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In this Food Futurists x evokeAG. collaboration podcast we take a look into a sustainable greenhouse solution for hot and dry coastal regions, often where conventional agriculture would otherwise be impossible.

Professor Andy Lowe speaks to Charlie Paton, the founder of Seawater Greenhouse, a company that designs greenhouses that are powered by sunlight, utilise the seawater to water plants and also create a cooler and humid environment where plants can thrive and reduce evapotranspiration by up to 90%.

Seawater Greenhouse technology has been implemented in some of the hottest and driest places in the world, such as Abu Dhabi, Oman, Somaliland and here in Australia, in Port Augusta for sun drop farms.

Here, Andy and Charlie talk about the novel greenhouse design and other solutions to help tackle climate change within agriculture.  We hope you enjoy their conversation.

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

Related podcasts: The Desert Oasis: Challenging the status quo to shape sustainable food systems (search in our podcast channel)

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In this Food Futurists x evokeAG. collab podcast Professor Andy Lowe speaks with Dr Moira Smith, Digital Content Analysis Technology (D-CAT) Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer. 

In this conversation Andy and Moira explore D-CAT’s involvement with agriculture, the range of possibilities satellite sensor technology offers, such as weight management, optimising grazing cycles and yield predictions. And why integration and collaboration is the key in allowing farmers to better utilise this technology.

We hope you enjoy their conversation. 

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

This week we bring you a podcast from AgriFutures growAG exploring the colossal challenge, which we face today, how to feed the world in 2050.

Did you know there’s a 56% gap between the amount of food we make today and what we're going to need globally by 2050?

Our AgriFutures growAG contributor, Megan Woodward caught up Phil Morle, Partner of Main Sequence Ventures, co-founded by CSIRO, and the leader of the ‘Feed 10 billion People’ challenge. Phil believes ‘radical collaboration' is going to be the key driver.

“The only way we’re going to be able to solve a problem the size of this one is to work together,” said Phil.

Main Sequence Ventures is now on the hunt for researchers, innovators, and inventors developing ground-breaking ideas that could become globally significant companies.

If that sounds like you, head to growAG.com to learn more about Main Sequence Ventures 'Feed 10b People' challenge.

Today 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.

Here Andy speaks with Peter Wren-Hilton, the CEO of Wharf42 a consultancy specialising in connecting local and international partners – particularly NZ startups and early-stage agritech companies – to support the Trans-Tasman agritech sector scale its global presence.

Peter is also the Founder of Agritech New Zealand, Convenor of the 2035 Oceania Summit and works closely with the AgriFutures evokeAG Steering Committee.

Andy caught up with Peter back in May this year to learn more about the 2035 Oceania Summit, set to take place on 10-11 October 2022 in Auckland, New Zealand.

The 2035 Oceania Summit has been designed to enable the region’s scientific and research community, its industry leaders, agribusiness and agritech companies, farmers and growers, regulators and policymakers to meet and discuss how agrifood tech innovation and on-farm application can help address the existential threat posed by climate change.

We hope you enjoy their conversation. You can listen to more Food Futurists podcasts here. And if you're interested in attending the 2035 Oceania Summit, please register at 2035.ag

The 2035 Oceania Summit is offering special offer ticket prices for Australian delegates looking to attend the event from 10-11 October 2022 in Auckland, New Zealand (use the code AUS2035). Early-bird tickets end on 15 August. If you are interested in being part of an Australia delegation please contact AgriFutures growAG Engagement Manager, David Lord, via growAG.com

This week we bring you an important conversation about bees, the lifeblood of the food chain – responsible for pollinating one third of Australia’s food – and why protecting their existence, in the midst of a national biosecurity threat, the varroa mite, has never been of greater importance.

Our AgriFutures evokeAG contributor Casey Dunn caught up with David Lyall, a commercial beekeeper, and CEO and Co-Founder of Bee Innovative, an Australian agritech startup revolutionising the centuries-old practice of commercial pollination. 

The groundbreaking technology gives growers a real-time insight into how well bees are pollinating a crop, enabling interventions that boost yield, quality, and profitability.

Learn more about Bee Innovative at evokeAG.com or connect with David and Kate Lyall at AgriFutures evokeAG 2023 event in Adelaide, 21-22 February 2023.

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

We hear from Anna Speer, the Managing Director of Woolworths' red meat business, Greenstock about what it's like working at the forefront of innovation and managing red meat supply chains during a pandemic – with agility top of mind.   

We learn about the importance of bringing people together, communication, and mentorship – and how work-life balance helps Anna drive meaningful change for the agrifood industry.  

We're also excited to announce, Anna Speer will be a speaker at the AgriFutures evokeAG 2023 Down to Earth event held in Adelaide, South Australia on 21-22 February 2023. 

If you're interested in joining us at the two-day, full-scale, global event or partnering, visit evokeAG.com for more details.

As the largest agricultural research and development organisation in the world, Bayer Crop Science is at the forefront of innovation.

And to stay ahead of the curve, Bayer is collaborating with organisations outside of their own to unearth the next big breakthrough in science to advance agriculture.

Our AgriFutures growAG contributor, Megan Woodward caught up with Phil Taylor, the Director of Open Innovation and Outreach for Bayer Crop Science, back in May to learn about their approach to unlocking ‘cool innovation’ and how growAG is helping to harness these novel solutions that will benefit growers around the world, including Australia.   

Phil believes external partnering is the driving force for innovation.

We hope you enjoy their conversation. And if you’d like to learn more about Bayer’s Grants4Ag program offering three unique opportunities for funding and mentorship, visit the AgriFutures growAG platform at growAG.com. Applications close 31 July. 

This week we learn about the possibilities of space exploration, the benefits for agriculture and why global collaboration is so important – given that it’s expensive work.

Our evokeAG contributor Oli Madgett speaks with Earth observation scientist, Hugh Mortimer who leads the UK’s Global Research Innovation Partnership (GRIP) program, which recently visited Australia.

We hear about the collaborative work between the UK and Australia and why jointly funded space research will have a long-term benefit on agriculture and dealing with climate change. Think farm mapping, measuring above-ground biomass, bodies of water, climate and disaster forecasting and remote sensing. 

We hope you enjoy their conversation and the exciting potential for a valuable bilateral science program.

This week we catch up with the CEO of Wine Australia, Dr Martin Cole.

As one of Australia’s 15 Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) – Wine Australia has been charging ahead with exciting agritech innovations to ensure Australia’s viticulture industry continues to thrive, off the back of a challenging period during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Martin is optimistic about the future and believes innovation is key.  Here our AgriFutures growAG contributor Megan Woodward speaks with Martin about Wine Australia's innovation and R&D approach to exciting possibilities like low and no alcohol products.

Wine Australia has been working with growAG to take industry solutions to the next level. As Martin explains growAG has been a fantastic connector and accelerator for innovation within the industry.

We hope you enjoy their conversation. And if you’d like to learn more about Wine Australia's innovative work, visit growAG.com and take a look at Wine Australia’s profile.

This week we bring you an interview with a young trailblazer and an evokeAG Future Young Leader Alumni, George Chapman. 

George was selected back in 2020, to be part of the AgriFutures evokeAG Future Young Leader Program, where he took to the stage at evokeAG in Melbourne, to talk about the importance of soil health and share part of his regenerative agriculture journey. 

Originally from Coraki on the Northern Rivers, George now lives on the edge of the Nairobi National Park in Kenya, where he runs an organic broiler chicken farm and uses regenerative practices at his family's safari lodge 'Ololo Farm', where he also trains and educates Kenya's youth in organic and regenerative farming practices.  

Here he shares his experience from the evokeAG Future Young Leaders Program, and how it helped him expand his network and shape his agricultural journey.

We hope you enjoy their conversation and if you or someone you know, would like to be a part of the evokeAG. 2023 Future Young Leaders Program, head to evokeAG.com to find out more. Applications close Sunday 3 July 2022.