Opportunity

When Justin talks with producers, the problems they are trying to solve are rarely only about watering schedules. They are business pressures, played out through irrigation.

“The biggest challenges right now is water efficiency, rising energy and operational costs and managing farming operations with less time,” he said. “Growers want systems that are reliable and easy to operate.”

It is a familiar theme across agriculture. The margin for error tightens, the labour pool shrinks, and the expectation to maintain productivity does not change. In that environment, irrigation becomes more than infrastructure. It becomes leverage.

Smarter irrigation systems, Justin says, are changing how growers can manage that load, because they reduce unnecessary time and travel while increasing visibility and control over what is happening across the farm.

“Smarter irrigation systems allow growers to remotely monitor and control pumps, valves and farm infrastructure in real time,” he explained. “That reduces labour costs, fuel and energy costs, and gives producers better visibility and data to make informed decisions around irrigation timing and efficiency.”

EAS’s approach is built around that idea of visibility and control. Their irrigation and farm management offering centres on the ability to monitor, control and optimise assets anywhere, including pumps, valves and key monitoring points that shape irrigation performance. The system architecture includes pump control and fault monitoring, valve control designed for field deployment, and a central on-farm controller that integrates different devices. It also extends into the data that matters soil moisture, flow meters, water pressure, water levels, electricity consumption, GPS tracking for moving irrigators and weather station inputs.

Energy is another pressure point that is rapidly becoming impossible to ignore, particularly where pumping is a significant operational cost. For Justin, the energy conversation is not separate from irrigation control — it is deeply linked.

“As an electrician myself, energy usage is always top of mind when I design a system for a grower,” he said. “We’ve had really good results with VSD and pump integration bringing significant energy savings.”

He describes energy management as something that becomes far more actionable when you can see and adjust performance in real time.

“By managing pump pressure, flow rates and VSD operation in real time through the app, we work with the grower to assess electricity tariffs and identify inefficiencies early and optimise how and when they irrigate to reduce energy usage.”

Importantly, that type of system control only works if it is reliable in regional environments. Connectivity gaps are a reality across parts of the Greater Whitsunday, and growers are understandably cautious about technology that could introduce risk. EAS highlights that their networks use telemetry, Wi-Fi and cellular communications with local site control, meaning “all control is done locally (not in the cloud), so you won’t be affected by cellular outages.” For growers who have lived through the frustration of patchy reception, that detail is not technical, it is operational confidence.

Still, adoption is rarely just about the technology itself. It is about trust, proof, and relatability. That is where the ZeroIn: Irrigation field walks play a strategic role — not just as an event, but as a catalyst for confidence.

For Justin, the shift from interest to action usually happens when growers can see the system in a real farming environment and hear it validated by their peers.

“Usually, it’s seeing the technology working in a real farming environment and hearing directly from other growers,” he said. “Once producers can see and hear firsthand from other growers the practical benefits, the investment becomes much more relatable and easier to justify.”

That is why hands-on supplier engagement matters, particularly for irrigation, where conditions, layouts and farm systems vary so widely.

“Hands on demonstrations are incredibly valuable because growers can see the technology operating in real conditions, not just in theory.”

During the field walks, Justin said the conversations reflected what many growers are balancing right now.

“A common theme was the pressure growers are under to do more with less – less labour, tighter margins and increasing operational costs,” he said. “There’s strong interest in practical technology that improves farm productivity and irrigation efficiency.”

That emphasis on “practical” is also how he describes EAS’s approach to service and support over time. The goal is not to push a one-size-fits-all product. It is to build what each farm needs and can justify based on their operation and goals.

“Working closely with growers in regional areas means we understand that no two farms, or growers, are the same,” he said. “At EAS, we focus on building bespoke solutions tailored to each operation and the goals of the producer, rather than pushing the latest fad in technology.”

“For some growers, that might mean deploying a full-scale farm automation and Wi-Fi network to improve connectivity in areas with little or no reception, while for others it may be focused on simple GPS irrigator monitoring, or improving energy efficiency with pump and VSD integration. The key is delivering practical and affordable solutions tailored to each individual farm.”

Results

But for many growers, the real proof point is not the feature set. It is what changes when the system is working.

Justin’s examples land because they are practical and human.

“We work with growers who previously spent hours every day manually checking pumps and moving water between paddocks. Automation has allowed them to manage those operations remotely,” he said.

Then he adds the part that tends to stick.

“I have automation customers who now have a 9-5 job, as they don’t need to spend so much time on the farm. I have another customer who bought a caravan and they go travelling for long periods and irrigate their fully automated farm from their phone. I think the real value is more family time than in the paddock irrigating.”

That is the quiet transformation happening through irrigation automation. It is not only about saving minutes. It is about giving back capacity — in the business and in life — and helping farms remain viable as workforce pressures increase.

Looking ahead, Justin believes the next chapter of irrigation technology will only deepen irrigation’s role as a business enabler, particularly as connectivity, automation and data integration continue to improve across the region.

“What excites me most is the ability for technology to help producers operate more efficiently while remaining sustainable and competitive long term,” he said. “There’s still huge potential for automation, better data integration and improved connectivity to continue transforming agriculture across the region.”