INCYT Kicks Off Their Farms of the Future Roadshow In the Armidale Region
On Monday the 27th Feb 2023, INCYT launched their Farms of the Future Roadshow. The roadshow is an initiative by the company with the goal of engaging with primary producers and the agricultural communities who are based within the 11 selected LGA’s of the Farms of the Future Program.
As firm believers of having a ‘boots on the ground’ approach, INCYT has put their money where their mouth is and has launched a roadshow spanning the next few months, with the aim of spreading the word around this NSW Government initiative, and exploring the possibilities of AgTech and IoT sensing with potential applicants.
What is the Farms of the Future Program?
First things first, what is the Farms of the Future Program?
The Farms of the Future Program is a NSW State Government initiative aimed at increasing the adoption of Agricultural technology within 11 key Local Government Areas (LGAs) throughout the state of NSW.
These 11 LGAs are:
- Lismore
- Ballina
- Byron
- Moree
- Narrabri
- Armidale
- Orange
- Cabonne
- Carrathool
- Griffith
- Leeton
The program kicked off in early February 2023 and has multiple components. Firstly, primary producers local to these areas can put in an expression of interest to take part in the program. If successful, they’re then required to undertake a 1-day comprehensive AgTech training session hosted by the program coordinators. These sessions will occur periodically throughout the programs lifetime and will be based within the respective LGAs, with an option to also undertake the session online.
Once complete, producers will end the session having a personalised monitoring plan in their possession. This is essentially a blueprint for each individual on how they could implement AgTech across their own operation. Producers will then have access to the Farms of the Future catalogue.
The Farms of the Future catalogue is a collection of products available from pre-specified suppliers, categorised into key on-farm use cases. Program participants will be able to select a variety of AgTech devices and connectivity options from the catalogue, to be used in accordance with their monitoring plans. The government has committed to inputting 70% of the total associated costs, up to $35000 AUD for eligible farming businesses.
INCYT as an Official Farms of the Future Program Partner
You now may be wondering where INCYT fits in to all this. INCYT has been chosen as one of the official Farms of the Future Program partners in the form of a pre-specified supplier. We believe our comprehensive product ecosystem makes us an excellent choice for all farming use cases, particularly for those farmers who want to deploy their own on-farm network.
As an official program partner, INCYT has an aim of increasing the awareness of the program within the selected Local Government Areas, in addition to educating farmers and producers on the technology available to them. With the help of a new mobile AgTech Discovery Centre, the team are one step closer to achieving this.
First Stop, Guyra
Monday the 27th of February saw INCYT launch their Farms of the Future Roadshow in the Agriculturally dominated town of Guyra.
The Guyra Bowling Club played host to what was the first event, with an engaged audience showing up to the pop-up style presentation. We’d like to formally thank the venue for being incredibly hospitable throughout the whole event.
INCYT and LX Group founder, Simon Blyth, led the session, talking with local farmers of the region about key issues they're facing, their pain points, and what to expect from this government initiative. All in all, the event was a success.
Introducing the INCYT Discovery Centre
Following on from a great first event in Guyra, the INCYT team finally had the opportunity to publicly unveil the INCYT Discovery Centre. With the University of New England’s SMART Farm Innovation Centre becoming it’s temporary place of residence for the next few days.
The predominantly grazing SMART Farm is a national demonstrator site, and “also serves as a research, education and outreach facility not only for the SMART Farm itself but for UNE-led global advances in agriculture research and development” (UNE SMART Farm).
The INCYT and UNE SMART Farm Innovation Centre collaboration is one that we have deemed highly successful, which was evident in the positive turnout from UNE students with a keen interest in Agricultural.
In addition to the information gained from the presentation, the Discovery Centre allowed attendees to explore what’s currently available within the AgTech market, including a decorative showcase of some of INCYT’s most popular products, such as our award winning telemetry device, the Blue Node.
Ending the Week With A Show
You can’t go to Armidale this time of year without visiting the Armidale Show, located at the Armidale Showgrounds.
A key attraction of the region, the show presented as a fantastic opportunity for the INCYT team to showcase the New Discovery Centre to locals of the region, learn more about the community, and discover just how deep the agriculture roots are within Armidale. Team members on-site, Lily and John, had an absolute blast.
To stay up to date with where the team and the Discovery Centre will be for the remainder of the INCYT Farms of the Future Roadshow, make sure you check: www.incytevents.com