- Published:
- Wednesday 19 July 2017
Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford is in Tel Aviv, Israel this week to assess what lessons Victoria can learn from the country’s world leading agricultural innovators.
The trip provides an opportunity to meet with Israel’s top Agritech companies, learn from their experiences and see how their renowned technologies can be used to improve Victoria’s farming practices.
The trip includes a visit to the University of Jerusalem’s Faculty of Agriculture to gain an insight into their breakthrough research in drip irrigation and fertigation, agriculture waste recycling technologies and improved taste, longer shelf life and disease resistance for fruit and vegetables.
One of the highlights will be meeting with the Trendlines Group who will showcase some of their latest technologies which include a next-generation robotic milking system for cost effective, high performance automatic milking for dairy farms.
Other areas of interest include irrigation, pest and disease detection, soil genetic research to improve crop tolerance, crop nutrition, and tactical decision making of farm businesses in response to weather.
Ms Pulford is also meeting with Israel’s key medicinal cannabis industry leaders to discuss opportunities for collaboration to further develop Victoria’s industry.
The Andrews Labor Government recognises that research and innovation are key drivers to increasing agriculture productivity and competitiveness, and supports the development of national and international partnerships to ensure our industries have early access to new discoveries.
Victoria invested around $44 million in 2016-17 in agriculture science delivered through Agriculture Victoria’s new Research Division.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford
“Israel is at the forefront of agricultural technology and I’m excited to find out more about some of their innovative projects and what that means for our farming future in Victoria.”
“A priority for the Labor Government is identifying opportunities and where we can adopt new technology to improve agricultural production across the supply chain.”
“We’re continuing to make investments in agriculture science and work alongside industry to enable the sector to become more globally competitive, innovative and resilient and importantly boost jobs.”