Australian AgTech company Agersens has been awarded a prestigious Innovation and Systems Change Grant by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to trial its eShepherd digital fencing platform designed to enhance grazing management while better protecting the reef.
The grant of $335,000, funded by the partnership between the Australian Government's Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, will be used to apply eShepherd to exclude up to 400 cattle from catchment locations over the next 12 months, and to collect data on the effectiveness of the system in reliably keeping stock from entering sensitive riparian areas. A desktop study will also be completed to demonstrate the costs and benefits of using the technology as part of an integrated approach to improved grazing land management.
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Agersens Chief Executive Officer, Jason Chaffey, said he is thrilled to be part of a program designed to result in new or better practices, tools and approaches to farming, grazing and land restoration that achieve positive outcomes for landholders, while improving water quality.
"The protection of the Great Barrier Reef is paramount and real change needs to start at a production level to minimise sediment runoff into waterways," Mr Chaffey said.
"We believe we are part of the solution to improving land management practices, both in catchment areas and more broadly across the Australian grazing sector, through virtual fencing."
eShepherd is a new agricultural technology to control and move cattle whereby individual animals are fitted with an intelligent neckband, which virtually connects to a base station and the eShepherd web application. A grazier wanting to contain or move animals to a particular area can use the app to create a virtual paddock on their property.
"eShepherd allows graziers to cost-effectively establish virtual fences in challenging terrain typically unsuitable for traditional fencing," Mr Chaffey said.
"The cost of traditional fencing and its maintenance can be huge to a grazing business, however we now offer a solution to allow landowners to protect sensitive areas and minimise topsoil runoff into the waterways, by keeping stock away from eroding gullies and streambanks.
"Beyond stock exclusion, eShepherd also provides an opportunity for graziers to adopt improved grazing practice change across an entire property. eShepherd controls and moves animals automatically, enabling better pasture management by increasing rest periods to improve pasture quality."
The data collected throughout the trial via the intelligent neckband will be used to track the position and behaviour of each animal relative to the virtual paddock boundary. The technology can also provide compliance data to verify animal location.
Great Barrier Reef Foundation Managing Director, Anna Marsden, said poorer water quality caused by land-based runoff is a significant threat to the health of Australia's irreplaceable ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef.
"Sediment and pollutants running into the reef's waters smother coral and seagrass, are toxic to marine life and contribute to crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, and we must continue to work together and do better," Ms Marsden said.
"This innovative project will add to the more than 60 reef-saving projects we are delivering right now with over 65 project delivery partners. This builds on work by Queensland's farmers and agricultural community who are already undertaking a high calibre of work to safeguard the future of the Reef."
Mr Chaffey said the new trial is expected to commence from February next year and his team is actively seeking volunteer producers in eligible catchments to participate.