Goldacres has paired its famously tough sprayers with ifm displays and controls, giving farmers clear, real-time machine insight without adding complexity
Australian paddocks are hard on people and machines.
Dust, heat, vibration and long days demand sprayers that are simple and reliable.
Goldacres has long built rugged gear for broadacre and horticultural jobs and now the Ballarat manufacturer has added something growers asked for: easy-to-read information in the right place, at the right time.
That step comes from a partnership with ifm built around rugged, programmable displays, where the brief came straight from growers.
“Being an Australian company, we’re very close to our users and feedback was that people wanted to know more about what was going on with the machine,” Goldacres sales and marketing manager Stephen Richards says.
“That meant developing display solutions that would give them as much information as we could.”
In practice, that meant keeping the hardware tough and making everyday tasks faster to set up, safer to run and easier to monitor.
Reliability and avoiding downtime remained the line in the sand.
“I grew up on a farm and the last thing you want is your machine to fail out in the field,” Goldacres electrical integration manager Luke Myers says.
“With that perspective, we needed to develop a solution that would meet this requirement but was also easy to use.”
The goal was to add intelligence without fuss, so a new operator would feel supported and an experienced operator could work even faster.
Goldacres chose ifm’s ecomatDisplay platform, a family of industrial-grade screens designed for mobile machines.
Every new sprayer now has two displays: one outside at the fill station and one inside the cab.
“The external screen does all the fill function of the sprayer, whilst the internal screen is a dashboard showing speed, RPM, and the engine side of the tractor,” Richards says.
“But it also gives the operator full control of the sprayer itself.”
Both screens are designed for the elements.
They carry a high IP rating against dust, mud, water and vibration, and they are fully programmable using CODESYS 3.5.
The external display can guide a new hand through a repeatable fill routine with clear prompts and checks.
The in-cab screen can prioritise the readouts an experienced driver wants first, from engine status and RPM to spray control, so nothing important is buried.
Under the glass is a control system that ties sensors, inputs and outputs together.
“The implementation of a comprehensive control system, featuring robust controllers and I/O modules, was pivotal in ensuring the success and efficiency of these Goldacres’ sprayers, enabling seamless operations and unparallelled precision,” ifm’s mobile automation specialist Aditya Kunder says.
In short, the screens are the face, while the controllers and I/O do the heavy lifting that keeps everything responsive.
The payoff shows up in small moments across the day.
At the nurse tank, the external display turns pre-start checks and filling into a tidy, repeatable process that saves time and reduces mistakes.
In the paddock, the in-cab dashboard helps operators keep an eye on speed, spray rate and machine health at a glance, so they can focus on the row ahead.
When wind or crop conditions change, adjustments are quick and deliberate rather than buried in menus.
Less guesswork and more consistency add up to better coverage and smoother days.
Support has been part of the story, as shifting from purely mechanical systems to software-rich control is a significant step for any manufacturer.
Goldacres wanted a partner as well as a supplier and Myers says the choice became clear.
“As we were taking that step into what for us was an unknown space, ifm really rose to the top,” he says.
“Their product offering, their quality, and their technical know-how gave us the complete package.”
The result is a new generation of sprayers that feel familiar but work smarter.
Operators get clear, timely information; managers gain confidence that different drivers can achieve the same outcome; and service teams can diagnose issues faster using consistent data.
Most importantly, the machines stay true to the Goldacres promise: tough sprayers that do what they are told and keep doing it day after day.
The approach also sets a foundation for future features.
Because the displays are programmable, Goldacres can refine workflows, add useful prompts or integrate new sensors without redesigning the whole machine.
That means farmers can expect steady improvements over time rather than big, costly overhauls.
In a season when labour is tight and every spray window matters, that sort of evolution is worth a lot.
More broadly, the project mirrors a wider trend in farm machinery: match hard-wearing hardware with software that removes friction from complex tasks.
ifm’s mobile portfolio spans sensors, rugged HMIs, decentralised I/O and controllers.
“For everything from sensors and cameras to cables, rugged HMIs, decentralised I/O modules and powerful controllers, we are basically a one-stop supplier of high-quality components built specifically for mobile applications,” Kunder says.
“What sets us apart though isn’t just the hardware, but the integration.
“Comprehensive software libraries make it easy for manufacturers like Goldacres to embed advanced functionality, save engineering time and reduce development costs.”
The lesson is straightforward – the best technology is the kind that gets out of the way.
Tough gear that is easy to use saves time, builds confidence and helps crews deliver consistent results.
Scan the QR code to read the white paper “Smart control in the field: How Aussie manufacturer Goldacres’ uses ifm technology to deliver next-generation ag sprayers” and watch short videos from the Goldacres team.
ifm is a global leader in industrial automation and sensing technology. Its portfolio includes sensors, remote monitoring, mobile systems, and technologies that support the digitisation of industrial environments, engineered to thrive in the toughest conditions.