Tech savvy millennials could hold the key to solving some age old agricultural problems, according to University of Queensland professor Dennis Poppi.
Speaking at a recent forum at the University of Queensland’s Gatton, Prof Poppi said the success of agriculture in nations such as Australia, lay within the minds of the industry’s young people.
“There are many challenges coming through and one of the things I want to draw attention to is that the biological problems are pretty much the same but the techniques and the way we address them are changing quite rapidly,” he said.
“There’s a whole group of baby boomers like myself moving out of the system and there’s really a need for young minds to address the same old problems but with a different mindset and a different way of looking at things.”
Professor Poppi said current agricultural research that was going to make an impact in the future was remote sensing water data collection, novel protein sources in new pastures and legumes, younger animals and growth paths, and the genomics revolution and rumen microbiome story.
Professor Poppi is also advising the industry to be proactive about animal welfare.
“That’s live export, and I think the issues of de-horning, branding and castration are going to rear their heads and we need to be doing work on them now,” he said.
It is predicted that the increasing global demand for food will be an opportunity for the Queensland agriculture industry.