The South Australian Government and Wine Australia have partnered to initiate an $870,000 national AgTech wine project to help boost emerging technologies for the wine industry.
Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark said the project is being initiated in South Australia but will be activated nationally to help strengthen the wine sector by increasing familiarity and confidence in adopting AgTech solutions to benefit the grape and wine operations.
“AgTech is a priority for both the South Australian Government and Wine Australia. There are significant economic gains to be made if Australian wine and grape producers can capitalise on the implementation of AgTech solutions,” said Clark.
“We hope to enable this by using practical AgTech demonstration in vineyards that de-risk investment in the right solutions.”
“By partnering with the South Australian Research and Development Institute, the first state-based collaborator and other agencies nationally, the AgTech solutions showcased to South Australian wine producers will be tested to ensure they are regionally appropriate and are technologically feasible.”
The Marshall Liberal Government has committed $200,000 to establishing AgTech demonstrations in the Barossa at Nuriootpa and in the Riverland at Loxton.
Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development David Basham said that by partnering with Wine Australia, the government can showcase the solutions at the Barossa and Riverland research farms, which are focused on supporting our grape and wine producers.
“We want wine grape growers to be able to see new technology in action on a working vineyard and demonstrate the return on investment of the products for their business. This is a unique project for the wine sector that is being run in South Australia but with national benefits,” said Basham.
“The Marshall Liberal Government is committed to working with farmers to increase the uptake of AgTech on-farm and we've already established AgTech demonstration farms at Struan, Kybybolite and Loxton, as well as an AgTech start-up hub in the Riverland.”
