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Agri Tech Innovative solutions and early adopters
Simon Yarrow addressing a full house at the Agritech event in Blenheim
“IF YOU are an innovation taker instead of innovation maker, you will always be at the end of the line,” says Simon Yarrow of Callaghan Innovation. The group manager of Agri-food was speaking at an Agritech Connector event – ‘Tech in the Vineyards’ – held in Marlborough last month, showcasing an exciting array of technology “makers” in viticulture. The sold out event, held in collaboration with the Bragato Research Institute and Agritech New Zealand, brought together the wine industry, technology companies, and “enablers”, including Government agencies like Callaghan, helping drive the success of home grown agritech. Together, they looked at several cutting edge programmes, including the autonomous tractor collaboration of Pernod Ricard Winemakers New Zealand and Marlborough-based Smart Machine (see facing page), and the Maaratech Project’s artificial intelligence, augmented reality and robotics initiatives (see below).
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other industries, such as our dairy industry”, says Simon. “What we are seeing is the next generation… Now we have some fantastic examples of locally developed solutions in the wine industry.” He says there’s also plenty of cross pollination between industries, with the likes of Hectre beginning in apple and citrus orchards, then evolving to serve viticulture as well. Technological advancements are advantageous to those in the wine sector, but the real action happens when they are taken to an international stage, he says. “My belief, and shared by a number of folks in the industry, is that if we have a really strong international technology sector that will be a huge benefit for the growers here in New Zealand.” Developing technology is an expensive business, and in order to invest sufficiently, tech companies will require a global marketplace, he says. “Ten or 20 years ago there was this feeling that you had to keep the tech for New Zealand growers,” Simon says. But there’s a growing realisation that home grown technology
“Now we have some fantastic examples of locally developed solutions in the wine industry.” Simon Yarrow A field trip gave attendees the chance to explore those innovations and others, including the work of Cropsey Technologies, monitoring grapevines through the collection of objective data on pests, disease and yield estimations, using imagery captured throughout the vineyard. Another tech start-up – Hectre – showed attendees how its software can be used in vineyards for harvest management and quality control, and its ability to count, size and colour a bin of picked fruit based on the top layer. The New Zealand wine industry has “not been shy” in challenging old ways of doing things, “but technological uptake has often been taken from offshore or modified from 18 / Winepress June 2021
on a global stage gives New Zealand industry the first bite of cutting edge innovations, which are better enabled by international opportunities. “It’s definitely a synergistic relationship.” Simon emceed the Agritech Connector event, and discussed the New Zealand Government’s Agritech Industry Transformation Plan – launched in July 2020 – around commercialisation in the agritech space. He says having industry, tech companies and enablers connecting is “where really good things happen”, with relationships, partnerships and commercial outcomes. “Our job is to try to bring those groups together.”
