Ericsson, AgriBusiness Connect partner to drive 5G potential in agriculture

Potential 5G enterprise applications across the agriculture value chain - from supply to in-the-field operations to production and distribution - is the motivation behind a strengthened technology partnership between Ericsson and Australian not-for-profit organization AgriBusiness Connect.

Under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the partners aim to create new industry value by utilizing the high speed, low latency and large real-time data handing capabilities of Ericsson’s 5G solutions in public and private networks.

The partners seek to accelerate innovative productivity and efficiency solutions for agribusiness and related sectors to secure Australia’s position at the forefront of Industry 4.0 adoption.

Founded in 2021 as AgriFood Connect, the recently renamed AgriBusiness Connect (ABC) is an incubator supporting Australian agribusinesses and the broader industry to help meet digitalization, Net Zero and renewable energy adoption challenges.

In addition to direct agribusiness players, the Ericsson 5G partnership will address organizations supporting the sector with processing, packaging, warehousing and transport.

The partners will target education and training for existing agribusiness workers and work to increase policy makers’ awareness of the difference 5G can make to the digitalization of agriculture value chains.

Grant Statton, AgriBusiness Connect’s Chief Executive Officer, says: “Our partnership with Ericsson is another important step in our journey to drive innovation across the agribusiness-related ecosystem and ensure that science and technology translate to the real needs of industry. With our market standing, knowledge of the sector, and ecosystem of relationships, we are uniquely positioned to orchestrate end-to-end across the agribusiness value chain. This opens the door for Ericsson and AgriBusiness Connect to create tangible pathways to prove the difference 5G can make to business, decarbonization, safety and creating new high-value skills within the agribusiness sector.”

Emilio Romeo, Head of Ericsson, Australia and New Zealand, says: “Australia can rightly be proud of its international reputation as a frontrunner in technology change adoption. In the case of 5G rollout, Australia is among the global leaders. The outcome of this partnership between Ericsson and AgriBusiness Connect could see pioneering Enterprise 5G use case ideas with the potential to transform the agribusiness value chain around the world. Partnerships like this one, working alongside the Government’s digitalization plans, are key to ensuring enterprise, industry, society and citizens benefit from 5G as soon possible.”

Ericsson has an ongoing collaboration with AgriBusiness Connect and the AgTech & Logistics Hub in the AATLIS precinct - an industrial-scale precinct in Toowoomba, Queensland. An Ericsson Private 5G system was deployed at the site in partnership with Telstra in 2022.