Australian farms to be part of a new global smart farm project

Speaking at the Digital Agrifood Summit at Wagga Wagga, Alberta Innovates CEO Laura Kilcrease said there were strong ties between Australia and Canada in agricultural trade and it made sense to support research and development between the two countries.

"If you have a start-up in the Agtech space where you might see a customer base or test case in Canada that's relative to your product then you can come in through one of our accelerator programs," she said.

Ms Kilcrease said the SVG Thrive was a 12- to 15-week program, some virtual and some physical, in Canada.

"We can arrange for a temporary visa so you can be there for two to three months, or whatever time it takes for that particular program, and while you're there we'll do our utmost to introduce you to the people you need to know to see if this is a place that's right for your company and product," she said.

"Not necessarily to recruit you there, but for you to see the first steps for you in a global market."

Ms Kilcrease said one of the themes for her to attend the Digital Agrifood Summit was to emphasise the need to make new partners in business.

"If you want to sell your Australian technology in Canada there's got to be a first buyer and you have to know who you are," she said.

"If we can make that path smoother for you and if we can get your equipment certified to standards or if we could put you on a smart farm in Canada where you can use and prove how your technology and product world it's going to make it that's much easier for you to sell.

"I think good companies are local and great companies are global."

Meanwhile, Ms Kilcrease said Australian farms would also become part of a global stage with a new smart farms project.

One of several ideas to come from the inaugural Banff Innovation Summmit earlier this year, the global smart farms project, aims to connect those in Canada, UK, New Zealand and Australia.

So far in the initial inventory mapping stage, nine smart farms have been identified, including four in Australia at Charles Sturt University, Wagga, University of New England, Armidale, Ellinbank, Vic, and Longerenong, Vic.

Ms Kilcrease said it was important for nations to share their research and knowledge of practices and what works and why to fast track the development of agritech and improvement for the agriculture industry.

"Today we can't all afford to solve all the problems ourselves and even if we can, we can't solve them at the speed we need to," she said.

Ms Kilcrease said at the Banff summit they had focused on what innovation could go on the farm, how it could be used, improve efficacy and to train farmers, as well as who was going to show the farmer this technology and prove it worked.

She said the smart farms test these technologies in real life situations and could introduce them to the farmer, and the project aimed to share the research on a global scale to increase sustainability, productivity and profitability.

"These people that develop the technologies need to sell that not just in their backyard but in a global market," she said.

She said the alternate seasons also allowed researchers to accelerate technological development.

"We are in two different latitudes - we can double the speeds just with two seasonal cycles in each of our jurisdictions," Ms Kilcrease said.

"We can double the speed of development and deployment and information so if one of us finds something that works great, and if one of us finds something that doesn't work, let's share it with the other to make sure they don't replicate the issue."

Ms Kilcrease said both for agtech start-ups and the smart farm projects the two nations had a lot to learn from each other.

"We're suffering form many of the same issues - Australia has suffered from fires, we have too, Australia had drought and then too much rain and we've had some of the same issues," she said.

"These problems are global issues. They may occur at different times of the year for us, but we're still having the same issues.

"Let's just get together and do it and solve it."