evokeᴬᴳ⋅

This week we bring you another evokeAG x Humans of Agriculture collaboration podcast, with Oli Le Lievre.

Oli catches up with Julia and Jordy Kaye, the founders of greatwrap, a Victorian based startup creating a biodegradable alternative to petroleum based plastic wraps using potato waste to replace plastic cling wrap in kitchens and on industrial pallets.

The circular economy business has attracted serious interest from investors, raising a $24 million Series A round in July 2022, including an $11 million equity portion. The funding has helped great rap to launch into us and scale up production in Australia with a bio refinery capable of manufacturing 30,000 tonnes of wrap, making great Wrap Australia's largest cling wrap manufacturer.

In this conversation, Oli speaks to Julia and Jordy about how an idea over a bottle of wine turned into a business that is set to shake up the plastic wrap industry.

We hope you enjoy this conversation.

Learn more about the Humans of Agriculture podcast and read Oli’s stories, here. And if you’re interested in joining us at the Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia on 21-22 February 2023 for the evokeAG 2023 Down to Earth event or partnering, find more details here, via evokeAG.com.

This week we bring you our evokeAG x Food Futurists collaboration series with Professor Andy Lowe exploring solutions today that will help drive sustainable food systems tomorrow.

In this episode, Andy catches up with Jenny Mortimer,  Associate Professor of Plant Synthetic Biology in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide to explore the possibilities of Synthetic Biology (SynBio) and how it could help to grow plants and medicine for astronauts living and working in space. 

Imagine fresh food growing in a space station – safe from cosmic radiation – to provide the nutritional needs and creature comforts, astronauts normally go without.   
SynBio is an area playing a crucial role in addressing some of the key challenges, we face today, in outer space and here on Earth, such as making biodegradable plastics and increasing plant production in vertical farming to grow more food.

In this interview, Jenny explores the leaps and bounds of research and the challenges ahead, on the epic voyage of novel food production. 

Hear more from Jenny at evokeAG. on 21-22 February 2023 in Adelaide. Secure your tickets at evokeag.com/events

This week we bring you a podcast from AgriFutures growAG, the gateway to Australia’s agrifood innovation system.
Our growAG contributor,  Samantha Noon catches up with Tegan Nock, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Australian microbial tech startup, LoamBio, and Louisa Burwood-Taylor, Head of Media for Silicon Valley venture capital firm, AgFunder, and Chief Editor of AgFunder News – the go-to global investment news platform.
Together they explore the key investment trends and noteworthy funding rounds, from the recent AgFunder 2022 Asia-Pacific AgriFoodTech Investment Report, including LoamBio's Series A, Top 5 Aussie deal, worth $40million AUD, and what that means for Australian biotech going forward. 
First Louisa, joins us from London, to help unpack the deal flow trends, including China's investment slump, India's blossoming market, where alt proteins are headed, and the growing calibre of innovative startups making their mark.

Visit growAG.com to read the full story, and visit AgFunder.com to download the investment report.  

This week we bring you a podcast from Agrifutures growAG, the gateway to Australia’s agrifood innovation system, as we speak to Graeme Barnett the Managing Director & CEO of Qponics, a company that produces marine microalgae that is used for the co-production of protein-rich food ingredients and high-value oils.

 Qponics successfully developed a pilot farm in Brisbane, and now has plans to build a complex of six farms, each 100 hectares in size at South Ballina, in NSW, a region deemed the “Goldilocks zone”, for marine microalgae farming in Australia.

 The Queensland agritech company is currently seeking investment for a $1 million bridging round to help scale sustainable oil and protein production. It’s an exciting opportunity for impact investors and those with networks in food, beverage, pharmaceutical, or nutraceutical manufacturing and distribution in Australia, Asia, USA or Europe.

Our growAG contributor Judy Kennedy caught up with Graeme, to learn more about Qponics, their mission to accelerate the transition to droughtproof agriculture, and how the marine microalgae industry could become a major player in the future of protein production. Visit growAG.com to read the story, and learn more about this opportunity, here. 

*Episode correction notes
Graeme made two references throughout the podcast, he wanted to clarify. He talks about ESG (environmental, social, and governance) at 14.49mins and says “economic” instead of “environmental”.  He also notes at 24mins,  he says "TGA"  instead of "FDA". 

This week we bring you a podcast from AgriFutures evokeAG exploring an end-to-end agrifood production giant from the country’s West. 

Owned by Andrew and Nicola Forrest, Harvest Road is part of one of Australia’s largest private investment groups, Tattarang. As a proud Western Australian agrifood producer, the company is plotting a course to rewrite the script when it comes to animal welfare and environmental sustainability across its three core brands delivering premium beef, seafood, and horticulture products.

Our AgriFutures evokeAG contributor, Megan Woodward caught up with Paul Slaughter, the CEO of Harvest Road, who believes anything is possible when innovative technology and a respect for heritage combine.
Read the full story, at evokeAG.com here. 

Want to learn more about the Asia Pacific region’s innovative agrifood tech ecosystem? Join us at evokeAG on 21-22 February 2023 in Adelaide, South Australia Tickets for evokeAG 2023 Down to Earth are now on sale at evokeAG.com/events.

This week we bring you another evokeAG x Humans of Agriculture collaboration podcast, with Oli Le Lievre. 

Oli catches up with waste warrior and insect farming pioneer, Olympia Yarger, the CEO and Founder of Goterra, an agritech startup using robotics and black soldier flies to turn food waste into a protein source, used as animal feed and a nutrient-dense fertiliser.

Earlier this month, Olympia was announced as the 2023 ACT Australian of the Year for her contributions in dealing with climate change. Goterra’s food management system has processed more than 35,000 tonnes of waste and saved more than 66,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. 

The modular biowaste converters have been a huge success for Sydney’s Barangaroo precinct in managing high-volume commercial and retail food waste. The Woolworths Group has also incorporated Goterra's solution into their business model to help achieve zero food waste going to landfill by 2025.

Here Olympia shares her story with Oli about how personal tragedy led to her traveling overseas and how those experiences helped shape who she is today and ultimately led to the creation of Goterra.

This week, we bring you another evokeAG x Food Futurists podcast collaboration with Professor Andy Lowe, exploring solutions today that will help drive sustainable food systems tomorrow.  

In this episode, Andy speaks with Tony Hunter, a Global Food Futurist and consultant at Future Cubed. Tony delves deep into what the future of food might look like and how the industry may be shaped in the coming years, as countries around the globe look to strengthen food security and food sovereignty, while pursuing sustainable outcomes.

He ponders the big ticket items, like how will conventional protein agriculture fair in the long run, with the emergence and growth of new protein industries such as cellular agriculture? And we learn about the high-impact emerging technologies catching his eye. It’s always a fascinating and informative chat with Tony, so please enjoy his conversation with Andy.

You can get in touch with Andy Lowe, via his website or LinkedIn and listen to his Food Futurists or Eco Futurists podcasts.

Interested in attending evokeAG 2023?  Tickets are now on sale at evokeag.com/events

This week, we bring you our evokeAG. x Food Futurists collaboration series with Professor Andy Lowe, exploring solutions today that will help drive sustainable food systems tomorrow.

In this episode, Andy speaks with Genevieve Griffin-George, evokeAG. 2020 Future Young Leader and Founder of PICMI, a digital recruiting platform that helps speed up the process of hiring seasonal workers and takes the stress away from growers in managing the HR process.

PICMI’s online tool reduces hiring time for growers by up to 70%, from application, contract, and right through to induction. Allowing growers to focus their valuable time elsewhere in their business.

It’s also a win-win for job-seekers, meaning they can find out more about the job before they apply and know in real time if they have been hired or not. This means less angst in having to wait days to find out if they've been successful in their application – that's been the case in more of a traditional setting.

We hope you enjoy their conversation about PICMI, the benefits for seasonal workers and growers, and how the evokeAG. 2020 Future Young Leader Program has shaped Genevieve’s journey and helped broaden her network as a startup.

You can get in touch with Andy Lowe, via his website or LinkedIn and listen to his Food Futurists or Eco Futurists podcasts. Visit evokeAG.com for more stories.

This week our evokeAG contributor, Ken Eastwood interviews two interesting characters from Kangaroo Island, South Australia, who have formed a partnership that’s benefiting both their businesses and the environment.

The first is Charlie Schmidt, head distiller at Kangaroo Island Spirits, who has overseen the rapid growth of the distillery – with a focus on making it more sustainable. The second is Elders stock agent Stuart Were, who has a small cattle operation on the island. He has begun feeding his cattle the waste malted barley from the distillery, preventing it from going to landfill. The cows are loving it, and it’s set to offer multiple benefits for the environment, including reducing methane emissions by livestock.

Elders are the Platinum Partner of evokeAG 2023 Down to Earth event – where we will explore how farming, tech, science, and people collectively have the power to bring innovative ideas to life.

Interested in attending evokeAG. 2023? Come and see the Elders team in Adelaide, South Australia on 21-22 February 2023 at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

Tickets are now on sale at evokeag.com/events

This week we bring you another evokeAG. x Humans of Agriculture podcast, as part of our collab series with Oli Le Lierve.

Throughout this series, we’ll shine a light on the people – from all walks of life – who make our global agrifood system so vibrant. We hear their stories of innovation, their diverse backgrounds, what drives them, and why shaping the future of food is so rewarding.

In this episode, Oli catches up with Angeline Achariya, the executive director of innovation and growth at Simplot Australia and also the Country Chair for Australia, Food Innovation for G100 Mission Million.

Here Angeline talks all things agrifood innovation, and product development. She shares some of the biggest changes that she has seen during her career, and the emerging trends that she thinks will have a major impact on future food production.

We hope you enjoy their conversation about the future of food and global innovation. Learn more about the Humans of Agriculture podcast and read Oli’s stories, here.

And if you’re interested in joining us at the Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia on 21-22 February 2023 for evokeAG. 2023 Down to Earth event or partnering, find more details here, via evokeAG.com.