Back in 2018, Agworld partnered with Western Australia’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s (DPIRD) PestFax service with a simple idea in mind: if agronomists and growers were already recording pest, weed and disease observations in Agworld, why not allow that information to contribute to something bigger for the industry?
What started as a small collaboration with the Elders WA agronomy team has quietly become one of the best examples of agricultural data delivering real-world value. Since 2018, Agworld users have contributed 12,699 reports into the DPIRD PestFacts WA system. Of those, 8,493 related to weeds, 1,480 to insects and 1,107 to disease observations. In 2025 alone, Agworld users contributed 2,499 reports to PestFacts, the highest annual total to date! And yes, you read the name change correctly - what started as PestFax in 2018 is now called PestFacts; Facsimile services are truly out-of-date in 2026!
Those numbers matter because PestFacts WA plays a critical role in helping growers and advisors identify emerging threats across the wheatbelt. More observations lead to better regional visibility, earlier warnings and stronger decision-making capabilities for everyone involved. What makes this particularly relevant today is the growing conversation around AI in agriculture.
There is enormous excitement about artificial intelligence, predictive agronomy and automated recommendations. But AI is only as good as the quality of the data behind it. Agriculture doesn’t need more disconnected spreadsheets or free-text notes on where they can’t be used further. Our industry needs structured and standardised data that can be used consistently across businesses, regions and seasons. That has always been core to Agworld’s philosophy.
For more than a decade, Agworld has focused on building a structured data platform that enables accurate, reportable farm records while still fitting naturally into the day-to-day workflow of agronomists and growers. The PestFacts WA collaboration demonstrates why this matters.
These nearly 13,000 reports over the past 8 years were not generated through additional surveys, separate data entry exercises or manual uploads. They were generated through normal operational workflows and shared anonymously with consent for the benefit of the wider industry. That distinction is important because scalable agricultural intelligence only happens when contributing data is easy and secure. Annual report numbers have grown significantly since the early years of the program, reflecting both increased adoption and growing recognition that agronomic observations can create value beyond the farm gate.
As agriculture moves further towards AI-driven decision support, initiatives like PestFacts become increasingly more important. AI models require high-quality historical and real-time datasets to identify trends and predict outbreaks. Without reliable data foundations, AI becomes noise or worse, misleading. This is where collaborative platforms like Agworld will play a critical role for our industry.
The future of Agtech will not simply belong to whoever builds the smartest algorithm. It will belong to the organisations and industries that are able to create trusted ecosystems of high-quality agricultural data that growers, agronomists and researchers can collectively benefit from. The PestFacts WA collaboration is proof that this future is already underway.
