Agriculture is being increasingly transformed into a technological industry and calls for a greater need for digitally literate employees. To ensure school students are best placed for this requirement, the development of teacher digital literacy, self-efficacy, and the awareness of agricultural technology is essential. The current study explores the digital literacy and self-efficacy of Australian Technology Mandatory teachers who were participants in a one-day workshop (n = 185). The workshop introduced participants to the GPS Cows module, a complete teaching resource specifically designed to cover agricultural aspects of the Technology Mandatory syllabus. Data were collected by way of classroom ‘clickers’ during the workshop and by a post-workshop survey. Teachers were found to have reasonable basic digital literacy but lacked the confidence to conduct more detailed analytics. There was also some evidence that a teacher’s own digital literacy may also impact their perception of their students’ skills. Professional development workshops, such as the GPS Cows workshop, can improve teacher digital literacy and self-efficacy through hands-on learning in a collaborative, team environment.

In this new decade of the twenty-first century, research reports the same concerns about agricultural literacy in primary and high school students globally. A systematic review of agricultural literacy studies published between 2000 and 2020 which assess the agricultural literacy of the target population; evaluated an agricultural education program or curriculum; or developed instruments to measure agricultural literacy was conducted. The review method followed an internationally recognized protocol for selecting, screening, analyzing, and reporting outcomes. Results found that definitions of agricultural literacy have evolved from an awareness to a measure of a deeper understanding developed throughout the years of formal schooling by both formal and informal education and experiences. Informal agricultural knowledge may be gained through numerous sources and misconceptions are apparent even among those with informal familial knowledge networks. Developing agricultural literacy in school-aged children through formal education is critical. Recommendations offer innovative ways of developing agriculturally literate young people that can be used to design, deliver and evaluate programs which aim to increase the agricultural literacy of primary and secondary students across the globe.

Combining technologies for monitoring spatial behaviour of livestock with technologies that monitor pasture availability, offers the opportunity to improve the management and welfare of extensively produced beef cattle. The aims of the study were to investigate changes to beef cattle behaviour as pasture availability changed, and to determine whether Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology could determine livestock grazing preference and hence improve pasture management and paddock utilisation. Data derived from GNSS collars included distance travelled and location in the paddock. The latter enabled investigation of individual animal interactions with the underlying Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and pasture biomass of the paddock. As expected, there was a significant temporal decrease in NDVI during the study and an increase in distance travelled by cattle (P < 0.001; r² = 0.88). The proportion of time budget occupied in grazing behaviour also increased (P < 0.001; r² = 0.71). Cattle showed a partial preference for areas of higher pasture biomass/NDVI, although there was a large amount of variation over the course of the study. In conclusion, cattle behaviour changed in response to declining NDVI, highlighting how technologies that monitor these two variables may be used in the future as management tools to assist producers better manage cattle, to manipulate grazing intensity and paddock utilisation.

The five freedoms and, more recently, the five domains of animal welfare provide internationally recognised frameworks to evaluate animal welfare practices which recognise both the physical and mental wellbeing needs of animals, providing a balanced view of their ability to cope in their environment. Whilst there are many techniques to measure animal welfare, the challenge lies with how best to align these with future changes in definitions and expectations, advances in science, legislative requirements, and technology improvements. Furthermore, enforcement of current animal welfare legislation in relation to livestock in Australia and the reliance on self-audits for accreditation schemes, challenges our ability to objectively measure animal welfare. On-animal sensors have enormous potential to address animal welfare concerns and assist with legislative compliance, through continuous measurement and monitoring of an animal’s behavioural state and location being reflective of their wellbeing. As reliable animal welfare measures evolve and the cost of on-animal sensors reduce, technology adoption will increase as the benefits across the supply chain are realised. Future adoption of on-animal sensors by producers will primarily depend on a value proposition for their business being clear; algorithm development to ensure measures are valid and reliable; increases in producer knowledge, willingness, and trust in data governance; and improvements in data transmission and connectivity.

The use of pain relief during castration and dehorning of calves on commercial beef operations can be limited by constraints associated with the delivery of analgesic agents. As topical anaesthetic (TA) and buccal meloxicam (MEL) are now available in Australia, offering practical analgesic treatments for concurrent castration and dehorning of beef calves, a study was conducted to determine their efficacy in providing pain relief when applied separately or in combination. Weaner calves were randomly allocated to; (1) no castration and dehorning/positive control (CONP); (2) castration and dehorning/negative control (CONN); (3) castration and dehorning with buccal meloxicam (BM); (4) castration and dehorning with topical anaesthetic (TA); and (5) castration and dehorning with buccal meloxicam and topical anaesthetic (BMTA). Weight gain, paddock utilisation, lying activity and individual behaviours following treatment were measured. CONP and BMTA calves had significantly greater weight gain than CONN calves (p < 0.001). CONN calves spent less time lying compared to BMTA calves on all days (p < 0.001). All dehorned and castrated calves spent more time walking (p = 0.024) and less time eating (p < 0.001) compared to CONP calves. There was a trend for CONP calves to spend the most time standing and CONN calves to spend the least time standing (p = 0.059). There were also trends for the frequency of head turns to be lowest in CONP and BMTA calves (p = 0.098) and tail flicks to be highest in CONN and BM calves (p = 0.061). The findings of this study suggest that TA and MEL can potentially improve welfare and production of calves following surgical castration and amputation dehorning.

This systematic review explores the emergence and utilisation of agricultural technology (“AgTech”) in secondary schools globally. A total of 14 studies published between 2000 and 2020, inclusive, were reviewed, each exploring the use of agricultural technologies in secondary school classrooms and barriers to adoption. For all reviewed studies, each had aimed to address one of three major objectives: (a) to determine or increase teacher knowledge of AgTech; (b) to evaluate the effectiveness of AgTech professional development (PD); or (c) to evaluate the effectiveness of AgTech classroom activities. Requirements for future AgTech PD or classroom activities were also identified, including the use of improved pre-service learnings and in-service PD. This study highlights the importance of improving the opportunities of teachers for AgTech learning, including both an introduction to the technologies and support for classroom implementation. Applications of these findings could be used by teachers, schools, industry organisations, universities and policymakers to ensure sufficient teacher knowledge and skills for effective student learning. By increasing the knowledge and skills of the next-generation agricultural workforce, it is anticipated that AgTech adoption on farms will increase.