Agri-Tech Expert Working Group June 2021 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________ 1. Agri-Tech Expert Working Group JUNE 2021 Contents Contents Executive summary..................................................................................5 Acknowledgements.................................................................................................... 5 Co-convenors.................................................................................................... 5 Members........................................................................................................... 5 Executive summary................................................................................................... 5 In order to achieve this designed future state, this report proposes nine potential actions across four themes...............................................................................7 Theme 1: Low hanging fruit..............................................................................7 Theme 2: Create new foundations....................................................................8 Theme 3: Create conditions for growth.............................................................8 Theme 4: Comprehensive Long Term Planning Framework...............................8 Introduction............................................................................................. 9 Question one.............................................................................................................. 9 Question two.............................................................................................................. 9 Question three........................................................................................................... 9 Methodology.............................................................................................................. 9 Discovery............................................................................................... 11 Question one: Does a ‘connectivity threshold’ exist in regional and rural Australia where connectivity becomes an enabler of digital agriculture, rather than a drag on it?....................................................................................................... 11 Salt and Pepper Connectivity..........................................................................11 Cause.............................................................................................................. 11 Case study—Mobile connectivity in Birchip.....................................................12 A placed-based problem.......................................................................................... 13 Technology Agnostic................................................................................................ 13 Salt and pepper connectivity is about the patchiness of existing connectivity13 NBN Co summarised the following outcome for a series of roundtables it conducted with farmers in 2020:............................................................14 Case study—Birchip Cropping Group...............................................................14 NBN Satellite vs wireless and fixed coverage...........................................................14 Case study—DIY workarounds to stretch the NBN fixed wireless boundary....16 Impacts.................................................................................................................... 16 Impacts on farmer adoption............................................................................16 Impacts on agri-tech.......................................................................................17 Case study—Cotton farmer in Narrabri...........................................................17 Case study—Agri-tech innovator who had to rebuild app three times.............17 Economic impacts........................................................................................... 18 Impact on women...........................................................................................19 Social impacts.................................................................................................19 Effects...................................................................................................................... 19 High rural community engagement..............