Agtech - So What?

evokeAG, Asia Pacific's largest agrifood tech event, brought together 1300 innovators earlier in February this year in Melbourne, Australia. The jam-packed event featured international experts, innovative farmers, dozens of startups, and much more, showcasing what the region has to offer in agrifood tech innovation.

This bonus episode gives a taste of evokeAG and a live recording of the first panel on the main stage: The Asia-Pacific region and how we are rising. Panelists included:

•Andrew Coppin - Farmbot

•David Downs - NZTE

•John Hartnett - SVG Ventures/THRIVE

•Liza Noonan - CSIRO

•Sarah Nolet - Tenacious Ventures and host of AgTech...So What?

For additional shoutouts and relevant links, check out the AgTech...So What website here.

Agriculture is often vilified for its environmental impact. But what if agriculture could be carbon neutral? Is that even possible? And what would it cost?

Alisdair Tulloch, a fourth generation grape grower, believes it's not only possible but also profitable.

In this episode, Alisdair shares his family's journey to carbon neutral. Why did they decide to take action? How are they measuring? What improvements have they made, and how did they prioritize?

We also cover:

•The practices and management decisions Alisdair has made, and what's working (or not);

•Why there's a first-mover advantage of going carbon neutral;

•The ROI of carbon neutrality; and

•The potential of policies and carbon markets to unlock value for farmers.

To follow Alisdair's journey

•Instagram @keithtullochwine and @alisdairtulloch

•Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KeithTullochWine/Looking for Keith Tulloch wines?

•https://keithtullochwine.com.au/

•info@keithtullochwine

•The Fine Wine Specialist, their national distributor: https://www.tfws.com.au

Mark "Ferg" Ferguson is a sheep geneticist who's paying attention to how both consumer demands and emerging technologies are impacting growers. Drawing on his experience with dozens of clients around Australia and New Zealand, Ferg shares:

•insights for agtech companies, like the importance of personas and how to build relationships in a digital world;

•what the future of extension and consulting in livestock looks like;

•the role of cutting edge technologies in the sheep industry; and

•a vision for the future where consumers expectations are met and growers are profitable.

For more from Ferg and resources mentioned, see:

•https://www.nextgenagri.com/

•https://twitter.com/neXtgenAgri and https://twitter.com/Fergenetics

•https://www.nextgenagri.com/articles/farmer-people-that-farm-article-1

•Artificial Intelligence work: https://www.nextgenagri.com/articles/seen-one-seen-them-all

•NZ Merino: https://www.nzmerino.co.nz/

Mic Fels is someone I've wanted to speak with ever since I read an article he wrote about how his agtech is really making him money.

Mic not only crops about 11,000 hectares in Esperance, Western Australia, but has also built and commercialized a range of software products and machinery through his company, iPaddock.

Mic and I chat about where the real value is in agtech, and what building products has taught him about startups and about farming.

We also talk about:

•hard earned lessons and tips for working with tech;

•whether ideas or execution matter more; and

•which is harder...farming or building agtech.

For more from Mic and to check out the iPaddock products, see:

•https://twitter.com/ipaddockapps

•https://www.ipaddock.com.au/

•https://www.ipaddock.com.au/how-i-make-money-out-of-ipaddock/

Agtech is about more than the technologies. It's about new business models in agriculture,

and of course the innovators driving changes along the value chain. Today's guest, Fiona Aveyard, a 5th generation mixed farmer, is definitely an innovator and an entrepreneur.

We talk about how she's working on a new supply chain and new

value add products that can bring more profits to the farm and create jobs in her

local community. And she's doing all of this while facing dust storms and the worst drought in

history.

This episode is again part of our series in partnership with Farmers2Founders, an

innovation program designed specially for primary producers. Fiona is one of the

businesses in the program. Applications are open now for the Ideas Program. So, if you're a producer with an invention to commercialize or an idea for a new product, check it out!

For more from Fiona, check out:

https://www.outbacklamb.com.au/

https://twitter.com/outbacklamb

Fee Turner (Bitwise Agronomy) and Lee Coleman (FarmSimple) are both farmers as well as founders of agtech startups. They, along with six other farmer-led businesses, have been selected into the Farmers2Founders Bootcamp program, an intensive 3 month accelerator that is helping them take their business to the next level.

In this episode, Fee and Lee tell us about their farms, startups, and the challenges they're facing being farmers and founders.

Relevant links:

•https://www.bitwiseag.com/

•https://twitter.com/bitwiseag

•https://croppaco.com/

•https://twitter.com/CroppaCo

This episode is produced in partnership with Farmers2Founders. To learn more, check out https://www.farmers2founders.com/ or follow @farmers2founder on Twitter.

Stuart Austin is a regenerative farmer and self-proclaimed early adopter of technology.

In this episode we cover everything from how Stuart got involved in regenerative ag, to the tools he's using (and helping build) to make 6 and 7 figure decisions at Wilmot Cattle Company.

Stuart also shares his views on alternative proteins, transparency in agriculture, and the books and movies that he's found inspirational.

Relevant links:

•Wilmot Cattle Company- https://www.wilmotcattleco.com.au/

•Write up of the 2019 Field Day- https://www.maiagrazing.com/250-plus-graziers-attend-field-day-on-drought-resilience/

•RCS Grazing for Profit course- https://www.rcsaustralia.com.au/products/family-business/grazing-for-profit-2/

•Allan Savory's TED talk- https://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_fight_desertification_and_reverse_climate_change

•You inc. by John McGrath- https://www.amazon.com.au/You-Inc-Attract-Amazing-Business/dp/0732276365

•Remember the Titans (trailer)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir1OH33uiwA

•Maia Grazing- https://www.maiagrazing.com/

•FarmBot- https://www.farmbot.com.au/

Ashlea Miles and David Ricardo are Australian farmers and founders of agtech startups Training Paddock and Farm Service Manager. They, along with six other farmer-led businesses, have been selected into the Farmers2Founders Bootcamp program, an intensive 3 month accelerator that helping them take their business to the next level.

In this episode, Ash and David share the story behind Training Paddock and Farm Service Manager, and reflect on the differences and similarities between running a farm and building a startup.

Relevant links:

•https://www.trainingpaddock.com.au/

•https://farmservicemanager.com/

•https://twitter.com/FarmServiceApp (@FarmServiceApp)

This episode is produced in partnership with Farmers2Founders. To learn more, check out https://www.farmers2founders.com/

Aidan Connolly is the CEO of Cainthus, and agtech startup using cameras and machine learning to help farmers make better decisions. Before that, Aidan helped Alltech grow from $24 million to $2.3 billion. During that time he was, among many things, Director of the Pearse Lyons Accelerator where he saw hundreds of agtech startups in all different sectors.

Aidan shares his insights on:

•What it's like to go from a global agribusiness to a startup

•How cameras are transforming agriculture

•How to get engineers off the keyboard and onto the farms they're trying to help

•Why it's so important for farmers to help entrepreneurs, even when it's frustrating

For more from Aidan, check out:

•Aidan on LinkedIn

•Aidan on Twitter

•Aidan on Forbes

•Cainthus

Other resources:

•HBR on the average age of successful founders

Coming to you live from the AgTech Meetup in Sydney, this panel explores what it takes for startups and researchers to collaborate successfully in agrifood.

Panelists for the evening were: Dr Peter Thorburn, Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO; Tegan Nock, Co-Founder at SoilCQuest; and Nick Hazell, Founder and CEO at V2 Food.

V2 Food: https://www.v2food.com/

SoilCQuest: https://www.soilcquest.org.au/

CSIRO: https://www.csiro.au/

The AgTech Meetup is proudly sponsored by SproutX, Australia's first agtech accelerator.