Australia in line to be a leader in the agricultural tech boom

“We’re well located, and we have a very diverse climate and ecology,” said John Harvey, managing director of AgriFutures Australia. “If you can make something work here, it can work anywhere.

“I believe, if we want to, we could be the agri-tech centre of this part of the world, and then that could easily become an export industry in its own right too. It’s a really exciting time to be a part of it.”

Investment in agri-tech has indeed skyrocketed in the last four to five years. When Agrihive managing director James Walker started in the industry in 2014, he believes he had one of the first three software programs. Now, says the fifth-generation farmer and Landcare director, there are over 600 agri-tech businesses and start-ups in Australia.

“The number has just exploded,” he said. “It’s been absolutely extraordinary. There’s almost a frenzy now in being first to market.

“Some of these things were toys to begin with but, over time, they’ve become quite critical in increasing the number of units you can sell, raising the price received and reducing costs. Beyond the matrix of these three elements, there are other factors like improving lifestyle, making farmers’ jobs more enjoyable and increasing access to capital.”

Agri-tech advances are numerous and quite disparate, powered by sensors, synthetic biologies, drones, satellites, carbon capture, data collection, digitalisation and robotics.

Such advances are critical when we’re looking at the macro challenges of feeding a global population that will reach 10 billion by 2050, and will need to produce 56 per cent more food, says co-founder and executive chairman of AgriWebb, Justin Webb. Only advances in agri-tech will be able to provide such productivity gains while reducing the environmental footprint.

“The new wave of agri-techs have to focus on providing sustainable increases in food production and innovative ways to capture carbon in space,” he said. “These are tremendous challenges, but also huge opportunities.

“In addition, millennial purchases want to know about what they’re buying in supermarkets in terms of its environmental and ethical footprint. They want a leg of lamb without a side of guilt. Now, with tech throughout the supply chain, we can communicate that, too.”

As for helping farmers, Mr Harvey talks of sensors turning off watering just as it reaches optimum levels, saving 30 per cent on water and 20 per cent on electricity, and monitoring water in tanks and troughs that can be checked on the computer rather than driving around them all week. Sensors and GPS devices in strawberries can check a truck’s temperature and when a driver has their breaks to make sure they arrive at market in tip-top condition.

Then there’s telemetry – remote monitoring – also checking on pastures, paddocks and the management of animals via satellites, says Mr Walker. They can show when stocking rates need to be adjusted, take note of the state of animals, and zoom in to see if they’re calfing or getting caught in fences. Some drones can take the place of helicopter mustering, too, while solar can replace diesel technologies.