Fresh face in technology trial roll out
Regional farmers involved in a trial aimed at discovering benefits of Internet of Things technology on broadacre cropping farms will have support from a fresh face at Horsham’s Grains Innovation Park.
Agriculture Victoria grain technology coordinator Mark Gould was appointed to support farmers in Victoria’s On-farm Internet of Things Trial as it prepares to start in Birchip, Tatura, Serpentine and Maffra areas.
Mr Gould said the trial would support grain growers to test the technology and it was his job to ensure farmers taking part in the trial had a close point of contact to help them select technologies best matched to their businesses’ needs.
“The trial will allow us to work together to investigate how well Internet of Things technology works in the practical day-to-day running of a farm business,” he said.
“To ensure a lack of access to a reliable network coverage isn’t a barrier to farmers participating in the trial, the Victorian Government is also funding the delivery of Internet of Things network connectivity to each trial region.
“We’re now calling for up to 25 broadacre cropping farmers in the Buloke government area to express their interest to take part in the trial and access up to $30,000 to invest in the technology.”
Mr Gould spent 15 years as an advisory systems engineer with Melbourne’s Dell Technologies before joining Agriculture Victoria’s team.
“I moved to the Wimmera about 18 months ago,” he said.
“Agriculture is the core industry in this part of Victoria, so I developed an interest in bringing my many years of technology experience to farmers to enable them to be more efficient and profitable.
“I can’t wait to see the smile on farmers’ faces when they see what they always thought was true is now backed up by data, and they can spend a lot less time touring the farm to make informed decisions.”
Farmers interested in taking part in Victoria’s On-farm Internet of Things Trial can submit an expression of interest at agriculture.vic.gov.au/ digitalag until August 2.