"WHY is technology so important?" asked Agworld general manager Simon Foley at the Quairading CRC Farm Office Affairs day recently.
Mr Foley, who works for the Perth-based company, said there was a wave of digital technology providing value to the agricultural market which had increased over the past five years.
"Five years ago we wouldn't have been talking about the importance of digital agriculture but now it's a part of the conversation," Mr Foley said.
"In 2016 there was something like $5 billion invested globally into agricultural technology, but prior to that it was only in the hundreds of millions.
"So why is it so important and how do we get value from this digital technology?"
The Agworld team, which consists of software engineers, soil scientists and agronomists, has spent the past 10 years building technologies to help better the life of agricultural players in Australia and around the world.
"We are a bunch of people who are trying to put together solutions to make life a little easier by the use of technologies," he said.
"Our key users are farmers and agronomists who can use mobile apps with offline functionality.
"The Agworld platform allows growers and agronomist to get value from technology for their farming business."
Mr Foley said it was possible for growers to manage risk and reward by being data driven.
But to execute it they would need collaboration across the business plan.
"All of these plans, including succession plans, financial plans, production plans, human capital plans and technology plans, are important and done well ensure sustainable existence in a farming enterprise," he said.
"We are going to focus on the technology plan but technology can have an impact on all of the other plans."
Mr Foley asked the question "why is agriculture and technology so in the picture at the moment?"
His answer: "because we are going through waves".
"We are in this hype cycle of digital waves," he said.
"Wave one was the internet in 2000, wave two was the mobile internet in 2010.
"We are in wave three which is the Internet of Things and the next wave, wave four, is artificial intelligence and robotics in 2020."
Mr Foley said the robotics phase would require a lot of collaboration.
"Growers are back in the Internet of Things stage which creates a disconnect with technology and where the value is," he said.
"So growers will ask where to focus and where do they fit in?
"How do I absorb these technologies and how do I fit them into my business?
"From our perspective we have online/offline functionality, software that enables these sorts of data captures and data exchanges to happen more simply.
"We have a software business which allows people to access functionality and that's where you need to start."
Mr Foley said his tips to start a business technology plan included "make sure things are easy to use and don't make it more complicated by introducing the wrong technology, choose systems that are cloud based, read terms and conditions, if app providers or services don't have a customer service centre or contact don't use them, compile the data you already have and build on that and work with the reality that farming things need to work offline".
