Driverless tractors set to take the wheel on Mirboo North farm

A Mirboo North family farm will become one of the first in the country to put driverless tractor technology to work after landing a $500,000 grant.

Cummaudo Farms will use the Coles Nurture Fund grant to trial next-generation autonomous tractors on its South Gippsland property, testing how the technology could support local growers.

Run by three generations of potato farmers, the business has been part of the Mirboo North community since 1959 and has since expanded from potatoes into onions.

The farm produces about 8000 tonnes of potatoes a year and sells the majority of its crop to Coles, a relationship that now stretches back nearly 25 years.

The new technology will take on some of the farm's most repetitive and time-consuming jobs while improving efficiency and reducing fatigue.

Preparing a tractor to run on its own involves surveying and mapping paddocks, identifying obstacles such as trees, power poles and creeks, and making sure attached equipment can work with the driverless system.

Cummaudo Farms operations manager Mariska Sartori said the grant would help the family explore how automation could make on-farm tasks more efficient.

"Once the paddock is mapped and the tractor is programmed, it can work by itself using GPS and computer systems, a bit like a robot vacuum cleaner for the farm," she said.

"Having an autonomous tractor that can work consistently and accurately across long, repetitive jobs will help reduce fatigue, limit human error and make better use of our team's time."

Ms Sartori said the investment would have been difficult to pursue without the Coles Nurture Fund and the farm was among the first in the country to test what the technology could do for Australian farming.

Cummaudo Farms is the only Victorian recipient among eight businesses across the country to share in the latest round of grants.

Coles chief commercial and sustainability officer Anna Croft said the project showed how local producers were helping trial new technology for the wider agriculture industry.

"We're proud to support Cummaudo Farms, a family business that has supplied Coles for nearly 25 years, with a $500,000 grant to help test driverless tractor technology in Australian farming," Ms Croft said.

"By backing projects like this, the Coles Nurture Fund can help producers explore practical innovations that improve efficiency on farm and have the potential to support growers well beyond their own business."

Since 2015 the Coles Nurture Fund has awarded more than $43 million to 127 Australian businesses, with grants of up to $500,000 for projects supporting sustainability, efficiency and growth.

If the Mirboo North trial proves successful it could help shape how driverless technology is used on farms well beyond South Gippsland.