Agmentation

I received an invitation to take part in an unusual event yesterday co-hosted by the university's (a) SMART farm and (b) business incubator. It was called agmentation, which is I gather a new word in the English language. In practice it means agricultural augmentation, and the event, held at the SMART farm about 6 km north of the university campus, was all about identifying problems experienced by farmers and teams of people working out solutions.

So, at 7.30 am, in a temperature of about -4 C (25 F) and with sun barely up - it's winter - I parked my car, registered, and grabbed breakfast - a ham and egg bun - being cooked outside on a barbecue. In my view, barbecues are intended to operate when the temperature is more like 20 C, not -4, but one couldn't complain since breakfast was free and there were lots of people to meet. These included the organisers, most of whom I knew, farmers about to make their pitch to the contestants, judges, a large team from Cisco Systems who were interested in the potential technological aspects of the event, and the contestants. The latter would form themselves into 6 teams after hearing the farmers' pitches, choosing the problem area that most interested them. They were, in fact, both university and high-school students.

Here's breakfast, with a good deal of discussion among people milling around before Professor David Lamb called on us to begin proceedings.

First,  however, the organisers introduced the various actors in the event, read out the rules of the contest, and invited each of the farmers to make their pitches - defining what they saw as the problem that interested them. Then each of the roughly 30 contestants identified the problem that interested them and, after a process to even out team size they were sent away for something like 5 hours to talk over the relevant issues and options, with each team to have a mentor to guide proceedings. That was to have have been my role, but apparently lots of people put their hands up for this task, so I was merely invited as an observer - a role I accepted enthusiastically.

Here we see the farmers explaining their concerns and helpers documenting their requests.

At 4 pm, the teams assembled to to giver their solutions to the problems identified using a variety of A-V techniques, and I have to say that they gave good answers to the questions posed. I sat alongside the judges in the front row, who incidentally included James Harris, UNE's Chancellor - himself a farmer. While they went off to adjudge the winners, the rest of us trooped outside into the gathering gloom to eat our dinner - yet another barbecue held in increasingly frigid conditions as the sun set over the lovely New England countryside. It was a great occasion to talk with many friends and acquaintances about technology in general, how the farming community might best survive massive looming changes, how UNE might best assist in all these dimensions, and so on. And the SMART farm, with all its technological gizmos spread around us, was an excellent venue.

Here are some of the technologies displayed at the SMART farm. 

This is tree sap-flow measurement, followed by a device around a sheep's neck measuring how it responds to virtual fencing - wires underground that send a warning to the animal not to cross the boundary!

 And finally, I provide an image of the New England countryside in which the event was held.

Armidale lies beneath the hill in the background.

AS