If there’s one thing I’ll never forget, it is this: about 10 years ago, I was having a beer with a close friend from John Deere. With AC/DC playing in the background, he said, “I’ll tell you what, nothing worries us more than those Australians.” I didn’t see that coming, but his reasoning stuck with me like Angus Young’s schoolboy outfit – odd at first, but impossible to ignore. He simply said, “Australia is a breeding ground for agricultural innovation.”
Australia’s vast landmass and sparse population have made it a leader in agtech – from early adoption of IoT and satellite imagery to cloud-based farm management tools. With wild weather swings – droughts, floods, bushfires – necessity has bred resilience. Australian farmers move fast, often outpacing others in their willingness to try and scale new technologies. Ask any ag startup, and you’ll hear the same thing: Australians are first movers. At the center of it all is CSIRO, the government-backed R&D powerhouse behind everything from crop genetics to Wi-Fi. Their work has shaped not only Australian agriculture, but modern farming around the world.
From where I stand, Australia isn’t just a market – it’s a proving ground. The country’s conditions, challenges, and forward-thinking farmers make it the perfect place to show what’s possible when autonomy meets agriculture. We’re excited to grow our presence there, not just because it makes a good story, but because we’ll learn something too.
Or, as one of the greatest bands the world has ever heard put it: “To me, it makes good, good sense.”
– Craig
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