Ep 21: Pasture Management with Cibo Labs

EPISODE 21:

In this episode we’re speaking about pasture management and the technology helping producers maximise profit and protect their environment. 

We welcome back South Australian sheep and cattle farmer and agtech adoption specialist Penny Schulz, who tells us about how technology in this area has undergone a major step change in recent years.  

We speak to Cibo Labs co-founder Phil Tickle about their pasture management tools which use a combination of satellite remote sensing imagery, machine learning and ground-truthing to offer objective pasture estimates, informing decision-making on stocking rates.  

We’re also joined by Philip Hughes, who along with his family, runs a backgrounding and finishing cattle operation on the Western Downs in Queensland. The Hughes have been using Cibo Labs’ tools to help protect their ground cover, making sure their country remains “rain ready”.   

Philip’s son Lachlan tragically died in 2018 in an on-farm accident. To honour Lachlan’s commitment to regenerative farming practices the family set up the Lachlan Hughes Foundation to support regenerative agricultural, through scholarships, projects & mentoring programs.

FEATURING:

PENNY SCHULZ

Penny and her husband Jason run a family sheep and cattle operation at Field in South Australia’s Limestone Coast region. She also works off-farm delivering projects to the livestock industry and university teaching, with her expertise in the fields of agtech adoption, livestock genetics and farm business management. Penny has been appointed to the role of Livestock Technical Specialist with the SA Drought Resilience, Adoption and Innovation Hub, with a focus on farmer adoption. 

PHIL TICKLE

Phil is a co-founder and Managing Director of Cibo Labs.  He grew up on farms in southern NSW. Phil has qualifications in agriculture and environmental science, and over 30 years professional experience in the application of geospatial and remote sensing technologies in agriculture and natural resource management. Cibo Labs was established in early 2018 with the mission to bring a completely new approach to monitoring Australia’s grazing lands aimed underpinning more profitable farms and more sustainable landscapes. In 5 years Cibo Labs have established fully commercial services delivering estimates of pasture biomass and ground cover to over 70 million hectares on a weekly basis. 

PHIL HUGHES

Philipis a fourth-generation cattle producer with 53 years’ experience in the Queensland beef industry. Philip began developing Banchory Grazing with Adele and their two sons Lachlan and Alister. A desire to produce premium beef and supply it directly to the Australian consumer led to the formation of Rangeland Quality Meats (RQM) in 2010 with the aim of providing a true ‘paddock to plate’ consumer experience. To assist with this, they developed a hybrid grain feeding and finishing operation, processing and finishing 5,000 to 7,000 head a year for the domestic market. Lachlan tragically died in late 2018 in an on-farm accident. To honour Lachlan’s commitment to regenerative farming practices the family set up the Lachlan Hughes Foundation to support regenerative agricultural, through scholarships, projects & mentoring programs. The Hughes family were one of the first to adopt Cibo Labs technology and use its tools to manage their ground cover and inform cattle movements.