Visiting a combination of regional and metro events allows us to share the paddock to plate story with people from many walks of life through virtual reality. We’ve been fortunate enough to take #FarmVR activations to events in recent months such as the Royal Adelaide Show, Yorke Peninsula Field Days, and the Loxton Show, and immersed over 3,000 people in VR at those events combined.
Using immersive technologies to share the stories of our farmers is such a captivating way to enable people to explore a world they may not have considered. Being able to put the viewer out on the farm, in the paddock, gives them a unique perspective. Many children we spoke to at the Royal Adelaide Show had never been to a farm before, and having grown up on a farm myself, I wanted to share that with them… Cue #FarmVR!
We visited the Yorke Peninsula Field Days and stepped it up a notch when we brought along our Oculus Rift, showcasing #FarmVRWorld and the Sheep Shearing Simulator we’ve built into it. Now, instead of just passively viewing the content, participants could now reach out in front of them, grab the shears and begin shearing the sheep!
Using virtual reality to teach the skills and technique of shearing is a unique concept, which many YP Field Days visitors appreciated, one kid I met even stating, ‘Now I get to share what I love with the city kids!’ We held our stand in the Murray Allen Sheep and Wool pavilion, with a live shearing demonstration running every few hours, which created a great contrast between the ‘real deal’ and using immersive technologies to learn. Many of the visitors to our stand had never tried virtual reality before, and we had fun immersing them in both passive and interactive experiences.
Virtual reality is a powerful tool that can be used to transport your audience, and this is not only restricted to gaming. To be able to stand out in that paddock and look out in every direction, or to reach out and grab the virtual shears and shear the sheep, virtual reality can give users experiences they previously never have had access to, inspiring them to consider career pathways in agriculture, food & fibre.
See you at the Royal Hobart Show, 23-26 October 2019