Evoke(n) – Part 1 – F$!@ing (Farming) Wisdom, straight up. - SHR!MP S0203

29 November 2025

Oh SHRMPy!, that EvokeAg 2025 conference was much bigger than I expected – therefore there will be a triple feature!

4am start, on-time touch down for the opening, survived the official opening addresses, and things got interesting. A good number of the panels and especially the smaller workshops turned out to be really insightful and sometimes quite entertaining. This had to be my first conference, where F-Bombs made it across plenaries and at times (gallows) humour illustrated frustrations articulated rather undiplomatically – however, with great clarity.

Regarding innovation, opinions from entrepreneurs and producers sounded familiar – reflecting their impressions that some research and grant support are set up as its own “circular economy” (bypassing or just not creating any value for those who actually need it), and there seemed to be very little love to collaborate on “yet another academic research or innovation project” (that was not based on producer’s needs but only on the researchers interests).

New to me, I learned that producers had to pay their own “R&D tax” (levy) that is funding product or sector-specific “RDCs” (Research and Development Centres), in the eyes of many, (I am paraphrasing this safe for work…) “a total waste of money”, as at least from speakers and panellists’ point of view RDCs did not deliver much meaningful research or development that benefited the producers who fund them.

I didn’t get around to taking too many pics; although from the US, Bren Smith’s presentation’s tone and content seemed to well reflect some of the Australian experience and perspectives. Overall, EvokeAg was much bigger than I expected.