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Overcoming the AgTech Adoption Hurdles: Addressing Scepticism and Cost


This article presents insights from Prisma Technology, sharing their field experience on the barriers to AgTech adoption and practical strategies to accelerate uptake.

Drones and precision tools are delivering clear on-farm benefits - from safer mustering and

rapid fault-finding to targeted bird control and crop-health checks. Yet adoption remains inconsistent. According to Prisma Technology the challenge is rarely just the cost. Their field experience shows producers face a cluster of interlinked barriers: cost, trust, capability, regulation and underutilisation. Addressing them is the only way to make sure trials and interest actually turn into sustained, everyday use.


For technology providers and the industry, understanding this cluster of barriers is key to building effective market strategies:


  • Cost is the Threshold: Commercially useful drones typically start around $10,000, while advanced spraying systems can approach $80,000. As co-founder Rav Pull observed, “If someone is paying $10,000, that’s a big commitment for a technology they don’t yet fully trust”.


  • Scepticism is Deeper than Price: According to Prisma Technologies' field experience, as articulated by Rav, "The single biggest barrier to scaling tech in Australia is scepticism." Producers want hard numbers on Return on Investment (ROI), specifics about capability, and proof that the product will really solve their problems. This is compounded by negative public perception; such as the military uses of drones in the news which adds social friction to adoption.


  • Capability, Time, and Regulation: Drones are technical systems that demand training, practice, and time - resources many producers lack. Furthermore, heavy spraying drones carry significant regulatory burdens, requiring a costly, multi-day licensing course. This complexity often leads to significant underutilisation with Rav estimating “20–30% of our customers purchase a drone that doesn’t end up fully optimised”.

De-Risking Adoption through Partnership

Prisma Technologies’ experience confirmed that the Farmers2Founders TEKFARM program proved to be the critical accelerant, addressing the financial and trust barriers simultaneously.

  • Risk Reduction and Accessibility: The model's three-way cost-sharing dramatically lowered barriers, reducing both financial risk and scepticism, allowing producers to "take the leap" on high-cost equipment.

  • Market Expansion and Momentum: The program provided exposure beyond their usual NSW base, including successful deployments in Queensland and South Australia.

What Genuinely Accelerates Adoption

Prisma Tech’s experience points to several practical levers that tech providers and industry programs can use to convert trials into routine practice:

Invest in advisor relationships: advisors who deeply understand producer pain points are essential to match technology to real problems. “Having advisors who can translate the producer’s pain points into a way that’s digestible for us is fantastic,”.

Provide focused training and follow-up support: Offering complimentary after-sales training and ongoing engagement is critical to shortening the learning curve and building confidence

Share detailed, transparent information: producers want specifics, not high-level marketing. “Go into the details. Don’t be afraid of it,”.

Build ongoing feedback loops: Establishing regular check-ins between providers, advisors, and producers is essential to surface operational learnings that strengthen products and services and inform the business model.

Conclusion

Drones are maturing into practical tools for resilience, efficiency and safety on farm. But scaling them hinges on more than price reductions: it requires earning trust, building operator capability, simplifying regulatory pathways, and delivering clear, farm-relevant evidence of value. As Rav reflects on the program's success centres on lowering the entry barriers, “It certainly allows producers to access technology and lowers the barriers to adoption.” 


For providers and industry stakeholders, the task is to align training, transparent information and advisor engagement so that promising pilots translate into everyday practice across Australian farms.


Rav's message to the government and industry stakeholders regarding investment and policy is equally clear: “Cost-sharing and advisors support model critical. They make advanced technologies accessible, which in turn boosts productivity, supports producers, and strengthens the national economy."


Prisma Technologies is Australia's leading commercial drone supplier, offering end-to-end, tailored solutions including expert advise, equipment, training, and support across agriculture, construction, and public safety.

 

This program/project received funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

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