Edward Barraclough

Hatch Program 4

6 Feb 2023

About

Edward is the son of a sheep and cattle farmer, based in Victoria and runs a small business with his wife. Outside of this, his attention is working with drone technology and agriculture. Edward regularly travels to his family’s current farm in Binda, NSW, supporting the sheep and cattle enterprise.

The Idea

Edward has found, from experience and observation, livestock farmers are required to check their stock regularly regardless of the landscape accessibility or condition of livestock. This primarily relies on counting stock manually, either an ‘eye-ball count’ or by using a gated race. So, Edward is working with drone technology and farmers to build a platform for farmers to easily count stock, locate stock and identify any potential risks on their property. This will reduce health risks of the farmer, efficiently perform their daily tasks and cause less disturbance to their livestock.

Farmers2Founders Hatch Program gave me a solid foundation to validate the business idea and test the hypothesis that customers desire the solution proposed. I am feeling more confident about reaching out to potential end-users and offering them a solution.

What's Next?

Edward hopes to participate in the upcoming Hone program kicking off in May 2023, during which he’ll further explore the technical feasibility of Sky-Hand iterations and complete development of the first prototype. He also intends demonstrating Sky-Hand to potential customers at field days and expos and trialling the platform with early adopters.
In 6 months, Edward intends to be generating revenue, even if on a small scale.
The Skye-Hand application is future flexible and in the medium to long term Edward will explore adapting it to industries beyond agriculture such as conservation, forestry, and aquaculture. With regular updates, the application will evolve alongside the drone and agriculture industries