AgTech Growth Fund

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:52): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister tell the house about the recent announcement of the latest round of grant recipients from the AgTech Growth Fund?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:53): I thank the honourable member for his question. The AgTech Growth Fund forms an important part of the government's agtech program. It's estimated that the return on realising the potential of agtech in South Australia is currently $2.6 billion per year in gross additional value of agricultural production. This is the economic benefit that we can harness as a state if new technological innovations are adopted which better manage our scarce resources amidst a changing climate.

To support this opportunity the AgTech Growth Fund provides support for projects which solve critical industry challenges through grants of up to $100,000. To be successful, projects must be sponsored by a primary producer, and in this way the fund brings together important players in the value chain of primary production, from producers to the developers of technological products, with the expectation that the solutions that are developed will be very, very closely related to the problems that are being addressed.

The second round of the AgTech Growth Fund closed on 2 May and focused on projects designed to improve primary producer drought resilience and climate adaptation, the measurement of sustainability credentials, and improved market access, achieved through enhanced traceability and credentialling. In total, 32 applications were received for the second round, and seven were successful in sharing funding of over $600,000.

Successful applicants will use these grants to develop technologies to improve the efficiency of wool testing, to further develop a cordless shearing handpiece, to optimise smart irrigation systems, to improve the reporting of carbon stock data for wine grape growers, to develop software which provides real-time data to support decision making related to crop disease and pest models, and to improve dairy industry retail compliance data.

I look forward to seeing the progress of these successful projects, as well as the technological advances supported by the AgTech Growth Fund being disbursed broadly throughout industry sectors for the betterment of our industries and our state.