• Charles Sturt University’s Global Digital Farm will be a central focus of the 2023 Digital Agrifood Summit on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 October

Charles Sturt University will host leaders in international and Australian food production as part of this year’s Digital Agrifood Summit.

The Summit in Wagga Wagga on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 October will showcase Charles Sturt University’s Global Digital Farm, a unique commercial-scale landscape laboratory for agricultural research in Australia.

This year’s theme - ‘Paddock to Profit’ explores how data-driven solutions can increase value and drive sustainability for Australia’s agrifood sector.

Food Agility Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) chief scientist Professor David Lamb said the Global Digital Farm would play a key role in showing delegates attending what the future of farming could look like.

“The Global Digital Farm is intended to be an open book industry benchmark for sustainable food, fibre, and energy production,” Professor Lamb said.

“By providing a slice of our data to delegates and showing them the real-world impact of that data during the farm tours, they will be able to see first-hand the benefits that digital transformation and collaborative research can bring to our industry.”

Former chief scientist of the UN Environmental Programme Professor Jacquie McGlade will head an impressive line-up of over 40 agribusiness leaders and experts.

Kenya-based Professor McGlade, who is co-founder and chief scientist of natural capital measurement provider Downforce Technologies, will be joined on the program by Ms Laura Kilcrease, Chief Executive of Canadian innovation hub Alberta Innovates, Mr Richard Heath, Executive Director of the Australian Farm Institute, and Mr David Statham, Co-owner of Sundown Pastoral Company.

The Digital Agrifood Summit, which is a partnership between Food Agility CRC, Charles Sturt University and Charles Sturt’s AgriPark, will feature three main plenary sessions complemented by a series of innovation showcases which offer presentations guaranteed to provoke discussion.

Australian start-up Pairtree Intelligence, which has built a custom dashboard for the GDF showcasing the agricultural technology deployed across the 1,800 hectare farm, will make a public-facing version available to delegates.

This dashboard will feature real-time data from agtech providers including Downforce Technologies, AgriWebb, Cibo Labs, Optiweigh, Farmbot, and Metos.

In addition, the growAG Networking Breakfast at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, and the Gulbali Stargrazing Gala, which features a menu that chef Jamie Shepley has designed to showcase Riverina produce, gives attendees the chance to sample local produce while catching up with colleagues and forging new connections.

The Digital Agrifood Summit is supported by Transgrid and ANZ Bank as gold sponsors for 2023, as well as strategic partner, the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, and sustainability partner, SunRice.

Visit the Digital Agrifood Summit website to see the full program and to secure your tickets.

Media wishing to attend the Digital Agrifood Summit are encouraged to contact das@foodagility.com to organise a complementary media pass.

ENDS