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Watch the full interview: Melissa Andrews speaks with Scott live from the river.
Scott Gladman, a farm manager from regional Victoria, is attempting to become the first person to swim the entire 1,650km length of the Darling River, a journey expected to take roughly 103 days, in support of the Fight the Current campaign.
The swim is raising funds and awareness for families living with MND, PSP and Parkinson's, with a campaign goal of $250,000.
The route takes Scott through some of the most remote country in Australia, including the Mallee grain, citrus and wine belt, where he and his support crew will be moving largely without reliable mobile coverage.
Connected Farms already works with Scott on his own farm, supporting his day-to-day connectivity and his move into digital agriculture (watch case study). For this challenge, the company has stepped in as his connectivity partner, equipping the ute, Gator and boat with satellite connectivity so the crew can stay in touch with Scott for the length of the swim.
Hear Scott explain why the swim depends on staying connected:
“We’re miles from anywhere. There’s no roads, there’s no tracks in there. He’s just got to try and drive his way in with his blue dot on his phone into that red dot to pick us up... Nothing would work without it. We’d have no hope of doing what I’m doing,” says Scott.
Scott explains why the same connectivity matters on Gleeson Farms:
“We could be 30 or 40 kilometres in the furthest part of our farm and you want to communicate with someone? Well, you just can’t. You have to drive there and that’s impractical... without this connectivity right across our farm, the whole thing doesn’t function either. So it’s exactly the same as what we’re doing down the river out here.”
Support the swim
Support the cause: https://www.gofundme.com/f/e883g4-fight-the-current-swimming-1650km-for-mnd-parkinsons
Follow the swim:
https://fightthecurrent.com.au
https://www.instagram.com/fightthecurrentproject