CSIRO engineers have developed a humane new technology that protects crops against pests such as ducks, cockatoos, rabbits, wild dogs and other animals.
The Vertebrate Pest Detect-and-Deter (VPDaD) technology works by detecting and identifying animals as they come close to farms or crops. Once an animal is detected, the device emits a series of sounds and lights tailored to that particular animal type, in order to humanely scare them away before they cause damage.
In Australia, vertebrate pest animals can cause many thousands of dollars of damage in a single 'dining' experience, devastating orchards, vegetable and cereal crops, and potentially impacting farmed livestock. Pest animals are estimated to cost the Australian economy up to $1 billion a year.
According to CSIRO scientist Dr Ash Tews, existing deterrent technologies are only effective for a limited amount of time.
“One of the interesting issues with existing deterrent technologies is that, not only do animals become de-sensitised to them, but smarter ones can even learn to use the deterrents as an indication of a food source, which is the opposite of their purpose,” Dr Tews said.
This means that deterrent technology needs to be adaptive.
"Our autonomous technology allows the system to recognise animal behaviours in response to deterrents and modify the deterrent strategy until the desired effect is achieved,” he explained.
“This allows the system to be more effective over long periods of time such as the key threat times during crop growing.”
The CSIRO has already tested the VPDaD technology in Gabon, Africa, succeeding in scaring away elephants from farms and crops. Elephants in Africa are a significant problem for villagers and agricultural communities, capable of destroying a community’s entire season’s worth of crops overnight.
Now the CSIRO is undertaking a feasibility study of the technology in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, to test it against a variety of pests and to see how it could be scaled up to roll out across Australia.
The VPDaD technology consists of two systems: a motion sensor device, and a collection of cameras that can pick up images and heat signatures of an animal, with lights and sounds that are the actual deterrent for the animals.
The cameras feed data to a computer which is able to recognise and classify the animals based on the images captured.
While the system is helping to examine how animals respond to perceived threats, the team is also looking at longer-term aspects, such as analysing deterrent effectiveness and animal movements over seasons.