Innovation Generation

Recently, RMS consultants Fred Broughton and Rebecca Dean attended the Innovation Generation conference at Sydney. Innovation Generation is hosted by Grain Growers Limited, for grains industry members under the age of 35. Topics included; futuristic thinking, ag-tech, production, input management, people, labour and markets to explore the innovative combinations of this information, for the continued progress of the Australian grains industry.  

Consultants heard concepts such as “The pace of change gets in the way of us making progress sometimes” and that “The questions/problems remain the same, but the answers change”. Presenters identified skills that will be required for success in future grain production including: 

  • Cognitive load management

  • Transdisciplinary approach

  • Sense-making

  • Design thinking

  • Social intelligence

  • Diversity mindsets

  • Fierce collaboration

  • Computational thinking

  • Digital literacy

A transdisciplinary approach is something that will likely assist growers in the opportunity to utilise ideas and practices from other industries, connecting these to modify grain production and associated activity methods. The contrast was drawn between invention and innovation, where innovation refers to the changing products and/or processes already in use, such as the application of digital technology in agriculture, as opposed to invention which is the creation of something new. 

Other interesting presentations explored: 

  • Land values and the use of data to drive decisions in an evolving market, looking at some of the lending platform databases currently used to assess production as well as associated risks.

  • Initiatives from companies who are aiming to increase the uptake of young people entering the agricultural workforce, by providing gap-year opportunities with host-farmers to be trained to work on-farm.

  • The synchronies between cropping, finance and people were drawn together in a unique way by Dr Kate Burke, with reference to her book; “Crops, People, Money and You”.

  • Platforms that are competing as online retail traders, as well as collating data on agri-products, presented their market proposition to the audience.

The conference was very well attended by growers and industry representatives from across Australia. Innovation Generation is planned to be in Adelaide for 2023 and would be a great event for growers aged between 18 and 35 to attend. RMS consultants will notify clients who may be interested in attending when tickets for the 2023 event become available

General, Farm Management, CroppingFred Broughton