No 418 - Thursday's Club Notes

The “Club Notes” for Thursday, the 23rd of January, 2025.

By Dwain Duxson - An Ag Enthusiast

When to jump in?

I was talking to a subscriber who went to a demo day that featured The Swarm Farm Autonomous Tractor connected to a Tow-Behind Sprayer. I didn't get the brand name of the Sprayer, though, but it would have been one of the Major ones. He was suitably impressed with the outfit and what it could do. I asked what the outfit would cost, and he said around $300k for the Tractor and $300k for the Sprayer. So, where this sort of outfit would fit in as a second-string Sprayer that could do the Summer green-on-brown Weedit-type (selected) Spray application, it could do some of the early season spraying also. But you would also need your normal everyday Sprayer as the capabilities of the Swarm Farm are not there yet. The other question is, can you justify the extra $600k for something the main Sprayer would or could normally do? My man was impressed, but he thinks he would be 10 years away from justifying it, and he puts in a fair bit of Crop. So, at this stage, it might be a nice-to-have unless you can calculate that it's going to pay for itself in 5 years, say. Also, you have to have trust in the system, which I have no doubt that the Swarm Farm team has alleviated; it still has to work in your mind, though. Autonomous is supposed to be less or no humans required, so if you find yourself "there" all the time, it defeats the purpose. It will always be a transition across, and that middle ground where you need both might be another 10 or even 20 years. The early adopters will fast-track that and open it up for others to follow. Exciting times but. What things do you consider before jumping into this type of technology? Reply to [email protected] or 0427 011 900

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What’s in the paid section today:

Story 2 - Nobody gives a shit. Why Wool has barked up the wrong marketing tree…..

Story 3 - Renewable slow down - Wind Turbine subbies are getting put off

Number of articles and images - 66 titbits of the latest Farm and Ag info and news you need to know. This includes 21 funnies, haha and 4 “just sayings”.

Number of Farmer replies - 5 in total and an absolute ripper on the realities of succession. It is as good a summary/bit-of-advice as I have heard for a long time. And, I will have an equally as good or if not better one tomorrow. Gold, well worth the entry price.

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