Precision Agriculture

Precision Agriculture is one of Australia's most experienced agriculture technology providers, serving over 3,500 customers nationally. In 2017, the company initiated a research collaboration with Federation University that has now extended into an eight-year partnership focused on accelerating the adoption of precision farming techniques in Australia. This sustained collaboration has seen Precision Agriculture and Federation University's CeRDI co-creating innovative digital agriculture solutions. These are delivered primarily through the Soli platform which contains bespoke data management, visualisation analysis and spatial mapping tools. This decision support system is enabling Precision Agriculture to rapidly respond to farmer and farm adviser needs and has helped the company expand their operations across broad acre cropping and pasture-based systems.

Background

With operations around the country, Precision Agriculture supports thousands of agribusinesses to drive increased farm productivity and sustainability through the practical application of spatial technologies. As a pioneer agricultural company in Australia, Precision Agriculture has a wealth of experience from small farming enterprises to the highest levels of industry.

CeRDI is a global leader in data interoperability and has developed many award-winning web-based spatial information and knowledge portals. CeRDI Director, Helen Thompson said the volume of digital data in Australian agriculture is growing exponentially, with much of it now collected by sensors.

One of the principal aims of this research partnership is to link and connect multiple layers of data in digital platforms so that information can be rapidly accessed to support on-farm measurement and nutrient application. In turn, this information drives more objective and timely decision-making such as variable rate applications of fertiliser, lime, seed, fungicides, herbicides, and other key crop inputs.

The collaboration has produced the Soli platform, Precision Agriculture's proprietary soil data warehouse and analysis platform. Soli integrates soil testing data with climate, terrain, soil, geology, geomorphology, drainage, satellite, and other key data sets to provide enhanced evidence-based recommendations for variable rate nutrition and soil management solutions. The platform underwent a major rebuild during 2021-2023 through a Food Agility CRC project, resulting in automated reporting capabilities, improved user interface, and industry-leading processing speeds.

Outcomes

The eight-year partnership has delivered significant outcomes for Precision Agriculture. The Soli platform now provides automated batch processing of soil testing results, automated generation of proprietary soil reports with recommendations based on land-use and crop type, and nitrogen budgeting tools for various cropping systems.

The partnership has advanced regional soil benchmarking, leveraging Precision Agriculture's extensive dataset to provide valuable insights for interpreting soil results and prioritizing amelioration strategies. Regional insights summarizing soil pH and nutrient variability across landscapes have been developed and are available through Precision Agriculture.

The next stage of the technical research is focusing on soil organic carbon analysis and reporting at the sub-paddock scale. This functionality will contribute to understanding carbon spatial heterogeneity and its relationships with other soil characteristics, to inform improved soil carbon management approaches.

The partnership extension signed in March 2025 commits both organizations to continued collaboration through 2027, focusing on platform analytics, variable rate efficacy investigations, advanced data analytics for benchmarking, enhanced carbon insights, and automated workflow development.

Innovation

CeRDI's expertise across knowledge management, spatial mapping, data interoperability and participatory geographic information systems are all areas fundamental to Precision Agriculture. This partnership provides access to highly experienced researchers, technologists, and social scientists working together to improve farm productivity and profitability while advancing precision agriculture services.

Through the Food Agility CRC "Optimised Carbon and Nutrient Management" project (2021-2023), the platform was modernised, providing greater efficiency, flexibility and enabling rapid feature development. The Soli platform demonstrates innovation through novel data integration techniques, and automation of nutrient application map production. Regional benchmarking of soil nutrients provide Precision Agriculture the capabilities to advise farmers and agronomists and provide valuable context for interpreting soil results relative to landscape-scale patterns.

Approach

The research collaboration with Precision Agriculture provides an exemplar of how research impact can be fostered through long-term research collaboration with industry. The partnership between Precision Agriculture and CeRDI involves a series of applied, real-world projects focused on advancing agribusiness decision making through data, insight, and action.

The collaborative approach emphasizes co-design with farmers and agronomists to ensure tools meet practical needs. Regular engagement through quarterly reviews and annual planning cycles ensures the partnership remains aligned with industry priorities and emerging opportunities. Research priorities are refined through ongoing dialogue between the Precision Agriculture and CeRDI teams, with flexibility to respond to evolving agricultural challenges.

The partnership embeds Federation’s Co-op model by integrating students into industry-focused projects through co-op placements, providing workplace experience while generating new knowledge and innovative solutions to industry-defined problems.