AGRICULTURE is an ideal area for big data applications that can convert decades of research into usable information for farmers, the chief executive of the Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC) says.
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Professor James Rowe told the Connect Expo Big Data Strategy Summit in Melbourne last week that agriculture was well placed for the big data revolution due to its mixture of complex and dynamic characteristics where farmers have to manage soil, plant, animal, climate and market interactions, which all change every day.
“There is already a rich mine of data available from decades of institutional research which has not been fully exploited, including detailed biophysical models and a number of large data resources that are suitable for ‘re-processing’ using technologies such as machine learning,” Professor Rowe said.
“The focus has now shifted from dealing with the cost and difficulty in collecting data, to the problem of how to analyse and interpret large amounts of data, and the opportunity to make the information available in a meaningful way for end users via apps,” Professor Rowe said.
The Sheep CRC has made good progress in developing big data products, last year launching the popular RamSelect.com.au app that helps sheep producers easily find the right rams for their flock and their production system.
“In the Sheep CRC, we are now focussing on developing a second web-based app that combines big-data capabilities with deep subject knowledge, sophisticated bio-physical models and machine learning,” Professor Rowe said.
“These web-based apps are being designed to make it very easy for sheep producers to make good management decisions based on a large amount of complex data via a simple interface on their phone, computer or tablet.
“The new app we are working on analyses environmental risks, such as weather, nutrition, worms, and flies, as well as the ’susceptibility’ of individual animals within the flock - based on weight, health status, genetic history etc., to make better management decisions about wellbeing and productivity,” Professor Rowe said.
The app would help farmers make more pro-active management decisions that reduced on-farm sheep mortality and the selection of more productive animals, he said.
Professor Rowe said the rate of data empowerment was increasing exponentially, with easier data gathering, cheaper data storage, faster computing and smarter analyses providing very useful information for end users.
He said advances in powerful hand-held devices – smartphones and tablets – were a great help to data empowerment.
