THERE has been a lot of press surrounding constraints on the agriculture sector due to a lack of connectivity and the data drought in rural Australia.
However, results from a survey conducted by an agricultural market research business show that while data constraints are a real problem, many farmers and agronomists do not feel comfortable with their level of understanding of tech solutions, limiting their use of technology.
Cost was also nominated as a key hurdle in putting farm tech solutions in place.
In its Agronomy and Technology Among Grain Producers study, KG 2 found just 36pc of growers and 37pc of agronomists rated their understanding of technology as 8 out of 10 or better.
Director of solutions design at KG 2 Robert Woods said the study demonstrated the barriers to using technology in farm businesses was far more than just a lack of access to the required services to use tech products.
“The report identifies clear gaps in the knowledge which would slow down the uptake in the technology space,” Mr Woods said.
He said agronomists rated their own understanding of the opportunities technology offers producers at an average of 6.9 out of 10, while farmers rated their own level of understanding at an average of 6.6 out of 10.
Mr Woods said the results backed the theory that larger growers were flocking to new technology in greater numbers.
”The average rating of the understanding of technology was significantly higher among those on farms that harvest over 5000 tonnes of grain,” he said.
While talk on technology now centres on up and coming projects such as yield mapping or variable rate input applications right out to the use of Weedseeker products to cut chemical costs, Mr Woods said GPS was still far and away the most important tech tool according to growers.
Over 67pc of growers rated GPS the single most important tech tool at present.
Interestingly, a large proportion of agronomists, 18.1pc, compared to 4.7pc of growers, nominated variable rate systems as the technology solution with most benefit, highlighting the potential advances to come in this space.
Farmers placed a greater emphasis on soil moisture probes than agronomists, while improved software systems was a popular choice for both groups.
In terms of obstacles to the uptake of tech solutions, Mr Woods said cost was clearly the major reason given by both growers and agronomists.
He said the relatively small scale of the Australian grains industry may make it difficult for tech solutions providers to come up with economic products.
“It is hard to see how companies coming up with a product can get a suitable reward for effort while also keeping prices down.”
Mr Woods also said many farmers and agronomists were waiting to see more evidence of a return on investment from putting their money into technology solutions.