The future of ag: Millions invested in ag tech research projects

Hydrogen tractors and sustainable agriculture are the focus of a multimillion dollar investment in university research projects.

A multimillion dollar investment in agricultural technology will work to advance animal health, soil health, and sustainable energy in the future.

Charles Sturt University will invest more than $50 million in projects across the agriculture industry, including a $22 million investment in its ‘digital farm’, $20 million for a renewables in agriculture program including hydrogen tractor technology, $10 million for a soil program, and investment in the Charles Sturt Red Meat Innovation Centre.

AgriPark executive director Nick Pagett said investment and research in key portfolios within agriculture was an opportunity to better understand emerging areas of technology.

“Being a regional university, it’s important to bring the best of what occurs in, to showcase what it looks like and saturating our existing farm with as much technology as possible,” Mr Pagett said.

“In the case of the renewables project, within the agricultural context there’s no real demonstration site for hydrogen in agriculture.”

Other projects include researchers scouting Europe for hybrid diesel tractors to showcase technology for Australian producers, Mr Pagett said.

“It’s about looking at what this word renewables means to agriculture. For us, it’s creating an environment and investment through partnerships, showcasing renewables, and how does the industry adopt that.”

The Global Digital Farm was established three years ago, Mr Pagett said, and is exploring technologies across 2500ha of farmland.

Charles Sturt University has announced $50 million of funding for future agricultural technology research projects. Picture: Supplied

Information gathered from projects on farm is connected and recorded digitally, with the next stage of investment to correlate data and create a digital simulation model.

“A big component of what we’re doing is to test, validate, scale, and demonstrate,” Mr Pagett said.

The $50 million investment comes as Charles Sturt is set to lead the AgriTwins project as part of CSIRO’s Next Generation Graduates Program.

Charles Sturt Vice Chancellor Renee Leon said the investments were a “significant step” in reaching a more sustainable agricultural industry.

“Charles Sturt is at the forefront of innovation across the board, but our agricultural research is truly leading the way on a global scale,” Prof Leon said.

“By collaborating with sector-leading partners like Telstra, NAB, Food Agility CRC and others, Charles Sturt is able to better leverage our researchers’ cutting-edge innovations to serve the needs of primary producers and the industry as a whole.”

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the investment would help advance development of technology “to help farmers reduce their emissions”.

“We know that climate change is impacting the profitability and productivity of farms around the country,” Mr Watt said.

“Initiatives such as this are good for farmers, good for Australia and good for our economy.”