ottg Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 We all know that there is a slump in the job market and it takes time to get ready for the next "big thing"Just to add to my previous posts about agriculture: from the mining boom to the dining boom. (perhaps I'm biased)This is really big: food production need to be increased 70% by 2050 to provide for the world population of +9 billion people. However new food spenders start to emerge due to the the wealth created in Asian countries that benefit low & middle income groups. Wealth change their dietary habits, food styles and preferences. This puts an even bigger pressure on agriculture production. That said the agriculture "arable land" is limited. So the only way is to do more with less. This is where Australia the lucky country can play a major role. However a lot of things need to get in place - which leaves many opportunities for those who can see them....and WA is well positioned to seize the opportunity and it starts with all of us.Get the KPMG report here:https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/crops/road-riches-driving-investment-western-australian-agriculture...and I dont even get paid for this promotional piece of news :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 Lol @ ottg,I am working on an app that will double or triple production on current land of current crops. It will also almost totally eliminate pesticides from being used. Still believe Aus has a better chance than SA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiermelk Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 I am working on an app that will double or triple production on current land of current crops. FarmVille? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 LOL no Tiermelk,it is a smart farm capable of 8 billion calculations a second. It runs 35 000 scenarios a second to tweak the farm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansaPlease Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 LOL no Tiermelk,it is a smart farm capable of 8 billion calculations a second. It runs 35 000 scenarios a second to tweak the farm.Does it then 3D print the crops? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottg Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 it is a smart farm capable of 8 billion calculations a second. It runs 35 000 scenarios a second to tweak the farm.Must admit you do have me intrigue here but I'm scared my ignorance will show. Lets try: assume you have a 8Ghz quad processor I can see how it will do the 9 billions instructions per second. Now lets assume it does a Z-transformation or [20]x[20] matrix calculation or even a FFT in half the time, I fail to see how it will keep the pests away from your crops even if you calculate the best scenario for crop rotation except if you attempt to determine the best genetic structure to make the crop less attractive to pestilences - now that will be champion. Come-on give us a hint!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 That's the trick ottg, but think on this, SAP HANA - each core runs at 3.5 billion scans per second.Picture this -If I knew the genetic code of my crops, was able to tell the weather in real-time, could tell you the osmotic pressure of the plants, the insect population up to 30 seconds in near real-time, and I could adjust for conditions.....Your'e smart put the missing pieces together. Now add some military toys, a voila, a smart farm that doesn't need chemicals, well a fraction of today's usage. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottg Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 Smart farming - a very favorite topic for many. A lot of work currently goes into this globally however the concepts are not new. A complex field that requires a lot of research and money to ensure reliable technologies get released. Farmers are very sensitive to risk and their input costs.As you know currently on-farm management uses yield mapping to manage variability rate for fertilizer (nitrogen & phosphorous etc) application. Most of the big players (Massey Ferguson, John Deere, AgLeader) use RTK GPS and various sensors to optimize the amount of fertiliser and herbicide applications. Water irrigation uses plant phenotype, real time weather stations, transpiration models, water absorption rates etc to control water flow with excellent results.The challenge is insects. They can use aerial radar to track insects but the challenge is the area coverage (as farms are 200+ hectares) if they want to track them in flight from a bio-security perspective. Using larger UAVs are costly and small quadcopters can only do about 20 minutes flight time due to battery constraints. Going satellite doesn't offer the required resolution and update rates yet. However there is company that is now having low orbit satellites (eventually 124 for full constellation) that will rotates the earth 24-hours with resolution down to sub-meters - they have an invitation out for big data users. Here's a lot of potential!!!!So we are back trying to identify insects when they are already on the crops. This is doable with infrared camera and/or low power radar technologies mounted on farming equipment. Once detected they again use variability rate application and can safe up to 80% pesticide per hectare - as already proven in trails. The reliability of sensors in dusty environments are the challenge - ask the mining industry. Now combine all the data streams from all the different systems using Enterprise Architecture sounds like a winning recipe.A very, very fascinating field.....and I never thought farming could be interesting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 Yip,i have solved the insect detection thing...... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiermelk Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 Poor little insects! You`ll have PETA on your case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SurferMan Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 (edited) PETA can kiss my Ass as I drive my 48 Litre V12 Brutus across the lawn with a beer in my hand and belching! MWAAHHAAAA!!! :boxing: Edited April 24, 2015 by SurferMan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottg Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 For those who are looking for new opportunities I though it well to bumped this thread. As a few things has happened since the last comments in April 2015.Adding to this the post of May 2015 on what was said about the five economic growth centers for Australia: http://www.saaustralia.org/index.php/topic/44960-a-three-month-intensive-program-for-energy-start-ups-free/?p=407671The Australian government has now released the Agriculture Competitiveness White Paper which is a $4 billion investment in farmers (regional areas) across five key priority areas:A fairer go for farm businessesBuilding the infrastructure of the 21st CenturyStrengthening our approach to drought and risk managementFarming smarterAccessing premium marketsSummary here: http://agwhitepaper.agriculture.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/ag-whitepaper-at-a-glance.pdfJust to give you an idea:Smart farming - signal connectivity, system application integration, yield mapping, analysis & interpretation, system compatibility and variability rate application of fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides are all major challenges but it offer many opportunities. The technologies exists but the challenge is to made available easy to operate, intuitive, workable systems that provide a great customer experience. Premium markets: The $2b cattle export deal with China refers. The processing of a single day's meat in China is equivalent to all Western Australia's annual beef exports. The current infrastructure available for exports via processors, rail, road and ports are to small for the future demand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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