For technology enthusiasts, automation is the future, but Queensland cane farmers hope automation will solve a problem from the past and, in turn, protect the Great Barrier Reef.
While not quite as convenient as saying, "Alexa, water my crops," growers hope automating their irrigation can arrest decades of rising groundwater and salinity issues, use less water and prevent runoff.
Steve Pilla farms at Giru, south of Townsville, where a combination of high cane prices, expensive electricity and the worker shortage has made automation a necessity.
"I've been away [and] at meetings and the pumps just run themselves," he said.
"I don't have to be up at two o'clock in the morning to change the set over."
Mr Pilla's 150-hectare farm sits in the Burdekin, Australia's largest sugar-growing region. Here, thanks to good access to groundwater, cane has been grown right alongside the Great Barrier Reef since 1875.
But just as the quality of water flowing into the reef has come under scrutiny, so has the quality of the groundwater.
Lurking below the surface
Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth.
According to the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training somewhere between 30 and 60 per cent of the water used in farming, towns and industry comes from underground.
Groundwater forms by seeping into the spaces between soil and rock after rain.
Water flows in through aquifers, rivers and streams and some groundwater systems — like the Great Artesian Basin — are estimated to hold water that's more than a million years old.
However, historically, poor management of groundwater meant it was over-allocated or overused.
This, combined with natural disasters like droughts and floods, meant the natural replenishment of the groundwater was disrupted.
The result has been a rising water table, trapping salts closer to the surface and creating a salinity problem for farmers and the environment.
Precise water use
Bryan Granshaw manages technology for a sugarcane operation in Burdekin and has been tasked with limiting the impact of rising water.
"It's been widely known for around 20 years that there's a district-wide issue with rising water tables," he said.
On a 112-hectare trial paddock, he has implemented automated sensors that measure the moisture in the soil and then determine the amount of water that's applied to the crop.
Mr Granshaw said it reduced water use without compromising how much was grown.
"We have had a 30 per cent reduction in water to grow the crop, with a new process of higher flow rates per furrow," he said.
"We've been able to maintain production and decrease the amount of irrigation."
Transition to automation
While farmers have been using automation to mitigate rising costs and groundwater, for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, investing in the technology has been all about healthy corals.
Executive director of projects and partnerships Theresa Fyffe said the foundation recently entered a $1-million partnership with a beer brand to automate 600ha in the Lower Burdekin.
"To have healthy coral reefs, you need to have healthy water that's flowing into the reef," she said.
"By installing precision irrigation systems, you can reduce the amount of water that you're using and reduce energy.
"But you also reduce runoff coming off the farm."
Agritech Solutions extension officer Cherrie Stockham says interest in water use efficiencies has grown but warns the transition to automation takes time.
"These things don't just happen in three, six months," she said.
"The growers need support and ongoing advice and they need to be confident in what they're doing.
"We can't expect them to just adopt something the farmer next door has done. They need to see a business case and see that it's going to be viable for them to do it."
Mr Granshaw agreed that educating farmers would be critical for continued adoption.
"The process of understanding what's going on [with groundwater] really needs to hit home," he said.
"Once you see the numbers — that you've actually gone out and measured on that particular paddock — then [there] becomes an easier way to understand what the way forward might be."
