According to a recent survey of farmers across Australia, their two primary concerns are poor phone reception and a need to manually check water points.
The customer survey was one of the regular surveys conducted by Farmbot, a remote water monitoring solution provider, to gain feedback from the industry about what drives and challenges them daily.
Farmbot monitoring devices give farmers real-time insights into their water levels, consumption rates, flow pressure and more to improve overall water management on-farm via sensors which provide insights and alerts through an online dashboard.
The survey findings indicate to Farmbot that water remains a primary concern despite much of the eastern seaboard being inundated with higher than average rainfall this year.
When asked to choose three things farmers wished they more visibility over, the top responses in the survey were:
- Livestock weight
- Paddock mapping
- Pump pressure
Three things farmers found repetitive:
- Finding reliable labour
- Checking water
- Poor phone reception
Australian Rural & Regional News asked Andrew Coppin, founder and CEO of Farmbot, a few further questions:
ARR.News: Water quality. How can Farmbot tell whether the water in the trough is good and not polluted or, for instance, filled with some foreign body?
Andrew Coppin: Farmbot’s suite of products can tell a producer a lot about their water assets. The Farmbot Water Level Monitor provides real-time alerts for any issues or abnormalities in water level. This could detect sudden leaks but also could detect if a foreign object had fallen into the water.
Outside of the Water Level Monitor, Farmbot also has a Line Pressure Sensor which provides insights into changing pressure levels, giving farmers a better understanding of the impact and maintenance of pumps and controllers.
Finally, there is the Flow Sensor which measures water usage and detects leaks. There is no measure for pollution just yet, but with the full Farmbot suite, we can still provide farmers with a fairly holistic view of their water resources.
ARR.News: Why do you think water management is still top of mind with farmers, despite there being more water about in many parts of the country this year?
Andrew Coppin: The savvy farmer (of which most of them are), knows that weather is cyclical and today’s floods are tomorrow’s droughts. The times when there is enough water are actually the best times to be planning for the future.
We had seven years of droughts before this La Nina cycle, so we are finding that farmers are opportunistically looking for an insurance policy against future droughts. Farmbot gives them one.
ARR.News: Are you seeing any trends with the takeup of Farmbot? Eg particular parts of the country or type of country? Property size? Business size? Nature of the farm?
Andrew Coppin: There are over 6000 Farmbot Water Level Monitors deployed across the country covering every state and territory. Historically, our largest markets have been the northern cattle producing regions of Australia, given that the benefits of remote water monitoring are more pronounced within vast cattle stations.
That said, we are noticing a shift in southern sheep producing states. Sheep are much less resilient to heat and water stress, so having real-time alerts for any issues with water is incredibly important.
Overall we are seeing very significant growth across Queensland and New South Wales, particularly among cattle producers.
Recently, we’ve started to see more and more unique use cases for our products. We’ve seen Farmbot deployed on chicken farms, in horticulture and even to measure non-water resources such as liquid fertiliser.
Another key growth area for us is farmers that have multiple properties – who can’t physically be in two places at once. And by the same token, we are seeing huge uptake from smaller farms where the owner may actually live and work full-time in a major city and only travels out to the farm on weekends.
ARR.News: Are Farmbots being exported, taken up by farmers outside Australia?
Andrew Coppin: We will be launching in the United States in the near future. We’ve been spending a bit of time over there, meeting with producers and we already have over 50 units deployed across Texas, California and Oklahoma, on a trial basis.
The hunger is there from the US market and it’s a great example of Australian agritech innovation. We’re excited to share more information later in the year.
ARR.News: How are they lasting? Surviving out there in the elements?
Andrew Coppin: All our R&D and production is done here in Australia. Every unit is tested in Australian conditions and is rugged and reliable. In fact, it’s a point of difference for us, and it’s based on feedback from producers that technology must be suitable for our harsh Australian conditions.
ARR.News: Connectivity. Does your relationship with Inmarsat mean that farmers don’t need to rely on the domestic telecommunications networks?
Andrew Coppin: Yes absolutely. Our technology leverages satellite connectivity to ensure that farmers can be connected to their water from literally any corner of the world. The technology is inexpensive, starting from about $1.25 a day for satellite and $1 a day for cellular, meaning it is suitable for any producer.
Cellular models are available as well for producers who do happen to be in a spot of good connectivity. Depending on the location we find customers will purchase multiple monitors with the preferred connectivity in that area. This may mean they have multiple satellite monitors and a cellular monitor installed. 65% of our customers have at least one cellular monitor.
ARR.News: Do you see any benefit for either Farmbot or farmers buying or using Farmbot in the 2022 Budget?
Andrew Coppin: The most interesting component of the Federal Budget for individual farmers was the announcement of the Technology Investment Boost – applicable to small business owners with revenue of less than $50 million, which would be relevant for many farmers.
The Boost means eligible businesses will be able to deduct an additional 20 per cent (for a total of 120%) of the cost incurred on business expenses and depreciating assets that support their digital transformation.
Hopefully we see this encourage more farmers to dip their toe into the technology market.
ARR.News: How is Farmbot interacting with other ‘SmartAg’ that’s out there?
Andrew Coppin: Farmbot integrates with several different agritechs and we see this integration as critical to our strategy.
We encourage our customers to look holistically at their technology strategy, rather than just buying Farmbot Monitors.
We partner with the likes of Pairtree, AgriWebb and Maia Grazing to ensure that data on water levels can be looked at in the context of other farm data sets. Data that is looked at through this lens is much more valuable and provides a broader picture of management to improve farm decision-making.
ARR.News: Is Farmbot thinking about developing other products for farmers that might help with other issues they’ve identified in the survey in some way (livestock weight, paddock mapping, pump pressure)?
Andrew Coppin: Our strength is in remote asset management, so we will look at technologies that play to this strength. We will soon be launching a Fuel Tank Sensor and we will consistently look at what other parts of a farm’s infrastructure we can connect to a farmers device to be managed remotely.
There are already some fantastic Australian agritechs doing excellent work in livestock weight, paddock mapping and more. We will continue our partnerships and integrate with those businesses.
Related story: Farmbot deploys over 5,000 remote water monitoring units across Australia
