Gympie’s big economic pillar, agriculture, is on the move after a major conference in Brisbane led by Ag marketing giant Elders and the Queensland Government.
Elders CEO and managing director Mark Allison addressed close to 2000 attendees of the 2025 evokeAG conference in Brisbane last week by commenting on Australian farmers punching above their weight on the global AgTech stage.
“I take my hat off to our producers, as never before have they had so many demands on them from the consumer, the bank, the environmentalists – all while competing with the natural characteristics of farming in this country,” said Mr Allison.
Mr Allison described a “distinct power imbalance between those who exist to produce our food and fibre, and the institutions and bodies that govern it,” citing the recent live export ban, energy transition, environmental red tape, and right to repair laws as “ideology-based decisions”.
“Our advantage is not size and scale, but I believe, a resilient and curious Australian farming approach hardened by decades of producing food and fibre against the odds, in one of the most environmentally challenging landscapes on earth,” he said.
“Elders has a long legacy of working with farmers on solving unique challenges, which is why we invest in partnerships, like this one with evokeAG, and will always advocate for the interests of rural and regional Australia.”
Elders hosted a ‘connect and collaborate’ session that explored common barriers and potential solutions to adoption of AgTech on farms. A panel led by Queensland Technical Services Manager, Maree Crawford, tackled various factors impacting the adoption of technology.
“In this session we really wanted participants to takeaway learnings by problem solving with other individuals in the room who have varying perspectives and lived experiences,” said Ms Crawford.
“When we bring diverse perspectives to a shared and common goal – whether that’s on-farm or at an industry level – we have so much better odds at finding a solution more quickly, and we found this when tackling scenarios in this session.”
Queensland general manager Lisa Hewitt, sat on a panel that discussed the continued under- representation of women in leadership and decision-making roles in agriculture.
“I’ve learnt that diversity of thought is crucial to improving how we do things,” she said.
Conference participants included representatives of 40 start-ups and 12 scale-ups, and a program of 95 speakers, making it the largest AgriFutures evokeAG. event to date.
The conference was run by AgriFutures Australia and funded by the Australian Government, Platinum Partner Elders, and Host City Partner the Government of Queensland.
“The event is a leading global agrifood technology and innovation event that unites the agrifood innovation community across the Asia Pacific and around the world,” a spokesperson said.
“It is a showcase of bold ideas, groundbreaking innovations and disruptive science driving agriculture towards a better future.”
– Breanna Lloyd
