This week we bring you a podcast episode from our AgriFutures growAG. podcast channel. We learn about Western Australia's famed marron crayfish and how it could become the next global food sensation. The innovative agritech startup Aquatic AI has developed a vertical farming system to ensure a more consistent supply of the crustacean for export markets.
Featuring:
Michael Storey and Andrew Walker, Co-Founders, Aquatic AI

How do young people from non-farming backgrounds pursue a career on the land? And an even harder challenge, how can the same people eventually buy a farm?
 
Inaugural AgriFutures Rural Women’s Acceleration Grant recipient, Fiona Taylor is a woman on a mission. She wants young people to feel they have a future on the land. With the average age of Australian farmers currently hitting 61, her scheme is set to attract more young people on the land and keep the ones who are already here.
 
Featuring:
Fiona Taylor , Rural Financial Counsellor, Rural Financial Counselling Service NSW

A sampan is a traditional wooden boat common throughout Southeast Asia. Made of just three simple planks, they are used to take produce from the source to a marketplace. 

It’s the inspiration behind Adrian Spencer’s company name – Sampano. 

Adrian sees a lot in micro-algae. His recent research revealed that Australia has over 12,000 native species of micro-algae and algae, and they contain bioactive health ingredients such as Omega-3 and natural dyes. 

Both are in demand globally but with minimal local production, the potential of opening new markets within Australia is extremely attractive.

Featuring
Adrian Spencer, CEO, Sampano

Further reading

• Read Adrian's report, The algae and seaweed opportunity: An Australian prospect
• Read more about Adrian and his project
• Find out more about Sampano

For Bill Hyem, one of the most rewarding opportunities of the AgriFutures Horizon Scholarship Program are the industry placements. It was during one of these placements where Bill worked alongside the Founders of Ceres Tag, a direct to satellite animal monitoring information platform. Here he learnt the workings behind a leading and innovative start-up agtech business.
Featuring:
Bill Hyem, AgriFutures Horizon Scholar, student at Australian
Melita and David Smith, Founders of Ceres Tag

In a bad year, Kylie Templeton's family can lose up to 30% of their ginger crop to Fusarium.

Fusarium is a nasty fungus and is a key threat to seed ginger stock, as it can be spread through soil from infected plant material. Identification and removal of diseased seed stock is an expensive. labour intensive process. 

This podcast explores a project called Ginger Ninja which piloted the development of an automated system that aimed to identify and sort Fusarium infected seed ginger stock.
 
Featuring:
Kylie Templeton, Ginger Grower, Templeton Ginger
Professor Matthew Dunbabin, Faculty of Engineering, School of Electrical Engineering & Robotics, Queensland University of Technology

Interviews by Megan Woodward. 

Hailing from the Philippines, Jhoana Opena is concentrating on how to supress the growth of one of the world's most prolific weeds, barnyard grass, with pasture legumes. 

Featuring:
Dr Jhoana Opena, Research Academic, The University of Queensland (formerly a PhD student at The Graham Centre)

How has leadership changed over the years? What will the future of agriculture look like and what opportunities and challenges will arise?

In this panel interview, AgriFutures Australia Managing Director John Harvey speaks with two emerging leaders in the agriculture sector. Their differences in age, experience in the sector and personal perspectives uncovers fascinating insights. 
 
Featuring:
John Harvey, Managing Director, AgriFutures Australia
Bill Hyem, AgriFutures Horizon Scholar and student, Australian National University
Matilda Meppem, AgriFutures Horizon Scholar and student, The University of Queensland

Does where you live have an impact on whether you "trust" our rural industries? Why is it so important that Australian consumers trust rural industries?
 
The Community Trust in Rural Industries Program is an analysis of the full spectrum of underlying values driving community attitudes and trust towards food and fibre production. In this first episode of Season III, we showcase some of the findings from this fascinating body of work and how they have been applied to the Australian egg industry.
 
Featuring:
Kieran Moffatt, Lead Researcher, Community Trust in Rural Industries Program
Jennifer Medway, Senior Manager Rural Futures, AgriFutures Australia
Rowan McMonnies, Managing Director, Australian Eggs

This week we bring you an interview with the 2020 Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award National Winner, Cara Peek.

Cara is a Broome-based lawyer, entrepreneur and social innovator who is passionate about driving opportunities for rural and remote people to empower the Indigenous community.

The Award was announced in a special satellite event, which was streamed live around the country, with the Federal Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia , the Hon. David Littleproud announcing our National Winner. 

Cara sat down with Skye Manson, host of the Graziher Life on the Land podcast , to talk about the Award and her work and dedication to her winning project.

We hope you enjoy this conversation. 

Just imagine that you've stumbled across a product or service that the world has been crying out for but just didn't know it. Everyone's dream right? Well that describes perfectly Australia's seaweed industry. An industry in its infancy but with help from AgriFutures Australia, and the Australian Seaweed Institute, it's ready to leap onto the world stage. 

This interview first aired in October 2020 and has been one of our most popular episodes to date.