Over 200 technical experts and local growers gathered in southeast Queensland recently, for a field day all about advancing agtech and drought resilience.
Elders staff across Queensland were pleased to host the group of growers and industry representatives on Friday, taking them through the site, and providing demonstrations of their work in crop protection, nutrition and ag tech.
The event was held at Tosari, a leading trial site and the premier crop research facility in northern Australia.
Elders Qld/NT rural products manager Nathan Surawski welcomed everyone on behalf of the Elders team, who had put in months of work to prepare the site. He explained that Tosari is an important part of both grower and advisor education.
“Tosari supports our training model – it’s an action-based system that provides our technical advisors, agronomists, and staff the ability to learn in an environment conducive to the real world, and to take those learnings to our clients to improve their businesses,” Mr Surawski said.
“It also supports our commitment to offer better value propositions and outcomes by collaborating with our key research and development partners in crop protection, as well as key biological nutrition companies to validate efficacy in the field.”
The group began the day with a session on digital agriculture, hosted by the GRDC, and then travelled out to the field to see the trial sites featuring new herbicides and fungicides.
Over lunch, the group enjoyed presentations from agtech suppliers, then made their way back out to view trials across crop nutrition and new seed varieties.
A major drawcard at this year’s event was the fully autonomous spray drone, the very first of its kind in Australia, which was on show for all attendees in a live demonstration.
Those who attended could also tour the Tosari data control centre, where the team can remotely monitor soils and water usage, to make more informed choices about crop protection at the site.
Elders Miles agronomist Neal Stevenson, who attended the field day, said he enjoyed witnessing some of the new products in action, which he hopes to use to improve outcomes for his clients.
“My key takeaway from the event was that there is always something new hitting the market, and it’s really important to stay on top of it all,” he said.
“Events like today are key for me being able to implement new ideas and innovations for clients.”
Elders Qld/NT technical services manager Maree Crawford said she was delighted with how the day turned out.
“We have had an overwhelming response to the field day; the drone, and the new technologies have all been drawcards.
“It’s a great opportunity to catch up with growers, chat to them about their problems, and how we as Elders can support them with innovative solutions.”
