#Technology

The future of farming is already taking shape – led by emerging technologies that respond to the rising pressures of climate change, population growth, changing consumer preferences, and escalating costs of production. Across Australia and the world, farmers, researchers, and agtech innovators are developing tools that promise to make agriculture more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. This article explores the future farm technologies transforming food and fibre production: what’s in use now, what’s on the horizon, and what’s poised to scale in the years ahead.

Climate change is transforming the way we farm. Unpredictable changes in rainfall and temperature patterns are bringing drought, heatwaves and flooding. And as extreme weather becomes more frequent across Australia and around the world, crop failure from climate change is emerging as a real food security threat.

No speeches, no rehearsed responses, just honest answers to tough questions that focused on the future of food production, and the part that agtech innovation will play in it.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming one of the most influential technologies in modern agriculture. As global pressures mount to feed a growing population in a changing climate, farmers and agribusinesses are turning to new solutions to remain competitive and sustainable. Among these, AI has emerged as a valuable tool, reshaping how food is grown, harvested, and distributed.

Feeding a global population projected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050 — while facing the realities of a changing climate — is one of the defining challenges of our time.
Farmers will need to increase crop and livestock production with greater efficiency, smarter resource use, and improved system resilience, even as climate change brings more extreme weather and greater variability to growing conditions.

SkyKelpie founder Luke Chaplain will take mustering to new heights at evoke^AG. 2025 on 18-19 February with a live remote drone muster. Luke shares the lineup of launches planned for evoke^AG. 2025, and why he can’t wait to take to the skies – all from within the four walls of the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Olympia Yarger and Sally-Ann Williams join Jayne Cuddihy in the evokeAG 2024 series to explore deep tech and the journey of female founders.

The price of fresh food and how the profits are shared along the supply chain from producer to check-out is under scrutiny, in both parliamentary and ACCC inquiries, in the media, and around the dinner table.
But how can fresh food producers pivot business models to get better outcomes? And what role does technology play in unlocking opportunities throughout the supply chain?

Farming in today’s economic climate is a battle between productivity and sustainability but what if there was a way for these two objectives to be achieved in tandem? Is it possible to grow economic prosperity at the same time as we diminish our carbon footprint? Could we revitalise Australia’s landscapes by the way we farm them? As it turns out, the answer lies in the hands of our farmers.

A joint effort by the red meat sector and government has delivered sought-after shelf-life extensions for vacuum-packed chilled sheepmeat and beef exports to key markets in the Middle East. However, innovative packaging and freight solutions are still required to extend shelf life of fresh sheepmeat carcase exports – which accounts for the bulk trade to the Middle East – to capture similar value and recover from the COVID-19 induced airfreight capacity crunch.

It was billed as the ‘had to have’ ticket for investment-ready startups at evoke^AG. 2020, and now interest in the evoke^AG. 2022 Investor Dinner has stepped up a notch, with investors equally excited to secure their own seat at the table.

This week, we speak to Emma Weston, CEO and Co-Founder of AgriDigital about blockchain technology, how it’s evolved and used across agricultural industries today, specifically grains, and how it’s empowering farmers to access value beyond the farm gate.