Soil Tech a major focus at EvokeAG

Soil Technology was a hot topic at the EvokeAG conference in Melbourne on 18-19 February. Many speakers highlighted the opportunities in better managing our soil for productive and sustainable outcomes, emphasising that agriculture and food production has an exciting future and that “it all starts with the soil”.

The Soil CRC played a key role in organising one of the panel sessions, exploring the topic “Are we treating soil like dirt?”. Facilitated by Soil CRC CEO, Dr Michael Crawford, the panellists included Soil CRC researchers Dr Ehsan Tavakkoli (NSW Department of Primary Industries), Dr Craig Lobsey (University of Southern Queensland) and Dr Nicole Dimos (Society of Precision Agriculture Australia) as well as Andrea Koch from AgTech Pty Ltd.

The conversations focussed on the new sensing technologies that are being developed in the Soil CRC and elsewhere that will help revolutionise soil measurement, the development of new soil amendments and ameliorants to more effectively address soil constraints, and the ways in which we can better manage soil data to get maximum value.  Importantly, Nicole was able to bring an end-user and farmer perspective to how these technologies might be used on farm.

The room was overflowing and we received a lot of follow up interest and engagement, demonstrating the breadth of interest and the wide recognition of the opportunities in soiltech in the expanding agtech world.