#Agritech adoption

Collaboration and innovation are key to overcoming the challenges facing the world’s agricultural sectors. Eleven UK companies recently visited Australia with Innovate UK to create new connections at AgriFutures evoke^AG. on 20-21 February 2024 as part of an innovative program helping accelerate agritech solutions across the globe.

Former Australian Cropping Farmer of the Year and evoke^AG. 2024 panellist, Brad Jones champions farming at the intersection of economics and ethos. He shares the ethos that underpins Bungulla Farm and how he's utilising agtech to push down his cost curve, while driving a profitable, sustainable future.

Dyson doesn’t usually spring to mind when you think of agriculture. With its argument starting flatpacks, Ikea doesn’t either. And Justin Timberlake? Didn’t see that coming. Yet some of the most recognised names in business and entertainment have invested in agriculture, either for personal passion, environmental causes, profit – or all three. Meet nine brands, celebrities and businesses you wouldn't expect to have ventures in agriculture but do.

At the intersection of innovation, sustainability and economic growth – agtech can help underpin the future of Australia’s food and fibre industries. But delivering this exceptional edge means on-farm adoption. A new report by evoke^AG. 2024 partner, RSM Australia, recommends greater cooperation to increase awareness and education about innovative solutions. The RSM report unpicks the challenges and opportunities for the Australian agtech sector with insight from leading technology businesses.

Agritech tends to be defined as innovations that help farmers become more efficient, more profitable, and more sustainable. Beef producer, Robert Mackenzie, wants us to consider how it can help farmers become better storytellers. Here, we learn why the Managing Director of paddock-to-plate business, Macka’s Australian Black Angus Beef, is using agritech to capture, record and share the sustainability story with customers.

The application of agtech is often positioned to improve operational efficiency, profitability and sustainability. But could this narrow definition be limiting the adoption of agtech on farm and in the supply chain?

Australian agriculture is in the early stages of a dramatic disruption and a subsequent transition. There is rapid innovation across the entire value chain, investment in developing and scaling world-changing technologies and solutions, and we’re setting bullish targets on sustainability and environmental measures. But are we running the risk of leaving our farmers behind? Here farmer, Farmers2Founders project manager and evoke^AG. 2023 Future Young Leader, Matt Anderson urges the Australian agtech industry to not leave our farmers behind. 

Farmers are increasingly expected to share sustainability metrics with their supply chain, customers, consumers and others, and acquiring those metrics can be complicated and expensive. A panel discussion presented by evoke^AG. 2023 Silver Partner CommBank, concluded that measurement is not only vital, but can deliver great opportunity on and off farm.

Developing innovative solutions and technology to make agriculture easier, more profitable, or sustainable is one thing, but getting farmers to use it is often a challenge. A new initiative by Farmers2Founders (F2F), is focused on breaking down the critical barriers to agtech adoption by putting the farmer first, building connections and removing some of the risk.

In this evokeAG x Humans of Agriculture collaboration podcast, with Oli Le Lievre, Oli chats with Dr Penny Schulz, who never thought she'd end up working in ag. Now the owner of a beef and sheep farm in Field, in the Coorong region of South Australia, listen to Penny talk about the trajectory of her career, and how her home state is becoming the epicentre of agritech innovation.

Ben Martin is a former Australian Young Farmer of the Year – but he’s not resting on his laurels. The North Queensland mango grower has imported French robots to improve the consistency of his product, and that’s just the start.

Pairtree Intelligence CEO and Founder, Hamish Munro is helping farmers streamline decision making through data centralisation, enabling a holistic view of the farm to visualise, compare and analyse information from multiple sources. From lamb marking to harvesting crops, Dubbo mixed farmer, Jack Cresswell says Pairtree is helping save time and deliver value on-farm.