HOT AIR and hype might be holding back good investments in agricultural technology.
Start-ups and new entrants may be better off concentrating on the sausage, not the sizzle.
Speaking at the Tractor and Machinery Association annual conference in Sydney last week, Bosch, agriculture sector specialist, Jesse Reader said in his mind, there was potentially too much noise about an agtech boom yet to deliver.
“When it comes down to it, there is not a lot of stuff you can grab right now,” he said.
Mr Reader said while arguments could be made that hype and excitement drove capital investment, he believed the sector needed to be careful.
“We have to be really careful about expectation against reality,” he said.
“We are seeing a bit of fatigue, and a few people being burnt and confused.
“We’ve just got to find a line, but generally speaking I do think it is a positive thing.”
New opportunities
Mr Reader said a proliferation of connected devices, the ability to gather data and insights along with a marked reduction in the cost of technology was driving investment in agriculture.
“You are talking about the worlds least digitised industry,” he said.
“In a lot of cases this type of technology, the potential, the concept and idea, has been around for a long time.
“But until recently they cost too much.”
Mr Reader said the concept of the internet of things (ioT) is pretty simple.
“We are connecting dumb things and making them smart because we are wiring them to the internet,” he said.
“It is giving us new insight and data, I think that continues to play a support role for the industry.
“Where it will feed more information or create a more dynamic environment so you can use machinery, tractors and smart bolt-on’s in a better framework.”
Hurdles
Mr Reader said legal frameworks, costs, ability to insure and service models were just some of the more practical hurdles emerging technologies needed to overcome.
“We need to think about the legal consequences of bringing in autonomous missions in the frameworks that exist,” he said.
“The concept of spraying chemicals without a human in the loop is something we need to overcome.
“Thinking about what is required to support some of this technology and having the people coming through with the knowledge to do so.
“Agronomic risk when something goes wrong.”
Mr Reader said he he thought disruption was predominately an opportunity.
“It is something you should be excited about,” he said.
“Don’t be daunted by it, start to engage with it.
“When it comes to disrupt or be disrupted, I don’t think it is quite that blunt.
“Perhaps the term is partner or perish.”
Tractors
Mr Reader questioned whether the purpose of autonomous technologies in tractors ultimately aimed to remove the driver, or was the technology aimed at making them more effective.
“Do we want them in an environment that is more comfortable, less dangerous with more precision, but still in the tractor? Or is it just a precursor?” he said.
“The other side has said now is the time, big is not better, swarms or small units.”
Mr Reader said he felt a massive opportunity for machinery manufacturers was smart bolt-on’s.
“The disruption could come from autonomous platforms and what they can do,” he said.
“On the other side, what are the things that enhance your offering.”
Agricultural data
Mr Reader said data collected in agriculture had to be actionable to be useful.
“One of the challenges is the form the data is in, is it data for collecting for data’s sake, is it actionable?,” he said.
“A lot of historical data is limited because of the way we collected it.”
Mr Reader said weather data was a good example of historical data being useful.
“When you look at the models underpinning climate and predictive weather, that is where it has been really valuable to co-create solutions, where you can reach back to the end user,” he said.
Bosch
Mr Reader said the general public often did not realise Bosch is 92 per cent owned by a charitable trust, which resulted in a very heavy investment in research and development.
“Over ten per cent of our global revenue goes back into research and development,” he said.
Mr Reader said Bosch was taking a slow and methodical approach to entering the agricultural technology space.
“We are looking at where we should, and should not operate and where we can add value,” he said.
“At the moment we are an enabler, rather than a developer in the agricultural space.”
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