PARG group members Mark Trotter, Derek Schneider and John Stanley at the PARG stand at the 2011 Cotton Trade Show
PARG and CRCSI attended the 2011 Cotton Trade Show and extended findings of current research to over 1,000 growers and cotton farm workers and 750 visitors and industry participants (numbers recently confirmed by organisers). The PARG stand featured the prototype Holland Scientific “Raptor” sensor which is currently being deployed in sugarcane research and a steers head (thanks to Dave Wright) sporting a UNE tracker collar which drew much attention along with the new “Taggle” live tracking system tags which were also on show. Much interest was generated in the new Graduate Certificate in Precision Agriculture to be offered at UNE in 2012 and coordinated by Mark Trotter. The course is aimed in particular at people working in extension agriculture and growers, with a dgree under their belt, who wish to improve their knowledge of precision agriculture technologies and GIS. PARG’s new research fellow John Stanley made the most of having industry experts and leading growers in the same place, spending much time questioning them on current moisture sensing techniques, irrigation practices and ideas related to EM38 mapping for determining soil moisture and/or water holding capacity which forms a core part of the current CRCSI II project “Biomass Business”.