Accelerating precision agriculture to decision agriculture: Enabling digital agriculture in Australia

Abstract

Australian agriculture is on the brink of an upgrade. The transition from analogue business and production models to digital is creating challenges and opportunities across all industry sectors, domestically and internationally. Agriculture is not immune. Economic modelling has shown that digital agriculture could increase the gross value of Australian agriculturaliii production by $20.3 billion (25% increase on 2014-15 levels). Australia has been a world leading player in the development of precision agricultural tools. For example, the Australian company Beeline released the first navigation system for agriculture more than 20 years ago. Despite our innovative culture, the Australian AgTech market is in its infancy compared to countries such as the United States of America (USA) and Israel. (AFI) Information and communication technology (ICT) spill over from overseas is occurring in some industries including cropping, dairy and intensive livestock. However, Australian production systems face some unique challenges that require home-grown solutions to enable appropriate data based decision making. Many Australian producers are finding it difficult to navigate the digital agricultural marketplace and worry about unwise investments without a guarantee of return. Producers lack trust in data management systems, access by third parties and are unclear about the terms that govern their data including who owns their data. Many producers and agricultural stakeholders require improved digital skills and knowledge and are frustrated by the unreliability of telecommunications connectivity and the inadequate services currently supporting the adoption of digital technology. A lack of producer control and under-utilisation of data to make decisions are putting Australian agriculture at a global disadvantage. Australia cannot afford to be left behind.