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Connor Wass
2025 Nuffield Scholar
Digital technology roadmap for aquaculture businesses
Integrating digital technologies into smaller and medium-sized farms could unlock huge potential, says Tasmania’s Connor Wass.
Connor works for Tassal, Australia's largest aquaculture producer, which has invested significantly in digitalisation to improve farm oversight, fish performance, and business competitiveness.
His role is to support Tassal in providing timely data analysis of the farm's performance.
“There is a high importance placed on understanding fish performance in extreme detail and using data to provide prudent insight into the realities of our farms,” Connor said.
He will build on his first-hand knowledge through a Nuffield Scholarship, supported by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board. He plans to explore what roadblocks exist for smaller farms to invest in technology and help develop a digital technology roadmap.
“Knowing what digital technologies to invest in can be difficult, especially under tighter constraints in small/medium-sized businesses.
“But with the increasing difficulties in production costs, regional hiring and climate change, the need for reliable technologies is more important now than ever."
Connor said it was important to learn from businesses of all sizes and at different phases of digitalisation. He plans to visit the largest salmon farmers in Norway and Canada, as well as expand his understanding of other forms of livestock agriculture systems around the world.
There is an enormous push in the industry towards digital technologies, with both commercial and research organisations developing incredible solutions.
Connor highlights that the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has also targeted “digital, technological, and management innovations” in its Blue Transformation 2030 Roadmap. The World Economic Forum has listed digital investment as important in its Global Sustainable Aquaculture Roadmap (2023).
“The entire motivation behind the study is to digest the learnings from larger organisations and create a basic guide on the most important investments smaller farms can make.
“There are so many novel tools being developed, that I would like to assemble a breakdown of what the technologies do, what the costs may be in setup, the realistic expectations for the technology, and when is the right time to invest.”
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