An innovative, new $35 million, five-year investment to accelerate the adoption of machine automation and digital, intelligence technologies by Australian grain growers has been launched by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).
GRDC Managing Director Nigel Hart launched the Grain Automate initiative last night (Thursday, 25 July) at the Innovation Generation 2024 conference on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
This GRDC future-focused initiative will include a portfolio of up to 30 new research, development and extension (RD&E) investments complementing GRDC’s dynamic research in ag tech, precision agriculture, digital agronomy and advanced analytics.
The decision by GRDC to invest in this progressive space on behalf of Australian grain growers comes amidst projections that the global market for autonomy and intelligent systems will reach $272 billion by 2027.
initiative would focus on three primary programs:
Program one: Paving the way for autonomy which aims to ensure growers have the training, knowledge, skills and infrastructure to integrate fully autonomous machine capabilities within their farming systems.
Program two: Targeted technology development which will optimise existing and emerging technology for machine automation and autonomy and adapt or improve them to meet the requirements of Australian grain growers and their cropping systems.
Program three: Building intelligent systems which will leverage machine automation and autonomy against other innovations – on-farm and pre- and post-farm gate – to extract the maximum possible long-term value for Australian grain growers.
