Ros Harvey is an IT entrepreneur with an answer for future food crisis

"Agtech is a sexy sector. Who would have thought?" muses Ros Harvey, founder of The Yield.

Her bemusement is understandable – farm technology isn't much to get excited about. But the buzz around agtech is palpable and few people are leading the charge as fervently as Ms Harvey. Across the pastures and vineyards of Australia, farmers are catching on to how businesses based on the Internet of Things technology like The Yield can save them big bucks.

A looming shortage

But it's more than cost efficiencies driving Ms Harvey.

The Tasmanian believes her fledgling company can help solve a looming global food shortage.

"The world needs 60 per cent more food by 2050," she says.

"We want to help meet this challenge without compromising the future."

High-tech oysters

Harvey set up The Yield in November 2014, but only started working on it full-time six months later. The company's first product, Sensing+ for Aquaculture, hit the market 18 months ago and Harvey estimates 60 per cent of the nation's oyster farmers are now using it.

The technology uses sensors to measure a range of climate conditions from water salinity to wind speed to supply real-time and predictive data. Farmers use the data to avoid water contaminants such as the Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS) virus that can wipe out entire harvests. Read more