Australian Consolidated Milk transforms sustainable dairy farming with IoT and AI

Australian Consolidated Milk (ACM) partnered with Advance Computing and WaterForce to implement Microsoft Project FarmBeats, leveraging IoT and AI technologies to increase food production sustainably. The project deploys IoT sensors, low-cost Windows IoT devices, and drones driven by Azure Cloud and Azure IoT Edge to gather and analyze data from fields and livestock. The system ensures precise monitoring of soil, crops, and milk temperature, with real-time notifications to farmers for rapid corrective actions. By overlaying WiFi signals over unused TV channels (TV white spaces), even remote areas can transmit sensor and drone data to the cloud, overcoming rural connectivity barriers. Advance Computing helped ACM automate milk quality monitoring, resulting in reduced waste and higher quality control. WaterForce’s SCADAFarm system was used by New Zealand’s Blackhills Farm to manage water resources efficiently, customizing irrigation in real time. Another example is Kagome, an Australian tomato producer, using IoT-based solutions for automating shipment tracking and operational transparency, delivered via Advance Computing. The technology mix, focused on Azure Cloud, Azure IoT Edge, Computer Vision, and AI, helps optimize water usage, power consumption, crop yield, and environmental sustainability. The outcome is a dramatic improvement in operational efficiency, traceability, and environmental impact across multiple Australian farms.