A smart irrigation system powered by artificial intelligence, will tell farmers when and where to water their crops in an advance which could one day revolutionise agriculture.

Developed by Victoria’s La Trobe University for far-north Queensland ag-tech company Aglantis, the intelligent irrigation system uses the Internet of things to automate water pump management and monitor sunlight, temperature and humidity levels without human interaction and has had its first commercial applications in sugarcane fields.

The system was initially conceived as a project to improve land management and prevent fertiliser run-o from farms into the Great Barrier Reef, but with new technology making smart irrigation more affordable, Aglantis managing director Luke Malan says the potential of the product is almost limitless – from orchards to broadacre. 

In addition to saving water, future AI additions could teach the system how to conserve energy, responding to solar energy tariffs. It could also examine soil profiles and make intelligent choices around crop selection and yields.

“It essentially takes the guesswork out of farming,” Luke says.

“With growing pressures on profitability, it’s more imperative to know what you’re doing and how you can do it better,” he says.

“This flips conventional thinking on its head and opens the doorway to new possibilities.”

Professor Wei Xiang, Cisco research chair and director of La Trobe University’s Cisco Centre for AI and the Internet of things, says the smart irrigation system was the centre’s first commercial product and showed how industry could drive research to tangible and groundbreaking results.

The new smart irrigation system –developed in a 1m plastic tub housed in the Digital Innovation Hub at La Trobe’s Melbourne campus – further enhances the University’s reputation in the AI research space.

The university recently announced its bold ambition to transform research, education, student support and business operations by applying an ‘AI-first’ approach.

“Now we've proven the technology, the next step is to add additional features to improve productivity and crop yields through leveraging cutting-edge AI technology,” Professor Xiang says.

“This will make farming on the whole more sustainable."

IoT researchers Kamyar Karimi and Aravindan Madasamy, who developed the system for La Trobe under Professor Xiang’s supervision, say it will reduce labour costs, increase water efficiency and allow more precision in farm decision-making.

Ultimately, the system design could include intelligent sequencing to determine the perfect order of irrigation across different farm sections, predictive maintenance and continuous learning from historical data, seasonal patterns and crop responses.

"This technology represents a major shift towards data-driven, sustainable agriculture where AI and IoT optimise every drop of water for maximum farming efficiency," Kamyar says.

Aravindan says the development of the smart irrigation system is a transformative step forward for farmers.

"By automating labour-intensive processes and putting control in the hands of advanced technology, farmers can save time, conserve resources and focus on other priorities without the stress of manual management.”

The system features an ultra-compact design and precision valve control adjustable to any degree.

It is currently installed on an 80ha plot of Mark and Andrew Castelanelli’s farm in the Burdekin region near Townsville.

For Mark, who has been a sugarcane farmer for 55 years, smart irrigation heads the future of farming.

Mark says while other smart systems has been on the market for a few years, this was the first that had been purpose-built. 

The veteran farmer previously racked up 15,000km each year driving to irrigate crops within a 6km radius on his farm.

Mark says using the smart system to irrigate with precision would save labour costs, increase efficiency and leave time to focus on other things.

"There's endless opportunity and the power of computing is just getting smarter."