UNDERSTANDING the motives and hurdles to the adoption of agricultural technology on SA farms is a key factor in the state government's annual agtech survey.
Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister David Basham said the 2021 agtech survey, launched today, would build on last year's results.
"The state government sees agtech as a key to greatly enhancing the productivity, profitability and sustainability of the agricultural sector in our state," he said.
Mr Basham said the goal of the survey was to obtain the thoughts of both farmers and businesses involved in the agtech supply chain.
"As part of our agtech strategy, we committed to undertaking an annual survey to understand the uptake of technology by SA farmers," he said.
Mr Basham recognises technology offers mass opportunities to grow the sector.
"We continue to put platforms in place to support the uptake of agtech by farmers in SA but it is important we continually collected data and feedback," he said.
"SA aims to be the national leader in agtech through a collaborative and cohesive approach with initiatives such as an AgTech Strategic Plan, AgTech Demonstration Farms, AdvanceAg and AgTech Start-Up Hubs facilitated on the advice of the AgTech Advisory Group."
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The inaugural survey contributed important information towards the state's first AgTech Strategic Plan, launched almost a year ago.
Last year's results assisted the agtech advisory group to develop the AgTech Strategic Plan, which guided the approach to increase agtech adoption in SA.
Mr Basham said the predominant feedback from the 2020 survey was most producers still needed to see and understand the value in agtech before investing.
"Full adoption of agtech across the industry could return up to $2.6 billion per annum to the state's economy," he said.
"By providing this updated snapshot on where agtech adoption is successfully occurring and what areas still need addressing, we can then use the information from the survey to further assist our primary producers to embrace and benefit from the latest in agricultural technologies."
To undertake the 2021 agtech strategy survey, which closes September 23 visit pir.sa.gov.au/agtech
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