R&D Edition: Agtech lessons from the US for Peninsula Fresh Organics

Vegalogue is a regular podcast from vegetable, potato and onion industry peak body AUSVEG, where we examine the pressing issues and latest developments in our sector.

Historically, Australian producers have been rapid adopters of new technology and innovation, and the current generation is no different. Growers are looking to new agricultural technologies, or agtech for short, to help them confront the pressure from climate change, labour shortages, rising input costs and changing market demands.

The technologies being explored read like a list of TED Talks keywords; artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, drones, big data, the internet of things…

Understanding, sourcing and trialling these new technologies can be time consuming and costly, however, so in 2024 Hort Innovation launched a $4.1 million levy-funded project to help Australian vegetable growers adopt advanced mechanisation technology.

Run by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries over three years, the project will deliver field days, showcase events, demonstrations, international study tours, webinars and more to help growers engage directly with the latest equipment and manufacturers.

In October 2024, the project took a group of 16 vegetable growers on a study tour to the US, where they attended the FIRA-USA International Forum for Agricultural Robotics in California.

One of those growers was Dan Hodges from Peninsula Fresh Organics in Victoria. Dan’s an enthusiastic adopter of new tech on the grower’s two properties on the Mornington Peninsula, and we spoke to him about the promising agtech he saw in the US, and the potential for applying in Australia.

Learn more about the project discussed in this episode: Advanced vegetable mechanisation program to maximise labour and cost efficiency (VG23003)

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