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222 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Getting agtech ready: what a three-generation cropping family does right, with Tim Rethus
30 april 2019 · 35 min
Tim Rethus and his family are cropping farmers near Horsham in Victoria who have made a commitment to “sustainable, low cost farming”. As early adopters and innovators, the family has always been on the cutting edge of building and buying agricultural technology.
Now, as the skills and experience of two generations combine, Tim has some valuable insights to share about adopting (and building) new technology, where to look for inspiration, and how to make the decision to shift to a whole new farming system.
To see a picture of the incredible planter Tim mentions plus a summary of Tim’s insights with additional links and resources, visit
https://www.agtechsowhat.com/bushtechpodcast/2019/4/30/episode-38-tim-rethus-getting-agtech-ready-1
You can follow Tim at @TRethus on Twitter.
This episode is part of the “getting agtech ready” theme, brought to you in partnership with Decipher (www.decipher.com.au).
Find more episodes at https://www.agtechsowhat.com/ or @agtechsowhat on Twitter. Lees meerTopics: ag-tech-adoption, crops-horticulture, farm-economics
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An update from Agtech… so what?
8 april 2019 · 4 min
Sarah here with a quick update on what's new and coming soon at AgTech - So What! Lees meer
Topics: agtech-ecosystem, people-culture
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How an online livestock market became a rural Australia top-10 site, with Angus Street, AuctionsPlus
26 maart 2019 · 26 min
Angus Street - CEO, Auctions Plus Lees meer
This week AgTech So What? Comes to you live from the Sydney AgTech Meetup. Sarah Nolet hosts a conversation with Auctions Plus CEO Angus Street.
It's one of the Top 10 websites visited every day by rural Australians, AuctionsPlus has used simple technology to redefine livestock trading.
Founded in 1986, its fair to say AuctionsPlus has been well tested in the market and has seen some changes over that time in the AgTech and startup scene in Australia. Remaining a privately held company, Auctions Plus is now facilitating more than $630 million worth of livestock sales annually. In July 2018 AuctionsPlus appointed Angus Street as their new CEO. Having worked within the organisation as the Sales Manager he knows every inch of the business and it shows in this conversation with Sarah Nolet.
The Startup Phase is gruelling and AuctionsPlus has experienced exponential growth due to as Angus describes it 'the perfect spot where the value proposition met market conditions'. Now that they enter the next phase of growth how does the organisation navigate the changes. How do they keep culture in tact, and the agility to continue to innovate? 'No way in hell are we going to be corporatised' is Angus's response!
More about the Sydney AgTech Meetup group
More about AuctionsPlus here
Follow Angus Street on Twitter
Connect with Angus on LinkedIn
Follow AuctionsPlus on Twitter
Follow AuctionsPlus on LinkedIn
Companies: AuctionsPlus • Topics: livestock-dairy, ag-retail, ag-data
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John Deere's first integrated-solutions hire on automation and adoption, with Anthony Rudd
18 maart 2019 · 1 uur 5 min
This week's conversation is with Leeton, NSW based managing director of I-AG Pty Ltd Anthony Rudd. Lees meer
Anthony Rudd has a unique insight into the integration of machine automation and data adoption in agriculture and has worked in this space for John Deere Australia, a Chinese company and also in software writing and development.
In 2008 Anthony was employed as John Deere Australia's first ever integrated solutions manager. The concept was extremely new but it had been tested in the United States. Basically his work involved joining technology to the dealership and then to the grower, so essentially moving from machine guidance to full automation and then into integrated data.
He tells Sarah Nolet that his company I-AG is busy working with an external partner developing software that will hopefully unlock the efficiencies in the space at the moment.
"We've built the base software, so it will ingest data from anywhere and any type you can store it safely and you can share it safely with whoever you want to share it with at the moment, in a few weeks we will have the map generation module available."
Anthony's website explains that "I-AG specialize in providing data and software solutions tailored to suit your individual operations. From simple data management all the way to building complex software to enable you to access the data you need instantly and easily enabling our clients to make quick informed decisions based on what their data is telling them."
You can find more information on I-AG here
You can find I-AG on twitter here
You can find Anthony here on Twitter.
View Anthony's LinkedIn Profile here
Companies: John Deere, I-AG • Topics: autonomy-robotics, ag-data, ag-retail
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Farmers taking control of their own data, with the Digital Ag Collective
14 maart 2019 · 42 min
The Digital Ag Collective with Kelly Pearce and Tanya Kilminster from the West Australian wheatbelt. Lees meer
This podcast conversation is about the development of an Australian farmer owned and controlled group that utilises and shares the most relevant data systems and programs available in the Ag Tech sector.
Kelly Pearce and Tanya Kilminster both live and farm in the West Australian wheatbelt. More notably they both hold Agricultural Science PhD's with the CSIRO.
In their chat with Sarah Nolet they explain the climatic and economic imperatives that are changing the way farmers in their regions conduct business.
Tanya works with the WA Department of Agriculture and Food and says, "in the last decade we have really had some challenges from a climatic and economic point of view - so every decision we make has to be really critically thought out. We really need to utilised the data available us to make much more informed decisions. From about 2010 onwards we have had some really 'doozey's' of seasons and so farmers have really challenged us as a Department for solutions."
Both Kelly and Tanya have been interested in making better use of the business intelligence becoming available to their own farming systems and found that once they delved deeper they became frustrated with what they found.
This has led to the establishment of the Digital Ag Collective (DAC).
"We went to Sydney and we put a call out there for data scientist, analysts, IT experts come and meet with a group of WA producers who are really interested in pursing technology for data integration and business intelligence and we were overwhelmed with the response," says Kelly who is the Collectives chairperson.
Kelly says the aim of the DAC is to, "drive industry wide, producer led frameworks and standards for providers to incentivise and allow us the opportunity to give our experience, to be involved in the assessment of these technologies, share our pain points and help co-develop solutions together."
"…
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Live from evokeAG: what makes a farm faster and smarter
9 maart 2019 · 49 min
EvokeAG LIVE Special! Lees meer
In this Episode of AgTech So What we take you to a panel Sarah hosted at the recent Agrifutures EvokeAG Event.
Get ready for even faster, smarter farms.
Precision farming, using satellite imagery and drones to monitor crops along with farm-management software tools to maximize decisions are powering smarter farms. Uptake of these and other AgTech innovations are set to expand with the imminent introduction of faster, cheaper connectivity.
Panel members:
• Anastasia Volkova - Flurosat
• Flavia Tata Nardini - Fleet Space Technologies
• Jonah Williams - Airbus
• Will Wells - Hummingbird Technology
• Martin Clough - SyngentaCompanies: evokeAG, AgriFutures • Topics: ag-data, autonomy-robotics, crops-horticulture
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Live from evokeAG: can alternative farming feed a city of 10 billion?
3 maart 2019 · 45 min
This week we come to you live from EvokeAG. EvokeAG is an exciting event showcasing the best of the best hosted by Agrifutures. Lees meer
Sarah Nolet hosts this panel on Alternative farming - a new frontier.
With global population expected to reach 10 billion people in 2050 and urban sprawl encroaching farmland how do we maximize dwindling resources to feed everyone? Farming practices are undergoing a radical transformation to produce more from less and make the most of what is there.
Panel members:
• James Pateras - Modular Farms
• Dror Tamir - Hargol FoodTech
• Olympia Yarger - Goterra
• Emma Parsons - Agrigate
Companies: evokeAG, AgriFutures • Topics: agtech-ecosystem, people-culture, crops-horticulture
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A century of building farm machinery, with Matt Roesner
25 februari 2019 · 50 min
Matt Roesner is the technical director for his family's machinery business Roesner Pty Ltd. based in Harvey, Western Australia has been in existence for more than 100 years.. Lees meer
The Marshall Multi Spread was the first Australian multi purpose fertiliser spreading machine spreading lime and gypsum at the same time. Since that time 10,000 machines have been built by Matt's family.
Matt says, "we've stayed relevant by spending a lot of time getting to know what our customer base wants and what their needs are. I think one of the challenges these days is the cost of capital equipment, it's continually rising and they are spending large amounts of money on machinery that can only be used for a few months of the year and so we have concentrated on building something simple, that is easy to maintain, that will last multiple seasons and has a long service life."
These days the business is reputable as a leader in the development of agricultural technical data. A few years ago the business built a mobile app for IOS and Andriod to send out calibration data to its client base.
"We got a really good response and so we decide to build a variable controller app for an Ipad and there was immediately a lot of interest in it too," says Matt.
"We see the importance of the data ecosystems that exist around our products is important to the growth of our business so in March 2018 we purchased the Precision Agronomics Australia business, based in Esperance, WA and formed the i4M (Internet For Machines) brand - with the aim of having flexible and open systems that are simple and cost effective and independent from other brands. Our whole plan is to be able to have equipment talking back to the internet to allow applied data usage."
Matt speaks with Sarah about the importance of the agricultural agronomist keeping up with the rapidly developing pace of technology, why he's eagerly awaiting the arrival of artificial intelligence and, the opportunity for Australia to become leaders in a…
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A fifth-generation farmer who works inside the agtech system, with Jennifer Medway
28 januari 2019 · 46 min
Jennifer Medway, Lees meer
Sheep farmer, Gunning NSW
Manager for research and innovation with AgriFutures Australia.
Jennifer Medway is a 5th generation farmer from Gunning in southern New South Wales running a sheep and wool farm with her Mum, Dad and Husband.
In this podcast Jen shares her perspective as a farmer, who's also had career in agricultural policy and governance and now agtech. She explains how she uses a combination of these pursuits to leverage technological progress within the farm business, board rooms and in her role as manager for research and innovation with AgriFutures Australia.
Despite the drought, their farming operation continues to scale driven and inspired in part by the MLA's Producer Innovation Fast Track program which has enabled the adoption and utilisation of tagging, profiling and data management technology to build the best flock they possibly can. It means a lot of investment in new machines, consultants, tags, technology and time but has completely changed their growth mindset. To enable to set-up of their new system, the business has worked closely with agtech and providers such as MerinoLink (EID's), and ClipEx (infrastructure).
Jen lovers her work AgriFutures for its diversity and she says there is much 'horizon scanning.' Her portfolio the National Rural Issues program is the perfect fit for her to leverage her experience in farming and policy issues.
Jennifer Medway - LinkedIn
Emerging Opportunities - AgriFutures Australia
Companies: AgriFutures Australia • Topics: livestock-dairy, government-policy, agtech-ecosystem, people-culture
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Doing precision ag before the internet existed, with Viv McCollum and Margaret Ayre
22 januari 2019 · 57 min
Viv McCollum and Margaret Ayre Lees meer
We're trying something new on the podcast today - a joint conversation with two admirable women in the Ag Tech space - Viv McCollum and Margaret Ayre.
Vivienne McCollum is the founder of agricultural consultancy AGKServices (AgKnowledge) and has been heavily involved precision agriculture for about 18 years (before smartphones and in some instances the internet!). She shares her insights into the role of young people in the adoption of precision agriculture in Australia, as well speaking about what advisors are struggling with. Viv also speaks with Sarah about the tools available to help farmers adopt and get greater value from innovative precision ag in their individual farming operations.
Margaret Ayre is a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne and more recently she's been working the faculty of Science's Rural Innovation Research Group. Margaret shares her insight into the importance of the qualitative and emotional side of agricultural innovation, things like trust and confidence and the pivotal role they play in tech adoption in agriculture.
University of Melbourne Rural Innovation Research Group
Research Paper, Key Findings: Stimulating private sector extension from Australian Agriculture to increase returns from R&D.
Companies: AGKnowledge • Topics: ag-data, crops-horticulture, women-agtech, agtech-ecosystem
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The Shark Farmer on humour, podcasts and questioning agriculture, with Rob Sharkey
13 januari 2019 · 56 min
Rob Sharkey describes himself as a farmer, podcaster and an outfitter. He's a grain farmer from Illinois in the Unites States and has morphed into somewhat of a social media celebrity in Agriculture circles for his commentary and questioning on rural issues. Lees meer
Rob has an inquisitive take on his commentary and tries to incorporate humour and a bit of cheek into his works on his blog, podcast's and occasional TV show as well as 12K following on Twitter.
This conversation explores what he's learnt about podcasting and voicing his opinions to the public - as well as his opinion on how to bridge the rural urban divide through the media.
This is Rob's website sharkfarmer.com
Rob's podcast The Shark Farmer comes out each week - he can also be found at the Farm and Rural Ag Network. His second podcast is the What the Farm podcast.
Topics: people-culture, marketing-brands, agtech-ecosystem
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Measuring every sheep's feed conversion, one animal at a time, with Will MacSmith
6 januari 2019 · 46 min
Will MacSmith is a farmer from Manildra in Central West New South Wales. Lees meer
Will and his business partner Hamish are trying to develop a system to realise profit margins for sheep through the collection of real time data of feed efficiency and conversion for individuals rather than the mob.
They're doing this through trial and error in confinement and feedlotting on Will's family farm where he's been living and working for the last 10 years. Over a period of two years they have been building a facility, using microcontrollers, that measures individual feed intake and live weight at the same time, in real time.
"Every time the animal leaves the stall where they feed from that piece of information gets sent to the cloud and allocated against that individual animal's tag number," says Will.
"We had sheep in the feedlot and we would have varying levels of performance and we found that using growth rates as an indicator for performance was a bit flawed, and doesn't really tell you much about feeding efficiency and cost efficiency."
It's about finding better ways to feed, and better varieties of feed and also looking at the effects of environmental factors such as shearing or heat or lack of water and measuring that against cost benefits and of course they also consider genetics. Will also says similar systems that are already available on the market are cost prohibitive for most farmers.
"At this stage in Australia we can't really get around the cost of labour for the construction of individual stalls on a large scale. At the moment the question probably is, 'would it be cheaper to build it overseas."
Will is working with feed companies interested in comparing and monitoring their feed products and he says there is a lot of interesting coming for sire evaluation and the genetics side of the industry as well.
In this podcast, will also speaks about pushing the Ag industry in Australia forward, and the challenges of ageing demographic in farming.
Will is new to Twit…
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How computers changed a family sheep stud, with Mark Mortimer
17 december 2018 · 49 min
As a child Mark Mortimer didn't like computers. It's a different story now - Mark has evolved to become an early adopter of technology in the field of sheep genetics and stud breeding in Australia. Computers have changed his livelihood. Lees meer
Mark speaks with Sarah Nolet from his farm office at Albert near Tullamore in Central West New South Wales, Australia. It's a family farming partnership with his father and brother and it's Mark's job to look after the businesses genetics, so sheep genetics, embryo's and semen for clients. He see's it as his responsibility to stay at the cutting edge of the industry, genetically.
You can find Mark on Twitter @sheepGeekCP
Topics: livestock-dairy, genetics-breeding, ag-data
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The dairy farmer who codes: building a feed app from the farm, with Carl Lippert
10 december 2018 · 47 min
Carl Lippert is a American dairy farmer and AgTech developer. He's one of the only people I know who has qualifications in dairy science and computer science. Lees meer
Right now Carl is busy as the co-founder of new Ag Tech company FeedX which will become an app for US dairy farmers. It will be a one-stop shop where farmers can calculate, source and deliver feed from paddock to farm.
The platform is a partnership of 2 startup's in the animal feed space, Carl's FeedMNGR app and e-commerce marketplace feedforless.com and will include additional aspects to help farmer and suppliers source and buy feed.
They describe it as, 'a holistic set of solutions designed to increase efficiencies in how farmers and feed manufacturers interact to create a win-win scenario'.
Carl will be pitching their work at the US based Farmers Business Network Farmer2Farmer conference.
Find Carl on Twitter @CarlLippert and @feed_mngr
Learn more about Carl on LinkedIn
Companies: FeedX • Topics: livestock-dairy, ag-data, venture-startups
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The mushroom farmer growing a new generation of agriculture, with Chris McLoughlin
4 december 2018 · 53 min
Chris McLoughlin, organic mushroom farmer, Mycelia Organics Lees meer
Chris McLoughlin's forae into farming is a great example of a new generation of investor backed agricultural innovation.
Chris has always had a fascination with soil, dirt and technology and his organic mushroom operation, Mycelia Organics is a mixed of all these things. With a whole lot of self education on the internet, including some online courses he has taught himself how to operate an organic farm that answers what supermarkets and consumers want.
Chris tells Sarah Nolet he didn't necessarily have a specific hankering to buy a mushroom farm but when the opportunity presented itself, with investor backing, Chris jumped at it. In the space of three years since the inception of his company, Mycelia Organics has become the largest organic mushroom farming company in Australia and Chris supplies 90% of the market and sells to more than 600 retailers as well as major supermarkets.
Chris on Twitter
Mycelia Organics website
Chris on LinkedIn
Companies: Mycelia Organics • Topics: crops-horticulture, soil-health, agtech-ecosystem
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Season Two Teaser
4 december 2018 · 2 min
Topics: agtech-ecosystem
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Quick check-in: more episodes coming soon
27 juni 2018 · 1 min
Just a quick note to say we will be back soon with more great episodes and amazing guests Lees meer
Topics: agtech-ecosystem, people-culture
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Why agtech startups need weather scientists on their side, with Dr Jaci Brown, CSIRO
18 juni 2018 · 24 min
Dr Jaci Brown is a Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO, and an expert in weather and climate science. Lees meer
Companies: CSIRO • Topics: climate-risk, ag-data, government-policy, research
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Why the biggest gap in agtech isn't technology, with Brooke Sauer
6 juni 2018 · 40 min
Brooke Sauer is on a mission to close the gap between growers, agronomists, and technologies. Brooke is a digital agriculture manager at McGregor Goulay, an agricultural services company that offers cropping inputs, agronomic services and, increasingly, digital ag solutions. Although Brooke's background is in agricultural genetics, she is rapidly becoming an expert in precision agriculture, as she supports farmers to explore and adopt precision agriculture tools. Lees meer
In talking to Brooke on this episode, it's clear that she cares a lot about her farmers. She knows just how important it is to build personal relationships in the world of AgTech. In this episode, we explore the significance of people skills in an industry that can sometimes be too focused on flashy technologies. We also talk a lot about adoption precision ag technologies, Brooke's journey with drones, and her experience of working with startups, including:
an honest story about drone usage, and how Brooke encourages startups and farmers to be more focused on the data, rather than the machines
how important farmers' confidence is in the adoption and success of precision ag technology
the ups and downs of working with fast-paced, high-energy startups
how Brooke exercises interpersonal skills on a daily basis to build trust with growers
Companies: McGregor Goulay • Topics: ag-data, ag-retail, crops-horticulture
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What if the future of farming doesn't look like a farm? with Allison Kopf
30 mei 2018 · 46 min
Episode 23 - Allison Kopf on redefining what it means to farm Lees meer
Companies: Artemis • Topics: crops-horticulture, venture-startups, agtech-ecosystem, women-agtech
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Twenty years and four startups: hard-won lessons from agtech, with Kevin Heikes
23 mei 2018 · 37 min
Kevin Heikes was part of agtech before it was agtech. He's been involved in four different agtech startups, including his latest venture, In10t. Lees meer
In this episode, we dig into his perspectives on agtech from over 20 years in the space, including:
Hard earned lessons from 4 agtech startups, and what it feels like to have a farmer customer call to say you've made their life better with your product
The importance of tech companies partnering with farmers
Why having an ag background matters in agtech
What farmers are looking for when they agree to trial a new product (e.g., with FarmerTrial.com), and why trials are so tough for venture-backed companies
Just how hard it is to balance working ON the business and IN the business
Companies: In10t • Topics: venture-startups, agtech-ecosystem, ag-data
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Tracking 1,500 agtech companies to find what's next, with Seana Day, Better Food Ventures
16 mei 2018 · 33 min
Seana Day brings a diverse background in agriculture, finance, and technology to the agtech sector where she is a Partner at BEtter Food Ventures. Seana also tracks nearly 1,500 agtech companies in her "Market Maps" through her role as Partner at The Mixing Bowl. Lees meer
Seana's background gives her a unique and valuable perspective on the evolution of the agtech sector, and what the future holds. In this episode, we discuss:
how more and more growers are adopting a digital strategy, and what it means for agtech entrepreneurs and investors
whether the specialty crop market is behind or ahead in terms of tech adoption, and why
silicon valley vs. agtech ecosystems around the world
the fundamentals that agtech VCs look for when making investments, and when VC might not be a good fit
what it's like to be raising a $30M venture capital fund for agtech
what farmers are looking for (and not) in the livestock and dairy sectors
Companies: Better Food Ventures, The Mixing Bowl • Topics: livestock-dairy, agtech-ecosystem, finance-investing, ag-data