Australian agriculture and agtech is HOT! But is it more than buzzword bingo?
Everywhere you turn there seems to be a new agtech idea (and/or a new buzz word being bandied around!). I don’t know about you, but in truth I probably swing between having my mind blown and being completely overwhelmed and unable to keep up with all the change happening! It's becoming clear that agtech will change the way we farm in Australia (and the rest of the world)- it is not just a case of if, but when.
These motherhood statements are all well and good, but many farmers (and existing ag industry tech providers) are asking, “yeah that sounds great, but prove to me I need it, how i'll implement it, and if (when) it breaks down who's going to fix it?" There's an increasingly large gap between agtech and the on-farm practical realities of technologies.
Both Sarah and I are lucky that we get to meet some truly inspiring and interesting people that talk about the potential of Agtech. Unfortunately, a lot of those conversations are in the cities and therefore don’t get the airplay for the greater agricultural community. We are starting this podcast to facilitate and encourage the interaction between farmers and the (predominately city-based) tech world. Currently, the vast majority of research is communicated via papers, conferences and blogs, all of which require a large amount of time that none of us have!
We hope that our podcast, which can be accessed on the go, will be a convenient way to connect with the agtech community whether you're in the car, paddock, or city high rise.
Episode 1
In this first episode, Sarah and I discuss what we want to achieve by creating a podcast. It can really be summed up in the tag line, “Agtech so what?”. We are exploring what it agtech is, and why it's relevant to the Australian ag community- both urban and rural/regional/remote!
Australian farmers are already the best in the world (this is the flattery part). They have been largely unsubsidised, have had to work with one of the harshest environments in the world, and have still achieved the world’s best agricultural practice across almost every commodity produced. Australian farmers are an innovative, hard-working bunch and are constantly searching for better farming practices and techniques. But agtech portends to take this to the next level. Hopefully our podcast is a practical way to bridge the divide between the Agtech world of start-up, venture capital, emerging technology... and the agricultural world of soil, crops, and animals.
We hope you'll be part of our online community, and help us bridge this gap. If you have any ideas about who and what you want to know about, you can find us at @bushtechsimon and @svnoles.
In the meantime, enjoy the first podcast, and don't forget to subscribe "Bushtech" on iTunes!
Cheers!
-Simon (@bushtechsimon)