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Does Australia's agricultural future lie in big data?

21 May 2015

Two decades ago, the idea of using information from soil sensors, livestock tags and other devices to decide where and when to plough a field may have seemed outlandish to farmers.

Now, such a scenario isn't too difficult to imagine. Big data refers to the idea of collecting, managing and analysing information to help professionals make educated actions. Now, Australian farmers are using technologies associated with this concept to do the same.

But what sort of risks will information technology (IT) bring? Will farm insurance cover the cost of replacing damaged smart devices? There are a dozen questions associated with this movement.

A 'typical' scenario

University of New England's Precision Agriculture Research Group partnered with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation to assess the feasibility of integrating a semantic sensor network (SSN) into a farming operation.

An SSN is essentially a platform that enables devices to communicate with one another. In addition, these networks provide administrators (in this case, farmers) with an easy way to manage a wide array of machines.

The study described a 739-hectare livestock farm located in Armidale, New South Wales. A portion of 269 hectares possessed 100 soil-sensor systems, two weather station mechanisms and 65 livestock tracking taggle instruments.

The system consisted of a gateway and a "Smartfarm Server" - two machines necessary for information delivery and processing. If one of these two devices were damaged, it could compromise the entire system.

Are farmers covered?

Whether or not IT equipment is covered by a farm insurance policy depends on the details of the plan.

However, a provider could interpret such devices as part of a farm's "contents". Most policies define contents as property belonging to a farmer used to conduct his or her business. Again, this detail must be confirmed by each farmer's insurer.

In addition, those participating in the agriculture industry must familiarise themselves with IT equipment. Doing so will allow them to use these systems to the best of their abilities.

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