Advancing agriculture is necessary for primary producers in SA with a growing population and the need to feed the increasing population, estimated to be nine billion by 2050, without increasing farming operations.
That is according to keynote speaker at the AdvanceAg conference on Monday, Peter Wren-Hilton, who says agricultural technologies share challenges and opportunities globally, which is why collaboration with all producers, domestically and internationally, is necessary to improve.
"We need to produce more food with less labour and with impacts of drought and other extreme climate events, there are challenges we need to address," he said.
"There has been a lack of tech adoption by farmers because growers are not at the centre of the innovation process, when they should be.
"Open farming systems need to be adapted with producers willing to share data collaboratively so different devices talk to each other.
"Younger generations are interested in science and technology and there will be a larger emphasis on robotics and automation in agriculture so it will attract university graduates to the agtech sector."
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BDO associate director Michael Macrolino said the advisory's agtech division was trying to cross pollinate technologies and data to create collaboration and adopt agtech suitable for many processes, to early innovators within the industry.
"We need to translate technologies and research, into something which can be interpreted and actioned on farm," he said.
"It sounds simple but it is actually quite complex."
There have been enormous agtech advances in the past two years, which expect to add benefits to producers.
But Penny Schulz, Schulz Livestock, believes producers are overwhelmed with agtech solutions and advancements or they can not find what they need for the issues they are facing.
"The agtech advisory group have been trying to bridge the divide between developers and the end user, the farmer," she said.
"It's easier said than done but we need to find more ways to connect farmers with developers.
"If producers and their problems are not the starting point of new technology then you will have an uphill battle to ensure technology, has a good value proposition."
Ms Schultz said farmers need to be partners in this journey, not just another customer or sale and their time needs to be valued.
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