Technology has improved our lives in numerous ways, but how often do we give up on new systems when they break down or seem too hard to use? This is the challenge facing the billion-dollar Australian agribusiness industry, where important innovations in digital agriculture have not yet been widely adopted.
鈥淭here have been great advances in digital agriculture in Australia,鈥� 911爆料网 researcher Dr Elizabeth Jackson says. 鈥淏ut the problem we鈥檙e seeing is in the adoption of these new systems. And that鈥檚 not a technology issue, but a human issue, which impacts businesses and our supply chain.鈥�
Dr Jackson argues that a greater uptake in new digital technologies would significantly advance Australia鈥檚 food production supply chain by improving meat quality, creating greater profits for farmers and, importantly, enhancing standards of animal welfare.
鈥淐reating value is essential for Australian food in the global market. Our competitors overseas can produce meat and grain for a lot less, so if we want to keep enjoying the prices we receive for our goods, we have to offer a premium product.鈥�
And that鈥檚 where advances in digital agriculture come in.
鈥淲e have a really exciting new technology called DEXA,鈥� she enthuses. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a machine that can measure meat, fat and bone in a carcass before it鈥檚 further processed.
鈥淲hat we want is the meat component of an animal because that鈥檚 where the value is. So, if we build a system of payment based on meat quality, and feed the information back to the producers, it鈥檚 a real monetary incentive for farmers to produce better-quality animals. And better-quality animals are animals raised with higher standards, so we lift animal welfare standards across the supply chain.
鈥淥ur competitors overseas can produce meat and grain for a lot less, so if we want to keep enjoying the prices we receive for our goods, we have to offer a premium product.鈥�
Despite the promise of these improvements, DEXA technology remains prohibitively expensive for many meat processors and has yet to be widely adopted.
鈥淒EXA is understandably too costly for many smaller meat processors,鈥� says Dr Jackson. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e also seeing issues with the adoption of traceability technology like electronic identification (EID).鈥�
EID technology has been developed to monitor sheep throughout the supply chain, using electronic ear tags.
鈥淭he ear tags help trace the provenance of the sheep, which is a great selling point for consumers, enhancing their confidence in the quality of the meat. But despite the clear added value to the Australian meat industry, we鈥檙e having difficulty with its adoption.鈥�
Dr Jackson has been working closely with industry to identify the reasons why.
鈥淲hat I hear from industry is that the slow adoption of this technology is down to price and on-farm practicality,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut a major reason is that producers lack the support systems and motivation to embrace these new technologies.鈥�
鈥淲e need to build better support mechanisms around these technologies to increase producer confidence and uptake.鈥�
Another critical issue for producers is animal welfare. While new technologies are often centred on enhancing animal wellbeing, when they break down, the result is the exact opposite.
Dr Jackson shares the example of sensor technology.
鈥淢any Australian farms are in vast, remote areas where it is costly and time-consuming to monitor animals in person,鈥� she explains. 鈥淣ew sensor technology enables farmers to monitor their livestock remotely.”
For example, the technology can be used to monitor the welfare of pregnant cows and calves in ultra-remote locations.
鈥淥ne of the most stressful times in a cow鈥檚 life is when she鈥檚 pregnant and giving birth,鈥� explains Dr Jackson. 鈥淏ut in these remote locations, some cows may never see a human. Electronic identification can monitor the cows during this crucial pre-natal period and alert the farmer to any distress.鈥�
While the technology offers significant cost and time savings, farmers are concerned about the consequences should the technology fail.
鈥淟osing a cow due to pregnancy or birth would be disastrous.鈥�
Hope on the horizon
Dr Jackson says a new system to monitor remote watering points is enjoying greater success, due to an innovative support network devised by local farmers.
鈥淎s I mentioned, many Australian farms are enormous,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t takes a huge amount of time and money to check on livestock watering points. But watering points need monitoring because they鈥檙e often in arid conditions, and frequently service livestock and wildlife.鈥�
Farmers are now able to monitor these watering points remotely from their phones.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a fantastic innovation and everyone is really happy with it, until the technology breaks down, as new technologies often do,鈥� Dr Jackson says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unforgiveable for animals to be deprived of water, so there is a great risk farmers will 鈥榙is-adopt鈥� the system because of the high-stakes consequences of its failure.鈥�
But a group of farmers in Western Australia has banded together to find a solution.
鈥淭his group has got together to fund a local support service,鈥� explains Dr Jackson. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e said, 鈥榃e want this to work, and if the system breaks down, you don鈥檛 have to call a tech support centre that might be based overseas, we鈥檝e got someone locally who can speak to you and help you out.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great example of how we can build businesses and supply chains differently to facilitate the adoption of digital innovations so they continue into the future.鈥�
Dr Jackson hopes her research into these supply chain technologies will encourage the development of further support systems.
鈥淚f we can encourage producers to embrace these new technologies, there will be tremendous benefits for Australian agribusiness,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about putting the right support systems in place and understanding that the adoption of digital agriculture is not merely a technological process, but a social one.鈥�
Researcher profile
is a senior lecturer in 911爆料网鈥檚 School of Management and Marketing, and a visiting scholar at the Royal Veterinary College (UK). She has a strong industry and education background in agribusiness, food marketing and supply chain management and has taught in high-level roles at institutions across the UK and Australia. She is a board member of Sheep Producers Australia and the Western Australian Farmers鈥� Federation Livestock Council.
