Research

Nuffied Scholar looks at benefits from astute use of AI

Grain Central January 20, 2025

Treen Swift with her husband Mark (centre) and her brother Bruce Watson on the farm at Parkes. Photo: Case IH

The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is dominating conversations around the globe, and the agriculture sector is no different, with the main questions around what it means for the industry and how it can be used to the greatest effect.

At a recent event hosted by the Queensland Farmers’ Federation, participants heard from leading Australian demographer Bernard Salt on trends set to impact the agricultural and regional landscape in 2025 and into the future, with the integration of AI.

While there is some concern surrounding AI, many people are focused on the benefits and opportunities around this highly sophisticated technology, among them Parkes farmer Treen Swift.

Ms Swift is a 2024 Nuffield Scholar, who is part of a 4200ha family farming business, Kebby & Watson at Woodbine near Parkes in Central West New South Wales.

The business grows up to 13 different cereal, oilseed, pulse, and fibre crops, and involves Ms Swift’s husband Mark, brother Bruce Watson and his wife Karina.

Potential deserves investigation

As a Nuffield Scholar, supported by GrainCorp, Ms Swift’s focus is on the advantages AI could introduce to cropping operations.

With farm and landscape-level sustainability data of increasing interest across the supply chain, Ms Swift said she could see enormous potential in using AI to analyse this data to improve management of natural capital, inputs and operations and provide time-saving benefits to growers.

Her husband and brother, both former Nuffield Scholars, encouraged Ms Swift to pursue a scholarship to expedite her interest and research into the field, and she joined a Nuffield Triennial Tour to New Zealand a few years ago.

There she saw AI used to identify and control pest species of Wilding Pine in inaccessible terrain, fueling her passion for AI’s potential in the grains industry.

“The technology has progressed so much in recent years so just the amount of data we can now process is enormous.

“So, where do those opportunities lie for agriculture? I could also see other fields and industries talking about it and I thought, ‘why aren’t we talking about that in our industry?’

Ms Swift said using AI on farm could be as simple as number-plate recognition of trucks coming on to the farm, or looking at what machinery manufacturers like Case IH are doing with the technology.

Visit to Italy

She had her chance at the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security (CFS) event in Italy last year where she met Luca Ferrari, global manager of robotics for Case IH’s parent company CNH,.

He invited her to visit CNH’s labs in Modena, where much of the company’s technology is developed.

She described the visit as a “fascinating experience,” which opened her eyes to progress being made in machinery and the potential for AI to assist farmers in managing the increasingly complex regulatory space, particularly with regards to emissions and environmental impacts.

“Looking more at practices that are less reliant on chemical use is one area where there is a lot of interest in Europe at present, and I can certainly see a role for AI in this space.

“Emissions reduction is another area of global focus, and with so much data around it, the average farmer will need help in processing this.

“I don’t have the means to put on extra people to crunch those numbers, so I’ll need a tool to help do this quickly and efficiently, in order to ensure my business remains profitable, sustainable and viable in the future.”

She acknowledged the wariness around AI and said there needed to be “guardrails around it” to protect the integrity of people’s data and where innovation heads, but is adamant the advantages AI presents for agriculture far outweigh any potential risks.

“By harnessing AI’s capabilities for applications within our industry, we have so much to gain with increased productivity, and better-informed decision-making from an economic and environmental perspective.

“This will help reinforce our competitiveness on the global stage and drive greater sustainability to ensure we can be proud of what we’re leaving for future generations of farmers.”

Latest harvesters trialled

Ms Swift’s visit to the CNH labs in Italy also gave her a new appreciation for the increasingly sophisticated machinery being developed by brands like Case IH, which provided the family’s farming business with two new AF Series combine harvesters to trial late last year.

The series has just been launched in Australia, with limited numbers of AF9 and AF10 combines available to order for the 2025 harvest.

The series has been redesigned from the ground up to maximise capacity and crop flow with efficient horsepower, simplified maintenance and connectivity built-in at the base.

Rain was forecast during the week the AF9 and AF10 came to Woodbine during the wheat harvest, during which the family’s Case IH 50 Series unit was used.

“We were pushing pretty hard to get as much grain off as we could before the rain, and we were very grateful the new headers were there at that time and we got the opportunity to trial them; they were pushed hard.

“We’d just put in a large grain storage handling facility, and I think the AF9 and AF10 arrived on day two or three of us being able to use the dump hopper, so it was straight from the paddock and unloaded quickly.

“I think we moved about 1500-plus tonnes of grain out of the paddocks one of the days they were there.

“They were really impressive and we can certainly see how much value one of them would bring to our business with their significant capacity.”

Treen is continuing her Nuffield study and said she was keen to stay in touch with CNH’s Mr Ferrari.

Source: Case IH

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