Exploring technological advancements in Australian and New Zealand Farms
Our Future Farming correspondent, Maxence, an expert in robotic and new agricultural technologies, embarks on a journey to Oceania to discover farmers utilizing cutting-edge technology such as robots and autonomous tractors.
Starting in September 2023 and spanning seven months, Maxence will engage with farmers and local stakeholders to gain insights into farming practices, address local challenges, and promote awareness of emerging technologies in the market. Here, Maxence shares his motivations and plans for this exciting expedition.
Understand different agriculture practices
Born into a family of French cereal growers, I have started working in the development of tractors. Seeing agriculture evolve rapidly, I joined an agricultural robotic company as a robotics advisor and worked in various ag sector. Now, it is as a farmer and independent that I work with farmers and manufacturers to build the agriculture of tomorrow.
It was while working with technology manufacturers and in contact with farmers that I realized the gap that existed between the two. No one knows better than farmers what they need. So, I have decided to get out there to meet them to understand how to help them and challenging manufacturers to build better machines.
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Get feedback about last agricultural technologies
Through my different experiences in new agricultural technologies, I have developed a global vision and a critical eye about the solutions on the market. Convinced that technology can bring a lot to agriculture and farmers, all technologies does not solve farmers’ problems and are not always profitable.
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If we get the opportunity to meet, the aim is to give you key feedback about technologies to help you explore new perspectives and make the right decisions for your farm. By understanding your working methods, constrains and your needs, it’s easier to steer you towards a particular type of technology or not.
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Showcasing innovative solutions and farmers
Over the past three years, I had the chance to visit different types of farms in different parts of the world. The most rewarding part of these visits is the exchange of ideas and experiences with visionary farmers that have integrated new technological solutions to improve their productivity and the sustainability.
And it’s through the Future Farming newspaper that these inspiring experiences and lessons learned are shared. With the User feedback experience series, we have created objective feedback about these new technologies’ implementation. To help other farmers project themselves, it’s important to cover all aspects of these machines by sharing both positive points and expected improvements based on field feedback from a real user.
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