AGRIBUSINESS | PRECISION AGRICULTURE | DATA ANALYTICS

TECHNOLOGY-TO-BUSINESS

ECO-TECHNOLOGY PIONEERS

Sometimes, you must look to the future to thrive in the present. Businesses that understand this will always be leaders. Equium’s ‘technology-to-business’ approach helps organisations to meet challenges in a way that’s effective, sustainable and scalable. Our solutions integrate traditional sector approaches with innovative and emerging technologies. They also leverage our team’s world-class expertise in geospatial science, prescriptive analytics and the IoT. Every Equium solution is built around a unique fusion of vegetation science, biogeochemistry, geospatial analytics and data science that we call eco-Technology. Equium is pioneering the application of eco-Technology to difficult-to-solve business challenges, with outstanding results. Every client benefits from Equium’s extensive experience in commercial science, technology and engineering. By using our solutions, companies can make more informed decisions about the future and take a different approach to old problems. Equium’s precision agriculture solutions help farmers, horticulturists and viticulturists to be more competitive by overcoming some of the biggest obstacles to optimum crop planning, production and risk management. They integrate science, technology and out-of-the-box thinking into new commercial eco-Technology solutions that are cutting edge, repeatable and scalable.

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Equium offers primary sector clients a wealth of hands-on science & technology experience. We have

delivered eco-Technology solutions to many agribusiness industry leaders across Australia and globally.

Principal: Dr Ray Merton

DipPHI, BSc (Dbl. Majors), MSc (1st Hons), PhD, Postdoc

Ray is a qualified plant specialist, soil scientist and geospatial scientist who is a global expert in

environmental monitoring, sensor technologies and analysis of complex natural ecosystem and horticultural

datasets. He applies this expertise to developing innovative technology-to-business solutions for primary

sector clients, with an emphasis on introducing new and unconventional science and technology solutions

that drive performance.

Ray developed and is pioneering eco-Technology, an exciting fusion of vegetation science, geochemistry and

data science with a wide range of commercial applications, especially in primary sector industries.

Prior to establishing Equium, Ray’s career focused on innovation leadership

roles within international commercial sci-tech organisations that delivered

cutting-edge data solutions.

His CV includes leadership roles at CSIRO, being an International

Category-1 Scientist, Principal Investigator, Mission Applications Scientist,

Senior University Lecturer, Centre Director, UNESCO Mentor and Advisor,

and a Program Leader in inter-government Initiatives.

Ray’s PhD focused on modelling plant stress with airborne and satellite

technology. He is also a geologist and ecologist who focuses on the

linkages between the biotic and abiotic worlds. Understanding how farm environments and plant

communities change over time is central to integrating this bio-geo-technical approach. Most recently, Ray

extended his geospatial analytics skill set by adapting many of the data science approaches developed in the

fin-tech and commercial sectors. He recognised its ability to unlock significant advantages that could be

readily adapted and adopted into the agribusiness sector.

Ray is the author of over 45 global scientific publications. He is an award-winning international speaker,

strategic commercial partnership broker and an entrepreneur.

As required, Ray will draw on his multi-disciplinary team of scientists and technology specialists to form

tailored teams that best matches your needs. His team members have backgrounds working within

international commercial specialist companies and as private consultants.

About Equium

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Equium’s agribusiness clients are looking for innovative, reliable and repeatable data solutions that support

proactive crop management and better farm management practices. Combining out-of-the box thinking

with the latest advances in science and technology, our new-to-market eco-Technology solutions boost

farming efficiency and create a more competitive, sustainable business.

Equium’s agribusiness solutions apply the power of 21st Century technologies to solving perennial

horticultural problems: improving crop yield and quality, reducing per-hectare running costs, and optimising

the use of scarce water resources.

We combine Big Data Science, Business Analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) with innovative thinking

and our deep sector knowledge to create specialised, cutting edge agribusiness solutions. Each solution can

be precisely tailored to our client’s needs to produce quantifiable benefits.

Specialist areas

• Developing tailored eco-Technology solutions that give agribusiness clients an early adopter

competitive advantage.

• Supporting strategic crop planning, production, monitoring and risk mitigation.

• Working collaboratively to help farmers exploit and deploy their hidden water reserves.

• Creating compelling 4D models for marketing, education and stakeholder management.

Specialised services for Precision Agriculture

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More and more, precision agriculture relies on technology and science to deliver simple answers to complex

plant and crop productivity issues. While it is possible to measure plant characteristics manually on the

ground as point samples at certain times, it is far more efficient, accurate and useful to apply geo-

information technologies across large areas throughout the season.

Creating an economically and environmentally

sustainable agricultural business has always relied on

understanding crop performance throughout the

growing season. Today’s farmers and specialist

agronomists realise that to stay competitive, they

need much deeper insights into the biological, soil and

climatological influences on crops.

Equium’s specialist eco-Technologies provide this

information by indirectly monitoring large areas across

the growing season, modelling plant physiology, and

detecting any plant stress development over time. These solutions have several applications.

Crop selection and performance management

Equium’s energy and water balance calculations help with the optimum selection of crop varieties for

any given area. By using Predictive Analytics, we can estimate when a farm needs to change to a

different crop variety. Our multi-layered approach ensures Equium’s crop recommendations are robust

and meaningful.

• We link UAV and satellite analytics with ground-based time-series crop measurements through

high-accuracy instruments such as hyperspectral spectrometers.

• We can run field trials using controlled irrigation and fertilisation for different crop varieties to

determine their best match with specific soils and micro-climates.

• We avoid creating generalised data trends from simple, commonly-used ratio indices such as

the NDVI. Instead, we create high value absolute measures which can be measured in the field,

and laboratory tests such as percentage of nitrogen or leaf water, which farmers can readily

integrate into their management activities.

Precision Agriculture Solutions

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Detailed reporting: Equium combines Data Science with the Internet of Things (IoT) and Dashboard

technology to deliver in-field and remote environmental crop measurement reports that help farmers to

better manage their crop performance. By presenting this complex Prescriptive Analytics information in

an accessible, highly visual form, we ensure it can be readily understood by all stakeholders.

Risk mitigation: Our specialised technologies detect, quantify and report change at canopy and plant

levels, supporting early intervention measures such as targeted spraying and changed irrigation. By

inter-linking the assessments, we enable variable-rate farm machinery to be GPS-programmed to locate

problem areas and automatically apply pesticides, herbicides or irrigation in the right amounts in the

right locations.

Yield prediction: One of our modules targets

and measures specific wavelengths of light

reflected from crops. Leaves utilise only parts

of the sun’s energy for photosynthesis, so by

measuring it, we can remotely monitor plant

biophysiology and biochemistry and calculate

growth rates. To more fully understand what

drives or limits plant productivity, we

integrate this complex data with in-field

measurements and cutting-edge data from

multi-temporal satellites and UAVs.

Seeding planning: Using our Big Spatial Data analytics capabilities, Equium integrates pre-existing field

and soil information, remote monitoring and detailed modelling with the latest regional climate change

forecasting information to predict the optimal time for seeding.

Groundwater detection

Equium’s solutions can play an important role in crop

irrigation by locating and extracting hidden

groundwater aquifers on agricultural properties. We

combine innovative, proven geophysical methods

and draw on the collective knowledge of an

established group of independent water

geophysicists, drillers and water extraction

specialists.

The team collects and analyses geophysical, soil and

meteorological data for the target area as the basis

for modelling reserve evaluations and 3D aquifer

maps. We then apply sophisticated Business

Analytics methodologies to determine the impact of

the new water reserves on horticultural productivity

over time.

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Do you use spatial and non-spatial data analysis as a business improvement tool? Equium has the tools and

expertise to collect and integrate agricultural data then analyse if from different perspectives, producing

actionable insights that help to optimise crop and farm management.

Equium sources detailed data for our

agribusiness clients using a wide range

of Big Spatial Data tools. These include

the latest in Geographical Information

Systems (GIS) and remote sensing, GPS,

mobile data capture and ground

surveying technologies.

We use these data sources to capture,

store, analyse, display and share

geospatial and ecological information

about the cropping areas under

investigation.

Services include:

• Mapping biochemistry changes

and productivity issues

• Using a variety of data sources to model, analyse and visualise crop changes over time

• Crop mapping for key plant productivity indicators

• Predicting harvest dates and yields

• Mapping and calculating crop damage for insurance claims

• Detecting hidden groundwater sources

• Customised data monitoring and reporting services.

Specialist expertise

As an early adopter of these technologies, Equium has a track record of proving the benefits of integrating

Data Science and Big Spatial Data Analytics to increase farm productivity and related management

efficiencies. We have serviced the precision agriculture sector with remote monitoring and analysis

technologies for over 25 years, analysing spatial

information using technologies we have proven in the

field and reported in academic journals.

Equium has hands-on experience of working with a

number of crops and vegetation types in Australia and

overseas, including rice, wheat, corn, cotton, canola,

pasture species and natural vegetation ecosystems.

Core Capability: Big Spatial Data Services

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Equium uses Prescriptive Analytics to provide our clients with evidence-based insights that assist with

forward planning and give them a competitive edge. This specialist capability enables organisations to

understand longer term forecasting outcomes - those related to data trends, certainty, mitigation and

future risk - that will impact strategic decisions. The result is that they are not only able to anticipate what

will happen to their business and their sector, but when and why.

A combination of high level analytical and Big Data capabilities that synthesises multiple disciplines of

mathematical and computational sciences with business rules, Equium’s Prescriptive Analytics Capabilities

are essential for any organisation wishing to remain sustainable into the future.

More complex than Descriptive and Predictive business analytics, Prescriptive Analytics focuses on

developing new insights from understanding performance-based measures and statistical methods,

facilitating action. Equium uses all three phases of analytics to perform analysis that is precisely tailored to

your business needs.

Firstly, we apply Descriptive and Predictive Analytics to your business information. By combining historical

performance data with sophisticated rules, algorithms and other data, we can determine the probable future

outcome of an event or the likelihood of a situation occurring. This reveals the most likely opportunities and

risks. We blend these results with our Big Spatial Data capabilities and apply sophisticated Prescriptive

Analytics skills and technologies.

The outcome is a series of robust, fact-based actions within a known timeframe, along with implications for

each option.

In order to scale Prescriptive Analytics technologies into existing client systems, our solutions are designed

to be adaptive and take into account the growing volume, velocity and variety of data that are increasingly

an inherent part of modern business projects.

Core Capability: Prescriptive Analytics

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Business benefits

• Competitive advantages of being an early adopter of the new field of eco-Technology

• More holistic understanding of vegetation change than from limited ground sampling

• Improved long term crop planning, strategies and management

• Access to detailed mapping for key biochemical and biophysical indicators

• Enhanced risk forecasting and management

• Faster, earlier and fully automated remedial action against pests and weeds

• Increased crop quality and yield

• Cost and environmental benefits of water usage reporting and efficiency measures

• Discovery of new groundwater sources

• Easier management and control of farm management costs

• More accurate harvesting and yield forecasting

• Improved stakeholder reporting

• Economic and operational advantages of analysing old data as well as new

• Cost and accuracy efficiencies of having access to the latest remote technologies

• Economies of scale when delivering scientific repeatability especially across broadacre cropping

Precision Agriculture Analytics

• Eco-Technology agribusiness solutions

• Full Prescriptive Analytics for precision agriculture

• Time-series crop monitoring

• Vegetation anomaly identification and modelling

• Crop planting, irrigation and fertilisation optimisation

• Broadacre crop biochemical and biophysiology calculations

• Autonomous farming inputs

• 4D and fly-through visualisations of plant stress and leaf biochemistry

• Geo-informatics and multi-dimensional mapping

• Satellite, aerial, UAV and GIS data collection

• Tailored risk analysis and recommendations for crop management

• Integration of farm management, remote sensing and ground sampled data within Big Spatial Data Analytics

• Historical interpretation and current trend analysis

• Crop change forecasting

• Groundwater detection & analytics

• Water efficiency reporting

• Automated remedial activities

• Climate impact optimisation

• Data monitoring, statistics, Internet of Things (IoT) and dashboard reporting

Eco-Technology Solutions for Agribusiness

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AGRIBUSINESS | PRECISION AGRICULTURE | DATA ANALYTICS

TECHNOLOGY-TO-BUSINESS

CONTACT Dr Ray Merton | Principal Equium

(+61) 0438 771 996

ray.merton@equium.com.au

www.equium.com.au

ABN: : 45417531807