NSW grass-fed beef business Wilmot Cattle Company counts itself among the growing number of enterprises using data to drive on-farm decisions.
The company applies regenerative agriculture and holistic management principles on its three properties in the New England region - Wilmot, Woodburn and Morocco.
These practices have allowed Wilmot to sequester, and measure, soil carbon and in January 2021 it sold around $500,000 worth of carbon credits to Microsoft.
The latest step in Wilmot's data journey has been a trial of Farmbot's diesel level sensors.
Wilmot general manager Stuart Austin said the sensors were helping him to make better informed decisions.
"At Wilmot, we want every decision we make to be based on reality, not gut feel," Mr Austin said.
"Like water monitoring, diesel monitoring allows us to know how much we have at any given time without physically travelling to the tank.
"As a result we can make better purchasing decisions to ensure our farms run at their most efficient."
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Farmbot's diesel level sensors hit the market today and can provide farmers with real-time alerts as diesel tank levels change.
The sensors require either cellular or satellite connectivity to operate and customised level alert triggers can be set up so SMS or email notifications are sent when these levels are reached.
Given farmers' increasing concerns of diesel being stolen, Mr Austin said receiving real-time alerts if 'drain events' took place was a big plus.
"Peace of mind that we know our precious diesel resources are not being stolen - or at least receiving real-time alerts if there is a drain event - is also a huge win for us," he said.
Farmbot managing director Andrew Coppin said the launch of the device was timely given the steep rise in diesel prices globally.
He said Farmbot was on a mission to unshackle producers from the need to manually check farm resources.
"The price of diesel has increased substantially this year, and although we may see some relief from excise cuts in the recent budget, we expect prices to remain high," Mr Coppin said.
"And the more expensive an input, the more important it becomes to manage it effectively.
"But you can't manage what you don't measure, and the Farmbot diesel level sensor enables measurement of this key resource."
Also launching today is the latest version of the MyFarmbot platform.
The platform can be used on desktop, tablet and mobile devices and has been optimised to work in low-bandwidth areas.
Mr Coppin said the software was designed with the producer in mind.
"The software is as user-friendly as it comes," he said.
"The information collected from the diesel level sensor will integrate with our existing platform, MyFarmbot.
"This means everything from water level, flow, consumption, trough levels, rainfall and now diesel will all be available from the one location."
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