agriculture provides.

Successful farm management involves taking measurements, adjusting nutrient and water rates or eliminating weeds and pests and then measuring the results. This process is a continuous cycle and allows for ongoing improvement and better knowledge and understanding that can be applied in the next cycle. One example of this is a precision agricultural service which uses soil analysis to develop maps to help determine lime and fertiliser rates at the beginning of the season. As the crop is harvested, a yield monitor collects data from the harvester and the information is then used to prepare the soil for the following year (Locke 2016).

At the end of the day, the commercial reality of the adoption of digital technology in farming is that the technology must improve productivity and profits to justify its adoption. As an example, a broad-acre cropping enterprise may deliver a gross margin of $350-$500 per hectare and if it’s estimated that the adoption of digital technology will deliver a 5% increase in profit margin, then there is a potential gain in margin of $17.50 to $25 per hectare (Keogh 2017). The initial start-up cost of the new technology and the underpinning infrastructure cost to ensure connectivity, measured against the expected life of the equipment and the cost of maintaining it must be less than the expected increase in margin to make the adoption of the new technology successful in a farming enterprise.

How do we ensure new technologies increase the bottom line and improve the business?

Adoption of technology in itself will not improve profitability. Good farm management and decision making involves identifying the nature of a problem, then applying the necessary technical, human, economical, financial and analytical skills to solve the problem.

Connectivity is the infrastructure that underpins the adoption of new technology in agriculture

Connectivity is a major challenge in the agricultural sector, with lack of connectivity being the major barrier to the adoption of new technologies. With the rollout of National Broadband Network (NBN) across Australia and the government funded Mobile Blackspot program being delivered, basic internet coverage is improving but is still very inadequate in rural areas. The NBN satellite service is not suitable for some cloud-based applications used in the agricultural industry due to the inherent nature of the latency or ‘lag’ in the system, and the NBN fixed wireless service often falls outside of the 14km direct line of sight from the nearest tower criteria for most rural properties. This leaves farmers scrambling to find their own solutions to connectivity, forced to bear the cost of extending the NBN network on a property by property basis to obtain the connectivity they require to manage their farm business effectively.

An internet connection, whether it be mobile, satellite, fixed wireless or asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) based is not the end of the story in terms of on-farm connectivity. The big challenge for many is ‘farm wide’ connectivity since much of the new digital technology relies on a constant internet connection. This can be achieved with mobile phone technology, but if your reception is spotty over the property then your solution is currently WiFi based. For vehicles, Cel-Fi GO is a smart signal booster that amplifies mobile phone signal by 70 decibel (in comparison a cradle with an antennae provides an approximate 10 to 15 decibel gain) and costs approximately $1000 to install.

WiFi and wireless networking capabilities

WiFi is a technology that allows a device to exchange data or connect to the internet wirelessly using 2.4GHz and 5GHz radio waves. The range or transmission distance of WiFi indoors is typically less than 50m and depends on the building construction and the number of internal walls. To transmit data and share internet access outdoors (over a distance of up to 5km (needs line of site)) using WiFi technology, outdoor wireless access point (retails at less than $500each) can be used. Note however, the data transmission speed significantly reduces the further you move away from the access point. The installation of such a large WiFi network with numerous access points is best left to a telecommunications technician.

Creating your own connectivity – extending the NBN Wireless Network

If necessary, it is possible to establish your own point to point internet connection from a Telco tower, and share the cost of the infrastructure setup with small groups of farmers or communities.

Extended networking over distances of more than 5km is best managed with either point-to-point or point-to-multipoint wireless networking solutions. These systems will allow you to set up your own internet service in collaboration with a Telco tower, or to share the internet connection across your property or even share an internet connection with multiple properties.

The topology of more complex wireless networks can be categorised as follows (Wndw.net, 2007):

• Point-to-point. These links can be used to establish an internet connection or extend a network over a long distance (20 – 60km). This was discussed previously in reference to setting up your own internet connection.
• Point-to-Multipoint. This uses either an omni-directional or sector (90 -120 degree) transmitter with multiple receiving antennas. Think of this type of network as an ‘access point’ with multiple ‘clients’. These systems generally operate over medium distances (0-10km). This system is suitable for sharing internet connection across a property, or with multiple properties.
• Multipoint to Multipoint. This system allows any node of a network to communicate with another, also known as an ad-hoc or mesh network. These systems are considerably more complex, and while easy to add more nodes, they can be difficult to tune and are much more costly to install.

Due to the complexity of the systems, the installation and configuration of a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint network is best left to the professionals. However, Ubiquiti Airmax wireless networking systems have equipment available for sale in Australia to implement either of these systems.

The cost of setting up your own internet infrastructure (either creating your own internet connection or creating a property-wide WiFi network) may seem high, but farmers need to consider the cost of being left behind and the long term savings that can be achieved through streamlining tasks and using automation, which will then allow for more time in the field and less time in the office. To reduce costs, consider forming your own group or community to share an internet connection and better manage the initial cost of the infrastructure.

Internet slow? Are you being ‘throttled’?

Many farmers are finding that their internet access is too slow. A 25/5 connection speed with theoretical peak download speeds of 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) and theoretical peak upload speeds of 1 Mbps may only achieve connection speeds of 1 to 3 Mbps. This could be due to a number of factors, one being that the internet service provider (ISP) may be constrained by the capacity they have purchased from NBN. Each ISP buys a bandwidth from NBN based on its expected customer base and expected usage. If the ISP has underestimated its usage or oversold the service based on their capacity, customers connected with that ISP will experience a decline in connection speed. To try and make it fairer for all of their customers, ISPs often compensate for lack of bandwidth by ‘throttling’ or ‘slowing’ their customers’ connection speeds when they access streaming sites such as Netflix or Youtube. This ‘throttling’ process is automated via algorithms set to recognise how much data is being downloaded and how it is being sent. Unfortunately, other services such as weather channels can mimic data patterns of streaming services and farmers can be ‘throttled’ for 24 to 48 hours each time the algorithm picks this up. One tool that can be legitimately used to mask your internet traffic is a virtual private network (VPN) which is an online service that uses simple software to secure your internet connection, and keeps your network traffic private even from your ISP.

Additionally, ISPs do not all take the same approach to bandwidth. Some ISPs supplement their own infrastructure with the NBN infrastructure to increase performance and reliability for their customers. There are a number of websites that rank ISP performance for each service (Mobile broadband, Fibre, NBN Wireless), and therefore, allow the customers to see how each ISP stacks up against the others.

Stacking the odds

If you have tried everything else and your internet connection is still too slow, consider ‘stacking connections’. ‘Stacking connections’ can be achieved by, for example, use of routers which allow you to stack two ADSL lines into a single connection or allow you to stack mobile broadband with NBN connections. Each system provides the user with increased internet connection speed and greater reliability.

A case study in working together to create connectivity

A farmer between Young and Cowra NSW had recently been advised that the business was ineligible for the NBN Wireless service as the home was either not within line of sight of the tower, or was in excess of the 6km range imposed by the NBN for service. The farmer however had a point on his property, the shearing shed; that was both within the 6km range and within line of sight of the NBN tower. He was able to source an NBN provider willing to complete a non-standard NBN installation at the shearing shed. Before the NBN installer would install their equipment, they visited the proposed site and performed a field test and informed the farmer that dustproof housing, power as well as an earthing system would need to be installed. The shearing shed already had a power distribution board, so installation of power was very simple, but even if this had not been available the power needs of the NBN equipment could be readily met with a solar/battery system. An earth stake was professionally installed and the shearing shed was lined with a MDF panel and a dustproof AV rack was installed. The NBN system was then installed into the rack, with their antenna on a mast outside the shearing shed. Once the NBN system was installed then the point-to-point wireless communication systems was installed. The NBN connection has a nominal speed of 25Mbps down, 5Mbps up. The point-to-point system has a speed in excess of 150Mbps and up to 450Mbps depending on the level of equipment installed, thus there is no reduction in the speed of the internet connection as a result of relaying the NBN signal. The farmer now has access to a NBN connection in his home via an NBN system installed in the shearing shed.

Conclusion

Technology has the potential to improve yields in a farming enterprise; however there is an adoption cost threshold, with the cost of adopting new technology being weighed against the productivity gains possible.

Connectivity, or Information and Communications Technology for communications on and off the paddock are the critical component in successfully integrating new digital technologies in your farming business.

Useful resources and references

Dyck, Toban (2017). Today's farmer would put an urban tech geek to shame.

Keogh, Mick (2017). Connectivity, Capability and Commercial Reality.

Locke, Sarina (2016). Farmer interest in digital agriculture technology experiencing ‘extraordinary’ growth this year.

Neales, Sue (2017). NAB to help farmers seed cloud with agtech.

Zappa, Michell (2014). 15 Emerging Agriculture Technologies That Will Change The World.

Neales, Sue (2017). New technology a revolution for agriculture.

Chong, Carene (2016). Innovative sprayer with targeted spraying technology boasts 7000-litre tank.

David Angell , Intel (2014). Next-Gen 802.11ac WiFi for dummies.

Wndw.net, 2007. Wireless Networking in the Developing World 2nd Edition. A practical guide to planning and building low-cost telecommunications infrastructure

Contact details

Ian Ware
APA Sound
PO BOX 24 Cooma NSW 2630
(02) 6452 2555
ian@apasound.com.au
@APAsoundAV