Common ground, connection and frank conversation: What to expect from evokeAG. 2025
With an overarching theme of ‘common ground’, evokeAG 2025 invites attendees to put their heads together to tackle the biggest challenges facing industry, consumers and the planet.
evokeAG 2025 will be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
As the long Aussie summer break draws to a close, workers all over the country are becoming re-acquainted with their offices and their diaries. Suddenly, we find evokeAG 2025 is almost upon us. This theme for this year’s event is ‘Common Ground’. That means a focus on working towards shared goals, shared visions and positive outcomes for producers, consumers and the planet.
Throughout the program, nature finds commonality with tech; traditional knowledge meets innovation; startups connect with investors and early champions; collaborators find each other.
Exhibitors at evokeAG. 2024
evokeAG is designed to bring together people with similar mindsets and goals, but differing approaches to all manner of challenges, from climate resilience to management of natural resources to efficient food production.
Food systems and farming practices are not only the centre of attention, but examined in the context of past, present and future — the context of where Australia excels and where there’s room for improvement.
RELATED: Five must-see sessions on day 1 of evokeAG. 2025 – evokeAG.
This year’s event has been orchestrated to spark conversation, and the kind of critical thinking that leads to critical action. In practice, what does all of that actually look like? Here’s what to expect from evokeAG 2025.
Tough questions: You ask, they answer
In lieu of a traditional keynote, evokeAG 2025 kicks off with a Q&A session with a difference, passing the mic to audience members and inviting them to pose questions to a panel of leaders from the full spectrum of the agrifood-tech industry.
Adam Fennessy PSM, Secretary of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) will be in the hot seat, alongside the likes of Andrew Bate, co-founder and CEO of SwarmFarm Robotic; Queensland Farmers Federation CEO Jo Sheppard; Downforce Technologies founder Professor Jacqueline McGlade; and more.
RELATED: Drought Venture Studio by Beanstalk Agtech
Later, panels unpack critical questions facing the industry. How can agriculture empower First Nations communities, and better embrace Indigenous knowledge? Will the prevalence of weight-loss drugs have a lasting impact on global food systems? Can agriculture provide a solution to climate change and the biodiversity crisis? How can we rethink funding in agritech, to maximise impact?
The event is always about making real connections to foster new opportunities.
Leading food companies will also share personal tales of what has worked for them, what hasn’t and (most importantly) the lessons learnt along the way. Expect case studies, blue-sky thinking, tough realities, and stories of successes and struggle in equal measure.
An eye on the future of agriculture
Away from the stage lights, evokeAG’s trademark Startup Alley event is back, showcasing 40 startups and scaleups using tech to address critical agricultural challenges. This year, ten international startups join the lineup, showcasing global talent while highlighting Australia as a key testing ground for up-and-coming companies.
The Scaleup Station hosts graduates from previous Startup Alley exhibitions, proving the potential for scale, growth and evolution, and creating a platform for new connections and the next steps.
RELATED: Startups at evokeAG seek new growth in Australia
The innovation is awe-inspiring. Robots harvest mushrooms, forage for berries and till fields, while drones monitor farmland and muster cattle from the sky. Other tech includes IoT soil monitoring, farm safety tools, carbon-negative wastewater treatment and various bee-based innovations.
Finally, a pitchathon will highlight eight early-stage startups focused specifically on drought resilience and climate change adaptation.
Connection, inspiration and channels to action
Themes of connection and Common Ground are woven throughout the program and events, from opening and closing sessions encouraging participation and dialogue, to an ‘intimate conversations’ breakout offering opportunities to chat with key speakers.
In one session, legendary Aussie journalist Leigh Sales will speak on the power of storytelling to inspire action.
In another called ‘People first: The untold story driving agritech and agriculture’s future’, a panel put the focus on the humans behind agriculture. Supply chain leaders will share the hard truths about workforce gaps, skills shortages, and what needs to change now to ensure our future is not only tech-driven, but instead, people-powered.
Attendees at the evokeAG 2025 launch in Brisbane in April 2024.
The invite only Culinary Capital event offers a kind of speed-dating for agrifood, bringing investors, corporates and startups together to chat about the future of AI, climate, biodiversity and more. With the goal of ‘deep interaction’, this exclusive investor event is designed to create insightful conversations that tackle the key challenges facing this industry — and the general public at the end of it all.
Food in focus (and on the plate)
evokeAG 2025 is about tackling tough challenges for industry, consumers and planet, and asking the difficult questions. But it’s not about easy answers or silver-bullet solutions.
Rather, it’s about breaking new ground, sharing ideas and making progress. It’s about working together to create change in the ways that matter most.
Of course, when we’re talking about food systems, it’s not hypothetical.
Guests enjoying drinks and networking at the evokeAG 2025 launch in Brisbane.
So, it’s only fitting that a Festival of Food should showcase the quality end products coming out of the Queensland agrifood system, bringing every discussion to life in a deliciously tangible fashion. Because how better to connect theory to practice; ideas to outcomes; and people to people, than over a plate of homegrown Aussie produce? *chef’s kiss*.
See the full program of events here. For more information about evokeAG. 2025, and to purchase tickets visit evokeag.com/2025.
Tickets are selling out fast! AgriFutures Australia is encouraging attendees to secure their tickets, flights, and accommodation now to avoid disappointment.