Melbourne University fifth year computer science and information systems student, Ed Hooper and his colleagues from three other Australian universities won the challenge held in Paris this week with an innovative computerised system for managing farm water resources.
The team, this year, blitzed the finals and won the world’s most prestigious student technology competition – Microsoft’s Imagine Cup.
Calling themselves the ‘Oz dream team’, the four colleagues won the Australian Imagine Cup and then found themselves on a plane to Paris for the world finals.
The Imagine Cup challenge, a competition entered by the best and brightest computer programmers from over 60 countries, has been described as technology’s answer to ‘Idol’.
Called SOAK (Smart Operational Agricultural toolKit), the system developed by the team offers farmers a software dashboard of numerous reports and tools designed to help them better manage their limited water resources – all from a desktop computer.
SOAK uses satellite maps of each property via Virtual Earth to oversee the system and relies on GPS sensors placed around paddocks to measure and record things such as soil moisture and dam depth.
The program also adds external data such as weather forecasts, crop lifecycle and previous yields to give the farmer a better picture of how much water is required for particular crops and fields at particular times.
Farmers can also get an instant update via SMS on a mobile phone or a PDA on their water storage volumes.
Ed Hooper, who did most of the industry liaison for the project, says that the program is designed so that some crops or paddocks can be assigned more water than others.
Also by defining the crop’s lifecycle, the farmer allows the SOAK system to determine when a crop, in growing cycle, requires the most water.
“It also distinguishes between different water resources such as dam, mains and recycled water which will be used very differently on a farm.
It can also integrate with weather forecasting so if rain is predicted soon, the system won’t irrigate a paddock before the rain but if it does not rain or only rains a little, the system can compensate.”
The system is not only designed to reduce inefficient water use but is about using smart technology to direct water where it is most required at certain times.
Basically a farmer can log on via a web browser and manage a farm's water resources from anywhere in the world.
“We trialled the system at a friends’ winery on the Mornington peninsula after spending three months researching and talking to people”, says Ed.
“Other systems that have been attempted in the past have been really expensive and difficult to use.
"Our system is not only cost effective but very easy to use.
"With the SOAK system, farmers only pay for the modules and sensors they require and can modify or use their existing irrigation or watering systems.”
Asked how the team came up with the idea, Ed says that he shared a study at Ormond College last year with an Agricultural Science student.
They had many discussions about drought-affected farmers and how water resources could be put to better use.
“I also talked with a lot of other rural students at Ormond about problems and challenges their families faced on the land with respect to water resources.
"This formed the impetus for our idea and it fitted the theme for the 2008 awards.
"After our team was formed and we each focussed on our areas of expertise, our idea developed even further.”
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