New technology to tackle biosecurity challenges down the track is one of the five megatrends identified in today's CSIRO report Australia's Biosecurity Future: preparing for future biological challenges.
As manpower in the agriculture and biosecurity sectors declines, we must look to technological innovation to protect crops. Monitoring and surveillance, genetics, communication and data analysis have been identified in today's report as future work priorities, along with developing smaller, smarter, user-friendly devices.
But this is easier said than done. There are a number of potential barriers that need to be addressed to make sure that appropriate technologies are used to maximum effect. It might sound obvious, but making sure farmers can – and want to – use new technology is a crucial step.