Pitch for agtech funding
AUSTRALIA is pitching itself as the world’s agtech capital, with a new campaign to attract international investment in the emerging agricultural technology sector launched by the Federal Government.
Recent developments in agriculture-specific digital technology and its impact on farming systems is being billed as the fourth revolution in agriculture – or Agriculture 4.0 – and Trade Minister Simon Birmingham wants Australia to become the hub of future innovation.
At this week’s evokeAG forum in Melbourne, Senator Birmingham will reveal global investors are noticing how quickly Australia is advancing in agtech.
He said the government wanted to turn that interest into investment, rather than the sector relying on
❝Australia has the potential to be a powerhouse in agri-food tech...
— Simon Birmingham
government start-up grants.
He said while big companies such as Bosch and Cisco had already made small investments in Australia’s agribusiness sector, the government and industry had identified huge potential for future growth.
“Australia has the potential to be a powerhouse in agri-food tech and we want to help the sector reach its full potential,” Senator Birmingham said.
“Our farmers are some of the most innovative in the world but we’re behind the pack when it comes to commercialising our food and farming technologies.
“We’re leading the way in areas such as ag biotechnology, novel farming systems, traceability tech and farming robotics, but the challenge is further developing these technologies into commercially viable products for wider use in Australia and overseas.”
Senator Birmingham said the government wants to connect investors with Australian farmers and agtech start-ups and encourage more collaborative research and development opportunities.
A recent report following a KPMG-led study tour of the Netherlands – the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural produce – identified significant growth potential for the Australian sector from greater collaboration and co-investment.
Report author, Ben van Delden, head of KPMG’s agri-food tech division, led the delegation with representatives of global ag-investment firm, AGFunder, and found innovative technology and intellectual property is now the single largest segment of Dutch agri-food export earnings.
“Of the many lessons we took away from the Dutch, the most useful and relevant is the power of collaboration... there is an apparent default mindset in the Netherlands to do things faster, with greater scale and impact,” he said.
“This mindset has resulted in the establishment of production clusters and centres of excellence across the Netherlands.”
The report recommends establishing a coalition of Australian leaders to drive initiatives to accelerate collaboration and technology adoption across the sector.