AUD $15 million national digital twin to reshape farming

The Australasian Space Innovation Institute has launched a AUD $15 million National Digital Twin for Australian Agriculture, describing it as a national-scale digital replica of farming environments that brings multiple data sources into a shared platform.

The initiative is backed by Elders, Meat & Livestock Australia and Charles Sturt University. It is designed for agriculture, forestry and fisheries, with an emphasis on coordinated decision-making across the sector.

Data platform

The digital twin will combine satellite Earth observation data with information from on-farm internet-connected devices and sensors. It will also draw on weather, climate, soil and water datasets, alongside farm system and agronomic models.

ASII says the result will be a geospatial environment that updates as conditions change. The system is intended to represent agricultural landscapes at a national scale, rather than as individual farm deployments.

The project is framed around "sovereign" infrastructure, which ASII links to domestic control of a national dataset and the tools used to analyse it. The platform will use AI-based methods for modelling and analysis, including predictive scenario work.

Scenario modelling

ASII expects the platform to be used to model options for climate resilience, biosecurity, water management and productivity. Users will be able to test different actions and assess likely outcomes before making changes on the ground.

Professor Andy Koronios, founding CEO and managing director of ASII, said the sector needs shared infrastructure that converts data into operational insight.

"Australia has world-class agricultural, forestry and fisheries capability, but we lack a shared national capability to turn that strength into decision-ready insight at scale," Koronios said.

He also outlined how ASII sees the digital twin fitting into the broader policy and industry landscape.

"The National Digital Twin provides that missing layer: a sovereign, AI-enabled environment where Australia can model scenarios, test outcomes, and make better decisions across productivity, resilience and policy. It is a national infrastructure for public good, best stewarded by an independent, not-for-profit institute like the ASII, for the benefit of the nation," Koronios said.

Meat & Livestock Australia linked the work to research processes in livestock production, saying a virtual environment could reduce the time and cost involved in trial design and prioritisation.

"The Digital Twin creates the foundation for a new virtual R&D capability: scenario modelling and hypothesis testing inside a replica of agricultural environments. That means we can test livestock management options and research questions faster, refine trials before we invest in large scale field trials, adoption or commercialisation. Done well, this approach can save millions of dollars and years of research time compared with traditional methods, while lifting confidence in what we deploy at scale," said Mick Crowley.

University link

Charles Sturt University said the initiative will sit alongside its Australian Agricultural Data Exchange, which aggregates and organises agricultural datasets. The university said the pairing is intended to address fragmented information across the sector.

"The National Digital Twin for Australian Agriculture initiative is an important step forward for the whole sector. The Australian Agricultural Data Exchange at Charles Sturt University is already proving essential in bringing together relevant agricultural data. Now working with the National Digital Twin, they will jointly operate to transform Australia's fragmented datasets into scalable, trusted outcomes for research, industry, and policy. This will equip our experts with the necessary information and linked data they need to carry out more effective experimentation, test hypotheses, and refine trials," said Professor Renée Leon, vice chancellor of Charles Sturt University.

Elders, which provides rural services and advice to farmers, emphasised use by agronomists and advisers. It said a national set of consistent datasets could influence how advice is developed and tested.

"Elders' strength has always been our people and our relationships with farmers. The National Digital Twin builds on that by giving agronomists, advisors and agtech providers access to trusted, nationally consistent intelligence and a powerful environment to test and refine ideas before they reach the paddock. It aims to strengthen the advice that can be provided, while keeping relationships and judgement firmly with the advisor," said Mark Allison.

ASII is an independent not-for-profit organisation focused on space-related research and its translation into practical applications. The agriculture digital twin is its first major project and will bring end users, industry partners and universities into a shared effort around space-enabled data and modelling.