Page 17 - Australian Pork Newspaper

New report finds 24 billion reasons to end the data drought
UNLOCKING the full potential of digital ag- riculture could increase the value of agricultural production by $20.3 bil- lion, helping to achieve the industry’s goal of $100 billion in farm-gate output by 2030.
The finding has emerged from the Precision to De- cision Project, a collabo- ration between 15 Rural Research and Develop- ment Corporations, uni- versities, industry and ag- ribusiness looking at the potential for digital tech- nology across the farm sector.
National Farmers’ Fed- eration president Fiona Simson said the report confirmed what farmers had suspected for years.
“Farmers have long rec- ognised digital farming technologies have real potential to improve pro- ductivity and on-farm ef- ficiency,” she said.
Ms Simson said farm pro- duction was, on average, on an upward trajectory.
“In 2016-2017 produc- tion tallied a record of $60 billion,” she said.
“Our goal is to reach $100 billion by 2030.”
The NFF president said the opportunities for new technologies, such as arti- ficial intelligence and the application of big data are a long way from being realised.
“The largest barrier to re- alising the benefits of these technologies has been poor internet connectivity,” Ms Simson said.
“Farmers have been frustrated for some time by a lack of connectivity, which has hampered tech- nology uptake.”
The report identified ad- ditional barriers to uptake including: a lack of con- fidence in returns from investment in digital ag- riculture; poor knowledge and support to assess op- tions; and trust and legal issues with data owner- ship.
“For many, investment in infrastructure in rural, regional and remote areas, where a huge amount of our agricultural produc- tion takes place, has been perceived as lacking a re- turn on investment,” Ms Simson said.
“However, this report demonstrates there is a re- turn on investment from connectivity infrastruc- ture.”
Specifically, the find- ings detail that agricul- ture alone can expect a 30 percent increase in value and deliver an
overall increase of $24.6 billion to national gross domestic product (a 1.5 percent increase on 2014-15 levels).
“When you consider the already significant contri- bution the sector makes to the Australian economy, this finding is incredible,” Ms Simson said.
“It gives the government 24 billion reasons to focus on finding solutions to the data drought, so the farm sector can reach its po- tential.”
Ms Simson congratu- lated the P2D team on an important body of work.
“The NFF will use these findings to dem- onstrate to governments and telecommunications companies that the pros- pect of a return is real and there is an urgent need for infrastructure to end the data drought,” she said.
“Not just for the agri- cultural sector, but the Australian economy as a whole.”
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Australian Pork Newspaper, December 2017 – Page 17