Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to talk about SwarmFarm Robotics, in Gindie, in Central Queensland. Ten years ago the SwarmFarm Robotics' journey began with developers Andrew and Jocie Bate in a paddock on a farm at Gindie, in rural Queensland, just 50 kilometres from Emerald, in my electorate of Flynn. Andrew is a former agronomist and has been farming for 18 years at Gindie alongside his parents, Ross and Jenny Bate. They've divided their farm into 10,000 acres of broadacre farming and 10,000 for beef production. Together with his wife, Jocie, he had a vision to create a better farming system.

Using their own farming operations in Central Queensland as a testbed, they partnered with two universities and developed their first prototype ag-bot, Swarm bot 1, back in 2014. Swarm bot 1 was a three-wheel machine that weighed only 300 kilograms, a lot lighter compared to the weight of a tractor pulling a seeder or sprayer. These small machines can spray, fertiliser and mow. The sky's the limit for their future development. In 2016, the Bates welcomed over 400 people to their farm to release the first generation of their new technology. I was pleased to be on site at their property for this exciting release and milestone for Andrew and Jocie. Forward to 2021, SwarmFarm now have 22 robots and have moved to four-wheel machines.

Swarm is building agricultural robotics and leading the world in innovation and digital savvy. Robots are assembled locally at the Bates' farm, Bendee, at Gindie. Components are fabricated in Emerald. Currently, SwarmFarm employ 17 in their team. Team members are based at Gindie and in the rural areas around Australia, not in the city. SwarmFarm consists of software developers, electronic engineers, design engineers, analysts and marketers.

In January this year I again visited the Bates' operation in watched a robot in action spraying weeds and a new robot being assembled in their workshop. Accuracy for spraying is within millimetres. The precision greatly improves efficiency, sustainability and environmental impacts on the agriculture and on the soil. Over the past two years, SwarmFarm have weeded, sprayed and mowed over 200,000 acres of farmland not only in Gindie. They're now selling their machines into South America. Robots are autonomous, lightweight, flexible, and technology is always changing. These robots are client customised. (Time expired)