South East AgTech demonstration farms are the first in South Australia to go virtual as part of the State Government’s strategy to grow AgTech adoption.
The Struan Best Practice Demonstration Farm last week held an AgTech field day where it launched an online virtual tour to explore the technology on show.
Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development David Basham said almost 20 different technologies were currently operating at the South East demonstration farms.
“We have established six AgTech demonstration farms in the South East, Barossa, Riverland and Eyre Peninsula to showcase already available cutting-edge technologies and encourage greater on-farm adoption of innovative solutions,” Minister Basham said.
“Launching the first virtual tour of the AgTech demonstration farms at Struan and Kybybolite will give farmers the ability to assess the benefits of these technologies without travelling to the site. “It is exciting to see the first virtual tour of our AgTech demonstration farms and we plan to roll this access out across the other four sites.”
The launch of the virtual tour coincided with a field day at Struan showing farmers how their businesses can be enhanced through the adoption of such technologies.
“The Marshall Liberal Government regards AgTech as a key to unlocking the potential of South Australia’s agricultural sector and the initiatives being undertaken at our AgTech demonstration farms are focus points of the South Australian AgTech Strategic Plan,” Minister Basham said.
“This is why we have invested $2.4m over three years to encourage the uptake of these technologies, which has the potential to return up to $2.6b per annum to the South Australian economy.
“We know our primary producers want to see how AgTech and best practice management solutions can work for them in real time.”
The Best Practice Demonstration Farm at Struan is a joint State Government collaboration with Elders through its Thomas Elder Institute.
Elders Managing Director Mark Allison said the government-industry collaboration at Struan and Kybybolite research farms was providing a platform ground-truthing of new technologies and demonstration of the latest research and commercial products.
“The field day is part of our approach to ensuring these demonstration farms are a resource for ongoing industry education,” he said. “The Struan and Kybybolite demonstration farms provide the link between cutting-edge research occurring in South Australia, nationally and internationally, and the implementation of these developments by farmers on their own properties.
“It will show how AgTech can be applied to a large range of day-to-day farming needs to save time and improve productivity.”
The Struan and Kybybolite Best Practice Demonstration Farms are also supported by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA). Visit farmvr.com/virtual-tours/pirsa-bpdf/ to undertake a virtual tour at the Struan and Kybybolite AgTech demonstration farms.
