Agtech dashboard delivers real-time agriculture insights to high school classrooms

Students can observe and ­explore crop and livestock performance, weather and soil con­ditions, machinery and input usage, sustainability and environmental indicators.

Ella Higgins, far left, Katie Rajadhyaksha, Isla Webster, Zali Lobb, Natalija Luidmanis and head of agriculture at Barker College in Sydney, Scott Graham.

An Australia-first Agtech dashboard that delivers real-time data insights on livestock, crops and environmental conditions is being used in school agriculture classes.

Charles Sturt University’s Global Digital Farm, based within the Charles Sturt Agripark at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, NSW, consolidates a range of agricultural data in real time delivered from an actual commercial livestock operation, and allows high school students to apply this data to theories learnt in the classroom.

Students can observe and ­explore crop and livestock performance, weather and soil con­ditions, machinery and input usage, sustainability and environmental indicators.

Global Digital Farm director Mark Bourne said the platform was designed with agriculture and primary industries teachers in mind. “Not only do students learn and gain insights from real-world data, but they also learn how the latest digital technologies are used on farms, knowledge that will no doubt place them ahead of the pack when they graduate,” Mr Bourne said.

Head of agriculture at Barker College in Sydney Scott Graham was one of the first teachers to adopt the GDF dashboard in the classroom.

“I point out to students that working in agriculture doesn’t necessarily mean working on a farm. In fact, 75 per cent of agriculture jobs are off-farm,” he said.

The number of agriculture students at Barker College has ­doubled over the past decade.

“Using the GDF dashboard to teach agriculture is great because it gives us access to experimental data at scale that we cannot have at a school level. This helps students see the science, technology and engineering that is present across the agricultural supply chain and helps them see how they might be involved,” he said.

“Students also learn about the latest agtech devices and see how technology can be utilised in agriculture to improve efficiency, and how they might be involved in off-farm agricultural roles in agtech or more broadly.”