Casey Dunn

Agritech tends to be defined as innovations that help farmers become more efficient, more profitable, and more sustainable. Beef producer, Robert Mackenzie, wants us to consider how it can help farmers become better storytellers. Here, we learn why the Managing Director of paddock-to-plate business, Macka’s Australian Black Angus Beef, is using agritech to capture, record and share the sustainability story with customers.

Our global food system has a long history of evolution – responding to the changing needs of the global population. But "Are we evolving fast enough?"

Our global food system has a long history of evolution – responding to the changing needs of the global population. As we hurtle towards 10 billion people, with scarcer natural resources and in a changing climate, the question is – ‘Are we evolving fast enough?’ Here, internationally recognised thought leader and AgriFutures evoke^AG. 2023 speaker, Mary Shelman, shares her insights on how to accelerate our transformation, and achieve a more sustainable global food system.

Imagine an innovation system where universities are encouraged to step outside traditional discipline-specific boundaries, and throw the full might of their research and technology at our agricultural challenges? That’s a future, the Australian National University’s (ANU) Centre for Entrepreneurial Agri-Technology (CEAT) is embracing.

US space tech scaleup, Planet Labs’ fleet of approximately 200 mini satellites scan the Earth every day to provide daily high-resolution satellite imagery, and it’s arming landholders with the data to make more informed decisions. Farmer-owned co-operative, Organic Valley is reaping the rewards since teaming up with Planet Labs to develop a pasture mapping tool, that’s helped dairy farmers increase pasture utilisation by 20 per cent.

‘Nature tech’ is gathering pace, offering adaptive soil microbial solutions that help scale up the planet’s ability to heal itself, and improve food security. Ben Barlow, Managing Director of New Edge Microbials and evoke^AG. 2023 speaker, is ahead of the curve – with proven biological inputs that drastically reduce a crop’s carbon footprint and deliver a host of production outcomes for farmers.