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
Hillwood Berries - Automated Operational Efficiencies
Name
Simon Dornauf, Farm Manager
Location
Hillwood Berries
Hillwood Berries is a family-run farm in northern Tasmania producing raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries across 50 hectares.
Labour accounts for around 40% of its revenue, making efficiency critical in a compressed-margin environment.
Farm Manager Simon Dornauf has overseen the integration of new technologies while managing the pressures of compliance changes to piece rates, high input and logistics costs, and increasing expectations around ESG performance.
What was the challenge?
- Labour productivity pressures following the 2022 piece rate changes.
- High costs of inputs and transport, including fuel and chemicals.
- Harvest waste caused by picker technique and crop damage.
- The need for live visibility across operations, from worker productivity to supply chain traceability.
What was the process?
- Introduced Burro autonomous harvest transporters to move fruit from field to cool room, cutting fuel and labour costs.
- Adopted Microsoft Power BI dashboards (≈300 developed) to integrate and visualise farm data in real time.
- Used QR codes and picker-level data to trace fruit by worker, block, and row.
- Trialled additional technologies such as UVC sprayers, Hortiplanet ESG tracking, and nanobubble irrigation.
- Dedicated a senior staff member to manage data and ensure consistent adoption across the farm.
Results
Enhanced waste monitoring by block and cause, improving picker guidance and reducing losses.
Enabled productivity insights at row, packer, and block level to support labour management.
Improved supply chain traceability and aligned farm operations with sustainability reporting through Power BI integration.
- Reduced berry transport costs from 7c/kg to 3c/kg, saving ≈$170,000 annually.
- Replaced combustion vehicles with Burros, saving ≈$35/day in fuel per unit and removing the need for ~1 FTE during peak harvest.
- Upfront cost of $68,000 per machine, plus $8,000 one-off equipment set-up cost (flat across all # machines)
What's Next?
- Hillwood continues to test emerging technologies:
- Vertex UVC sprayer (on a battery platform instead of a petrol powered unit), testing if UVC treatment at night can control and eradicate berry disease pressures(
- Further integration of Burro automation with decision tools (“Uber Berry”).
- Machine learning to quickly sample and objectively identify out of spec berries and monitor fruit quality.
- Nanobubble technology trials on half a hectare to test proof of concept to help prevent against phytophthora.
Microsoft Power BI
- Interactive data analytics and viualisation tool
- It can connect to and integrate with excel and many other data sources
- Helpful for visualising data to create customised business intelligence solutions; can also provide insights to support decisions
Estimated Cost
Power BI Monthly Costs (AUD):
- Small business (10 users):
With Office 365: $240 for full features - Without Office 365: $140 for basic features
- Medium business (50 users):
With Office 365: $1,200 for full features - Without Office 365: $700 for basic features
Large business (200 users):
- With Office 365: $4,800 for full features
- Without Office 365: $2,800 for basic features
UVEX - Vertex UVC sprayer
Manufactures grapevine and berry specific or bespoke UV-C disinfection solutions.
Can be mounted on a Burro system for autonomous crop row treatment at night.
Dosing speed of 3 km / h, with a 6 hour battery life.
Estimated Cost
N/A (quote required)
AgLogic
Designs and supplies agricultural sensors, telemetry equipment, and integrated monitoring systems tailored to specific farming needs.
Offers customised sensing solutions to support data collection across diverse operations, enabling better environmental monitoring and management decisions.
Estimated Cost
N/A (quote required)
Burro
Collaborative robot that autonomously follows workers in orchards or vineyards, carrying and towing loads.
Uses AI, computer vision, and Innovative-precision GPS to navigate without a central system, ideal for repetitive manual tasks.
Estimated Cost
N/A (quote required)
NanoBubble
Nannobubble tech installed onto a farmer's existing irrigation set-up.It puts ultra Innovative concentrations of oxygen in the farm irrigation water, which is then delivered to crops, improving plant and soil health, without increasing water or chemical use.
Estimated Cost
- Smaller portable or pilot systems: ~AUD 15,000–25,000
- Mid-scale irrigation installations (e.g. 20–40 L/s flow): ~AUD 40,000–60,000
