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This week we take a close look at a fruitful partnership between farmer and agritech founder. Our regular evokeAG. contributor Judy Kennedy speaks with Dan Winson, Founder and CEO of Zetifi a wireless networking startup and Andrew Dumaresq, a broadacre cropping farmer, both based at Wagga Wagga, NSW. It’s a partnership that's evolved and provided a win-win situation for both Dan and Andrew. 

Dan has been able to test and trial his products on Andrew’s farm, learning along the way and Andrew has been able to solve his initial on-farm connectivity issues, along with adopting new technologies, as a result of reliable connectivity. 

Here the duo discuss their journey in working together, the importance of connectivity on-farm and how it's helping piece together the puzzle, to support agritech adoption.

This week, we speak to Emma Weston, CEO and Co-Founder of AgriDigital about blockchain technology, how it’s evolved and used across agricultural industries today, specifically grains, and how it’s empowering farmers to access value beyond the farm gate. 

AgriDigital’s recent integration of its farmer product, Waypath with Geora, a blockchain solutions-based company, is supporting this goal. The integration enables growers to generate a digital record of their grain inventory on the blockchain when they make a delivery, which provides greater traceability and finance security.   

Our regular evokeAG. contributor Judy Kennedy caught up with Emma Weston to learn more about the partnership between AgriDigital and Geora and how tech stack integrations like this, are helping to ease the barriers to adoption – and at the end of the day, solve problems across the supply chain.  

We hope you enjoy their conversation.  

This week we speak with George Peppou, the Co-Founder and CEO of Vow, a Sydney-based cultured proteins startup – cultivating a new food category.

Vow is building a library of cells from a range of exotic animal species, both domesticated and undomesticated, to mix and match properties to explore what flavours, textures and nutritional profiles might best appeal to consumers.

George openly discloses, he is a meat eater and enjoys a steak every once in a while. But Vow doesn't intend to copy the most commonly eaten meats: chicken, pork and beef. He concludes, “It’s about giving consumers options.”

Our evokeAG. contributor Judy Kennedy caught up with George, to talk about the cultured meat revolution, the startup's global production plans and how COVID-19 has helped to accelerate biotech innovation. Read the story here. 

Two years ago, Batlow, NSW was devastated by one of Australia’s worst bushfire seasons on record. Our evokeAG. host and fellow farmer, Stephen Honner caught up with Ian Cathels, Manager of Ardrossan Orchards, at their Woodburn orchard, in the middle of their fruit picking season – to see firsthand their progress and how new technology is driving on-farm efficiencies. 

Stephen and Ian speak about the season,  the challenges of adopting new technology, and the lessons about a new app Ian is using called Phytec that’s helping Ian make better on-farm decisions around irrigation and ensuring he stays on track to hit his targets for the fruit market.

As the Managing Partner of Omnivore – the largest and oldest player in the Indian agritech venture scene – Mark Kahn understands what it takes to really ‘make it’ after building a venture capital firm from the ground up that’s pioneered agritech investing in India.

Omnivore boasts a portfolio of more than 25 agritech startups in an economy where agriculture and agribusiness account for a quarter of India’s GDP. 

There are around 130 million farmers in India – and while some challenges may differ to here in Australia, India's agritech boom offers great opportunities for Australian startups to work with India on agritech, related to water and drought resilience.

Our evokeAG contributor, Megan Woodward caught up with Mark to learn more about the Indian landscape and advice for Aussie startups looking to export.

Read the story here. 

Did you know $20 billion of food is wasted in Australia every year? Globally, that figure is closer to $1 trillion. But how can we improve supply-chain management if we don’t know what, or where the problems are?

Australian agritech startup, Escavox has a solution. It's a little blue box tracker, described as CCTV for food, that’s placed in a fresh food carton at the point of packing and travels through the supply chain capturing data on dwell time, temperature and location.

It uses real-time monitoring that’s helping to cut food waste, protect premiums and improve market access for Australian farmers.

Escavox’s focus to date has been on Australia, starting with horticulture in 2019, moving into the meat sector in 2020 and early seafood trials starting in 2021. Now they’ve set their sights on expansion into international export markets like southern Africa and South America.

We caught up with Luke Wood, CEO, and Co-Founder of Escavox, to learn more about this technology, the wide-reaching benefits for our agricultural sectors and what the next phase of growth looks like. Read more here. 

This week, Oli Madgett, grape grower and Founder of Platfarm, talks with Sarah Nolet from AgThentic about the future forces impacting agriculture, taking a longer look at how climate volatility will not only usher in migration of people, but also shifts in growing regions and methods for production.

While no one can predict the future, AgriFutures Australia, Agthentic Advisory, and the Institute for the Future have teamed up to release a report that explores what Australian food and fibre production and consumption might look like in a future shaped by the growing trends and potential disruptions that are already taking hold today. 

Learn more about the possibilities and our ten-year horizon for Australian agriculture here.

This week we speak with Robert Waterworth, CEO of FLINTpro; a new venture that is leveraging a growing pool of innovative environmental data technologies to help its users rapidly calculate, track and forecast greenhouse gas emissions from changes across the global land sector. 

In a time where natural capital accounting is becoming hugely important in addressing the challenges of climate change, FLINTpro’s software simplifies data presentation and empowers policymakers, business leaders, and investors to take action.

Our evokeAG. contributor Oli Madgett caught up with Robert to discuss the FLINTpro journey and find out why now is the time for FLINTpro. 

We follow Flurosat’s journey into the US with CEO and Founder Anastasia Volkova, a young and vibrant aeronautical engineer, 2019 evokeAG. speaker and all-around star for Australian agriculture. She talks us through their market approach and early learnings, requiring a swift expansion of crop varieties to meet US farmers’ needs – now capable of monitoring any type of crop grown on Earth.

The Australian crop monitoring startup now covers 10 million hectares in 45 countries – a huge uplift from 15 countries in 2019,  but it hasn't been without its challenges.

Anastasia's number one tip for startups is to be targeted. “Don't tackle the US as one country, think of it as 50 different states.”

Read more about her experience and opportunities in the US here. 

Ceres Tag’s world-first direct to satellite smart ear tag will equip farmers with sophisticated data to better manage their livestock, reduce risk and confidently finance agriculture. With a head start on trials in the US, Canada and Switzerland, a global e-commerce launch around the corner and SVG Ventures’ THRIVE Australia Challenge 2020 award under their belt – the sky’s the limit for the Queensland-based startup.

CEO & Co-Founder David Smith speaks with us about its potential, advice for startups, and the benefits farmers can expect – who eagerly await its rollout. Read the full story here.