12 April 2023
Three exciting activities are well underway with the Southern NSW Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub using innovative technology to build farm and community resilience in Southern NSW.
Southern NSW Hub Director Ms Cindy Cassidy said the activities are part of the Australian Government’s Agricultural Innovation Hubs Program. These activities will help speed up the adoption of innovation on farms and modernise approaches for improved production, community and environmental outcomes.
“This work will see us reimagining how we develop and deliver activities that foster collaboration and innovation and better address the needs of the current farming environment and serve our communities into the future.”
The activities are:
1. Capturing Value of AgTech Innovation On-Farm
The AgTech ROI Calculator is designed to reduce risk for farmers as they seek to take advantage of new on-farm technologies. Initially developed by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), the calculator lets farmers assess the cost-benefit potential of new technology and predict and evaluate possible returns before they invest.
A group of Southern NSW beef livestock producers are ‘ground-truthing’ the calculator and their findings will be used to finetune the calculator for further roll-out to other industries in Southern NSW.
2. Managing Biosecurity Risks
Based on familiar QR-code technology, the farm traffic ‘Track & Trace’ monitor automates tracking of agricultural transport and service providers. This technology makes it easy for participants to log the arrival and departure of contractors and other visitors to their property.
If a biosecurity event occurs on one property, visitors and their movements can be quickly tracked, making it easier to trace a contamination back to its source and to streamline quarantine actions based on exact traffic locations visited and routes used by potential carriers.
Using commercially available technology, a biosecurity response system is being tested with wine growers in the Canberra, Tumbarumba, Orange and Mudgee areas in collaboration with NSW DPI and NSW Wine, and forms part of a broader initiative aiming to modernise how we deal with threats and streamline biosecurity management.
3. Sharing Early Insights for More Resilient Communities
The third is to detect changes in community wellbeing using everyday data to spot trends in community activity that translate into signs of stress. The goal is to identify the early warning signs of changes in community resilience before, during and after extreme climatic events, and enable rapid, timely responses and ongoing support from organisations.
Events like drought can have a traumatic and lasting impact on communities, including individual and economic wellbeing. It is hoped data – from various sources including purchase histories to business turnovers to footy game attendances – can provide early warning indicators for grassroots groups, government and other support organisations to improve both service provision and overall community capacity to deal with extreme events.
Media note: The three activities will continue to share news of their progress and outcomes over the coming months. For interviews with Southern NSW Hub Director Cindy Cassidy, please contact Kylie Dunstan, Southern NSW Hub Communications and Engagement Manager - e. kydunstan@csu.edu.au p. 0417 437 922.
Caption – Southern NSW Innovation Hub is facilitating strong partnerships and bringing people together to co-design, develop and test innovative approaches in agriculture. Early April saw eight producers from all over Southern NSW gather in Wagga as part of the Capturing Value of AgTech Innovation On-Farm and were pictured here discussing trough monitoring technology.
