It’s not everyday that we get asked to host the ministers council on agriculture and industry, but yesterday saw the AIAC visit the UNE SMART farm for an event hosted by the Cotton Hub.

The afternoon visit took the council through the UNE’s SMART farm operations from Prof David Lamb and discussed some of the local livestock produciton possibilities and issues with talks from merino stud operator Tim Bowers,  UNE’s Amanda Doughty on advances in automated shepherding and Guy Ballard and Greg Falzon highlighting the seriousness of the wild dog population within both NSW and Australia. Cotton Hub members Rhiannon Smith, Richard Flavel, Brendan Griffiths and Oliver Knox were also on hand and discussed how UNE is using locally made technology to look at tree health on farms, how we can visualise and improve our understanding of roots in crops and how the UNE cotton hub and industry links are essential in providing training of the farmers of the future as exemplified in the Cotton Produciton Course.

The afternoon was covered by local media, enjoyed by all attendees and certainly stimulated some interesting discussions at the evening reception.

David Lamb tells the AIAC what SMART farm is.