Agtech

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (14:23): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister update the house on the government's approach to capitalise on opportunities in agtech and grow agriculture in South Australia?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (14:23): I thank the member for Finniss for that very important question. He knows, as a dairy farmer in a previous life, just how important technology in particular can be to help primary producers and keep them globally competitive. A key focus for this government is going to be agtech and the adoption of technology on farm, the growing of agriculture, the growing of horticulture and how agtech can be an enabler to not only be more competitive but also make us produce more with less. I think it is very, very important, but the fact is the primary producer is now looking for tools to make them more competitive, more productive, and agtech will be the answer.

Just this week, nominations closed for my agtech advisory group. There was very, very strong interest. I was overrun with almost 70 nominations for the eight-person panel. What that group will do is provide me with independent advice on opportunities and long-term strategies for greater adoption and commercialisation, particularly with the R&D programs that we see. Many of the universities and many of our research stations nowadays have done some outstanding R&D work, but it's the next step. How do we commercialise that? How do we adopt that? The agtech sector is one of the sectors that will continue to evolve. As part of the agency, I am going to make sure the department have agtech as a priority.

I can also announce to the house today that we will be hosting the agtech industry forum in September, prior to the Growing SA conference. The Growing SA conference has been an outstanding success. Growers are attracted to that conference from all over the country, and I would like to think that South Australia is now in the box seat not only for promoting agtech but for being a leader in adoption and adopting some of those R&D projects.

Agtech is producing efficiencies in the supply chain and often providing cost savings to our primary producers who are competing on a global stage. Whether it be drones, robots, lasers, nanoscale sensors, blockchain, greater data measurements or analytics, technology is helping to create greater market access and return a more premium price to farmers and growers. For them to be able to do that, for a government to be able to assist them to do that, it will make them more competitive. They will then be able to forward invest, making sure that they can grow their businesses, be more competitive and put the produce that the world expects us to put on those people's tables.

Those new technologies can support agricultural businesses to drive growth, and one of the mantras of this government was that we would drive growth, that we would be better custodians of food production and that we would support product traceability. The agtech sector has the potential to be a significant economic enabler and here in South Australia we want to be a part of the national target. The national target is for primary production to be of a value of $100 billion by 2030 and South Australia must be onboard. We must be a part of that and I am hellbent on making sure that South Australia is a leader not only with agtech but with food production and being globally competitive.