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
An agtech adoption journey
Name
Rob and Eliza Tole, 'Greenvale'
Location
Cressy
Rob and Eliza Tole manage ‘Greenvale,’ a 555-hectare irrigated cropping and livestock farm in Cressy, Tasmania, with diverse soils and crops including peas, poppies, grass seed, clover, beans and pasture, alongside significant sheep production. Over two decades they have adopted a range of agtech solutions — from GPS guidance and soil mapping to VRI, land forming, and drainage — to address soil variability, harvest losses, and irrigation inefficiency.
*This project was delivered by the Tasmanian Agricultural Productivity Group (TAPG) and supported through funding from the Strategic Industry partnership Program (SIPP).
See Rob and Eliza's story here
What was the challenge?
- Variable soils and drainage issues caused waterlogging, nutrient inefficiency, and clover seed harvest losses.
- Fertiliser and water were being applied based on averages, not actual need, and surface undulations damaged harvest equipment and reduced yield.
What was the process?
- Rob and Eliza started in 2000 with irrigation upgrades, then progressively adopted soil moisture monitoring, RTK guidance, VRI on pivots, NDVI crop imagery, and grid nutrient mapping.
- Precision land forming and subsurface drainage were implemented using TerraCutta and mapped zones to improve harvest quality and water management.
- Curiosity drove many of their choices -- including piloting drone captured NDVI imagery and satellite imagery -- with lessons along the way.
- Data were managed through the John Deere Operations Center and supported by local advisors.
Results
Improved drainage and surface uniformity reduced harvest losses and protected equipment.
Grid mapping enabled more targeted fertiliser use, improving efficiency.
Spatially-controlled land forming eliminated many water challenges and inspired Rob to launch a drainage contracting business.
Over time, the top priorities became mapping, drainage, irrigation and GPS guidance as the foundation of farm productivity.
Conversely, drone photography for NDVI images and VRI were less convenient and less impactful for Greenvale's context, although the drone has been useful for remote observation and livestock inspections.
If starting from scratch today, Rob would invest first in EM38 and topography mapping to identify irrigation and drain management zones, then undertake land forming and subsurface drainage as required.
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