Are robotics the newest farming revolution?

As Australian agriculture moves through a period of declining productivity, the use of autonomous technology and robotics could bring it out of its slump.

Can farm robotics be the next revolution in Australian agriculture?

As Australian agriculture moves through a period of declining productivity, a new farming revolution could be on the cards in the form of robotics.

Harry Pye, a mixed cropping and livestock farmer on 27,000ha at Walgett in New South Wales, has been using a 24-metre boom robot almost exclusively for spraying for almost a year.

The addition, he says, has allowed him to cut down on his chemical use about 20-fold while putting labour into other efforts.

“The mantra up here is that when you’re spraying, everything needs to be done yesterday,” he said.

“(With robots) it means you’re not pushing your workers too hard, you don’t have to make someone leave their family for Christmas Eve or Easter, or decide to miss a spray which is going to hurt you later down the track at harvest.

“You can send it out into one paddock, it’ll finish up at two o’clock in the morning, fold itself back up and then drive eight kilometres down the road and pull into the next paddock, unfold, and start again.

“It’s hard to fault.”

Data from ABARES shows that between 2000-2023 the annual growth rate of Australian broadacre farm productivity has slowed to 0.72 per cent, down from a rate of 2.18 per cent throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

While research on the productivity impact of autonomous vehicles at a quantifiable level is still fairly novel, the progression of autonomous technology is expected to reduce labour costs, provide greater precision and efficiency and remove monotonous tasks from daily operations.

Research referenced by the Society of Precision Agriculture Australia earlier this year from market research company Precedence Research estimates that the value of global autonomous farm equipment will grow from $102.86 billion in 2023 to $183.76 billion in 2033.

Andrew Bate is the founder of SWARMFARM, an autonomous robot company based at Emerald in Queensland and established in 2012, and believes robotics can be the “next revolution” in agriculture.

Andrew Bate of SWARMFARM believes robotics can be the next revolution in Australian agriculture.

“With robots, we’re going to see new farming techniques and new methods and different crop production techniques that are enabled by robotics that we haven’t had before, and that’s why autonomy and robotics is so exciting in our industry,” Mr Bate said.

Mr Bate said no other country in the world has the adoption of autonomy that Australia has, and that combined with access to big data, the development of computer vision and artificial intelligence, and improved connectivity through Starlink has created a “perfect storm” to allow robotics to become mainstream in Australian agriculture.

“Things that weren’t possible because of any of those things have come together now, and we’ve got these opportunities”.

Currently, the Tractor Machinery Association of Australia, Grain Producers Australia and SPAA have been working on developing an industry-wide code for use of autonomous vehicles in Australia.

Grain Producers Australia’s Andrew Weidemann. Picture: Supplied

While the goal to have states formally adopt the code has not yet been realised, it is hoped the code will provide farmers reasons as to why they should adopt autonomous machinery.

“The whole premise is that it’s going to improve the outcomes for a lot of people particularly in remote/regional areas, and of course insurance is associated with the code process as well,” GPA’s Andrew Weidemann said.

Mr Bate said that a code is something that’s worthwhile, but that legislation in any industry never happened before innovation first.

“We’ve never had an industry that was legislated before it was created. Innovators in the automotive industry started fitting seat belts, and as it was realised it was a valuable feature, it was eventually legislated” he said.

“(Industries) evolve by innovators being able to innovate, create technology, and then as the technology is accepted, eventually things are legislated. Not the other way around. That’s how we look at it.”