AgTech Finder leading the way for producers navigating a changing tech world

Food Agility CRC is a $150 million innovation hub harnessing the power of digital technology to help the Australian agrifood industry be more globally competitive and sustainable. AgriFutures Australia is proud to be a funding partner of the CRC.

Designed with producers in mind, the collaboration has resulted in a practical, independent online “search engine”. Producers can access instant information, search, sort and compare hundreds of AgTech solutions according to their specific needs and the problems they are trying to solve.

Food Agility CEO, Mike Briers, said the plan is to build AgTech Finder from the broad directory of available agtech into an online marketplace with customer reviews, case studies and education resources.

“This is really stage one of AgTech Finder. We’d love to hear from Australian producers about what else they’d like to see on the site that would help them make confident decisions about agtech,” said Mr Briers.

The digital platform has different portals depending upon the users’ needs and enterprise mix, so producers and agronomists can tailor the platform to suit them. While agtech vendors can list their product and access a national marketplace and insights to improve their offerings.

Food Agility CRC Chief Scientist, Professor David Lamb, who recently appeared on ABC TV’s Landline as a part of a  feature on technology solving everyday farming problems , said technology is helping solve everyday problems in agriculture.

“Farmers are saying ‘don’t offer me products, offer me solutions and solve my problems’ and that’s going to take a lot of empathy from tech developers and data analysts to understand what’s important to them.”

Professor Lamb added, “Don’t give them what they don’t want. Give them what they need.”

Fifth generation sheep producer and AgriFutures Australia Senior Manager of Business Development Jen Medway, said the ability to access information in the one spot across a range of agtech solutions is long overdue.

“We run a tech-savvy farm enterprise and have had difficulties navigating the system and understanding what tech solutions are right for our business that will result in saving us time or money – hopefully both!

“This new platform really is the first step in supporting producers to sort through the maze of agtech solutions and identify the opportunities to solve our pain points and return an economic or efficiency dividend for our farm business,” Ms Medway said.

The AgTech Finder platform features more than 230 products from AgTech companies large and small, established and emerging, Australian and international. Producers can search based on your sector, then drill down to the problem you want to solve.

Designed with and for producers, its product listings include pricing model; installation process; number of units deployed; energy source; compatibility with other products; who owns the data; and how data will be kept private.

Stay tuned for more features on the AgTech Finder.