AgTech Month showcases the future of farming

Adoption of AgTech is accelerating across Queensland, with expectations of a doubling of key stakeholder involvement from 10,000 to 20,000 by next year.

AgTech is any innovation used across agribusiness and associated value chains to improve efficiency, profitability and sustainability. It includes hardware and software, business models, and new technologies including robotics, sensors, new packaging, biotechnology, structures and new applications.

Launching AgTech Month, Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities Mark Furner said agricultural technology, or AgTech, would drive the sector to become a $100 billion industry in Australia by 2030, and create good jobs in Queensland.

“Data from the AgTech and Logistics Hub shows in addition to the thousands of stakeholders embracing agtech, more than 1300 farms had already made the leap to incorporating the latest technology into their operations,” Mr Furner said.

“These forward-thinking Queensland producers are making their enterprises more efficient, sustainable and profitable.

“The inaugural Asia-Pacific AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2022 showed investors put more than half a billion dollars into Australian startups last year.

“We need to harness this interest and be at the front of the technology wave if our producers are going to remain competitive on the national and global markets and meet the ever-growing demand for our products.

“That’s why AgTech Month is such an important time to recognise and learn from the home-grown ingenuity of our producers and the success they are having using new technologies.”

Mr Furner said the Palaszczuk Government was helping to drive the uptake of agtech in a range of ways, including the Agribusiness Digital Solutions Grant program.

“Under this program the EastAUSmilk project has implemented digital monitoring to provide better health management systems with training workshops delivered across key dairy districts involving 54 dairy farm businesses and six industry service providers,” he said.

“There are now nine farms set up as producer demonstration sites with monitoring system trials.

“This is the sort of agtech that will give our producers an edge over competitors and maintain Queensland’s reputation for innovation and quality.

“As AgTech Month 2022 kicks off, we’re seeing promising signs for good jobs growth, rising investor interest and agribusinesses adopting digital technology.”

AgTech Month key events:

• 2 November - AgFuture Symposium at TropAg, Growing our AgTech Future, which highlighted key activities the Queensland Government has been undertaking to drive the growth and sustainability of AgTech.
• 14-15 November - World of Drones and Robotics Congress at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
• 25 November - Smart Cropping Centre Co-Design Workshop in Emerald hosted by the Queensland Government in partnership with Central Highlands Development Corporation, i4 Connect – AusIndustry Entrepreneur Program and Cotton Research and Development Corporation.
• Social media platforms to feature a series of videos demonstrating AgTech adoption.

Mr Furner said the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries provided an AgTech web portal www.daf.qld.gov.au/agtech which supports producers incorporating agtech into their operations and attracted thousands of views each month.

“We are also developing a roadmap for digital and technological transformation of Queensland agribusinesses,” he said. The Queensland agribusiness supply chain is valued at more than $26 billion and employs over 348,000, which is 13% of the state’s workforce.  

For more information visit https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/news-media/campaigns/agtech

AgTech in action: https://youtu.be/azx9lfOF06I

ENDS

Media contact:           Ron Goodman            0427 781 920