Queensland Country Life

With the global population expanding, ag industries must learn to adapt in order to survive

Photo: Shutterstock.com.
Photo: Shutterstock.com.

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With the global populations set to hit nine billion by 2050, the time has come for the industry to start seriously looking to the future, Chris Riddle has warned.

That’s why the renowned futurist, global trend spotter and agent provocateur will lead a cohort of presenters at next year’s evokeAG Conference in Melbourne.  

Early bird tickets are now on sale and Mr Riddle says producers from across the spectrum must come together and begin to understand how technologies such as robotics and AI are going to impact the global industry in the years to come.

“The fusion of technology and agriculture is creating some chaos within the industry and there is a growing movement in agriculture to apply information technologies to the industry to improve practice, efficiencies, and yields,” he explained.

“evokeAG 2019 will engage a broad diversity of stakeholders including farmers, agritech innovators and investors, from Australia and overseas to facilitate discussion and act as a convergence point for the best initiatives in the agrifood field.”

With the global population expanding, ag industries must learn to adapt in order to survive
With the global population expanding, ag industries must learn to adapt in order to survive

Over the course of two days, a world-class line-up of speakers will explore ideas shaping the future of agrifood tech, including farm robotics, blockchain, the economics of vertical farming, big data, bringing AI driven automation to the farm and how the agrifood tech investment space is evolving.

Global thought leaders confirmed to speak at evokeAG 2019 include:

  • Israel’s Dror Tamir, co-founder and CEO of Hargol FoodTech and the world's first commercial grasshopper farm.
  • Israel’s, Nitza Kardish, CEO of Trendlines Incubators and a world-leading Israel and Singapore based incubator of agricultural technology startups.
  • Leading USA expert, David Rosenberg, CEO and co-founder of AeroFarms, a clean technology company that builds and operates advanced vertical farms in urban environments. Mr Rosenberg is also considered a global pioneer of indoor "vertical farming" techniques that allow crops to grow without soil or natural light.
  • And, USA based CEO and co-founder Emma Weston of Australian blockchain start-up AgriDigital, which provides a blockchain-enabled, integrated commodity management solution for the global grains industry.
With the global population expanding, ag industries must learn to adapt in order to survive
With the global population expanding, ag industries must learn to adapt in order to survive

Created by AgriFutures Australia, evokeAG is one of the nation’s largest agricultural/IT events and brings together some of the world’s brightest minds. 

AgriFutures Australia’s managing director John Harvey believes both Australia and New Zealand have the right ingredients to play on the world stage in food and farm for the future. That’s why events like this one are so important.

“When I look at agrifood tech in Australia I see so much hard work, energy, enthusiasm and activity. There are incubators, accelerators, hackathons, pitch fests and more that are doing a fantastic job of looking at old problems in new ways. There are people bringing technological expertise to agriculture to provide solutions and systems that will boost productivity and profits,” he explained.

“From working closely with the Australian agriculture sector’s emerging leaders, I also see a real enthusiasm for technology’s potential to transform the way the industry works and break down barriers. It’s not just the consumer opportunities that are exciting these emerging leaders either, they’re also keen to be involved in their own agrifood tech innovations and investments. They want to use their unique skills and experiences to generate ideas and solutions that could lead to both commercial success and boost farm productivity.”

With the global population expanding, ag industries must learn to adapt in order to survive
With the global population expanding, ag industries must learn to adapt in order to survive

He also said there was a genuine international interest in what’s happening in Australia too. While our innovation ecosystem is immature compared to those in the UK, the US and Israel, he continued, we were nonetheless making a name for ourselves.

“evokeAG is a unique opportunity for the agrifood tech sector to have the conversations required to mature our innovation ecosystem and take the industry to new heights,” he said.

“It will be a place where through collaboration, new ideas can spread across the country and we can create a culture of support around the people developing the technology and solutions that will allow us to produce more food and fibre.”

The conference will take place at the Royal Exhibition Building from February 19 and 20. For more information click here.

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