THE potential of augmented and virtual reality to transform agricultural supply chains will be explored at the inaugural Australian Ag Immersive Technology Conference to be held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Conference Centre from 10-11 July.

This new industry event  will be hosted by Meat & Livestock Australia in collaboration with other Australian Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs).

The two-day conference, trade show and think-tank, is designed to investigate augmented and virtual reality, known as mixed reality, for all agriculture sectors and along the entire length of each supply chain.

MLA general manager for research, development and innovation, Sean Starling, said with mixed reality predicted to be the next disruptive technology and as common as smartphones in five to ten years, it was critical all sectors of Australian agriculture explored its potential.

“Although Australian agriculture is lagging with the deployment of this evolving technology, its sectors can look towards other industries that have implemented it in operations to see how they’re using it now and envisioning its future applications,” Mr Starling said.

The conference will feature a combination of presentations from end-users of the technology and an immersive trade show.

“The program will enable solution providers to demonstrate what is possible today and what might be possible in the future,” Mr Starling said. “It will culminate with a working session to solicit ideas from the audience on how mixed reality solutions can apply now to our agricultural supply chains and into the future.”

The conference will include more than 40 presentations demonstrating end‐use applications of various mixed reality deployments from both within agriculture and non‐agriculture sectors under six theme streams:

• Marketing and Consumer messaging
• Engaging with consumers at retail (making choices easier)
• Education and Training
• Manufacturing Operations (and auditing)
• Engineering, Maintenance and Safety
• On‐farm (operations)

End users, hardware providers, developers and integrators, and universities and students are encouraged to attend the conference, trade show and think tank.

The conference is being presented by MLA with support from other RDCs including AgriFutures Australia, Australian Wool Innovation, Grains Research & Development Corporation, Australian Eggs, Australian Pork, Cotton Research & Development Corporation, Dairy Australia, Forest & Wood Products Australia, Hort Innovation, Sugar Research Australia and Wine Australia.

Registration

Tickets to the conference are $100 and registration is essential.
Click here for more information and to register.