Innovation in the Agriculture Industry, based on 30 Years of Your Feedback

Johns passion and dedication has come from always looking to the farmers for inspiration. Talking to them, seeking out their very specific problems. Then designing effective products to not only solve those problems – but enhance farm efficiency even further.

For Shawn, it’s all about sustainability. Listening to farmers to develop solutions and empowering the Padman team to perform at the top of their game to deliver a real life product to our customers. Solutions that  genuinely make a difference to managing their property.

Listening to our customers is important to the Padman Group. If we didn’t take feedback on board when developing new products, would anyone buy our products? Would anyone really need them?

When new products are developed, 100% of the time they come from a farmer saying “Gee it would be good if this was possible”. That one sentence is like music to John’s ears! They literally prick up and he and the team set about developing concepts in consultation with the customer until a prototype is ready for trial. Trials are conducted on site and once the kinks have been ironed out on-farm trials start. It’s a really interesting process, if you wanted to learn more about how we develop a new product – Click Here  to check out a short video about how the F10 with PosiDrive was created. You can also read THIS article on the process we use to produce agricultural innovation based on your feedback

What Sets Us Apart?

Padman Stop is different from a lot of our competitors. From our unique product designs through to our collaborative approach. We work alongside farmers – we speak to them, get to know them and discover the every-day problems and frustrations they encounter. We then design the products they, and most likely you, actually need.

10 Reasons Why the F10 will Supercharge the Way You Irrigate

From our unique product designs through to our collaborative approach. We work alongside you, our farmers, hear your frustrations and design solutions to assist you and ultimately ensure the Australian Agricultural future through improved irrigation outlet design.

You can’t control the weather but with Padman Stops you can control your water. Get the right amount on and shut it off at precisely the right time, every time. It’s the perfect solution for flood irrigation optimisation and streamlining your irrigation affordably.

You spoke, we listened… It’s bigger, wider and the ultimate in functionality.  The NEW bay outlet, the F10 is customisable to your farm irrigation needs and layout.

Here’s 10 Reasons Why this New Product Can Work for You

1. Higher water flow through a massive 3 metre by 0.85-metre-high door

2. Adjustable wings specific to your soil and bank width to minimise erosion and the risk of machinery damage

3. A singular, portable, low cost drive and automation unit delivers large volumes of water through 2 structures at once

4. Fully adjustable overflow doors with staged release to control flow and erosion and bi-directional flow

5. Multi linking to get a mammoth 6 metre opening width – say goodbye to erosion!

6. Famous long-lasting proven rubber

7. OHS friendly walkways & handrail options to keep you and your staff safe

8. DIY Panel form means multiple units can be packaged and transported on pallets for a freight friendly option

9. Comes with standard inclusion of the unique PosiDrive system

10. Eliminates cables and eats trash

This video explains how we take feedback from our customers and turn that feedback into a product. Feel free to share this with your friends.

“30 years of innovation based on YOUR feedback”

Outstanding Benefits of the PosiDrive Positive Drive System

– It eliminates the use of cable and eats trash.

– Steady door opening duration of 8 minutes per cycle helps eliminate erosion control.

– The door is positive drive so holds it’s position with water flowing either way

– Quality built and tested

– High torque with lifting ability of 800kg loads

– Fully automatable or can be operated manually.

– Allow distribution pond drainage back into channels

– Facilitates multiple door operation from one drive and automation unit

See more PosiDrive info:

Click Here

Want more information on our Automation?

Visit Padman Automation Website

Padman AutoWinch PRO & Chatterbox PRO

Working together to save Water, Time & Money.

AUTO WINCH PRO

Our AutoWinch PRO is a rugged, portable and affordable farm automation system that has been designed to be relocated on a daily basis. It can be easily attached to any product that has our unique Padman manual winch.

The AutoWinch Pro can be operated on a time schedule to open and close your water gates / bay outlets. Or it can be triggered by the Chatterbox PRO.

It can then be moved to the next irrigation bay – making it a truly portable and affordable farm automation system.

CHATTERBOX PRO

Our Chatterbox is a portable sensor designed for detecting water as it moves across an irrigated area.

A typical use is to place the Chatterbox at a predetermined point on an irrigated bay. When water reaches that point, a signal can be used by the PAMS IoT network to:

• Close the bay outlet
• Open another bay outlet
• Close or open a channel stop
• Turn a pump on or off
• Send an advice message to the irrigator.

PAMS APP OR WEB APP

Padman Automation Management System (PAMS) is the portal and management system. It is the backbone of Padmans’ IoT system. Monitor and control your irrigation from anywhere at anytime. You could be busy working on other farm operations or down at the lake enjoying a cheeky water-ski with no worries of having to rush away to turn your water off.

PAMS integrates all communication with sensors and control equipment in the field from your personal computer. You can also access basic monitoring and control functions easily from tablets and smart phones.

Using the secure AWS cloud-based server system, PAMS allows access to the user’s farm from anywhere.

The software is extremely user friendly. It allows operational scheduling of PAMS controlled equipment as well as reactive commands of equipment based on received alarm signals.

Save Water, Time and Money with Padman Automation

Want to know more?

Call our Automation team on 1800 254 594

10 Reasons Why the F10 will Supercharge the Way You Irrigate

From our unique product designs through to our collaborative approach. We work alongside you, our farmers, hear your frustrations and design solutions to assist you and ultimately ensure the Australian Agricultural future through improved irrigation outlet design.

You can’t control the weather but with Padman Stops you can control your water. Get the right amount on and shut it off at precisely the right time, every time. It’s the perfect solution for flood irrigation optimisation and streamlining your irrigation affordably.

You spoke, we listened… It’s bigger, wider and the ultimate in functionality.  The NEW bay outlet, the F10 is customisable to your farm irrigation needs and layout.

Here’s 10 Reasons Why this New Product Can Work for You

1. Higher water flow through a massive 3 metre by 0.85-metre-high door

2. Adjustable wings specific to your soil and bank width to minimise erosion and the risk of machinery damage

3. A singular, portable, low cost drive and automation unit delivers large volumes of water through 2 structures at once

4. Fully adjustable overflow doors with staged release to control flow and erosion and bi-directional flow

5. Multi linking to get a mammoth 6 metre opening width – say goodbye to erosion!

6. Famous long-lasting proven rubber

7. OHS friendly walkways & handrail options to keep you and your staff safe

8. DIY Panel form means multiple units can be packaged and transported on pallets for a freight friendly option

9. Comes with standard inclusion of the unique PosiDrive system

10. Eliminates cables and eats trash

This video explains how we take feedback from our customers and turn that feedback into a product. Feel free to share this with your friends.

“30 years of innovation based on YOUR feedback”

Outstanding Benefits of the PosiDrive Positive Drive System

– It eliminates the use of cable and eats trash.

– Steady door opening duration of 8 minutes per cycle helps eliminate erosion control.

– The door is positive drive so holds it’s position with water flowing either way

– Quality built and tested

– High torque with lifting ability of 800kg loads

– Fully automatable or can be operated manually.

– Allow distribution pond drainage back into channels

– Facilitates multiple door operation from one drive and automation unit

See more PosiDrive info:

Click Here

Want more information on our Automation?

Visit Padman Automation Website

Rice Irrigation Research: Find out how researchers and industry are working together to develop smarter irrigation control for water and labor savings in rice growing systems.

In this episode of “The Rice Life” podcast our Automation Manager, Grant Oswald was lucky enough to be a guest. He explains the benefits rice growers will see from our industry partnership with John Hornbuckle. And the rice irrigation research project he is working on from the Deakin University, in conjunction with Padman Stops, Goanna Ag and Sunrice.

what products are being used:

The products being used in this trial are our rubber flap inserts. They have been installed into their existing concrete stops. We’ve taken out the old drop boards and replaced them with our rubber overshot flap doors that come with a hand winch and cables already built into them.

Our portable AutoWinch is then easily clipped onto the hand winch so the doors can become fully automated. This allows the doors to be opened and closed remotely. We have also fitted a water level sensor to these units, which keeps track of the height of ponds. The farmer can then set alerts for events. For example, if your water level drops below a set level, you then receive an alert on your phone. Without having to go down to the paddock you can determine if you need to adjust or close your doors. You can then perform this action remotely from your phone or computer. It allows you to perform extra jobs on the go and have the confidence to know whats happening with your rice at any given time.

John Hornbuckle:

John Hornbuckle describes how his project will eventually help industry partners like Padman Stops and Padman Automation develop automated sensing and control systems that will help move the industry through to a dry rice production system and facilitate the reduction of water use. Which will not only be important because of the high water costs, but the high labor costs associated. The farm automation developed from this research has a lot of potential to help reduce these costs. By involving industry partners from the start of this project means the take up on the research findings is guaranteed. Which means the products are more likely to be developed sooner and purposely. 

Meet a farmers involved in the trial program:

To wrap up the podcast we hear from Chis Morsheah. Chris is a rice grower from Widgelli who has been using our rice irrigation automation and infrastructure during the 2020 rice season. He explains why he would recommend the program to other growers and his experiences with our products.

Visit Rice Extensions Podcast here…

If you would like to know more about the trial and stay up to date with his project by following @cerrf_griffith on twitter.

Introducing automation to your irrigation farm can now be more cost effective with our new PosiDrive system.

We’ve developed a new positive drive system that eliminates cables and pulleys, plus has the ability for a singular, portable, low cost automation unit to deliver large volumes of water through multiple structures.

Why?

Adam Graham our Project Manager explains; “we split our time between continually improving existing products and exploring ways we can build new products based on our customers feedback.”

We then needed to find ways to allow our automation to operate multiple heavy doors at once using our existing AutoWinch system.

This led to the PosiDrive. Padman Stops’ first automation product that utilises a positive drive system rather than the usual cables and pulleys. Because we know cables often become obstructed with trash and slime. No has time to be cleaning out cables or risking doors failing to close due to trash build up.  This new PosiDrive system gives you full confidence that your bay outlet will open and close, regardless of the trash travelling through your channel stop. It will improve on-farm efficiency and make automating your multiple outlets more cost effective.

Cost Effective Automation for Your Irrigation Farm

Being able to operate multiple doors from the one drive and automation unit, we are able to provide a much lower cost “per hectare” farm irrigation system. Our AutoWinch Pro is a portable, low cost way to automate your flood or surface irrigation, as you only need to install drive systems where automation will be required. The AutoWinch being portable, allows you to move it between bay outlets when needed.

Say Goodbye to Erosion!

Direct drive allows precision door placement with multiple opening stages along with the high torque PosiDrive system that has lifting ability of 800kg loads can control large volumes of water from one automation outlet, without damaging infrastructure and crops.

Our Bay Outlets come with optional adjustable wings specific to your soil and bank width which also helps manage erosion and reduce the risk of machinery hitting them.

Take a look at the process we go through to develop a new product. From your feedback, through to an installed product, improving farm efficiencies.