AgTech conference showcases latest technology
Technology & Data
Over 1300 growers and innovators alike at the Royal Exhibition Building last week for the 2020 Evoke Ag Conference, showcasing the best and latest in agricultural technology.
APAL checked out three of the most interesting startup presentations below:
Zetifi
Connectivity is important in every industry, but it can be a problem on farms and some larger orchards.
This is a problem Zetifi is aiming to address, by developing solar powered on-farm Wi-Fi which overcome mobile blackspots and help simplify and streamline farm management.
The Zetifi network uses a system of waking WiFi extenders on demand, and sleeping them when not in use, helping save on solar and battery costs.
Founder Dan Winson said that while the technology was untested on orchards, there was no less importance to fruit growers.
“Obviously orchards don’t have the best line of sight, and we’re not talking distances like cattle and wheat farms which is where we’ve piloted,” Dan said.
“That being said, we’d be really interested in finding the solution to it and helping out growers as much as we can.
“Connectivity is important for everyone”.
Connectivity across farms is an area of focus at present. The Victorian State Government announced earlier this month the details of its On-Farm IoT Trial, while Austrade partnered with global internet giant Cisco last year for a case study aimed at improving connectivity for Australian farms.
Go Micro
Go Micro are a South Australian company helping to develop artificially intelligent microscopes for smartphones that enables growers to detect pests and leaf disease.
While AI devices on phones are hardly new, the technology is becoming more and more refined, with Go Micro claiming its technology achieves over 90 per cent accuracy in comparison to 65 per cent accuracy of its competitors.
The more images there are of fruit flies, the closer AI will get to human expertise. Go Micro are now encouraging DIY engine building to increase the number of images available to bridge the gap and increase accuracy.
“We are also creating a DIY AI engine building service that simplifies the process of matching the accuracy of human experts,” said Go Micro co-founder Jarrad Law.
“Basically we want to put the AI in the hands of farmers.”
Jarrad said the AI technology would benefit growers and quarantine inspectors, as well as potentially the general public.
Farmable
All the way from Norway, Farmable aims to digitize growing and reinvent the way farmers use their data.
The Farmable app records operations on orchards and generates a database of farm records to simplify reporting to authorities and marketing organisations.
The app was developed in conjunction with fruit growers across Europe and Australia, and allows farmers to map farm operations, capture field operations, guide crop treatment and assist with communications across the farm.
