Resources
Connecting a farm
Will Bowden, a fifth-generation farmer in Tasmania, leveraged irrigation and digital tools to remotely control 17 pivots, pumps, and reservoirs, reducing downtime and improving water management.
Case Studies
Agtech for vineyard irrigation management
Name
Kellie Graham - Josef Chromy
Felipe Bustamante - Relbia Vineyard Manager
Josef Chromy Wines, a corporate vineyard in Tasmania’s Relbia region, manages 61 ha of black cracking clay soils under drip irrigation. When the property was acquired in 2022, irrigation infrastructure upgrades created the perfect opportunity to trial new technologies. Viticulture & Site Manager Kellie Graham and Vineyard Manager Felipe Bustamante joined a Wine Australia–funded agtech demonstration project, supported by Farmers2Founders and managed by Ag Logic, to address irrigation inefficiencies and improve data integration.
*This project was delivered by the Tasmanian Agricultural Productivity Group (TAPG) and supported through funding from the Strategic Industry partnership Program (SIPP).
What was the challenge?
- Irrigation scheduling relied on rule-of-thumb timing, risking over- or under-watering and uneven vine performance.
- Multiple existing data layers were stored in different formats, limiting accessibility and integration.
- Traditional paper-based mapping and manual monitoring were time-consuming and inefficient.
What was the process?
- Installed Ag Logic soil moisture probes and weather stations, integrated with the SWAN Systems irrigation platform.
- Incorporated drone imagery and GIS mapping into Airborne Logic for a centralised digital platform.
- Integrated data layers including EM soil conductivity, soil tests, plant cell density, NDVI, and yield maps.
- Conducted regular meetings between vineyard staff and suppliers to refine data interpretation and irrigation decisions.
- Transitioned to weather- and crop water demand–driven scheduling, moving away from fixed weekly irrigation rules.
Results
Greater uniformity in vine yield and improved overall vine health.
More precise irrigation scheduling based on real-time data.
Improved decision-making with integrated datasets across soil, plant, and environmental conditions.
Reduced reliance on manual processes, freeing up time for other operational priorities.
Enhanced long-term planning through access to digital mapping and asset quantification.
$72,340 total over the life span of the technology, including an upfront purchase and installation cost of $10,340 plus annual maintenance and running costs
- Estimated annual saving of $12,000 over the life span of the technology.
- Time savings from reduced manual monitoring (estimated 10 hours/week over 8–12 weeks/year).
- Improved yield and quality potential through optimised irrigation.
- Increased job satisfaction and staff retention through modernised systems and reduced guesswork.
Payback period: Estimated at ~6 years based on labour savings alone, with further gains from yield and quality improvements.
Other Case Studies
