1 00:00:04,050 --> 00:00:06,690 Sean Alymer: Welcome to the Fear and Greed Daily interview. I'm Sean 2 00:00:06,690 --> 00:00:11,610 Sean Alymer: Alymer. Last year agriculture was worth $ 71 billion to the 3 00:00:11,610 --> 00:00:14,160 Sean Alymer: Australian economy. It's a lot of money, but it has 4 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,579 Sean Alymer: the potential to grow even further. That's why there's such 5 00:00:17,579 --> 00:00:21,060 Sean Alymer: a strong focus on solving the challenges within agribusiness, things 6 00:00:21,060 --> 00:00:24,810 Sean Alymer: like supply chain issues and waste disposal. The Agtech and 7 00:00:24,810 --> 00:00:29,370 Sean Alymer: Logistics Hub is tasked with overcoming these challenges in commercializing 8 00:00:29,430 --> 00:00:32,100 Sean Alymer: the solutions, and it has the support of the Queensland 9 00:00:32,100 --> 00:00:34,740 Sean Alymer: Government and two universities to do it. Thomas Hall is 10 00:00:34,740 --> 00:00:38,460 Sean Alymer: the director of the Agtech and Logistics Hub. Tom, welcome 11 00:00:38,460 --> 00:00:39,180 Sean Alymer: to Fear and Greed. 12 00:00:39,570 --> 00:00:40,680 Thomas Hall: Hi Sean. Thanks for having me on. 13 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:44,309 Sean Alymer: So let's just start at the beginning here. You're going 14 00:00:44,460 --> 00:00:46,559 Sean Alymer: have to give me a 1- 0- 1 here. What 15 00:00:47,010 --> 00:00:50,760 Sean Alymer: does Agtech and Logistics Hub, what do you do? 16 00:00:51,090 --> 00:00:54,030 Thomas Hall: At the Agtech and Logistics Hub we proudly say that 17 00:00:54,030 --> 00:00:58,170 Thomas Hall: we're the home of digital agriculture and a premier agribusiness 18 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,940 Thomas Hall: hub in Queensland. What we are is we're actively focused 19 00:01:03,420 --> 00:01:06,630 Thomas Hall: with industry to try and solve the challenges that exist 20 00:01:06,630 --> 00:01:10,920 Thomas Hall: within the agrifood sector. We're actively trying to fast track 21 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:14,670 Thomas Hall: the development and the technology that exists by providing a 22 00:01:14,670 --> 00:01:19,350 Thomas Hall: platform for the be it startups, entrepreneurs, academia, industry, whoever 23 00:01:19,350 --> 00:01:22,800 Thomas Hall: it might be, providing them with a space both digitally 24 00:01:22,830 --> 00:01:28,260 Thomas Hall: and physically to connect and collaborate. So we're physically located 25 00:01:28,260 --> 00:01:30,929 Thomas Hall: in Toowoomba, but as I said, we're a rapidly growing 26 00:01:30,930 --> 00:01:34,650 Thomas Hall: ecosystem with contacts across Australia and across the globe. 27 00:01:35,100 --> 00:01:38,970 Sean Alymer: Okay, but agriculture itself is such a broad sector, so 28 00:01:38,970 --> 00:01:43,440 Sean Alymer: you're enabling people with great ideas to come together and 29 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:48,840 Sean Alymer: collaborate and hopefully push forward agriculture and agribusiness and digitize 30 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,690 Sean Alymer: it. But it is such a broad sector so is 31 00:01:51,690 --> 00:01:53,760 Sean Alymer: there an area that you're focused on or is it 32 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:54,420 Sean Alymer: the whole lot? 33 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,870 Thomas Hall: Instead of taking a view of we just focus on 34 00:01:57,870 --> 00:02:01,950 Thomas Hall: robotics or we just focus on connectivity, we try and 35 00:02:01,950 --> 00:02:05,460 Thomas Hall: support the entire sector. I know that sounds like a 36 00:02:05,460 --> 00:02:09,660 Thomas Hall: lot, but we act as the facilitators by encouraging different 37 00:02:09,660 --> 00:02:13,139 Thomas Hall: companies, be that all the way from small through large 38 00:02:13,740 --> 00:02:18,359 Thomas Hall: SME, entrepreneurs, whoever it might be to actively engage because 39 00:02:18,510 --> 00:02:20,940 Thomas Hall: in order to drive innovation, we need to know what's 40 00:02:20,940 --> 00:02:25,139 Thomas Hall: out there. If we can work with the other hubs 41 00:02:25,139 --> 00:02:28,740 Thomas Hall: and institutes around the country that have a focus on 42 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,820 Thomas Hall: artificial intelligence or manufacturing or whatever it might be, from 43 00:02:32,820 --> 00:02:36,570 Thomas Hall: an industry side, we can actively bring those challenges forward 44 00:02:36,570 --> 00:02:39,180 Thomas Hall: from the producers and growers and work with those other 45 00:02:39,180 --> 00:02:42,090 Thomas Hall: institutes to facilitate a solution to those problems. 46 00:02:42,419 --> 00:02:44,370 Sean Alymer: Okay. So are there any examples? I mean, you don't 47 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,250 Sean Alymer: necessarily need to name names, but just kind of the 48 00:02:47,250 --> 00:02:50,370 Sean Alymer: sorts of things that you're able to facilitate to help 49 00:02:50,669 --> 00:02:53,580 Sean Alymer: a farmer or someone in the supply chain area? 50 00:02:54,060 --> 00:02:58,020 Thomas Hall: Yeah, definitely. Great question. Regionally, connectivity is always the first 51 00:02:58,020 --> 00:03:01,139 Thomas Hall: one that comes to mind. However, we've got quite a 52 00:03:01,139 --> 00:03:05,280 Thomas Hall: strong connectivity cluster of businesses all the way from startups 53 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,190 Thomas Hall: and SMEs through to big telcos like NBN and Telstra 54 00:03:08,190 --> 00:03:12,480 Thomas Hall: at the moment. And we collectively help to connect farms, 55 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,500 Thomas Hall: get them connected, which allows them to look at OHNS 56 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:22,290 Thomas Hall: platforms, upgrading their systems and other, I guess, efficiency platforms 57 00:03:22,410 --> 00:03:25,770 Thomas Hall: that can support their operation. For example, to date we've 58 00:03:25,770 --> 00:03:31,139 Thomas Hall: connected over 1300 farms that previously weren't connected to some 59 00:03:31,139 --> 00:03:37,001 Thomas Hall: form of network, be it through a private network, a (inaudible) 60 00:03:37,001 --> 00:03:39,030 Thomas Hall: network or something like Telstra, Optus or NBN. 61 00:03:39,660 --> 00:03:42,390 Sean Alymer: Wow, that's a lot. And I mean, I kind of haven't ever 62 00:03:42,390 --> 00:03:46,980 Sean Alymer: thought about it before, but the concept of bringing really 63 00:03:46,980 --> 00:03:49,680 Sean Alymer: remote, people who are very good at what they do, 64 00:03:50,310 --> 00:03:52,710 Sean Alymer: but then actually kind of providing them with the tools 65 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,640 Sean Alymer: to not just learn more, but share knowledge and technology 66 00:03:56,970 --> 00:04:00,510 Sean Alymer: and kind of better do the backend process of what 67 00:04:00,510 --> 00:04:02,400 Sean Alymer: they're doing in their daily lives. 68 00:04:02,730 --> 00:04:06,690 Thomas Hall: A hundred percent. A big one for connectivity obviously there's 69 00:04:06,690 --> 00:04:09,720 Thomas Hall: always, if we're connected, I can have robots or I 70 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,690 Thomas Hall: can have data or whatever it might be. However, with 71 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:17,580 Thomas Hall: any agribusiness operation, OHNS is always really important. There's a 72 00:04:17,700 --> 00:04:19,830 Thomas Hall: labor shortage around the entire country at the moment. We 73 00:04:19,830 --> 00:04:22,380 Thomas Hall: need to look after our staff, make sure that they're 74 00:04:22,380 --> 00:04:26,010 Thomas Hall: in a safe and secure environment, and connectivity provides that. 75 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:31,290 Thomas Hall: We were able to support a regional feed lot getting 76 00:04:31,290 --> 00:04:36,089 Thomas Hall: connectivity across their operation, which enabled all of their staff, 77 00:04:36,089 --> 00:04:39,029 Thomas Hall: particularly in the far reaches of their feed lot, to 78 00:04:39,029 --> 00:04:43,560 Thomas Hall: essentially be connected to the central part of the farm 79 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:45,300 Thomas Hall: so that if they were to fall off a horse, 80 00:04:45,300 --> 00:04:47,520 Thomas Hall: if there was some sort of accident, it can be 81 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:48,900 Thomas Hall: quickly reported in real time. 82 00:04:49,589 --> 00:04:51,510 Sean Alymer: Okay and I mean a lot of this isn't, we know 83 00:04:51,510 --> 00:04:53,550 Sean Alymer: we're not talking about going to the moon here, we're 84 00:04:53,550 --> 00:04:56,580 Sean Alymer: talking about things that maybe many people in the city 85 00:04:56,580 --> 00:04:57,330 Sean Alymer: take for granted. 86 00:04:57,750 --> 00:05:02,339 Thomas Hall: Exactly. We're offered so many opportunities in the metros that 87 00:05:02,790 --> 00:05:07,109 Thomas Hall: just aren't a reality in regional locations. As I said 88 00:05:07,110 --> 00:05:10,860 Thomas Hall: earlier though, our big purpose is to drive the innovation 89 00:05:10,860 --> 00:05:14,729 Thomas Hall: or drive the adoption of platforms, technology services, whatever it 90 00:05:14,730 --> 00:05:18,120 Thomas Hall: might be that can support the productivity and efficiency of 91 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:24,450 Thomas Hall: farms or agribusiness operations. And across that space, knowing what's 92 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,870 Thomas Hall: out there and essentially holding the farmer's hand while they 93 00:05:27,870 --> 00:05:33,690 Thomas Hall: adopt it, de- risks their journey. But also we support 94 00:05:33,690 --> 00:05:38,370 Thomas Hall: the entrepreneur, innovator, Telstra, whoever it might be in working 95 00:05:38,370 --> 00:05:41,219 Thomas Hall: through the process to make sure that the farmer or 96 00:05:41,220 --> 00:05:46,140 Thomas Hall: the agrifood operator understands the technology that they're onboarding and gets 97 00:05:46,140 --> 00:05:46,890 Thomas Hall: what they want. 98 00:05:47,670 --> 00:05:49,740 Sean Alymer: Stay with me, Tom. We'll be back in a minute. 99 00:05:56,010 --> 00:05:59,010 Sean Alymer: My guest this morning is Tom Hall, Director of the Agtech 100 00:05:59,070 --> 00:06:02,910 Sean Alymer: and Logistics Hub. Okay. What's the prize here? I was 101 00:06:02,910 --> 00:06:04,830 Sean Alymer: going to say, what's the size of the prize, but 102 00:06:04,830 --> 00:06:08,070 Sean Alymer: it may not actually be a monetary figure. What is 103 00:06:08,070 --> 00:06:12,390 Sean Alymer: it that we get out of this that's going to 104 00:06:12,450 --> 00:06:14,310 Sean Alymer: sort of advance our society? 105 00:06:15,300 --> 00:06:18,180 Thomas Hall: You mentioned earlier in the session that the industry stands 106 00:06:18,180 --> 00:06:21,750 Thomas Hall: at about 71 billion at the moment. As an industry, 107 00:06:21,750 --> 00:06:23,550 Thomas Hall: we do have a goal of a hundred billion by 108 00:06:23,550 --> 00:06:27,989 Thomas Hall: 2030 as an entire sector. From an individual grower and 109 00:06:27,990 --> 00:06:33,000 Thomas Hall: producer perspective though, through the adoption of connectivity or be 110 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:37,650 Thomas Hall: it looking at digitization, if you're looking at robots, whatever 111 00:06:37,650 --> 00:06:41,099 Thomas Hall: it might be, you are then looking at safe and 112 00:06:41,100 --> 00:06:43,890 Thomas Hall: profitable farms and cropping operations. You're looking at a more 113 00:06:43,890 --> 00:06:46,650 Thomas Hall: productive and efficient operation, and these are just some of 114 00:06:46,650 --> 00:06:49,500 Thomas Hall: the ways that technology can help. A big part of 115 00:06:49,500 --> 00:06:54,419 Thomas Hall: this will also showcase to the international competition what our sector 116 00:06:54,900 --> 00:06:57,089 Thomas Hall: and what our producers and growers are capable of. Particularly 117 00:06:57,089 --> 00:07:00,210 Thomas Hall: as we transition to a, I guess a more transparent 118 00:07:00,210 --> 00:07:04,229 Thomas Hall: supply chain where we're showing certificates around the quality, safety, 119 00:07:04,230 --> 00:07:08,339 Thomas Hall: and providence of our products. It puts us in a 120 00:07:08,339 --> 00:07:11,130 Thomas Hall: much more favorable light, shall we say, or in a 121 00:07:11,130 --> 00:07:15,030 Thomas Hall: preferred position when we're at the bargaining table with retailers internationally. 122 00:07:15,690 --> 00:07:19,800 Sean Alymer: So how has the Hub been received on both sides? 123 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:24,120 Sean Alymer: So both on the kind of producer side, but also 124 00:07:24,300 --> 00:07:27,120 Sean Alymer: the big business Telstra NBN side. 125 00:07:27,690 --> 00:07:30,450 Thomas Hall: To be honest, it's been really wonderful because a lot 126 00:07:30,450 --> 00:07:33,420 Thomas Hall: of the time, if we're just looking at connectivity, Telstra, 127 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:35,850 Thomas Hall: NBN, Optus, they can often get you to your front 128 00:07:35,850 --> 00:07:37,800 Thomas Hall: gate, but they can't get you to the house, so 129 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:40,290 Thomas Hall: to speak. So that's where a lot of the, I 130 00:07:40,290 --> 00:07:44,340 Thomas Hall: guess, innovators and entrepreneurs or smaller companies can assist in 131 00:07:44,340 --> 00:07:48,390 Thomas Hall: connecting those regional players. At the same time, there's quite 132 00:07:48,390 --> 00:07:50,640 Thomas Hall: a lot of SMEs and corporate active partners who are 133 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,280 Thomas Hall: leaning in. So to date, I think we've got an 134 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,240 Thomas Hall: ecosystem of probably over 7, 000, I guess, contacts within 135 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,510 Thomas Hall: our ecosystem and growing rapidly. Over a thousand of those 136 00:08:00,510 --> 00:08:04,380 Thomas Hall: would be active SMEs who lean in to participate, probably 137 00:08:04,380 --> 00:08:07,110 Thomas Hall: 4 to 500 corporate partners and a host of venture 138 00:08:07,110 --> 00:08:09,480 Thomas Hall: capital funds that are now starting to lean in and say, " 139 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,540 Thomas Hall: Hey, look, this is a really exciting sector that we are not 140 00:08:12,540 --> 00:08:15,540 Thomas Hall: currently involved in. How do we get in here? Who 141 00:08:15,540 --> 00:08:18,150 Thomas Hall: can we participate and what does our entry into the 142 00:08:18,150 --> 00:08:20,760 Thomas Hall: sector look like?" That's where the Hub can come in 143 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,690 Thomas Hall: and we can showcase and validate some of the exciting 144 00:08:24,690 --> 00:08:28,470 Thomas Hall: new entrepreneurs and products and programs coming through that are 145 00:08:28,500 --> 00:08:32,760 Thomas Hall: seeking seed investment and I guess support and coaching to 146 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:34,770 Thomas Hall: move into a growth and scale phase. 147 00:08:35,370 --> 00:08:39,179 Sean Alymer: How imaginative is the sector, is agri business? 148 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:43,679 Thomas Hall: I think by its nature, I want to say producers 149 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:47,250 Thomas Hall: and growers are very innovative. They're continually faced with challenges 150 00:08:47,250 --> 00:08:50,309 Thomas Hall: every day, be it a car, a gate, or whatever 151 00:08:50,309 --> 00:08:53,010 Thomas Hall: it might be that they need to overcome. But as 152 00:08:53,010 --> 00:08:56,460 Thomas Hall: we start moving into Farm 4. 0 or a more 153 00:08:56,460 --> 00:09:00,870 Thomas Hall: digitized farming environment, there's challenges that they're not going to 154 00:09:00,870 --> 00:09:02,819 Thomas Hall: be able to overcome because they're not equipped with the 155 00:09:02,820 --> 00:09:06,030 Thomas Hall: knowledge to do it. I shouldn't generalize, some aren't, a 156 00:09:06,030 --> 00:09:08,010 Thomas Hall: lot of your enterprise operations are. 157 00:09:08,070 --> 00:09:08,340 Sean Alymer: Yep. 158 00:09:08,610 --> 00:09:11,340 Thomas Hall: I was at a recent conference in John Deere positive 159 00:09:11,340 --> 00:09:14,969 Thomas Hall: that by 2037 you'd have two farms, that'd be a 160 00:09:14,970 --> 00:09:17,160 Thomas Hall: digital one and a physical one, and you'd need to 161 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:23,160 Thomas Hall: manage both. There's quite a lot of technology out there. SwarmFarms, 162 00:09:23,340 --> 00:09:27,720 Thomas Hall: which is autonomous robots out of Emerald, they're already in 163 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,870 Thomas Hall: place, they're already running around farms and a farmer is 164 00:09:31,020 --> 00:09:35,580 Thomas Hall: controlling it through a screen. John Deere showed that already 165 00:09:35,580 --> 00:09:38,550 Thomas Hall: in the states, they're trialing fully autonomous machines and many 166 00:09:38,550 --> 00:09:41,400 Thomas Hall: more are coming onto the market. And I guess this 167 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,760 Thomas Hall: comes back to our labor shortage issue we're talking about 168 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:47,880 Thomas Hall: before with, as we start to transition into a more 169 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:53,970 Thomas Hall: digitized environment through big data, analytics, autonomous machines, whatever it 170 00:09:53,970 --> 00:09:58,740 Thomas Hall: might be, the people controlling the machines, maintaining the machines, 171 00:09:58,740 --> 00:10:02,610 Thomas Hall: looking at the data captured, analyzing it for efficiencies and 172 00:10:02,610 --> 00:10:05,699 Thomas Hall: productivity gains, all of these skills gaps need to be filled. 173 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,929 Sean Alymer: Yeah, yeah. I mean, farming, for want of a better term, 174 00:10:09,929 --> 00:10:12,900 Sean Alymer: is going to be look very different in 10 years, 175 00:10:12,900 --> 00:10:17,460 Sean Alymer: 20 years, and need different skills to what it is today. 176 00:10:18,150 --> 00:10:22,200 Thomas Hall: Couldn't agree more. I grew up on a poultry farm 177 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:24,540 Thomas Hall: in Western Queensland, and when I was a kid we 178 00:10:24,540 --> 00:10:28,710 Thomas Hall: were picking up warm eggs with our hands. Nowadays the 179 00:10:28,710 --> 00:10:32,490 Thomas Hall: entire process is automated all the way through to the 180 00:10:32,490 --> 00:10:36,000 Thomas Hall: pallet going onto the truck. So it's been quite interesting 181 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:41,250 Thomas Hall: to see a rapid acceleration in the adoption of technologies 182 00:10:41,340 --> 00:10:46,559 Thomas Hall: and autonomous machines to support the value add and the 183 00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:49,620 Thomas Hall: supply chain sector within the agrifood sector. 184 00:10:50,190 --> 00:10:52,500 Sean Alymer: Fascinating. Tom, thank you very much for talking to Fear 185 00:10:52,500 --> 00:10:52,950 Sean Alymer: and Greed. 186 00:10:53,370 --> 00:10:54,390 Thomas Hall: Thanks Sean. Really appreciate it. 187 00:10:54,780 --> 00:10:57,750 Sean Alymer: That was Thomas Hall, Director of the Agtech and Logistics 188 00:10:57,750 --> 00:11:00,390 Sean Alymer: Hub. This is the Fear and Greed Daily interview. Join 189 00:11:00,390 --> 00:11:02,460 Sean Alymer: us every morning for the full episode of Fear and 190 00:11:02,460 --> 00:11:06,420 Sean Alymer: Greed, Australia's most popular business podcast. I'm Sean Alymer. Enjoy 191 00:11:06,420 --> 00:11:06,809 Sean Alymer: your day.