COVID-19 concerns have pushed back agriculture’s largest annual agtech event, EvokeAg, by 12 months.

Originally scheduled to take place in Perth early next year, organisers have this week postponed the next event until 15-16 February, 2021.

AgriFutures Australia said the change had come in recognition of the unprecedented impact COVID-19 had had on the economy particularly on those businesses and participants who have invested in evokeAg.

AgriFutures Australia managing director John Harvey said it was more important than ever to deliver on the objectives of evokeAg, and provide optimism and enthusiasm to power growth and prosperity within the agrifood innovation system in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

“It is our priority to maintain the momentum across the agrifood tech sector. We are exploring how we can continue to engage with the existing evokeAg community by providing stakeholders with access to content and opportunities to engage on topics that align with the evokeAg themes of Food, Farm, Future and ‘Collaborative thinking to change the future’,” he said.

“We are looking to connect high profile keynote speakers, such as Jack Cowin, John Hartnett, Mike Lee and Rachel Neumann with the interested evokeAg network. Our intention is to deliver premium content directly to a local and global audience through high-quality production across video, audio and written online formats. We will continue to connect the Asia Pacific region with the brightest minds in the world, and highlighting local talent to this same audience,” Mr Harvey said.

“Keeping connected globally during a time of “no global travel” is a priority. We have built a strong foundation from our international delegations and through trade agencies, like Austrade. Through online engagement, we intend to keep these connections growing,” he said.

This year’s evokeAg event held in Melbourne in February attracted more than 1400 delagates from across Australia and overseas, representing producers, technologfy developers, scientistsd and bureaucrats.

Since the first event in 2019, evokeAg has built an expanding community that is hungry to hear from global leaders in agrifood tech and innovation, collaborate with others and build global pathways. More than 2500 people have attended evokeAg and over 30,000 people follow or subscribe to the evokeAg social channels, videos, podcasts and newsletter content all year-round.

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia director general Ralph Addis said driving innovation and increasing adoption of technology across the agrifood supply chain was a key priority.

“We remain committed to supporting Western Australia’s dynamic agrifood innovation ecosystem and showcasing this to the global community,” Mr Addis said.

“We look forward to evokeAg bringing together delegates from around the world and across Australia to connect, collaborate and look to the future possibilities of agrifood tech – here in Perth in 2022.”

• evokeAg 2022 will be held at Claremont Showgrounds on the 15-16 February 2022.

Source: EvokeAg