Episode 29: Will MacSmith
Agtech - So What?6 Tammi 2019

Episode 29: Will MacSmith

Will MacSmith is a farmer from Manildra in Central West New South Wales.

Will and his business partner Hamish are trying to develop a system to realise profit margins for sheep through the collection of real time data of feed efficiency and conversion for individuals rather than the mob.

They're doing this through trial and error in confinement and feedlotting on Will's family farm where he's been living and working for the last 10 years. Over a period of two years they have been building a facility, using microcontrollers, that measures individual feed intake and live weight at the same time, in real time.

"Every time the animal leaves the stall where they feed from that piece of information gets sent to the cloud and allocated against that individual animal's tag number," says Will.

"We had sheep in the feedlot and we would have varying levels of performance and we found that using growth rates as an indicator for performance was a bit flawed, and doesn't really tell you much about feeding efficiency and cost efficiency."

It's about finding better ways to feed, and better varieties of feed and also looking at the effects of environmental factors such as shearing or heat or lack of water and measuring that against cost benefits and of course they also consider genetics. Will also says similar systems that are already available on the market are cost prohibitive for most farmers.

"At this stage in Australia we can't really get around the cost of labour for the construction of individual stalls on a large scale. At the moment the question probably is, 'would it be cheaper to build it overseas."

Will is working with feed companies interested in comparing and monitoring their feed products and he says there is a lot of interesting coming for sire evaluation and the genetics side of the industry as well.

In this podcast, will also speaks about pushing the Ag industry in Australia forward, and the challenges of ageing demographic in farming.

Will is new to Twitter and so the best place to contact him or his business partner Hamish is via email

william@crownagriculture.com.au

hamish@crownagriculture.com.au

Jaksot(203)

On-Farm Food Loss and Beyond with Sarah Hulick and Olympia Yarger

On-Farm Food Loss and Beyond with Sarah Hulick and Olympia Yarger

For the final installment in our three-part food waste series, we’re climbing all the way up to the top of the supply chain to gain a deeper understanding of on-farm food loss and waste. The challenge...

24 Touko 202339min

How to Create Incentives for Circularity in Food System Waste

How to Create Incentives for Circularity in Food System Waste

We’re digging back into waste in the food system this week, but to narrow the focus, we’re zooming in on Australia. Australia is a country that has set specific targets on waste reduction, but so far,...

10 Touko 202330min

Challenges with Investing in Food Waste Tech with Closed Loop Partners and Olympia Yarger of Goterra

Challenges with Investing in Food Waste Tech with Closed Loop Partners and Olympia Yarger of Goterra

Waste in the food system is an incredibly big challenge. Whether the aim is to reduce food loss, to curb packaging that ends up in landfills, or even to ensure food that’s grown makes it out of the fi...

26 Huhti 202329min

Collaborating at the Intersection of Dairy and Alt-Dairy, with Michael Hampson from Norco Cooperative

Collaborating at the Intersection of Dairy and Alt-Dairy, with Michael Hampson from Norco Cooperative

There’s a common misconception in the alternative protein space that continues to hold back innovation: the idea that conventional and alternative products are direct competitors. In general, the idea...

12 Huhti 202332min

How to Invest in Deep Tech in Agri-food, Tenaciously

How to Invest in Deep Tech in Agri-food, Tenaciously

Deep tech– or the world of technology companies beyond those that make software– is often seen as a bridge too far for the world of venture capital investing. A key challenge; the tried and true strat...

29 Maalis 202326min

Unlocking Phosphorus for the Future of Fertility with Hunter Swisher of Phospholutions

Unlocking Phosphorus for the Future of Fertility with Hunter Swisher of Phospholutions

When it comes to phosphorus-- the second most prominent fertilizer component– a big problem today is that it is simultaneously too rare on earth overall and too abundant in the landscapes where it's u...

15 Maalis 202330min

Can Molecular Farming Replace Cows with Crops? with Amos Palfreyman of Miruku

Can Molecular Farming Replace Cows with Crops? with Amos Palfreyman of Miruku

The question of how to make commodity crops more valuable is a perennial one in agriculture, and over the years there have been a lot of good-- and bad-- answers. Recently, one strategy has emerged th...

1 Maalis 202336min

Transforming Animal Waste into Renewable Fertilizer with Jordan Phasey from Phinite

Transforming Animal Waste into Renewable Fertilizer with Jordan Phasey from Phinite

When people in ag think about fertilizer, nitrogen -- or N -- is usually the first thing that comes to mind, whether thinking about yields, costs, or environmental impacts. But phosphorus is another c...

15 Helmi 202333min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
psykopodiaa-podcast
rss-rahapodi
mimmit-sijoittaa
rss-lahtijat
rahapuhetta
rss-porssipuhetta
rss-neuvottelija-sami-miettinen
rss-rahamania
rss-paasipodi
rss-porssipodi
ostan-asuntoja-podcast
oppimisen-psykologia
rss-strategian-seurassa
rss-h-asselmoilanen
rss-bisnesta-bebeja
rss-merja-mahkan-rahat
rss-inderes
rss-40-ajatusta-aanesta
rss-draivi