Our Story

Who, What, When & Why

We Farm & Innovate

We farm ourselves and fully understand the benefits of precision surface drainage of agricultural fields. We were one of the first growers in the world to use laser levelling in sugarcane production starting back in the 1970s. It was a tremendous leap in technology enabling the transformation of basic land into highly efficient and very productive farming operations.  However, the problem with laser levelling is that you can shift up to 400% more soil than required. Apart from the much larger earthmoving cost that this involves, it also disturbs a lot more topsoil which can have significant impacts on crop yields for decades. We continue to develop our own sugarcane farms and saw the opportunity that GPS machine control offered in solving these limitations of laser levelling. So in the late 1990s, we set about coming up with a system that took full advantage of this new technology. That is what we call Optimum Surface Landforming™ or OptiSurface™.

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Our Vision

10 million hectares (25 million acres) of agricultural land with improved drainage or irrigation feeding over 10 million people more than it was previously.

Our Mission

OptiSurface™ is the world's leading farm earthworks solution, providing our customers with the most valuable software, hardware & services to meet their agricultural earthmoving needs.

What We Do

For leading farmers, agricultural consultants and earthmoving contractors who want to improve farm profitability through improved water management, OptiSurface is the world's leading system for farm earthworks design and construction. It calculates optimised field topography to solve water management problems whilst saving up to 80% earthworks. It does this using our patented system incorporating Artificial Intelligence to optimise Continuously Variable Grades™ (CVG™) and 3D GPS machine control technology.

Our Principles

Customer Obsession
We start with the customer and work backwards.  Although we pay attention to competitors, we obsess over customers.

Innovate and Simplify
We continually innovate and find ways to simplify.

Think Big
We create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results.

Bias for Action
Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking.

Frugality
Accomplish more with less. Constraints breed resourcefulness, self-sufficiency, and invention.

Deliver Results
We focus on our key business outputs and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion.

Executive Team

Graeme Cox, PhD BEng Ag (Hon)

Graeme is the Engineering Director for DAVCO Farming. He is an Agricultural Engineer, graduating in 1996 with first class honours. He also earned his Ph.D. in Sugar Cane Precision Agriculture from the University of Southern Queensland in 2002. He has over 20 years experience as a consulting engineer in the fields of farm irrigation design, water engineering, hydrology and flooding. His research and extensive background were instrumental in developing the patented OptiSurface system.

Connect with Graeme & view his profile on LinkedIn.

David Cox

David is the Principal of DAVCO Farming in Ayr, Queensland, Australia, which one of Australia's largest private sugar cane producer, growing over 300,000 tonnes per year. He has over 40 years of practical experience in farm design, development and operation with a significant focus on landforming (land leveling). Accolades recognizing his innovative farming practices including the USA based PrecisionAg Institute's 2012 Precision Farmer Of The Year, Member of the John Deere Global Ag Innovation Council and Sugar Innovator Of The Year.  He was a early adopter of laser grading in the 1970s and the first to apply precision agriculture to sugar cane including yield mapping, precision GPS machinery guidance, GPS weed mapping and GPS variable rate application.

Visit www.davcofarming.com to learn more about our farming operation.

The OptiSurface Brand

OptiSurface™ is the brand for agricultural drainage and landforming products and services provided by Davco OptiSurface Pty Ltd. Davco OptiSurface Pty Ltd is privately-owned and founded by Graeme Cox & David Cox. OptiSurface, Continuously Variable Grades (CVG)™ and Optimum Surface Landforming™ are trademarks of Davco OptiSurface Pty Ltd. All information published on OptiSurface.com and its affiliated websites are copyright © Davco OptiSurface Pty Ltd All Rights Reserved.