Smart collars: Dairy cow collars were discussed during the panel’s Q&A section, with Fonterra representatives questioning the after-market support and price competitiveness of cutting-edge tech.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Inside a Shepparton hotel, university academics and technology developers discussed agriculture’s future — and farmers were never far from the conversation.
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Hard to please, reluctant to buy and stubborn on top, farmers represent a data goldmine for the growing agricultural technology sector — if they can be engaged.
Maxie Juang from SproutX was one of four panellists speaking at the NorVicFoods event on March 9.
Ms Juang floated the idea of paying farmers for feedback.
“We should be paying the farmers to give us their input, rather than us saying ‘you should be using this, it’s great’,” she said.
Breakfast meeting: Davi La Ferla (Sensand Technologies), Leanne Johansson (Fruit Growers Victoria) and Lana Young (National Recovery and Resilience Agency).
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Fonterra employees were some of the biggest contributors during the Q&A section, with area manager Matthew Trevaskis saying Choice magazine-style reviews of ag-tech was needed.
“(Dairy cow) collars are huge at the moment but people don’t know what’s a good collar and what’s a bad one,” Mr Trevaskis said.
“Rather than developing new technology, can you create some sort of leader board so I can see how they stack up?
“Sometimes farmers are buying the most expensive unit because they assume it’s the best but it’s not, and they swear off technology because they lost so much money.”
Catching up: Terry Harding (Regional Development Victoria), James Spencer (Sensand Technologies) and Michael Parker (Jeftomson).
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Daneka Hill
Fellow guest Kieran Murphy from Agriculture Victoria recommended the department’s Ag Tech Finder as a temporary solution.
Fonterra Australia sustainability manager Jack Holden posed an all-important question.
“If we make it cheaper to produce, how do we make sure farmers don’t just lose that profit when they’re paid less at the farm gate?” Mr Holden asked.
It was a question that fired up the panellists, but only Sensand operations manager Josh Anderson had a solid idea to share.
“As a primary producer you are a price taker, but I’m interested to see the implication of a connected supply chain, where the consumer can see what farmer created their product,” Mr Anderson said.
A strong farmer-consumer relationship could apply pressure on middle men like the supermarkets and processors.
Sharing ideas: Darcy Clarke and Josh Anderson (Sensand Technologies) with Jack Holden (Fonterra).
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Daneka Hill
The other two panellists were University of Melbourne Dookie campus director Ros Gall and scientist Gregory Harper.
The issue of private companies shooting ag-tech in the foot by not sharing their data or discussing their failures was also discussed, and the panellists agreed on a need for more open-source collaboration.
Networking: Luke Da Costa is from V2Foods, a plant-based ‘meat’ company in Wodonga, and Maxie Juang is from SproutX, a start-up accelerator.
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Daneka Hill
NorVicFoods is only a few months old but has big plans to improve agriculture in the Hume region.
Executive director Lisa Birrell was hired in January and brings 20 years of experience in the dairy sector.
“We don’t want to be a flash in the pan, we want to stick around,” Ms Birrell said of the new ag-tech hub.
“If a farmer is hitting roadblocks they can’t overcome, they can link up with us and we will send university interns out to fix the problem.”
Well done: Flowers were presented to Lisa Birrell to congratulate her on being nominated for a Greater Shepparton City Council women’s award. Ms Birrell is only a few weeks into her job at NorVicFoods but many readers may recognise her as a former Murray Dairy extension officer and Fonterra area manager.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
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