The teams also attended the successful bi-annual, two-day Techspo event held at the Wagin Recreation Centre (Day 1) and DPIRD's Katanning Research Facility (Day 2).
DPIRD's Digital Farm Grants team discussed the program with visitors to the displays and showcased maps with the projects outlined across the series of events.
The Digital Farm Grants Program – Round 1 projects are well underway. A number of projects are starting to be rolled out, with regional residents starting to take advantage of the new services.
The department's eConnected project team showcased advancements in on-farm technology, including a LoRaWAN on-farm connectivity network with a demo board displaying water tank and farm gate Internet of Things (IoT) sensors.
The eConnected team also advised visitors on the progress of the IoT WA DecisionAg grants program. Since 15 recipients (with 13 projects) were awarded $582,800 to share, the implementation of equipment for several of these projects has been completed.
The eConnected team also demonstrated new features available on the department’s recently updated DPIRD weather website.
The Regional Telecommunications Project (RTP) was also highlighted at these recent events. The RTP is an $85 million State Government initiative, administered by the department.
This project focuses on improving high-speed mobile voice and data coverage across regional Western Australia.
There was plenty of interest in the department's connectivity programs.
Anyone wishing to find out more may email: econnectedgrainbelt@dpird.wa.gov.au