AN industry-first national accreditation scheme for agricultural professionals will be launched later this month at the Brave New World – Ag to 2030 conference in Sydney.

Turlough Guerin

The Chartered Agriculturalist (CAg) scheme sets a new mark of professionalism for people working in, and supporting, the agricultural sector, allowing individuals to demonstrate their level of skills and experience to industry.

Ag Institute Australia chair, Turlough Guerin, said the scheme was needed to underpin and build public confidence in the experience and expertise of the sector’s professionals.

“The chartered scheme has entry criteria for qualification levels, professional work experience, assessment of professional standards as well as an ethics examination,” Mr Guerin said.

“What we won’t require of applicants is to have them undertake courses specifically to become chartered.

“Think of it as an umbrella framework – we are recognising the efforts that industry leaders are already making in their professional development.”

The Brave New World – Ag to 2030 conference will also host the Brave Pitch, in which five innovators will showcase their ag-tech start-up idea in front of potential investors and supporters.

The ideas include a compostable alternative to plastic, a seasonal staffing solution, a digital farm aggregation platform, a livestock nutrition app and work using endophytes to make agricultural soils more fertile and resilient.

Brave New World – Ag to 2030, Ag Institute Australia’s National Conference, will take place in Sydney from 28^th – 30^th November.

The event will focus on practical, business focused presentations across four key themes;

• Challenges Facing Australian Agriculture
• Controlling Supply Chains
• Machine Learning, Big Data, Quantum Computing & Biotech
• Human Touch – Beyond the Bottom Line.

Other highlights of the conference include:

• Futurist Dr Keith Suter on how advisors, consultants and technical professionals can best prepare themselves for the Brave New World of Ag 2030
• A Brave Breakfast A conversation with Dr Paul Fisher and Prof John Mullen on the future of agriculture in a changing financial landscape
• A demonstration of world first wearable AR/VR technology in agriculture from David Francis – Real Wear Technologies
• Rupert Colchester from IBM explaining what blockchain is and why is matters to agriculture
• Sean Starling from Meat and Livestock Australia on whether digital livestock value chains are happening – or is all hype?

Source: Ag Institute Australia