Robot-run dairy farm pioneer Arjan van Adrichem named innovator of the year
A Tasmanian dairy farmer is using robots to transform his family farm into an award-winning operation that runs almost entirely by itself.
There’s very little the eight robots on Arjan van Adrichem’s dairy farm can’t do.
“They milk the cows, they test for everything,” he says.
“They test for if the cow is healthy or not, if they’re eating enough, if they are losing weight, if they’re sore in the feet, they measure everything.
“The average farm in Australia, I think, uses 120 cows per full time worker and with the robots, we can basically do 500 cows with one person.
“On a weekend I’ll run it all by myself.
“We calve all the cows through spring so then we usually get a couple of people to help through that because that’s the busiest time but basically from November onwards it’s nearly a one-man operation.”
His family, who migrated from Groningen in the Netherlands in 1997, were the first to use robots on their Togari farm in Tasmania’s North-West.
Mr van Adrichem, 36, has won the Innovation Award at the Cadbury Farmer of the Year Awards for his pioneering use of technology to improve silage and reduce waste, delivering better quality feed for his herd and setting new standards for sustainability.
He bought his father’s farm when he was 22 and runs 500 cattle.
“I try to be on the front foot with everything I do but I don’t boast about it so not many people know what’s going on,” Mr van Adrichem said.
He also uses feed pads which means no feed is wasted.
“So when it’s wet and cold the cows can just walk back to the dairy and they can stand under a roof and under cover (to feed).
“Tractors never go in paddocks over winter, so you’re not damaging your ground, your soil profiles stay good.”
Premier Jeremy Rockliff and Mondelez International President for Australia, New Zealand and Japan, Toby Smith, presented awards to outstanding dairy farmers in Devonport on Friday night.
Cadbury also announced a $200,000 two-year sustainability program to help farmers measure and reduce emissions while improving profitability.
Mr Smith paid tribute to milk as an essential ingredient in Cadbury chocolate.
“I can’t overstate the significance of Tasmania for Cadbury,” he said. “The abundant supply of high-quality fresh milk was a key reason Cadbury chose Tasmania to build its first chocolate factory outside of England in 1920.
“It’s our dedication to taste and quality ingredients, including Tasmanian milk, that continues to make Cadbury so popular.”
Catherine Furzer of Elliott was named Female Farmer of the Year for her remarkable achievements as a self-taught dairy farmer building a thriving operation from scratch.
The Young Farmer of the Year award was won by Josh Smith of Cuprona for his passion and dedication to farming and herd management from starting as a farm worker to share farmer and now farm owner.
Sixth generation farmer Rob Frampton of Gawler won the Sustainability Award for his world-class sustainable farming practices recently reflected when he completed carbon baselining.
Anthony Grey of Redpa was honoured for his outstanding commitment to producing high-quality milk winning the Milk Quality Award.
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Originally published as Robot-run dairy farm pioneer Arjan van Adrichem named innovator of the year
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