Australian cotton and the digital agriculture revolution

The 'cutting edge' technology that is helping our farmers grow.

Cotton under the stars (2012) by Alex EllinghausenCotton Australia

Australian cotton's tech twist

Australia’s cotton industry is technologically advanced and at the cutting edge of science and innovation. The adventurous spirit of our farmers, a culture of sharing and new digital technologies has transformed Australia’s cotton farms. Today’s modern cotton growers are not just farmers but drone pilots, data analysts, map makers and scientists. This collection highlights some of the latest inventions and discoveries being used on Australia's cotton farms to drive productivity and sustainability.

Historic Cotton Production (circa. 1960) by Photo courtesy of Cotton AustraliaCotton Australia

High-tech cotton

Starting in the late 1700s, the Industrial Revolution brought new mechanical inventions that greatly improved the productivity of agriculture. The cotton industry began in Queensland in the late 1800s with rudimentary equipment and became more modernised during the 1960s. Today, Australian cotton farms are using robots, sensors, big data and many other technologies to fine tune precision agriculture and minimise environmental impact.

NSW cotton growers with an automated irrigation system (2016) by Photo by Melanie Jenson for CRDCCotton Australia


Smart
siphons

Rather than using guesswork, the old “shovel test” and starting thousands of irrigation siphons by hand, many of Australia’s cotton growers are now using state of the art water measurement technology to determine when to water their crops with fully automated systems. Water data is collected in the field by sensors that relay this information to a decision making tool that calculates whether or not the plant needs water. This then triggers the irrigation system based on the crop’s needs in real time. This type of technology has helped Australia’s cotton industry to improve its water use efficiency by more than 40% in the past 15 years.

Moving to an Autonomous Irrigation System (2016) by CottonInfoCotton Australia

Through the Bank Automated Siphons at 'Keytah' (2018) by GVIA, CRDC and the Department of Agriculture and Water ResourcesCotton Australia

Drones like this are used to monitor cotton crops (2016) by Photo courtesy of CRDC and NCEACotton Australia


A watchful eye on the cotton fields

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones are flown over cotton fields to get a better overall picture of how the cotton crop is growing during the season, and to pinpoint any issues. In future they may be further developed and used to autonomously perform other farm inspection tasks, like searching for pests and diseases and monitoring additional aspects of irrigation. 

Rigged up to collect spatial soil data (2015) by Andrew Smart, Precision Cropping TechnologiesCotton Australia

Measuring soil layers to improve soil fertility

Understanding the type, depth and health of soils is critical to growing healthy, high yielding cotton crops. Australian cotton growers are now using sensor technology to collect spatial data layers for soils and then overlay this with other information (like yield maps) to determine where the system can be fine-tuned and improved. This rig uses electromagnetic Sensing (ECa), Gamma Radiometrics and RTK Elevation to simultaneously collect data to analyse soil layers.

Solar Powered Pumping on Andrew Gill's Farm (2015) by Ruth Redfern, CRDCCotton Australia


Solar-powered pumping

To reduce the carbon footprint on a cotton farm, solar panels can be used to power irrigation pumps, rather than using diesel fuel. This saves energy and cost to the farmer, and in the future these hybrid systems may also be linked to a battery back-up to further reduce the use of diesel.

Yingli Solar provides green energy to Narromine Cotton Farm (2016) by CottonInfoCotton Australia

Jenny Foley, Greg Kauter and Nigel Burnett with EM38 Technology (2015) by Ruth Redfern, CRDCCotton Australia

Keeping track of water

Water is perhaps the most valuable resource on a cotton farm and one of the best ways to improve efficiency is to scientifically understand the crop’s water requirements. To do this, Australia’s cotton farmers monitor soil water within the root zone using technology like the EM38. This helps to monitor crop water use, the amount of water available to the plant as well as tracking water movement and re-distribution throughout a growing season. 

Spray cameras to seek out weeds (2016) by Rick KowitzCotton Australia

Weed seekers

Weed seeker technology uses rigs fitted with cameras to identify and spray individual weeds, rather than whole paddocks - greatly reducing the need for chemicals. Weed seekers can be autonomous robots that drive themselves, or be fitted to traditional spray rigs on a tractor.

Camera Sprayer - Goldacres (2016) by Rick KowitzCotton Australia

Round Bale Cotton Picker with GPS Tracking (2015) by Lou Gall and GVIACotton Australia

GPS-powered pickers

Around 50% of the world’s cotton is picked by hand, mainly in countries with smallholder farmers looking after family plots of land. In Australia, cotton is mostly picked with round module pickers fitted with GPS. Each round module (like the yellow ones in this field) is inserted with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag containing information about where and when the cotton was picked. This allows it to be traced right back to the field and the data can also be overlaid with yield maps to help maximise future efficiencies.

Dr Rose Brodrick conducting Canopy Sensor Trials (2014) by Melanie Jenson for CRDCCotton Australia

Canopy temperature sensors

One of the best ways to improve water efficiency is to only water cotton plants when they need it. New technology is being used by Australia’s cotton farmers that measures the temperature of the cotton plant’s leaves to determine whether or not the plant is stressed enough to require water. These sensors are located throughout the fields and collect data that’s then put into a computer model and used to trigger a threshold that instructs the farmer to irrigate.

Swarm Bot (2017) by Swarm FarmCotton Australia

SwarmBots

Robots and driverless vehicles are being experimented with by Australian cotton growers. Australian business Swarm Farm has invented a fleet of small, high-tech, autonomous, lightweight weed spraying robots. Developer and farmer Andrew Bate sees a future where these machines will be planting, applying fertiliser precisely and economically, eliminating weeds and insects and harvesting the crop leading to higher yields, lower costs, cleaner and greener food and fibre. 

Weed Control Robot (2016) by Rick KowitzCotton Australia

Cotton Planting Seed with In-built Gene Technology (2010) by Josh SmithCotton Australia

Tech tucked in the seed

These just look like any normal cotton seeds, but in fact they have in-built genes that greatly reduce the need for pesticides in Australia’s cotton crops. Australia’s cotton growers have managed to reduce their pesticide use by 92% in the last 15 years, due to a combination of biotechnology and Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

Birds on Cotton Farms App (2015) by CRDCCotton Australia

Birds on Cotton Farms app

The CottonInfo Birds on Cotton Farms App helps cotton farmers in Australia to identify the common bird species found on their properties, and provides information about how to best manage their habitats. The app contains bird call sounds to help with bird identification and a monitoring tool, which helps to monitor the diversity of birds on the farm and in the surrounding landscape.

Big Data Will Bring It All Together (2010) by Unknown and 2010Cotton Australia

Bringing it all together

With the rise of internet and satellite communication, the fall in the cost of sensor technology and data storage and increasing computer processing speed, cotton production in Australia is rapidly developing into a data- intensive business. The next big challenge is how to make all of the data collected by growers, consultants and researchers talk to each other in a meaningful way that allows an increase in productivity and efficiency and a smaller environmental footprint. 

Credits: Story

CottonInfo
Cotton Research and Development Corporation
Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
Gwydir Valley Irrigators Association
National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (QUT)
Precision Cropping Technologies
Swarm Farm

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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