AgValuate: a practical way to choose agtech that fits your business
Key takeaways
- AgValuate is an online technology readiness assessment tool
- The tool helps you assess where agtech could add value in your business
- It focuses on business goals and priorities, not just technology
- The results are best used to guide discussions with advisors and extension staff
- Quick wins often come from better use of existing systems, not necessarily new technology
Overcoming agtech overload
There’s no shortage of agtech on the market. The challenge is deciding what’s worth investing in and what will actually suit your business.
AgValuate was developed to help with that. It’s a short online assessment to help producers assess where technology could add value across the business.
The assessment helps identify where agtech may fit within your business before major investment decisions are made.
AgValuate was developed through the Tropical North Queensland (TNQ) Drought and Innovation Hub, led by Digital Ag Innovation Consultant Kara-Glenn Worth.
“We kept hearing that producers didn’t necessarily struggle to find technology,” said Kara-Glenn. “The challenge was understanding how it applied to their business and whether it would actually deliver value.”
A whole-of-business check
AgValuate looks across four parts of the business: social, economic, environmental and technology.
You score where your business sits now and where you want it to be in two years. The gap between those positions helps identify where change may have the greatest impact.
The report is not a scorecard. It reflects your priorities, confidence and attitudes towards technology, not how well your business is performing.
That means different people in the same business can get different results. In some cases, a family of four can receive four different reports, each reflecting different views on risk, opportunity and the role of agtech in the business. Those differences can be useful when deciding what to focus on next.
The two-year timeframe allows for changes in technology, business priorities and capability, while also giving you a benchmark to measure progress over time.
Some producers have repeated the assessment after several months or a year to compare results. In many cases, they can see changes in confidence, priorities and how they’re using technology in the business.
Why agtech adoption can miss the mark
Agtech adoption hasn’t always delivered the results producers expect. In many cases, that comes down to how decisions are made.
Technology is often chosen to fix an immediate issue, without considering how it fits the business longer term. Other decisions are shaped by what neighbours are doing or avoided because someone else had a poor experience with a similar system, even when the business circumstances are completely different.
“When you’re going to invest tens of thousands of dollars on a technology, it needs to not only solve a problem today, but it needs to integrate into where your business is going as well,” Kara-Glenn (pictured right) said.
AgValuate helps bring that longer-term thinking into the decision.
A report that helps you decide
Once you complete the assessment, a report is generated straight away.
A radar chart shows your current position against your target. Smaller gaps are usually easier to act on, while larger gaps point to areas that need more planning or investment.
An example AgValuate radar chart
The second part of the report highlights areas where technology or practice change could help.
The tool doesn’t recommend specific products or brands. Instead, it identifies areas where technology may be worth exploring further based on current business priorities and future goals.
The report is best worked through with an Adoption Officer, advisor or extension staff who can help interpret the results in the context of your business and priorities.
Quick wins don’t always mean new tech
Not every improvement requires a big investment.
For a grazing business, quick wins might include improving internet access through Starlink, making better use of existing recording systems, or improving how production and animal data is captured and shared across the business, such as swapping paper-based records for cloud-based systems.
Some of these changes cost little or nothing but can still improve efficiency and decision-making.
What this means for your business
AgValuate gives you:
- a quick check of where your business is now and where you want it to be
- a clearer view of where technology could add value
- a starting point for conversations with your advisor or extension officer
- a way to track progress over time.
AgValuate is an initiative of the TNQ Drought and Innovation Hub, funded by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.