Ep 12: Spray Advisory with INCYT

EPISODE 12:

This week on the AgTech Finder Podcast, host Olivia Calver explores the technology that advises growers on when and how to spray in order to improve spray efficacy and reduce the risk of spray drift.

We speak to Food Agility CRC chief scientist David Lamb, who explains why hazardous inversions can cause spray particles to travel tens of kilometres.

We’re also joined by INCYT founder Simon Blyth who talks about their latest spray advisory technology, Maverick. He tells us how the technology is helping growers plan more effective spraying programs, while reducing risk, taking inspiration from its Top Gun namesake.

And we speak to Stop Off-Target Spraying (SOS NSW) coordinator Annette McCaffery, who tells us about the importance of using tools that offer real-time local weather data to help inform spraying decisions.

FEATURING:

SIMON BLYTH – FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR, INCYT

Simon Blyth is the founder and Managing Director of INCYT, by LX – a BRW Fast 100 company specialising in IoT product and solution development. As an Inverell farm boy and engineer, Simon is driven to bring the power of IoT to agriculture. INCYT specialises in IoT AgTech, including weather stations, soil moisture probes, water monitoring, and much more with reporting and dashboards displayed on wall-mounted screens, mobile devices, and computers. Recently the team has developed Maverick, an advanced spray advisory system, with support from CRDC.

ANNETTE McCAFFERY – COORDINATOR, STOP OFF-TARGET SPRAYING (SOS) NSW

Annette McCaffery is the coordinator of the grassroots initiative Stop Off-target Spraying (SOS NSW). Annette has worked in the agricultural sector for over 35 years in a range of organisations and regions. Primarily she has worked in irrigation, natural resource management and biosecurity and specialises in communications, evaluation and the development of behaviour change programs. Annette came into the SOS NSW role in 2021 and is currently managing projects for the community of practice on the issues of water quality impacts on spray efficacy, spraying during hazardous inversions and the impacts of spray quality on the risk of spray drift.