Driverless tractors are set to bring about a seismic shift in Australian agriculture by making farms "a hell of a lot more productive" while also reducing farmer stress, agricultural consultant Tony Crowley believes.

Derrick Thompson (L) and Tony Crowley on site at the Mackay driverless tractor trial. ( ABC News: Harriet Tatham )

In an Australian first for the sugar industry, an autonomous tractor is being trialled on a cane property at Mackay in north Queensland, in what proponents said would be a massive labour-saving initiative.

The technology is being jointly designed by Japan's Hokkaido University and Japanese firm Hitachi.

It relies upon satellite and GPS signals built into a software program that enables a farmer to instruct a tractor to plough, sow, or spray crops automatically.

Derrick Thompson from Hitachi said the driverless tractor would move farming firmly into the 21st century.

"It proves the point that you can actually do this — it's not science fiction anymore," he said.

"It's now just a measure of really fine-tuning it and commercialising it."

He said while the automated tractor was not a first for agriculture, it was breaking new ground in the sugar industry.

Hokkaido University electrical engineer Wang San controls the tractor with a tablet. ( ABC News: Harriet Tatham )

"The tests we did last year in Jerilderie at the rice growers. They were able to not only get the accuracy up, it allows them to grow other crops in between the rows of rice so they've been getting additional crop output, making the land more efficient.

"We're hoping similar things can happen in other fields as well — sugarcane being one of them."

Built using satellites and drones

Tony Crowley said the trial began in October when Australian and Japanese engineers supplied drone footage of the paddock in Mackay to a Japanese satellite, providing the necessary foundations to move the tractor around the paddock.

"We're driving an autonomous tractor using to two different solutions — one with the new satellite system that the Japanese Space Agency has put up," he said.

"They've integrated that with the GPS technology, so we put the run lines in that we use normally and then the tractor operates autonomously, linking with the GPS system as it's running.

"This is the next stage — take the driver out of the seat."

This tractor is controlled by a software program via GPS and satellite signals. ( ABC News: Harriet Tatham )

Mr Crowley said the software program enables the tractor to deliver a wide range of farming services.

"The tractor can do anything that a normal tractor can do. It can level the land, it can fertilise, it can weed spray, it can water and, not this tractor but future tractors, with the right inference, can also harvest."

The tractor is also fitted with collision avoidance technology to help it avoid obstacles such as people, animals and farming equipment.

Relieving farmer stress

Mr Crowley said by relieving some of the grunt work from an aging industry, the technology would help to reduce farmer stress levels.

"As our farmer base ages and the jobs are becoming more onerous on the farmer, once we put the autonomy into that system the farmer could go to bed at 8 o'clock, that tractor could go round and round the field all night [then the farmer could] come out, fuel it up the next morning — the job's done," he said.

"It's going to make the farmers a hell of a lot more productive."

Insider the driverless tractor. ( ABC News: Harriet Tatham )

Canegrower Steve Young allowed the trial to be conducted on his land and said he was excited by the prospect of modernising his farm.

"If we can achieve more productivity with less stress and less people, I suppose it's going to be a good thing," he said.

"The more productive we can be the better, and if we use technology to do that, that's great."

It is hoped the technology will start rolling out on Australian farms from next year.

Mr Crowley said once the Japanese Space Agency launched five additional satellites in 2018, Australians would have constant satellite reception, improving the technology's accessibility across the agricultural sector.