Mobile technology a game changer for primary industries

Friday 17 May 2013

 
Mobile technologies have also had a major impact on how businesses are run within our primary sector. For farmers, forest managers and horticultural growers, the level of innovation from mobile technologies has been, and will continue to be, a game changer. Whether it’s satellite imagery of plantation forests, GPS tracking and real-time scheduling of transport and logistics, or soil management through wireless sensor monitoring and automated systems, our primary sector businesses have a lot to benefit from improved mobile communications.

At last year’s FIEA ForestTECH 2013 event, forest owners, forestry managers, harvest planners, contractors and transport operators learnt how an Irish forestry technology company, TreeMetrics is leading the charge. Significant funding has been supplied through the European Space Agency for a EU-wide research project into forestry measurement and data analytics. The company has been developing a real-time forest intelligence service, with the lofty goal of bringing live 3D forestry data to mobile devices and machinery across the globe.

TreeMetrics are already using air-borne together with terrestrial LiDAR to provide accurate assessments of standing wood volumes. The company is now taking the stand inventory data and providing real-time information to harvesting machines with cut instructions. A device is being installed on board harvesting machines to transmit real-time information about the trees being felled. In trials on over 20 machines, details have been relayed back to foresters through ESA’s Inmarsat IsatM2M satellite and communications system. Mobile communications are core to this development.

Mobile technology was also at the forefront of the trucking industry’s future. The use of handheld devices including smartphones and tablets is exploding, and they've already become a crucial part of life on the road for drivers and in the office for fleet managers. Industry experts at the ForestTECH 2013 event shared their insights into how transport operators can harness mobile technology to improve fleet management for financial success and to comply with numerous regulatory changes.

Because the mobile technology is so new and changing so rapidly, what’s being rolled out in forestry and wood products industries is also being replicated by a number of other key industries from New Zealand’s primary sector. This is an exciting time for the industry, as mobile applications are opening up a new wave of innovations and productivity gains for businesses within the primary sector.

For the first time, Wellington will be hosting this year’s inaugural MobileTECH Summit 2013 in August. This new event is designed to showcase current and upcoming mobile innovations best suited to New Zealand’s principal food and fibre sectors. The focus is on technologies that can be adopted now, whether it’s on the farm, in the greenhouse or out in the forest. The underlying principal is that these very new technologies can now be applied across a range of industries and that those working on the land - and in the forest - can learn from each other.

Further details can be found on the event website, www.mobiletechevents.com.

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