PHOTO: CHIAIC
PHOTO: CANVA
New tech to aid Australian agriculture
AUSTRALIA New technologies can bring about both incre- mental and transformational changes that will increase the profitability, sustainability and productivity of Australia’s agriculture industry, says the Australian Council of Learned Acade- mies (ACOLA). Farmers face issues such as drought, climate variability, biosecurity, global competition and changing consumer prefer- ences. These threaten Australia’s position as one of the most efficient primary producers in the world. In a report entitled ‘The Future of Agricultural Technologies’ the technologies that could address these challenges are identi- fied and discussed. Australia’s diverse agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector is currently a US$ 50 billion (€ 43 billion) industry. The government has set a goal of increasing this to US$ 72 billion by 2030. The application of emerging technolo- gies is needed if Australian agriculture is to re- main profitable and sustainable. The report in- dicates that future investment should more effectively leverage Australia’s existing
expertise in research and development. The effectiveness of investment will be substan- tially enhanced by building more synergistic relationships across traditional sectoral boundaries and through multidisciplinary ap- proaches to tackling national issues. This will
require investment by government, industry and farmers in enabling infrastructure − both physical infrastructure (e.g. farm connectivity and regional data hubs) and soft infrastruc- ture (e.g. machine learning and artificial intelligence).
or severe erosion, the ability to grow crops in a soil-less system with minimal fertilisers and pesticides is advantageous.”
NASA technology to reveal crop health
NORTH AMERICA Georgia-based company Cybercorps has signed a license agreement with NASA for us- ing the Compact Thermal Imager (CTI). This technology is small enough to fit on a cube satellite, or CubeSat, a type of miniaturized sat- ellite whose size is measured in units of 10 square centimeters. Though tiny, CTI can pro- vide high-resolution information about crop health and soil conditions by measuring sur- face temperature. After collecting more than 15 million images of Earth during a successful demonstration on the International Space Sta- tion in 2019, the instrument is now ready for commercial use. The CubeSat will capture ther- mal images from Earth’s surface. Farmers and
other interested customers can subscribe to Cybercorps’ service to access the thermal im- aging data, which can then be used to evalu- ate the health of agricultural and aquatic eco- systems. In combination with more traditional techniques, this information could help farmers optimise fertiliser treatments and watering schedules.
Chinese future tractor runs on hydrogen ASIA
The Chinese are also getting involved in future tractors. With the new e-tractor − the ET504-H − they want to get into the market for making agricultural machinery more environmentally friendly. With a futuristic appearance, the mod- el adopts 5G mobile communication tech- nology, has a self-driving mode and can be remotely controlled. The tractor was co-devel- oped by CHIAIC and the largest Chinese tractor manufacturer YTO is also involved, having
manufactured some parts of the prototype. The ET504-H has a main permanent-magnet, synchronous mid-motor and independent electric lifting and steering motors. The hydro- gen fuel cell operates when the tractor does not require full power. When the tractor is un- der heavy load, a lithium battery adds further power. The electric driveline can deliver 50 horsepower with a maximum speed of 30 kph (18 mph). It has been developed from the out- set to be able to operate without a driver. With this tractor CHIAIC aims to demonstrate that an autonomous tractor running on hydrogen is feasible in farming practice.
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 20 November 2020
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