The Andrews Labor Government has unveiled its plan ensure Victoria’s $14 billion agriculture sector is best-placed to capitalise on new technologies, placing our farmers at the forefront of the digital revolution.
Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford launched the Labor Government’s Digital Agriculture Strategy today in Tatura to ensure our agriculture sector is supported and encourage farm businesses to embrace technology.
Digital technologies have huge potential to make farming more productive and profitable, and help the agricultural sector meet the challenges of climate change and extreme weather.
Digital agriculture can also help support development in regional communities and younger generations are keen to work with technology. Through increasing use of digital technology, the agriculture sector will attract and retain young people to live and work in regional and rural communities
The Strategy is backed by $27 million from the Labor Government to help Victorian farmers adopt digital technologies, including the $12 million On-farm Internet of Things (IoT) trial.
The trial focuses on the major sectors of dairy, broad-acre cropping, sheep and horticulture in the regions surrounding Birchip, Serpentine, Tatura and Maffra.
The trial will enable farmers to see the on-farm benefits of digital technologies specific to their industry and by doing so, promote greater uptake of technology and competition across the sector.
To inform the roll out of the trial, the Labor Government is establishing a Site Reference Group for each of the four trial regions.
Local farmers Bree Whittaker (Maffra), Will Hooke (Serpentine), Linc Lehmann (Birchip) and Mitchell McNab (Tatura) will Chair the respective groups, providing an industry voice to ensure that the trial meets the needs of farmers.
