Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce, MP, and UNE Vice Chancellor Prof Annabelle Duncan turned the first sod to kick off the new SMART Farmhouse building on the university’s SMART Farm yesterday. Funded as part of a larger Federal EIF Grant, the $2.3M building is located in the heart of the university’s 7,000 acre SMART Farm and will serve as an education and outreach centre including lecture theatre, a workspace for PARG and the farm management staff and a digital hub and ‘Command Centre’ for the live data feeds coming in from the technologies deployed on the farm. Building commences Monday, with a completion planned for December.
Photo 1 (left to right): Head of School of Science and Technology, Prof Aron Murphy; PARG Director and SMART Farm Project Leader, Prof David Lamb; SMART Farm Manager, Paul Arnott; Minister Barnaby Joyce MP; UNE VC, Prof Annabelle Duncan, UNE Deputy chancellor Dr Geoff Fox; Head of School of Environmental and Rural Science, Prof Iain Young.
Photo 2: Minister Joyce discussing farm operations with Farm Manager Paul Arnott
Photo 3: An architectural rendering of the SMART Farmhouse.