The impact COVID-19 has had on people's lifestyle will certainly make for an interesting few years, with more interest in moving to regional Australia.
This change in peoples' choice of lifestyle could be of great benefit to our agricultural sector. One in five people who live in a city are seriously considering moving regionally, according to recent data from the Regional Australia Institute.
Knowing this, we need to be asking, how do we attract highly skilled and talented people to our regions? Now is the time to prepare for this new wave of workforce.
We also need to be creating a value proposition to attract potential new residents. If regional Australia can give these people places to work from and help coordinate industry so they've got a marketplace they can sell to regularly, they will be attracted to your region.
Supporting employment opportunities is key to creating an environment where success can thrive.
A key way in which regional Australia can deliver economic growth is through the agtech journey and agriculture entrepreneurs. Agtech is predicted to become Australia's next big thing, which is why businesses should prepare to attract entrepreneurs to their regions.
Although there's a lot of appetite for this, it's something that regional Australia is yet to capture.
At the moment, many agtech businesses are based in capital cities because that is often where the investment comes from.
However, at some point they may have to move to where their clients operate, regional Australia.
Therefore, It is important to strengthen the regions to maximise innovation uptake to ensure that the our farmers are more competitive, prosperous and sustainable.
We also need to ensure that investments are targeted to activities that will maximise productivity and ensure the long term prosperity of Australian agriculture.
We are already seeing many bright innovators making the move to the Darling Downs. It is exciting to be able to bring these innovators together for TSBE's 400M Agrifood Innovation Forum in Toowoomba.
This forum will be held on June 2-3 and for the first time it will include a field day so attendees will see the innovations and new technology in action.
- Bruce McConnel, TSBE Food Leaders Australia general manager
