A couple of weeks ago it was my privilege along with several other speakers to engage with a roomful of teachers to talk about future possible careers for their students in Agriculture based around technology. The overall message was that the future was very bright for those with the passion and sills in technology to have well paid and fulfilling careers in the regions.

You can access the presentation at :

Agriculture, Technology and Careers 

The key messages were:

• That more and more value is going to be created through data and technology in agriculture. For example Merrill Lynch has released a report saying that the use of agricultural drones are projected to create 100,000 jobs and $82 billion in economic value over the next decade in America alone. This prediction n terms of where drones will be used is seen strikingly in the following graph:

source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-drones-will-drastically-transform-us-agriculture-in-one-chart-2015-11-17 

• Because of this there is going to be a massive demand for people with the skills to create and supply services into agriculture.

• That because many of these services can be supplied via the internet or via mobile phones there is both an opportunity and a risk. If we can build a capacity regionally then we can both defend ourselves against outside providers and provide services in other countries and regions.

• That the skills will be a combination of technology, the capacity to collaborate, and the understanding of agricultural business models.

• The skills are also transferrable. So for example if we want to maintain aged care services at the highest possible level in regional communities the capacity to use predictive data and healthcare data will be vital. Therefore developing the skills opens up far more career opportunities than just agriculture. On top of that our ability to maintain viable regional communities will be in part dependent on these skills and I would much rather have people in our communities supplying the services than money flowing out of the community to service providers elsewhere.

• That we need three things. Passion, market and skills.  I think that it is obvious that there is a market but if you have a market and no skills you cannot provide the necessary services . And if you have skills and market but no passion you will burnout. Therefore we need to help equip those individuals with the passion to be involved with the skills to support that passion.

Following the day there was a significant increase in the number of teachers who saw possibilities for their students in agriculture.

I would like thank the Bendigo Tertiary Education Partnership  and Community Leadership Loddon Murray Inc,and especially Kerry Anderson for inviting me along.

I believe that there is huge potential in our regions for careers around technology and we need to grasp that opportunity now.