Our agricultural sector is critical as it helps to feed an increasing global population, thereby reducing poverty and improving livelihoods. Agriculture can have significant impacts on the environment, including pollution and degradation of soil, as well as positive impacts such as trapping greenhouse gases within crops and soils. At the same time, the UN Environment Programme says the world is facing a triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste, which is threatening the planet and millions of species.
Plant, animal and ecosystem health are fundamental to Australia’s environment and economy. Australia is home to one of the most diverse flora and fauna in the world and we have a mandate to protect it by better understanding our impact on the environment. Meanwhile the Federal Government has laid an ambitious vision for Australia’s world-class farmers, fishers and foresters to become a $100 billion dollar industry by 2030.
Why smart sensing is part of the solution
Underpinning this will be digital technologies and next-generation smart sensors allowing for efficient and real-time monitoring of air and water quality, improved harvesting efficiency, and quality assurance across the food chain. The NSSN member universities are at the forefront of this smart sensing research, deploying the latest advances in physical and chemical sensors that are cheaper, smaller, more portable, more sensitive and require less power. Partnering with the NSSN, companies can access expertise and technology from across NSW’s leading universities and gain an enduring competitive advantage.
The NSSN Environment & Agriculture priority responds to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
With the support of the NSW Government, the NSSN is your one-stop shop for multi-disciplinary expertise and technology. Some of our existing Environment & Agriculture projects include:
Protecting our koala population
Climate-change induced environmental changes (dryer, hotter, and fire-prone bushlands) have endangered koala populations, and significant investment is going towards the restoration of their population. Accurate koala monitoring is critical to measure the effectiveness of these approaches – and this is where smart sensing comes in. Acoustic detection (koala call) is one effective method but is labour-intensive as an ecologist would need to listen through months of recordings. Machine learning methods are used to help this, but the challenge remains in the enormous amount of data that needs to be collected across NSW.
The EcoEar detection of koala calls project developed in collaboration with Biological Monitoring Services and Western Sydney University detects and classifies koala calls on the sensor itself. This means only the relevant data is recorded, allowing sensors to operate longer in the field while producing a fraction of the data. The sensor has been built, tested, and is now being trialled in regional NSW. The technology can also be repurposed to detect other endangered species.
Where is all the water?
Drought seasons will periodically apply stress on our water supplies, especially in regional areas. The complex interplay between river flows and aquifer recharge remains a heavily researched area. The conditions of increasing temperatures due to climate change will increase evaporation rates – and there are calls for new ways to store our water. Ground water storage is one way, but more information is needed to understand how we can monitor the volumes accurately without drilling more bores across the state.
The Where is All the Water project explored new sensing techniques to add new data to this picture. It included commercially available point-sensors (water level and soil moisture), the use of quantum gravimetric sensors, and scalable remote sensing approaches. The project investigated how all these inputs fit into a hydrological model to better understand this complex problem.
Enhancing sustainable beekeeping
The health of bees, that act as our critical pollinators, are key to sustainable food production. There are many emerging biosecurity threats for bees such as American Foulbrood disease and the infamous Varroa mites. More than ever, our beekeepers need real-time information about the health of the bees so that they can act quickly and prevent any infections from spreading across hives. Hives are often kept in remote locations and are difficult to access, so optimising the inspection route is critical.
Hive data, such as temperature, humidity, and specific chemical indicators of disease, will be needed to plan this. A collaboration between LB AgTech Holdings, Macquarie University, ANU and University of Sydney are exploring the use of new, connected, smart sensors to enable this in the Biosensing Technologies for Hive Health Monitoring project.
Working with the NSSN simplifies the process of engaging with universities by creating a one-stop shop for the leading universities across NSW & the ACT, providing access to cutting-edge facilities and world-class researchers.
To find out how the NSSN can help solve your Environment & Agriculture challenges, please contact Dr Tomonori Hu at tomonori.hu@nssn.org.au.
