Australian agricultural remote monitoring tech provider Farmbot has picked ORBCOMM to power its smart agriculture solutions, which are focused on helping farmers improve the visibility and management of their water resources.

Farmbot has started deploying ORBCOMM’s satellite IoT modems in the field, and expects to significantly expand the deployment over the next few years.

ORBCOMM’s global satellite OGi modem and Inmarsat’s L-band connectivity is now being rolled out to Farmbot’s systems which provide farmers with remote monitoring of farm water supplies, including tanks, dams and reservoirs, and capturing images in real-time.

Farmbot’s solution integrates with a range of sensors and an optional wired camera to deliver reports and trend analysis on water, diesel and trough levels, rainfall, flow and pressure rates, alerts for valve leaks or pump issues, livestock drinking habits along with staff movements using a safety-check-in module.

The ruggedised ORBCOMM-enabled solution has been designed to withstand remote and harsh climates and works across the entire Australian continent, including rural areas where cellular coverage is unavailable or unreliable, for maximum performance and coverage.

“We’re excited to partner with Australian agritech company Farmbot on helping farmers throughout the continent automate their farming processes and gain significant savings in time and money,” said Christian Allred, ORBCOMM’s Executive Vice President of Global Sales. “By leveraging our state-of-the-art modem and Inmarsat’s ubiquitous L-band satellite connectivity, Farmbot can provide its customers with actionable data and key business insights to better manage their water supplies and create a safer, more profitable and sustainable farm operation, which is an important priority in our corporate social responsibility efforts.”

“ORBCOMM’s advanced satellite IoT technology is a gamechanger for the agriculture industry in Australia by providing two-way communications anywhere on the continent for small farms to large, multiple-site farming operations,” said Andrew Coppin, Managing Director of Farmbot Monitoring Solutions. “Together with ORBCOMM, we’re able to eliminate the need for farmers to manually monitor their water resources and put them in control of their water ecosystems, minimising unnecessary travel, increasing their bottom line, reducing their carbon footprint and creating more sustainable outcomes.”