UWA Industry Forum

August 3rd, 2018

On Thursday 26 July, Andrew Moore (Digiscape Leader) presented a keynote address to an Industry Forum on Disruptive technologies: a new revolution in agriculture, hosted by the University of Western Australia’s Institute of Agriculture. The audience of over 200 included the Hon. Dave Kelly, WA Minister for Innovation and ICT as well as leading farmers, advisors and researchers.

Other highlights of the afternoon included

  • a lively Q&A panel in company with Brad, Ben, Josh, Matt Macfarlane (Yuuwa Capital) and Brad Plunkett and Andrew Guzzomi of UWA. Topics canvassed included the digital agriculture technologies that are “most likely to delight” (AI was nominated); the place of agtech in assisting smallholder farmers; and whether we should look for One Big Thing in seeking to increase average price of products, or whether – as Dr Moore anticipates – greater connectedness along agricultural value chains might instead open up a multitude of higher-value niches.
  • an engaging presentation on developments in autonomous machinery (for which thanks to Ben White and Josh Giumelli of the Kondinin Group)
  • an interview with Brad Jones, whose farming system near Tammin is a classic example of how to drive production costs down through the use of new hardware technologies and careful analysis of soil and farm business informatio