SMART Farm Innovation Centre

The SMART Farm Innovation Centre (SFIC), located in the middle of Kirby and Newholme, is the physical hub of a heavily-connected landscape with a network of on-farm connected devices.  On-farm connectivity comprises the latest and emerging methods including store-and-forward and mesh telemetry, LoRA WAN, mobile phone network and satellite-direct. The networks are linked to the outside world via fibre, fixed wireless and satellite national broadband network, and the AARNet national fibre network.  The SFIC is an 'instrumented' research and teaching laboratory and the ultimate site to evaluate and inform innovations in practice and new technologies in a working farm environment.

Connecting researchers in partnership with agtech innovators and producers creates the ideal ferment for innovation. The SMART Farms are an ideal environment for innovation in areas including: spatially-enabled livestock management; telecommunication systems and IoT; earth observation systems monitoring feed base and land use sustainability; datasets of soil, land types, pasture systems, elevation, weather and livestock health; remote & automated monitoring systems; and data integration to assess the effectiveness of management decisions and optimise planning of new infrastructure.   The SFIC provides a base for research in these areas but also serves as an education and outreach facility to connect researchers with students, producers, industry and the community.