REALISING THE POTENTIAL OF AGTECH FOR AUSTRALIA

CONTENTS

Scope of research

4

Executive summary

5

What is AgTech?

7

Why AgTech?

8

Emergence of AgTech

9

Opportunities for Australia

10

Global drivers of change

11

Current state of AgTech in Australia

14

Federal, state and territory governments

15

Research bodies and higher eduction

18

Investment firms and banks

19

AgTech industry

21

AgTech startups

24

Challenges in building the Australian AgTech sector

31

A yardstick for Australia

37

Recommendations

40

Acknowledgements

44

Appendix - case studies

45

Appendix - global leaders

53

2

FOREWORD Andrew Robb AO

In agriculture, aided by technology, Australia is moving in the right direction. This report highlights some important initiatives and leading companies and organisations from around the country doing world-class work to build the AgTech sector here.

As populations in Asia and Africa become wealthier, demand will continue to surge for the kinds of high quality agricultural goods we produce. Australia’s aspiration to be a food bowl for Asia will be helped enormously by technology. At the same time, agriculture offers a rich opportunity for developing highgrowth technology businesses that have the potential to bring Australian AgTech solutions to a global market. As a leader in agriculture, Australia can work to become a leader in the next wave of technology that underpins it too. Global competition from places like Israel, the US and the UK is strong - they too see the benefits AgTech can deliver and have moved fast to become leaders.

Australia has its roots in the agriculture, both literally and figuratively. We owe much of our prosperity to the hard work and determination of generations of drovers and planters, shearers and growers. Our nation takes pride in its farmers, regional centres and national produce. Right now the industry stands at a crossroads. As with most sectors, technology has surged into agriculture, pushing aside wellworn practice, challenging long-held assumptions and upending our understanding of what is normal as well as what is possible.

This document aims to help guide a productive conversation about AgTech in Australia. It explores the scope of the opportunity, identifying that with global food production needing to increase 70% by the year 2050, agriculture is predicted to become Australia’s next $100bn industry by 2030. It goes on to outline some areas of strength for Australia, drawing on both domestic experience and international context. The report concludes by offering recommendations on how we can work together to best position Australia as a key player in the global AgTech industry.

This is not the first time agriculture has been fundamentally altered by technology. Modern farms would be unrecognisable to those who worked the land just 100 years ago. Whether through machinery, fertiliser, pesticides, genetic modification or even the development of the plough - agriculture has been continuously reinvented for thousands of years.

Agriculture plays a central role both in Australia’s economy and its national identity. It has always been a strength and passion of ours. This document provides important thought leadership on how to nurture the technology that will help Australian agriculture remain world-leading in the years ahead. I commend it to you.

We are now presented with a series of choices for the future. Automation, artificial intelligence, ubiquitous high-speed communication, dron