TasFarmers Matters - Technology's helping hand

The recent Hort Connections conference in Adelaide was a real eye-opener. This was the first Hort Connections I’d been to. At face value, the conference name is all about connecting people, and that is a critical feature. But underpinning that is the connection of farmers to new technology.

On the morning of the conference, I spoke to several Tasmanian farmers who are regular attendees. Their responses, when asked separately as to why they attend a conference in the middle of Adelaide in the first week of winter, was the same.

 They came here to see what was new and, importantly, how new technology can make them better farmers.

The match is not just about new gadgets or go-faster gear. 

This is about seeking the best match for what comes next; thinking about the future and seeing how their farms adapt to a changing economic climate, as well as an environmental one. 

Technology, matched to artificial intelligence solves many problems and saves money.

But as with the AI that many encounter, such as ChatGPT and other iterations, it is the quality of the question that determines the quality of the outcome. Garbage in, garbage out.

Technology is no substitute for good farming. As any farmer will tell you, there is a lot of instinct and observation that technology can never replicate.

Farmers in cropping will be thinking to the future demands of price constrained by international pressure and lack of political will to rein it in. 

Sheep and cattle producers will be refining on-farm practice to maximise the efficient production of stock to meet narrow, but potentially lucrative, weight and condition requirements. 

Technology is the answer, as are the people who will link technology to farming through emerging new careers.

The array of technology on display and demonstration at Hort Connections was incredible. So many solutions to problems I don’t begin to understand. Farmers come to events such as Hort Connections to bring the problems they see in their farm businesses and the opportunities they might see in markets new and old

 Price permitting, they may just head home with the next new piece to the puzzle. Some people will go home planning on new careers in ag tech.

Another key standout at Hort Connections is the immense value that agriculture adds to the nation’s economy. There is still a perception in metropolitan Australia that vegetables and fruit are grown by some old bloke with a cow named Daisy and a dog called Blue.

The modern reality is that vegetables and fruit are grown by astute business-people who match price, gross margin assessments, available technology, soil types, climate, weather, red tape, green tape, ignorant politicians and aggressive processors and supermarkets.

The future reality is that technology will drive agricultural performance. The use of technology in agriculture is the next boom sector in Australia. If there was one career that will be future-proof, it is farming and the production of food, fibre and pharmaceuticals.

 They are three things that Australians cannot do without.