Nowhere else in Australia can boast a similar level of agtech activity as we are seeing in Queensland.
There is a concentration of events through November that celebrate this, including AgVention on the Sunshine Coast, Future Agro Challenge on the Atherton Tablelands, AgTeCH19 in Emerald and of course TSBE Food Leaders Australia's 400M Agrifood Innovation Forum in Toowoomba.
The growth is due to private businesses taking significant interest in new technologies to remain competitive, and is supported by state and federal governments like never before.
The current wave of innovation is being driven by individuals and small entrepreneurial teams that are able to find niches to solve specific problems being raised by producers.
However, this niching of innovation is leading to significant challenges in agtech adoption.
Producers no longer have single sources of information to guide their investment in new technology, the role previously handled by government extension officers.
The number of agtech businesses looking to access the market is making it hard for producers to keep abreast of all the developments.
Further, the specialisation and selling of single pieces of technology is a confusing market when looking to make a purchase.
For example, if you require a new water monitoring solution, what connectivity solution do you need to enable it?
What data plan do you need to invest in to make it cost effective? What software shows the data in a usable format?
And what computer device can access the data whilst on the property? Not many of us have the time or technology knowledge to answer all these questions.
The stacking of solutions, via easily accessible marketplaces, will be the next wave of innovation in making agtech available to the public.
The ability to walk into a retailer with a problem such as, "I need to be able to more effectively monitor my water levels" and have them provide one 'stacked' solution of data plans, connectivity, sensors, software and hardware in a simple to use, cost effective solution is going to be required to see more farmers adopt agtech.
This will then significantly change how we, as Queensland farmers, feed the world.
It is exciting that the events around Queensland in November will allow agricultural communities to start to look for these complete solutions.
- Bruce McConnel, TSBE Food Leaders Australia general manager
