Australia’s 140,000 farms; many of them small–medium, family owned businesses, are a vital part of our teleworking future, both on and off farm. Farm–to–customer retail, remote on farm product support, tele–veterinary and tele–agronomic support, remote diagnostics, assisted living, tele–health and education are but a few of the exciting possibilities available to an emerging smart services sector. Farms are a rich source of environmental data, for both farm managers and their external advisors, and also for those involved in the health of our landscapes, emergency management and utility management. Add to these opportunities in crowd sourcing and ‘citizen science’ and technologists working on the latest in ICT and sensors. We also face challenges and opportunities around how we manage data and information within and between stakeholder and client groups; how we store and secure it, derive value-add products from it and exchange it. Finally, of course, none of this will ever fly unless it stacks up economically.
Digital Rural Futures 2013 (Smart Farms – Smart Regions) is a national forum aimed at raising awareness of, and promoting discussion around these challenges and opportunities.
With 12 keynote speakers and 58 breakout and poster presentations, the conference offers the chance to interact with some of Australia’s most innovative business leaders, academics and regional development organisations, as well as farmers and farmer peak bodies, to set the scene and increase general awareness across a range of challenges and opportunities.
This inaugural, 3–day conference will be held at the University of New England, located in Armidale NSW, home of the NBN and will focus on four themes :
- Smart technology,
- Data and information management,
- Smart services and decision support systems,
- Smart Farms, education, extension and outreach
Website: www.une.edu.au/smart Registrations close Monday 3rd June
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