While speaking at EvokeAG this week, Elders chief executive officer, Mark Allison, said it has been a big year for topical issues within the Australian public, with hot debate on several significant issues affecting the country's future. 

"It seems to me that society is more binary than it's ever been in its public discourse, and this has been the case in agricultural and broader circles as well, particularly over the last 12 to 18 months," Allison said. 

He said too often the debates that affect farmers, including trade, climate, land rights and innovation, are being used as "political ammunition to fuel an ideological agenda or argument, rather than being grounded in finding practical and real solutions for the national good, without focus on city centric and minority group appeasement." 

"This is where I see passion not being balanced with practicality" Allison said. 

"Passion is something our farmers and the Australian people generally have in buckets, but passion alone doesn't necessarily equate to the right answer or success." 

 

THE SECRET OF SUCCESSFUL INNOVATION  

Successful innovation requires passion, patterns, planning, people and practicality, according to Allison. He calls these the five Ps, which he said Elders has been applying to innovation ventures for some time.  

Allison said passion is essential, however "we must start with a clear problem to be solved and a clear reason to change and innovate." 

He said the second "P" is patterns. 

"I've spent many years in the industry, originally as a research agronomist, before moving on to running a number of agribusinesses across multiple areas of our industry. 

"In every role finding patterns in data and behavior, and analysing them, understanding trends, and then using these insights to make evidence driven decisions, have been absolutely critical."  

Allison said the third "P" is planning. 

"This goes without saying, but without a guiding strategy, we cannot go to where we intend," he said.

"At Elders, you may have heard me talking about our Eight-Point Plan, which is our guiding light to achieving our strategic objectives- ensuring we have the resources and infrastructure in place to execute each component of the plan."

He added the Eight-Point Plan is on its fourth iteration now and Elders has been chasing a clear goal for 12 years, running the whole organsation aligned to that goal.  

The fourth "P" is people, according to Allison, who added "I spoke last year about keeping the human impact of technology front of mind, and I stand by that."  

"The right people are key to innovation, both in its conceptual and implementation phases, as well as in understanding the personal and community consequences of the innovation or technology," he said. 

"And again, so important for regional rural Australia- where towns and communities can be broken very easily because of the sparse nature around Australia." 

Allison said the final "P" is practicality, which is the one he said would resonate with the farmers at the conference. 

"Before we all began using digital farm management systems, we used a little notebook in our shirt pocket- hopefully a pink shirt pocket," he said. 

"Why? Because it was the most practical solution at the time. 

"It's still a mainstay for farmers, but gradually we're seeing agtech automate this element of running farm businesses. 

"Thankfully, to allow producers to focus their time and energy on other higher priorities."  

Allison said for the many opportunities and the great potential in front of the industry, the attendees at EvokeAG were "lucky to be in a room full of so many great minds who are determined to bring agriculture closer to its productivity and sustainability ambition." 

He said he hopes delegates can use a methodology, such as the five Ps, to maintain a perspective on commerciality and sustainability, and to achieve their own exceptional edge in the agricultural industry.