THE Southern Dirt grower group is looking to the future just days after its first major Techspo event at Katanning last week.
Southern Dirt chief executive officer Tracey Hodgkins said the group was already setting its sights on next year’s event – which would be in a different format but just as big and all-encompassing.
“We will have another Techspo,” Ms Hodgkins said.
“Next year we will have everyone in the field.”
She said the whole event would be held under a big tent with machinery displays and trials outside.
“We are going to keep building on the success,” she said.
Ms Hodgkins said last week’s event was the first in Katanning and only the second they have had.
“Last time we had about 130 people,” Ms Hodgkins said.
“It was a totally different format to this one, so you can’t compare the two.
“We had 320 people this time, which was an excellent result.”
In terms of the quality of the presentations Ms Hogkins was more than happy.
“The conference was amazing,” Ms Hodgkins said.
“The feedback we have had has been very good.
“That’s what it’s for – providing an opportunity outside the usual events to learn from and share with each other.
“We had a balanced program – a bit of something for everyone.”
With a variety of presentations and speeches on a diverse range of topics, including the future of farming, robotics, animal husbandry, global food trends and marketing and technological advances in genetics and connectivity, people of all ages and interests were catered for.
The event was held at the Katanning Recreation Centre which offered plenty of space for exhibitor displays on the interior basketball courts, a main lecture area, with three other spaces for different concurrent presentations.
The kitchen staff were kept busy providing breakfast, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.
There were people of all ages in attendance from a variety of agricultural, science and food backgrounds.
Ms Hogkins said the Southern Dirt group had a diverse range of farmers as members with different systems including crops, sheep and cattle.
She said the 350 Southern Dirt members and 250 younger farmers, were a great bunch of people willing to try new things and share their excitement with others.
She said the relationship with the young farmers was great.
“We saw the need for the young farmer group to help them in their education and provide a place to socialise,” Ms Hodgkins said.
“This is important.
“The young farmer group is so good.
“The kids come from everywhere to get involved.
“They are excited about what is happening.”
Ms Hodgkins said the young farmers wing of the grower group was innovative, having created Facebook and Twitter messages about the Techspo to share the event.
Ms Hodgkins said the group had about 450 virtual members who follow them through social media and attend events, but were not part of the group.
Techspo offered visitors a wide variety of information about diverse topics in the industry, including connectivity, the future of farming, value adding to red meat products, robotics in agriculture, genomic advances for disease resistance in plant crops, the AskBill technology app, transparency in the supply chain and much more.
WA Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan said she was impressed with how the event came together with quality discussions and on-farm trials.
Ms MacTiernan stressed the importance for having the latest technology on-farm to keep up with the world.
“Our farmers will find it difficult to compete without digital infrastructure across farm,” she said.
“It’s not practical to drive 30 kilometres to the top of a hill to get a signal.
“Without connectivity you are not able to participate.
“There’s no point running around the world with free-trade agreements if our technology is in the last century.”
Ms MacTiernan said the State government would be seeking federal government assistance to help improve the quality of services for regional and remote WA.
Futurist Paul Higgins gave some good advice on how to develop a 10-year strategic adoption of on-farm technology.
He said by planning ahead and adopting useful systems that could make a difference in on farm practice and profitability, farmers would be up to speed and ready to embrace the changes as they developed.
Mr Higgins said agriculture in 2027 was still uncertain but “those who build the infrastructure can move from limb to limb adopting technologies that suit their needs”.
He said the customer was fickle and producers needed to “listen to them and move to where they are”.
“Move at the speed they are moving at,” Mr Higgins said.
“We need to build a flexible structure that can be flexible with the needs of the customers.”
University of New England Smart Farm professor David Lamb said there had been a push for mobile internet access across the country and the NBN was listening.
“I think the message is getting across,” Mr Lamb said.
He said two thirds of people in Australia lived within 10 kilometres of mobile infrastructure and there was an opportunity for people to dream up internet connectivity technologies for farmers.
Mr Lamb presented a variety of options that people were working on to improve access to the internet across the country.
Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) program manager – food innovation Michael Lee presented the latest in 3D technology for red meat.
He said the MLA was working along the lines of “What’s now? What’s possible? And What’s next?”
Mr Lee said 3D printing was providing an opportunity to design and create a product with red meat that the consumer wanted.
“From start to finish we can have a product ready to go in an hour,” Mr Lee said.
V&V Walsh supply chain manager Dale Miles said the confidence factor in agriculture is the highest it’s been for a long time.
Mr Miles discussed the need for technology assisted alignment between the farm and processors to better connect consumers with producers.
He said using electronic identification, QRCoding, ENVDs for traceability, assurance and scheduling, electronic article surveillance and DEXA would improve data information along the value chain.
“We need to be selective in the data we use to make sure it is relevant for everyone,” Mr Miles said.
“The key priority is to narrow the gap with a better flow of information.
“There needs to be change at a central level to maintain sustainability in WA
“Otherwise we may miss out on opportunities if not managed well.”
Mr Miles said with the investment in software information at the processor stage of the supply chain, information could be given back to farmers in real time so they could determine the best course of action sooner on the way their animals are produced, in terms of genetics and inputs.
“There needs to be a change in mindset from producer and processor to share information,” Mr Walsh said.
Grain Industry Association of WA pulse consultant and food nutritionist Shyamala Vishnumohan said farmers could grow anything but how they marketed it made all the difference.
Dr Vishnumohan said lupins had potential as a new export market in the Middle East and Dubai – after having carried out research on the ground.
She said social media was being used as a tool to promote lupins as an option to add to diets.
Bloggers had also been employed to write articles about the qualities of the crop as a way to promote it.
Dr Vishnumohan said the term superfood was a marketing term employed to attract people to an ordinary food that was nutritious.
“People don’t want to be told to exercise and eat healthily, they want a quick fix,” she said.
“Put it in a drink and they are happy.”
She said people were looking for smart foods that are good for the consumer, the planet and the farmer.
