Research by ACM Agri has uncovered what farmers believe are the biggest benefits and hurdles in agtech adoption.
The research results were presented by ACM Agri insights and strategy manager Karen Rogers in the session Harvesting Knowledge: Understanding Farmer Literacy and Adoption of Agri-Innovation in Australia at the AgSmart Connect event held in Tamworth.
"What we're hoping for is that the results and comments from the survey will provide actionable insights, not only for farmers, but for policy makers, agritech developers and agricultural extension services," Ms Rogers said.
From the beginning of December 2023 to the end of January this year, ACM Agri spoke to more than 530 farm owners or managers for the survey, with 81 per cent coming from the broadacre sector. Ms Rogers said adoption of new technology was important for a range of reasons including improved productivity and profits, the need to feed a projected 9.7 billion people by 2050 and to meet consumer demands and expectations.
"We asked farmers about the digital farming practices they currently use, and plan to use, across a range of technologies including digital mapping, planning tools, yield monitoring, remote sensors and AI," she said.
"The overall current adoption rate of these practices was quite high at 86 per cent.
"But when you look at the use of these technologies by age, property size or farm activity it really highlights the gaps in the adoption."
Younger farmers, aged between 18-44 years, had a higher adoption rate of 92pc, followed by 88pc for those between 45-64 years and 77pc for those 65-plus.
Larger farms of more than 5000 hectares had higher adoption of 95pc, with farms between 1000-4999ha at 89pc and less than 999ha at 81pc.
Grain growers led adoption by sector at 96pc, followed by mixed cropping/livestock at 94pc and solely livestock at 78pc.
Respondents reported the three biggest barriers to adoption were the cost of implementation, a lack of skills to operate and troubleshoot electronics and digital systems and a lack of fast, reliable and affordable connectivity to the internet.
The top three benefits experienced included better planning and tracking of farm activities, better time management and more informed decision making.
Farmers reported that the top ways to improve agtech knowledge was through meeting and speaking directly to other farmers, attending agtech field days and speaking directly with suppliers and industry experts, and reading about other farmers' experiences.
