Drought-proofing Aussie farms with artificial intelligence: CSIRO

The Rural Intelligence Platform is the first software to comprehensively assess and monitor rural land anywhere in the nation, drawing on information from trusted data sources on productivity, water access, yield, land use, crop type, rainfall, drought impact and more.

The project is a joint venture between the CSIRO and rural technology start-up Digital Agriculture Services (DAS).

CSIRO agriculture and food deputy director Michael Robertson said satellite imagery was used to track paddocks and their performance over time.

Information from Australia’s digital soil map is incorporated and climate information interpreted to show drought, frost, heat stress for livestock and other risks.

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“The platform brings together in one place and refines a range of technologies developed by CSIRO in order to provide a picture of what has happened on a property over the years as well as the current situation,” Dr Robertson said.

“The Rural Intelligence Platform will help the agribusiness community calculate the risks associated with certain investments or management decisions.”

DAS estimates that annually around $125 billion in agricultural economic decisions in Australia are based on unreliable or incomplete data.

“The platform provides accurate information that can help to identify vulnerability or the most promising options for investment that will build resilience,” Dr Robertson said.

“This is a whole new model for rural analytics which will make it easier to quantify risk and prepare for challenges like climate volatility and change.”

The Rural Intelligence Platform analyses data from a range of sources using machine learning algorithms to make sense of the data with a clarity that wasn’t possible before.

DAS is already working closely with a number of leading companies to pilot the Rural Intelligence Platform, with some of the strongest uptake coming from the property, financial services and insurance sectors.

“Digital agriculture is far more than just on-farm technology, it’s also about improving off-farm decision making and this platform lays the foundation for Australia to become a leader in new generation agricultural analytics,” DAS CEO Anthony Willmott said.

“This is about supporting the ecosystem that supports the farmer – ensuring that farmers, business, policy makers and anyone invested along the agricultural ecosystem has the right rural data to make more informed decisions.”

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