AgTech Innovators: Season 1

Speaker 1:

Welcome to AgTech Innovators, keeping you up to date with information from Agriculture Victoria.

Drew Radford:

We've all heard the term think outside the square. Rarely though, does that extend to thinking literally off the planet and into outer space to resolve problems back here on Earth.

G'day, I'm Drew Radford and that describes the journey of AgTech startup, GAIA Project Australia. To explain the space connection and much more about their startup journey, I'm joined in the AgTech Innovator’s studio by founder and CEO of GAIA Project Australia, Nadun Hennayaka. Thanks for your time.

Nadun Hennayaka:

Oh, you're welcome, Drew, great to be on the program.

Drew Radford:

Nadun, first of all, I want to take one big step back. Your company name, where's that come from?

Nadun Hennayaka:

Oh, so GAIA is in old Greek means earth. So thought I'll make a company that call itself the Earth Project from Australia. That's the start point of it.

Drew Radford:

I think that's a very important start point though because you've got a very strong focus on the future in terms of sustainability, and you've developed a technology solution. I just want to take one step back. What were you trying to solve?

Nadun Hennayaka:

My goal was to, I mean, the world has a lot of problems on its own, so rather than being on the sideline and then complaining about it, just getting there and try to fix at least one thing at a time. So thought renewable energy, waste to energy, agriculture, key points that we all need, that we need to fix. So that's where the starting point.

Drew Radford:

And you focused on agriculture, specifically food production. So what's your technology solution?

Nadun Hennayaka:

So our technology is mainly relating to controlled environment agriculture. That umbrella includes everything from greenhouses to vertical farms, and we developed a new technology that changed how we grow or how we cultivate produce mainly on leafy greens.

Traditional systems that we used, fixed planting methods. I mean, that's something that we've done for the last thousand years where we allocate certain amount of space for the plants to grow.

But then if you look at more advanced greenhouse and greenhouse companies, for example, they use robotics or human labour in transplanting plants from one place to another as they grow to make sure that you have high densities to save energy cost and land use.

What we build is something completely different where we build a modular channel system that actually grows with the plant. So it follows the plant's actual growth cycle.

This way we don't have to use robotics or transplanting and we can get the same efficiency, actually high efficiencies can present what’s out there in the market.

Drew Radford:

So essentially the space around the plant increases as it grows, for want of a better description?

Nadun Hennayaka:

Correct.

Drew Radford:

Your technology though is not just purely about space. So from my understanding, it's a far more energy efficient way of producing leafy greens.

Nadun Hennayaka:

It is. So if you do not use transplanting, then our system, if you implement that for any other peoples who's using it, then obviously you will get your efficiency or your energy saving by more than 50%. Because it's not fixed, the plant's always in a high density, so you can actually plant double the volume that you can normally get on a fixed system.

Drew Radford:

I understand too though, you're using less water by a significant margin and less nutrients.

Nadun Hennayaka:

Yes. I mean, so that's a common practice that already achieved in controlled environment agriculture. I mean, that's one of the reasons people are looking to it as a urban agriculture solution, or CEA, we call control environment agriculture, already is around 90 to 95% efficient in water.

So it uses very less amount of water, than it comes to nutrients. Because they don't have any runoffs, it completely recycles the water. It uses around 50 to 60% less fertiliser as well in comparison to traditional farming. So those are the two biggest benefit.

Then there are small ones such as, I mean, it's not actually small, if they don't use pesticides or insecticides, even if they do, it's a very low amount comparison to what's in the traditional field.

Drew Radford:

What you've developed sounds very future focused and a really efficient way of growing food. I understand you came up with this a number of years ago, but you struggled to find traction and then you ended up looking to outer space. Can you explain that to me a little bit, please?

Nadun Hennayaka:

Yeah, I mean my background is not agriculture. So when I did stumble upon this idea of, ‘Hey, why don't we create a new system that actually grow with the plants?’ I mean, when you look at the traditional market, my first approach was, ‘Look, this is a new solution that can increase a yield by 50%’.

Then we heard about this program from NASA. So I thought, I mean, if there's a best of the world can tell me I'm wrong, they will be the guys. So I kindly initially wrote them a letter, then request for some more information. So I send some design draft and our calculations and our system designs and got it all approved.

Then in 2021, once we applied, we won the International Innovation Award on the year one, on the phase one of the program.

Drew Radford:

That's quite a remarkable outcome. Now this is NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge and what's that trying to solve?

Nadun Hennayaka:

So the initial challenge was built around the idea of long duration flights. So if you're going beyond space and then you have a long flight, let's say Mars or beyond, astronauts need to have capabilities of producing natural food in the spaceships during these timelines.

But at the same time, you had to think about the cabin space. So it has to be very energy efficient, very space efficient, and we need to be able to reuse majority of the stuff and also has the capabilities to self operate on its own.

So less human interaction, more automation, less break points. So with NASA, everything is very complex. I mean, you have to understand astronauts have a lot of things to do and you don't have the option to call support when you halfway through the space to ask for help to fix something.

So building something is with a lot of restrictions is what we had to follow and the building of the process, I would say.

Drew Radford:

I find it ironic that you've had to turn to space to gain traction back on Earth.

Nadun Hennayaka:

I think it's a good way. I mean, if it was for Earth, we wouldn't really deep dive into how to further improve our technology. For example, in commercial use in Earth, you don't want to have a system that has high break points.

How do you make it more simpler that everyday person can use it even if it's need to be serviced? So a lot of parameters that we would have overlooked, we didn't because of the due diligence that we have to do for space.

Drew Radford:

The interesting part I find about this is I assume that this could be used commercially in a large vertically integrated farm, for want of a better description, but you are actually looking at the concept of installing these in people's homes.

Nadun Hennayaka:

That is, so fundamentally, the cultivation system that we created, it's suitable for greenhouses, large or small vertical farms, large or small, and of course for residential systems. The phase two prototype we built for NASA is a two cubic meter system.

So it's kind of size of two refrigerators. But if you halve that system down, then you will have a very small unit, kind of size of double door refrigerator, that can produce all your leafy greens, all your herbs, microgreens and all that stuff inside your house. So that would be one of the other pathways that we are looking into as well.

Drew Radford:

So that's got significant benefits in terms of, ‘Well, I can produce my own food from within my own home,’ especially if I'm living in an apartment, but you're also reducing food miles, reducing nutrient inputs. There's a whole range of benefits, surely?

Nadun Hennayaka:

Of course, yes. I mean, apart from all of that, the food that you grow, you know there's no pesticides, there's no insecticides. And we're speaking with a couple of companies now who are building smart homes, so ideally you can rearrange your central cooling systems that absorbs the CO₂ that you breathe out, cleans that, put it to the plants, where plants love the CO₂.

So it's like the home itself is a carbon sink. There's a lot of benefits that come around it. So it's something that because we develop it through NASA, I mean, there's a lot of technology advantage that we have overcome to come closer towards a residential system in the next few years.

Drew Radford:

You mentioned earlier on Nadun, you came up with a concept around I think 2019, but maybe Australia's startup culture wasn't quite then what it is now, and you ended up turning to space, but you've now got involved with SVG THRIVE APAC Accelerator.

In a recent episode, we interviewed Michael Macolino from SVG about the accelerator of which you are part of. But can you just describe your journey, how you got involved with the program?

Nadun Hennayaka:

I think SVG was something we applied late last year for the accelerator in US and they said they're opening up a program for APAC, which we got selected. I think, so far, there are several accelerators we've been in, this is directly related to agriculture, so it's the benefits we get is more towards this pathway that we are going.

So everything from meeting the farmers to working with the people on the same area that we are on is this significant benefit for anyone in the AgTech startup sector

Drew Radford:

In terms of being in that AgTech startup sector, a significant opportunity through SVG THRIVE was going to Silicon Valley in the United States. What did you go there for? What did it involve?

Nadun Hennayaka:

So the initial was to the interaction to meet everyone from the SVG THRIVE HQ in Los Gatos. And one of the second thing was we actually went to the Global Agritech Summit, which was held at San Francisco.

Going there, it's mind-blowing the amount of people and the companies that were there. So it's one of the most leading companies that's there, and you get the opportunity to meet them, have a chat to them, see what they're doing and if they're a potential for us to collaborate with them as well.

Drew Radford:

And what sort of interest did you get while there?

Nadun Hennayaka:

Oh, I mean, we got a lot. We actually potentially planning a pilot program in US as well on the East Coast, and we met with several of the large scale greenhouse manufacturers.

I mean, that's very helpful for us because we don't want to be a turnkey solution. We want to be a part of the companies who already have a great solution. So we are just increasing their solutions efficiency a bit more.

So we are on check with them at the moment. So I mean, it's definitely an eyeopener plus had a lot of positive feedback from the people in the crowd as well.

Drew Radford:

You're very much part of the startup culture in Australia. What opportunities did you view exist for Victorian AgTech startups in the US?

Nadun Hennayaka:

To be truly honest, I mean, US is about, I think, minimum five years ahead in the startup sector, especially on the AgTech sector. So there's much more funding and risk-takers and early adopters when it come to agriculture in comparison to Australia.

Drew Radford:

From that experience in the United States, did you come back thinking there are benefits of being an AgTech startup in Victoria?

Nadun Hennayaka:

I mean, for us, we were thinking of even moving our HQs to US because of the investor interest, but the thing with us is we already have a lot of relationship with engineering companies in Melbourne.

Plus we have a really good partnership with Latrobe University, with several departments and our manufacturing starting here. So at the moment, for the next 12 to 18 months, it's not a great decision for us to move. So we do want to stay in Australia and then see how everything works out.

Drew Radford:

Nadun, you mentioned earlier on that one of your biggest challenges back around 2019 was you were an IOT guy, an engineering background, not an agriculture background. Have you encountered other hurdles that you've had to get over?

Nadun Hennayaka:

I think this is a common thing for the startup is always funding. I mean, the bottlenecking in here in Australia, there's a lot of incubators and accelerators that picks you up in the initial days when you have an idea. But then once your idea prospers out, then there's a middle part. Because startup has two alleyways.

One is SaaS (software as a service) based, which is software based. And then the second one is hardware based. Developing a hardware startup is 10 times more costly than a software based startup and doing customer real trials because everything had to be engineered.

For example, our system has six module components. Each part costs hundreds and thousands of dollars to engineer, design, manufacture, do tooling. So there's not enough support to get these hardware companies to come to the next stage of attaining customers. I think that's where the gap is.

Drew Radford:

Lastly, Nadun, as an AgTech startup, what are your take home messages or advice that you could give to other Victorian entrepreneurs?

Nadun Hennayaka:

I mean, if you are early stage startup, be ready to give in several years. And I don't have a plan B. Kind of work on one thing, it works out. I mean, for us, we had an amazing journey the last three years. I mean, we evolved so quickly that even we couldn't believe.

I mean, most important thing is patents. If you actually have a hardware solution that you're going to patent. Make sure your time, you only have 36 months from initial lodging to the final time that you have to pick the countries, which is significant amount of cost.

So there's a lot of work that need to be done during that time, which means you have to make sure your funds are ready, you have enough people to support it. And this a long and hard journey, but I think if you find something you love, you'll definitely put the heart and mind into it.

Drew Radford:

No doubt, Nadun. It's been a long and hard journey, but it certainly sounds like you are starting to see the results. Nadun Hennayaka from GAIA Project Australia, thanks for joining us for this AgTech Innovators podcast and sharing your insights to others who might be on their own startup paths.

Nadun Hennayaka:

Thank you, Drew. Thank you very much for your opportunity.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to AgTech Innovators. For more episodes in this series, find us and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback, so please leave a comment or rating and share this series with your friends and family.

All information is accurate at the time of release. Contact Agriculture Victoria or your consultant before making any changes on farm.

This podcast was developed by Agriculture Victoria, authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to AgTech Innovators, keeping you up to date with information from Agriculture Victoria.

Drew Radford:

Imagine you've created some technology that can literally help save the lives of farmers, but you just don't know how to access the people who can benefit from it.

G’day, I'm Drew Radford, and that situation is what confronted James Diamond and his brother Paul, to understand how they overcame that and how they are now literally keeping hundreds of people safe. James, who is the founder of AirAgri joins us for this AgTech Innovators podcast. Thanks for your time.

James Diamond:

Thanks Drew. Really appreciate it.

Drew Radford:

James, we want to talk about your AgTech journey for one of a better description and a product and a solution that you've developed. But before we start delving down into that, I want to understand a little bit more about your background because you are a farmer by family, I guess, and now back on the farm from what I understand. But you've also got tech involved in there. So first of all, where do you farm and what's your family farm?

James Diamond:

Yeah, thanks Drew. It's a really interesting story, but in a nutshell, we've been farming in Mansfield, Victoria since the early 70s and through different themes of farming, I guess you could say, over the years, the predominant theme has always been cattle, livestock.

We've dipped into things like deer, but as it stands today, we're an Angus cattle operation with Merino Suffolk sheep. So livestock farmers through and through and my brother and I, Paul, are the 4th generation of that.

Drew Radford:

Yeah, it's a great legacy and a good family story there. But you, from what I can work out, have kind of left the farm but come back, you've gone down a tech path for a while.

James Diamond:

Yeah, it's a really interesting bit about how we evolve. My mother's side of the family is where the farming has been and still is, and my father came into the family as that technology pillar I guess you could say. So sometimes I've referred to it as Paul and myself as the yin and the yang.

Paul has followed animal husbandry and sort of formalised studies and always been involved with the property. We are always raised on the farm, farm's always been home.

But my career started off in really doing technology and being in the emergence of digital. So I was fortunate to develop an understanding of technology, I guess you could say, technology data, but most importantly how value is extracted from it. Because in today's world there's a lot of technology out there as I can imagine many people listening are exposed to on a daily basis. But not much of it actually fundamentally changes or brings value to us and that's what we're trying to do with AirAgri.

Drew Radford:

Which leads me to my next question, what is AirAgri?

James Diamond:

AirAgri is a business or a company that Paul and I've started, which is fundamentally looking at how we can create a simple set of digital tools to protect Aussie farming families. Now it's designed to be simple and we probably spend majority of our time keeping true to that because it has to be.

Farmers have got enough going on, we understand that because we see it day in, day out. So these tools are designed to give farmers accurate property level information so they can make better, accurate, safer decisions.

And if and when something does go wrong or someone's in trouble on the farm, we've designed tools to ultimately isolate and find those people and be able to bring them home and give them assistance.

And it all started on our farm. Paul and I have still got our 94-year-old grandfather who drives around and inspects cattle and will check up and give us reports on fence conditions and other things like that.

We've got uncles and cousins and kids and like every farming family, concerned about what happens if it does happen and things have happened in the past, but how could technology help us? And that's what we've been able to do, create a tool to help with that.

Drew Radford:

So just briefly James, how does that tool work?

James Diamond:

So there's 3 simple steps. We allow farmers like ourselves to create a digital map. That's the first thing. We need to understand what the property looks like, it doesn't matter if it's a million acres in the middle of the NT or if it's a few thousand or a few hundred acres.

You can import or create that map. From there, we ultimately allow farmers to create records or profiles for different assets, tractors, livestock, crops, you name it. Once we have that sort of profile or that digital map, we can then use our native mobile application on the phone or our IoT technology, which works on Telstra's IoT network, which goes beyond the areas of our mobile phones. And we use the little signals that ping back and we've got some logic that sort of says, ‘Hey, Paul's out the back,’ and out the back could mean a lot of different things.

Paul could be 20, 50 or a 100 kilometers away, but he's out the back and he's okay, he looks like he's doing what he should be doing. Or in some cases Paul doesn't look like he's okay, he hasn't moved, he should be doing this when he is doing something else. We're going to set off a little alarm and the alarm will trigger on Paul's phone. And if he says, ‘I'm okay,’ then there's no issue.

But he has the ability of not responding or saying he's in trouble. And then we create an alert and messaging system. In a nutshell, that's what we've done, is property specific alarms and notifications. If someone's in trouble, we want to be able to get to them as soon as humanly possible. And that's on top of a whole lot of other things. Chemical use and management and storage and other compliance bits and pieces that we continuously work on.

Drew Radford:

James, it's a great idea and a remarkable product that you've developed but getting it from one point to actually getting it to farms and understanding the farming sector is another thing. Is that how you got involved with the AgTech Seeds program and what’s that actually bring?

James Diamond:

It's sort of two stages. We started this as a tool for our property because if it was never going to sort of work on our property, it was never going to work for anyone else. But once we had fundamentally solved some of the challenges that we were seeing on our property around the anxiety and the concern of where people were or how we were recording chemical uses or other bits and pieces. We then thought about transitioning into creating this as a business, working with the agricultural industry. But as we quickly found out, we were part of the industry, but we really had no idea of how to work with it.

We were members of associations, but we'd never worked with them. We were aware of Agriculture Victoria and national bodies, but we'd never really, as a farmer had to intersect or engage with those associations or departments. So, for us, the AgTech Seeds program was a fantastic way to slowly and evolve into a business taking something that we created and finding a program that could help us migrate from a tool that was working in Mansfield Victoria to a tool that would scale commercially and also intersect and be able to sell into all parts of Australia.

Drew Radford:

So how's the AgTech Seeds program supported you in that process then?

James Diamond:

Well, it was very good about sort of validating our business idea first and foremost. You create a tool that helps you. So, you need to add value to a farmer for them to be able to start or even consider you, and then you need to be able to continuously add value to that farmer.

So, the AgTech Seeds program forced us to do a lot of validation. Go out and speak to people that weren't farmers like us, could have been crop or grain farmers or broad acre or any type of livestock farmer for that matter.

So, we were forced into rigorous research and validation even though we thought we were pretty good at that point. But we were forced to go back, validate and what the program really does is it gives everyone of any walk of life a foundation in which to consider building a business, commercially from product perspective research.

And so, we've got a huge amount of value out of that program because it's given us the framework, I guess you could say, to look at what we created on our farm and how do we scale that into a national software business.

Drew Radford:

It sounds like you've been forced to validate the problem you are solving or ask what are we solving?

James Diamond:

Yeah, I think it's very common if you think about the failure rates of startups, a significant portion of that failure is due to you going too deep into a problem that you haven't validated. We would've made so many more mistakes if we hadn't been in this program, purely because you are forced to go back to step one. And step one is what is the problem you are solving and how big is that problem? And you have to demonstrate in the program through research and through surveys that you validated it and that exists beyond your own sort of front gate, if you will.

Drew Radford:

So, have you developed this now as a value proposition for farmers and what is that?

James Diamond:

Our value proposition is, and the research through the program illustrated that 90 something percent of Australian farms, I think the latest number is about 97% of Australian farms, which equals about 137,000 businesses or farms are family run. So, majority of what we see when we drive around are family based businesses and there's general concern and anxiety on when and where our family members are going to come home at the end of every day because of disconnection and just that geographic remoteness.

So, our problem is simple. We want to use technology to give families and farmers confidence that they've got a more active approach to safety without burdening them with a million different things they have to worry about because they've got enough on their plates.

And then how can the technology help reduce that anxiety and the few hundred farmers that we've already got on our technology that's live, proof in that, that gives them sort of a level of confidence that if something does go wrong, there's another means to communicate.

Drew Radford:

James, you've been through the program, the business is up and going. You said you've got a few hundred people on board. What's the long term goal here?

James Diamond:

The long-term goal is about protecting families like ours. So where does that start and stop? Our mission really is about engaging with industry bodies and the larger groups, state or federal or different state-based farming federations. And really educating farmers that there's a way to adopt technology which adds incremental value and safety and protection to your families and employees. And it doesn't have to be a burden, you can slowly take on the technology at your pace. And I think that's really important because everyone's different.

But where we want to end up is we want a tool to help protect every one of those a hundred and something thousand farming families across Australia. Now the problem isn't isolated to Australia, it exists around the world and some of the numbers are very scary about how many people die on farms around the world on an annual basis.

But in the next few years, the focus for the business is very much about national adoption and helping farmers understand what that migration is from manual processes. And maybe safety being an afterthought to bringing safety into that active front of mind, but using technology to make it a little bit easier and allowing them to get on with their daily lives.

Drew Radford:

James, you and your brother have been on quite a startup journey. What's been the biggest area of uncertainty do you reckon, in this process, in the AgTech space for you both?

James Diamond:

There's areas when you are building a business where you go into sort of deep dark holes of, do we really want to be doing this? We've influenced our families and we've solved a problem for us. And I think it comes back to that motivation or that reason.

There's no point in doing something if you're not passionate. And for us it's about that passion. It's about deploying and helping farms no matter how big you are on that journey of technology. We've seen it. We're not necessarily a very tech first farm.

But knowing that there's families like ours and hundreds of thousands of them, it's a pretty good reason to get up every day and motivate yourselves through those periods of doubt, I guess. Because when you're starting your business, you're spending a lot of money on developing the idea, the product, and to spending time speaking and engaging with industries and experts to get validation, that's a lot of time where you're not doing something else.

So, you got to be passionate, and you got to have a really deep-rooted reason for going into this, but if you do, it's got huge rewards.

Drew Radford:

Just lastly, James, what advice would you give to others that are looking to break into the Victorian AgTech scene?

James Diamond:

I would say back yourselves, we were unaware of the support and the programs that were present. And I'm hopeful that this interview and asset will sort of get distributed out and other people will listen and have confidence that hear it from us.

We are a by-product of a system that we found out and seeked to join and be part of. And it is incredible to see what the Victorian Government, LaunchVic and Ag Vic are doing, not just only on a funding perspective, but putting people in different places in rural and metro parts of Victoria to really help you validate and never say no. That's probably the best thing I can take out of this program is that we've never ever been told that's a bad idea.

We've been given the right resources and the right people to connect to validate or maybe even re-steer an idea in a way that you can drive more value and potential commercial benefit. So, I'm really, really, really thankful that we found the program and hopefully the program's visibility and awareness becomes greater and grows as we go on because there is so much exciting opportunity in the space of AgTech.

There's no such thing as bad competition, more people coming in, challenging, and progressing in the industry is just, it's better for everyone. And if you've got a reason and a real purpose to get up every day, I think it's just a cracking way to live.

Drew Radford:

James, you certainly do have a real reason and a purpose for getting up every day. You paint a really good picture of how AgTech can help farmers and you're working in a really, really important space. James Diamond from AirAgri, thank you for taking the time and joining us for this AgTech Innovators podcast.

James Diamond:

Thanks Drew, really appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to AgTech Innovators For more episodes in this series, find us and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback, so please leave a comment or rating and share this series with your friends and family.

All information is accurate at the time of release. Contact Agriculture Victoria or your consultant before making any changes on farm. This podcast was developed by Agriculture Victoria, authorised by the Victorian Government.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to AgTech Innovators, keeping you up to date with information from Agriculture Victoria.

Drew Radford:

Imagine having a business idea that'll help farmers easily deal with invasive weeds in difficult terrain. Having an idea though is one thing, turning it into a business is entirely another.

G’day. I'm Drew Radford, and that's pretty much the story of the Gulec brothers, Yasin and Levent and their business, Drone Spraying Australia. To discuss how they got to this point, Lev and Yasin, join me for this AgTech Innovators podcast.

Levent Gulec:

Thank you, Drew. Good to be here. Yeah, thanks Drew.

Drew Radford:

Before we delve into how you've got to this point with the business, I want to know a little bit about the business. The name Drone Spraying Australia tells me a reasonable amount, but can you just really describe what you do?

Levent Gulec:

So we do a lot of things as our name will indicate. Our primary services is drone spraying, which is spraying blackberries and Capeweed and other nasty farm infesting plants with herbicides. But we also do mapping, photography and elevation contouring as well.

Drew Radford:

You're not just talking about this stuff though, because I understand you guys grew up on a farm, so you understand a little bit about weeds and what some of the opportunities are there. Is that correct? And where was the farm and what'd you farm?

Yasin Gulec:

Well, we've got the family farm in Strath Creek, at the moment we're running a few sheep, and we've had a lot of horses. We didn't grow up there. We've had the place for maybe about 10 years now. It's in Strath Creek, so it's a really hilly country.

We've had a lot of problems with access in the past, so it's something that has taught us a lot about what life is like on a farm and how it is to best take care of the land.

Drew Radford:

You said you didn't grow up there and you've gone down a very different path. You've both gone down engineering paths. So Lev, can you tell me a little bit about your journey and how you got to this point?

Levent Gulec:

I started off at uni as a chemical engineer, and funnily enough began my career in finance. I then had a few startups, many that didn't work and a few that did. So my main one being in the med can space, so started off full-time on that in its startup stages, and now I've sort of been able to take a step back and sitting on the board, but non-executive at the moment, which frees up a lot of my time to have more of a lead role in Drone Spraying Australia. So that's me.

Drew Radford:

And what about you, Yasin? You went well away from the path of farming as well, I understand.

Yasin Gulec:

Yeah, that's right. I studied aerospace engineering and finished that in about 2015, and then for a while I worked at a company that contracted to Airbus, which was very interesting working on great big projects.

It's very, very different working for a big company like that, and then came back to Australia, did some more engineering in the environmental space, but we've always had this connection to the land and those are the issues that we're exposed to. So yeah, sort of always had one foot in agriculture.

Drew Radford:

Well, you may have had one foot in agriculture, you both have certainly got amazing expertise, but in different areas. So where did this idea come from?

Yasin Gulec:

Because we have the farm in Strath Creek, it's a really hilly country, and we've always had problems with access for spraying weeds, blackberries in particular, but also Paterson’s Curse and things.

And it's one of those things that it weighs on you as managing the farm over a couple of years, and you think to yourself, oh, there's got to be a better way of doing this. And talking to the neighbors as well. Always have problems with getting contractors out there and efficacy problems.

A lot of farmers in the area are getting a bit older so their legs aren't working as well, and at the end of the day, if that, after a couple of years means that you're spraying less and less means that your farm's getting more and more overrun. It's just one of those things I always thought there's a better way of doing it. So that's where the startup came from.

Drew Radford:

An idea is one thing, and you both have experience in the startup space. Commercialising and testing that idea though is a very different thing and being connected into the farming community to make sure that you know can go beyond your immediate area and commercialise it is yet another step.

So where did you go from there with the idea? Was it a case looking around for programs like the AgTech Future Founder process?

Yasin Gulec:

No, I didn't actually look for it. It's something that came to me just on a Facebook ad and I thought, ‘Oh, okay, that looks interesting. It's strange that Facebook knows me that well and I jumped into it. They did a free webinar and I signed up to the program afterwards and it was really, really good.

That's where I've had the exposure and I've talked to a bunch of people about testing the idea, testing to see if it addresses people's pain points and if it solves a problem for people, and then going through with them, with the coaches to commercialise the idea. That's where the journey started from.

Drew Radford:

Has this helped you avoid a lot of pitfalls and really test your concept and revise the concept?

Yasin Gulec:

Yeah, it has. Yeah, most definitely. It's something, when I first started, I just kind of thought of it as a business in the agriculture services industry coming through with the AgVic people and the AgTech space, it turned into something that can be tested quite a bit. It's something that has refined the idea and refined my thinking and given me a lot of focus over the course of the last few months. It's been really good.

Drew Radford:

In terms of that focus, is the business now a full-time venture for one of you or both of you? Where are you actually at with that?

Levent Gulec:

It began with Yasin having the lead role, and he took it right at its seed level, worked through compliance, got the CASA license and took it from concept to, I guess in a position where we could begin operations. And funnily enough he handballed it. We're both still very involved, but he's now in a more full-time role and I've managed to, I guess free up some time. So now we did a bit of a handover and now I'm taking it from that commencement stage through the optimisation and really getting good organic growth.

Drew Radford:

That's easier said than done, I would imagine, Lev, you've got very complex equipment. CASA has really come into this space as you'd expect them to be, and reasonably capital intensive. I've had a look at your website. These aren't kid's drones. These are reasonable size beasties, which can carry payloads and spray, so there's a bit involved.

Levent Gulec:

Absolutely. I do say it, I guess it sounds easy, but it has been very intensive, so I think there's been a lot of sitting down together and late hours into the night and early mornings just tick tacking over all the information and trying not to crash the drone to start off with, and then getting all of our ducks in a row and getting ready.

Yasin Gulec:

I had an interesting one with CASA, as part of the licensing process, the final thing was a exemption for drones that are over 25 kilograms, and we actually had three CASA officials come out to the site and watch us fly the drone, watch us do our procedures according to our operations manual. And it was a terrifying thing, to be honest.

Having three CASA officials out there who've been in the industry for a long time, and part of you feels like I'm a business owner, I've been doing this for a while, I know what I'm doing, and the other part of you thinks, oh my God, what have I gotten myself into? Yeah, it's quite a strange experience.

Drew Radford:

That's a great description and a great anecdote though, because particularly you Lev, you’ve come from a startup background and that stomach in your mouth kind of feeling must be a bit of a common experience on occasions.

Levent Gulec:

I'd say it is, but I'd say that's almost the best bit. For me personally, yeah, I love it. I love that kind of thrill of what am I doing and what is this situation I've landed in and look at everything that could go wrong and yeah, it's quite invigorating, but it's always good when things don't go wrong as well.

Drew Radford:

Well, I'd imagine so it's particularly so with the 25-kilogram drone to say the least, and you've changed roles, you mentioned that. So where's your future direction for the startup?

Levent Gulec:

Yeah, so we've got a few indicative ideas on where to go. In the short term, we've just hired close friends, come in and learn how to pilot the drone and where we want to go in the short term is get to a position where he can take a lead role in the office as well as on the ground and train new pilots.

And as we grow, we'd like to be able to get more drones. In the long term, I guess we'd like to have a drone in every corner of the state and a head office where we're sort of booking in clients and growing organically and getting the drones up in the air.

Drew Radford:

Yasin, what have you got out of the Tech Lab Vic program so far?

Yasin Gulec:

What I've really gotten out of it so far is a kind of focus, it turns on your mind to be thinking about this sort of problem as an idea that you can offer the world as a solution that solves people's problems.

What I got out of it was testing and verifying and about talking to people who have faced similar problems and turning the idea into something that can be iterated on and refined into firstly, a commercialisable idea, and then after that, iterating on that and turning that into a marketable business that has a go-to-market strategy, that has a strategy to reach out to partners. It's taught me to take that process seriously, which is something that I'm grateful for.

Drew Radford:

It certainly sounds like turning it upside down. We've got this great idea, but yeah, what problem are you solving? And then actually verifying that you are solving a problem and commercialising it.

Yasin Gulec:

Yeah, that's right. Farmers are always problem solvers at first, but they solve their own problems. If you can then identify other people who have problems, who have faced something similar, you grow something bigger.

Drew Radford:

And what about you, Lev? What's been the most memorable part of the program for you so far?

Levent Gulec:

Well, that's a good question because there's been plenty of memorable experiences ranging from, I guess, Zoom calls, we were doing 3-hour zooms on finance and trying to get financial statements in order ranging to a go to market strategy.

But I would say the most memorable was when we had all of the teams meet up in Melbourne for a 2-day workshop. That was brilliant because we got to see that we weren't the only ones doing something, and we weren't the only ones having or experiencing difficulties and hurdles to overcome.

We had all of these other guys in a similar situation with their own difficulties, and that was fantastic, and just being able to touch base with them and share and learn.

Drew Radford:

I'd imagine that would be a great learning environment. And you mentioned their difficulties. That's a reality of starting something up. Yasin, what's been the biggest area of uncertainty in the AgTech space or this startup journey for you?

Yasin Gulec:

The biggest area of difficulty is probably the way I approach it. It's the things that I don't know that I don't know. Meeting people and talking about their ideas and being able to take my idea to somebody else has been a big hurdle for me. Take my idea to somebody else and ask them questions about it. Ask them about what their experience is on the farm, managing their land.

Drew Radford:

It sounds like a bit of a roadblock kind of moment, and the course has helped you unlock that in a certain way.

Yasin Gulec:

It really has. It really has. The course has put me in touch with coaches who have been in this space for a while, who've spoken to heaps of people, and they've put me in contact with more people.

They've put me in contact with primary producers, people who've been in this industry for a while and taught me to engage with their problems, and at the same time, they put me in contact with other people who've been innovators in this space for 30 years. And seeing their process and seeing how it is they approach problems has been really amazing.

Drew Radford:

Lastly, what advice would you give to other future founders looking to break into the Australian AgTech scene?

Levent Gulec:

I would say keep an open mind because you might think you know how to do something, but the people around you will have advice that might firstly be a better way to solve the problem or it's advice that you could then integrate into solving the problem. And the next piece of advice I would have is to just do it.

A lot of people, and ourselves, we've had some analysis paralysis where there's so much to think about that it can almost stop you in your tracks, but I think messy action is the right way to do it. Just get the website up, even if it's suboptimal, start calling people. Even if you don't know everything, you'll never get every single duck in the perfect row.

Drew Radford:

It certainly sounds like you both are hitting targets. You're not afraid of having a go. It's been fabulous to speak with you both and all the best for the path ahead with Drone Spraying Australia, and thank you for taking the time and joining us for this AgTech Innovators podcast.

Levent Gulec:

Thank you very much, Drew.

Yasin Gulec:

Great, thank you so much, Drew.

Levent Gulec:

Great to be here. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to AgTech Innovators. For more episodes in this series, find us and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback, so please leave a comment or rating and share this series with your friends and family.

All information is accurate at the time of release. Contact Agriculture Victoria or your consultant before making any changes on farm. This podcast was developed by Agriculture Victoria, authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to AgTech Innovators, keeping you up to date with information from Agriculture Victoria.

Drew Radford:

Feeding future populations is not just a problem for other countries. In Australia, for example, the farming land around Melbourne currently meets 41% of the city's food needs. However, by 2050, a lot of that land will be swallowed up as the population grows to a predicted seven million. What's left by that stage will only meet 18% of needs. How's that shortfall going to be met? G’day, I'm Drew Radford, and in this episode we are going to delve into one of the possible solutions, vertical farming, and we're going to look into that with founder and CEO of Fifth Harvest, Brook Kennedy. Brook, thanks for your time.

Brook Kennedy:

No worries, Drew. Great to be here.

Drew Radford:

Brook, we've got a lot to talk about in terms of your journey with this particular project, but I actually want to start with what is Fifth Harvest? Can you explain that to me?

Brook Kennedy:

Absolutely. Fifth Harvest is an urban agriculture startup, so we're building vertical farms in inner city areas to supply fresh, local and sustainable produce to consumers. We're growing indoors, so everything's grown under LEDs and it's a controlled environment, so it's protected from outside elements. Picture a warehouse with racks stacked to the ceiling, growing leafy greens or other vegetables, all indoors.

Drew Radford:

Brook, it's quite a capital intensive project that you're getting involved with and involves a lot, but what fascinates me as well is you are not from a farming background, so I'm trying to understand how you've ended up down this path.

Brook Kennedy:

It's a great question. We get asked that question quite a lot, especially from farmers who are looking at us very skeptically. I've sort of always had an interest in technology, so I've spent the last decade working in early stage technology startups and I've also had a passion for looking at solutions that reverse climate change and have a strong belief in tech's capacity to bring about massive change for the better. I really came into this from a technology standpoint and thinking about how we can leverage the latest technology, data capture, data analysis, AI, all of these things that are sort of becoming more prevalent and tackle pretty big problem within agriculture.

My passion also stems from growing food at home in an urban environment. I always lived in a city, or at least since I've been an adult, I've always grown food in the backyard and when I was at university I was putting together a business plan for urban agriculture. It's kind of just been this culmination of working in tech, a passion and interest in growing food at home and urban agriculture and looking at this problem around vertical farming that's brought us here.

Drew Radford:

Great ambition. You've certainly got the tech side of things, but in terms of coming into the ag space, I imagine there's a learning curve, a fairly steep one, but I understand you've been involved with a thing called the Business of Agriculture program. What's that about?

Brook Kennedy:

It's a great point. My co-founders and I don't come from agriculture, so it has been a really steep learning curve to understand the nuances of the industry, and we were lucky enough to be selected for the SproutX pre-accelerator Business of Agriculture program, and that basically provides you with a broad understanding of the food system and supply chain here in Australia as a starting point. That's been an incredible foundation for us to jump into and to get to learn more about the agriculture industry. What it is is it's really two things. It's a toolkit for launching and running a startup. They'll provide mentoring, they provide different tools and frameworks to help you kind of launch a business, but then as you touched on there's the agriculture side and that's really introducing you to companies in the industry, introducing you to farmers, introducing you to loads of people who work in agriculture so that you can talk to them, start to get a picture of some of the challenges, some of the problems that exist and how you might be able to go about solving them.

It's been really incredible. It's introduced us to another great community of other founders as well, and it's really helped us get an understanding of agriculture and the ecosystem here in Australia.

Drew Radford:

It sounds like an amazing leg up and a great introduction. Has there been any real key takeouts from that for you so far?

Brook Kennedy:

There absolutely has. I think the first one is when you're starting a startup, it quite often comes from an idea and I think that's a problem that a lot of startups then run into. They sort of go searching for a problem and what it really has to be is the other way around. You need to get out, understand the problem, and then think of how you would actually solve that problem. You almost need to let go some of your initial bias that you have around your idea in order to go and solve a customer problem that truly exists and that somebody needs solved. The program has been really great for that, I think. It's sort of helped us flip our thinking a little bit and go searching for a problem rather than have a solution in our back pocket and going to try and find a problem.

Drew Radford:

Having been involved in business, I think that's one of the most important insights you can get from business generally, but particularly in the area of trying to feed people, I'd imagine.

Brook Kennedy:

It absolutely is. I mean, it's a really, really complex food system that we have. It's existed for a long time. It's very efficient in some ways and sort of very set in other ways. When you're thinking about, "Jeez, how are we going to sort of change this or disrupt it," it's really important to approach it with that frame of mind. Like, "Where are the challenges and problems," rather than, "Hey, we're just going to introduce this solution."

Drew Radford:

It sounds like a real roadblock that the program's actually helped get out of your way for want of a better description.

Brook Kennedy:

I would say so. They've really tried to help with our thinking around starting a business. They've also helped a lot with validating what I would call a sustainable business model rather than your initial business plan. Breaking down different components of the business model, helping us test those and think about those, challenge our assumptions and start to validate that business model. It's helped us get an understanding of agriculture, which is really important, but then it's also helped us unblock that business model that we want to work on.

Drew Radford:

It certainly sounds like it's opened some doors and you've had to let things go. What's your startup traction been so far?

Brook Kennedy:

Honestly, we're still really early in our journey, but we've learned quite a lot. If we think about traction, the people that we speak to are really interested in this proposition around hyper-local, sustainable produce. Customers are really eager to try it, so we've spoken to restaurants, wholesalers, retailers, and people are really, really eager to try it. Investors are listening, but then there's a few hurdles that we still need to get over. Like you've said, it's very high capital cost to get it started and to get it moving. Energy is a big challenge. Labor is a big challenge, so there's still some really big challenges that we need to overcome in order to really get traction, I would say. But the early signs are there, the early shoots or sprouts are certainly there.

Drew Radford:

It sounds like you need to challenge some preconceptions as well with investors, and is that a big area of uncertainty in the AgTech space or startup journey, just trying to challenge those or are there other challenges?

Brook Kennedy:

That's the biggest challenge, raising capital. It's a big challenge at the moment. Obviously the capital raising market's tough, and then particularly within AgTech. I think AgTech went through a boom five or so years ago and then started to slow down a little bit, but it's now at that point where it's becoming really, really prevalent. Like some of the issues and problems that we're seeing with floods, with disruptions to supply chain, with disruptions to labor, these are all really starting to come to the forefront. The challenge is becoming more prevalent and more paramount, but raising capital, certainly one of them, and to answer your question, it's absolutely tackling some of these preconceived notions with investors who are looking at the US, seeing these big vertical farming companies fail, and some obviously going on to huge success as well, but they've made up their mind on some of these big things, and so it absolutely is a challenge to keep showing them the data, showing them that we're approaching it in an innovative way as well.

Drew Radford:

Arguably, though, you're in a good position because in Australia there is a really good success story in terms of Sundrop Farms, their vertical farming system, which I think is growing a fifth of the tomatoes for Coles supermarkets across the country, so it's not without precedent.

Brook Kennedy:

It absolutely isn't. Sundrop is a great example and they've not only been able to develop an incredible product and get traction in the market, but they're also incredibly sustainable. They're powering their farms 100% with renewable energy, so they've really built a solution that's forward-thinking and that it works with what we are trying to do, which is build a more climate resilient, sustainable food system.There's also others as well. There is precedent that's been set. There's success stories, and as you know, Drew, in any market, there's some players that come out on top and we're certainly starting to see some people forge ahead.

Drew Radford:

It sounds, in some regards, like the cycle of the last five years has actually played back into your hands in terms of your timing now.

Brook Kennedy:

I think so. We're at a really good place. I would actually liken where vertical farming is to where clean tech was, or now climate tech, in the early part of the 2000s. It kind of went through a boom and then a lot of those businesses unfortunately didn't work out or a lot of them failed and it sort of dropped off. But we've seen it just kick off massively in the last four or five years, and I feel like vertical farming has kind of gone through that same journey. It was a lot of early interest and traction, and then there's been a bit of a dip and we're just starting to come out of that dip now, and we're coming out of that dip with a lot more knowledge on what works and what doesn't work. We feel like we're in a really good position to solve some of these big challenges around energy, labor and automation, crop types, crop varieties, even seed varieties as well. So we feel like we're just at that starting point of really seeing this sector flourish.

Drew Radford:

Where to from here? What's the long-term goal?

Brook Kennedy:

What we're trying to do is build a food system that's more climate resilient, sustainable, and delivers nutritious food to a growing population. Melbourne, for example, is constantly expanding. That's really eating in to our food bowl as well, so we see that as a mega trend that's going to continue, so we really want to address that as an issue, and I'd really love to see our products on shelves in retail stores around the country and people buying it because they know it's sustainable, it's going to last longer in the fridge, and they know that it tastes better than alternatives. That's what we're aiming for with Fifth Harvest.

Drew Radford:

Do you have a timeline against that, Brook?

Brook Kennedy:

We would love to see it happen in the next five to 10 years, I think is realistic. I don't want to sit here and say, "Hey, we're going to do this in two years", because as we've talked about, there's massive challenges that we need to overcome and address. The technology's still developing and we are on this journey for the long haul as well. We'd love to see it happen in five to 10 years. We're a household name, products are on shelves around the country and people are buying Fifth Harvest products for the right reasons.

Drew Radford:

What advice would you give to other future founders looking to break into the Australian AgTech scene?

Brook Kennedy:

Firstly, it's really important to understand the ecosystem. You need a clear picture of how the food system works in Australia, what problems exist at each step of the journey before really even considering how you might solve them. You could go about that by talking to people in the industry, farmers, suppliers, wholesalers, consumers. It's really important to get that holistic picture and understand really what's happening. Outside of that specific advice, you really need to know what motivates you. It's a tough journey. You need to wake up every day motivated and ready to work. There's no one that's going to do it for you, so you need to know why you're doing it, what really motivates you and what drives you to keep going every day because it's a tough journey starting out on building your own company, and I think they're probably the two things I've taken away from the program and also that I would pass on as advice.

Drew Radford:

Well, Brook, it's fantastic advice and you've taken on a really big challenge. All the best for you and your team at Fifth Harvest for the road ahead. Brook Kennedy, thank you for taking the time and joining us for this AgTech Innovators podcast.

Brook Kennedy:

No problem, Drew. Thanks for having us. Really appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to AgTech Innovators. For more episodes in this series, find us and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback, so please leave a comment or rating and share this series with your friends and family. All information is accurate at the time of release. Contact Agriculture Victoria or your consultant before making any changes on farm. This podcast was developed by Agriculture Victoria, authorised by the Victorian government, Melbourne.

Speaker 1:
Welcome to AgTech Innovators keeping you up to date with information from Agriculture Victoria.

Drew Radford:
Building a viable AgTech business starts with testing an idea. But what happens when the idea has grown into a business? How do you then take it to the world?

G’day, I'm Drew Radford and as part of developing a viable Victorian AgTech ecosystem, a partner's been brought on to help with this. SVG Ventures Thrive is a Silicon Valley company with access to global markets and venture capital. Their recently appointed managing director for the Asia-Pacific region is Michael Macolino. I've tracked him down at the evokeAg conference and I've asked him to join us in our pop-up studio.

Michael, thanks for your time.

Michael Macolino:

Thank you for having me.

Drew Radford:
You come to this space from an interesting background. One of your previous jobs was working for a fairly large organisation in the AgTech space. Well, just give us a bit of a taste of your background.

Michael Macolino:
My background, I started as an entrepreneur. I was studying uni when I was about 21 and had enough of that. So, I thought I'd try starting a business. I had 15 years of running my own businesses. I built 5 businesses over that time. One was a car detailing business. Another time, I worked in property development and built a marina. I had a gym and a cloud consulting business as well. The final thing was an accounting technology startup, which I ran with a few other people for about four years.

At the end of that, my wife was like, "’We've got a young family now. Time to go off and get a real job."’So, I pivoted into working with BDO, the accounting and consulting firm. I worked locally with them and I led their AgriFood Tech part of their business. I was a director there and worked there for about five years, which was a great surprise to many people. I learned a lot about really doing things properly and about business, and it solidified many years of entrepreneurial learnings into a much more structured format.

Drew Radford:
That is quite a significant CV and a very diverse one. The startup one is particularly important for what we're going to be talking about and also your work with BDO is particularly important because you've moved on now. Who are you working for now?

Michael Macolino:
Fortunate about October last year, I came on board as the managing director for SVG Ventures Thrive. They are a Silicon Valley based VC firm and also run Thrive, which is our accelerator program. With the support of Victorian Government, we've come across into Australia where we'll be based in Melbourne. Our headquarters will be in Melbourne. My role is to basically lead that expansion and build out the team and really build out the work that we're doing in Australia, but more broadly in New Zealand and also into Singapore as well.

Drew Radford:
You listed that off fairly quickly. I don't want to delve too far, but SVG, they're not a backyard mob?

Michael Macolino:
No, SVG is one of the largest venture capital firms in the AgriFood innovation space. They've been around since 2010. Globally, last year, we were recognised as the most active venture capital investor in the accelerator space. We made 18 investments in startup companies last year. We are recognised quite often as being one of the largest VC and accelerator firms globally.

Drew Radford:
That makes you kind of unique because there's lots of accelerator firms around, but you've actually got the venture capital side there as well. That's quite a tempting proposition, I imagine, for people wanting to get involved with their ideas.

Michael Macolino:
Yeah, the venture capital part in AgriFood Tech is a unique beast. Venture capital in this space operates quite differently to other sectors such as FinTech or software as a service and other enterprise software. So, in order to make VC work in AgriFood, there needs to be a multidisciplinary approach. The way that we do it at SVG, the investment is one part. We have our accelerator program, which is how we interact with startups, how we get to meet startups, and really help them and shape what they're doing. But a big part of what we do is also with corporates as well. We work with some of the largest corporate agribusinesses globally.

What they're doing is coming to us with their challenges and they're saying to us, ‘Listen, this is what we're looking for. This is the innovation that we need in our business.’ We as SVG then go to the world. We have a look at our accelerator programs. We have a look at the ecosystems that we're part of, and we find these innovations and we bring them back to our corporate partners. Really, that connection with the corporate partners informs the way that we invest. So, with the support of our corporate partners, we know that there is a channel to market. What we're really looking for is market pull for these innovations, and then the VC part is a much easier proposition for us to know what we should be investing and what the potential for our investment is.

Drew Radford:
It's quite the ecosystem, to say the least. What I want to focus on is the APAC accelerator program. Just briefly describe the program and its objective.

Michael Macolino:
The program will run once a year. We opened for applications back in October of 2022 and since then, we've been running an application process. We had 94 applications from APAC. We brought that down to 22 companies that pitched to a panel of judges back in December. Then, we narrowed that down to a cohort about 15 companies to have one-on-one discussions with, and now we've just selected 10 companies. So, those 10 companies will be the inaugural APAC accelerator cohort and we'll be running a 12-week program with them. We'll actually launch that with those 10 companies in Silicon Valley. Those companies will be going to Silicon Valley as part of what we're calling our Thrive Silicon Valley Week. We're also bringing all the other companies from our other cohorts around the world. So, from Canada and from our global cohort. I think we'll have close to 50 companies as part of what we're doing at SVG. It'll be in Silicon Valley in mid-March when we launch the program.

Drew Radford:
Well, that'll be a fairly competitive space, I'd imagine, but an amazing opportunity.

Michael Macolino:
Bringing companies to Silicon Valley is really where we're trying to build a new layer in the APAC and particularly the Australian ecosystem. So, we really want to make sure that for companies that are in Australia in the AgriFood Tech space, in order for them to get to venture scale, to be investible, they have to have an international growth strategy. We're based in Silicon Valley. We've got an incredible ecosystem in North America, in the US and Canada. Really, what we're trying to do is connect Australian companies into that North American ecosystem, and a big part of that is actually getting them there physically to be part of this series of events that we do, which incorporates the World Agri-Tech event, which is one of the largest AgTech events globally.

Drew Radford:
You said once they're selected, it's a 12-week program. Is that full-time, and what are some of the key things that they're covering in that time?

Michael Macolino:
These companies are often at a level of scale. So, they're entering that scale-up growth phase. These are very much functioning, high-growth businesses. The founders and the teams do have a business to run. So, we don't want to take up all of their time. What we're really trying to do is a couple of times a week, we're bringing the cohort together. Once a week, we will have a session which is the entire global cohort of close to 50 companies all together. We bring in some of the leading facilitators from our corporate partners and some of the leading experts around legal, and accounting, and international market expansion, and marketing and branding.

We really want to give them world-leading facilitators to help them really hone and develop their strategy. And then, we also do each week a session locally. What the Australian companies need compared to the Canadian companies is very different. So, we're also bringing together some facilitators locally and also some mentors locally that are working directly with the companies, and then finally also doing some things with peer to peer. These companies are often going into challenging circumstances with any new skillsets. They need to know that there is some level of accountability between the other members of the cohort.

Really, it's about them experience sharing, saying, "Listen, I've tried to do this," or, "I've had some staff member issues," or, "I'm having some issues raising capital or scaling up manufacturing." These are all very real issues and often, the only way to really get to the core of that is for other companies to say, "Oh, I had exactly the same issue and here's how we went about actually dealing with that." I know from my own experience as a founder that that's actually far more beneficial than sitting there watching webinars and YouTube videos and things like that. Actually connecting with another person that's in a very similar space can really help to inform and hone that strategy for a company.

Drew Radford:
At the start of this discussion, you said part of the strategy overall for your organisation is you're doing quite a bit of pool development. I think that was roughly the term in terms of you've got large organisations looking for solutions. Once you've narrowed down to those 10 organisations, has SVG got a reasonable idea where you're going to be taking them after they've completed the course, or is it still see how you go?

Michael Macolino:
There's always a bit of see how you go. There's always a bit of we don't know everything about these companies and that's half the reason we want to undertake this program. We want to learn from these companies and we want to see where we can add value. That said, we've chosen these companies because there is alignment with our program and also with our corporate partners. We have a very good understanding of what our corporate partners are looking for, and they're usually a representative sample of what the industry is looking for around things like robotics, next generation fertilisers, new forms of software and sensors. Generally, we've got a pretty good understanding informed by our corporate partners.

When we're choosing these companies, we're having a look at, ‘Okay, are these companies developing technologies the industry is just crying out for and pulling out of development into realisation, but also are these companies at a stage where we know what we're good at, we know that we can open doors and we can provide capital and we can post-investment provide a huge amount of support and networking and integration with our ecosystem? A lot of it is all of those pieces of information, bringing that together, synthesising that and saying, ‘You know what? We don't know everything about this company, but we believe that over 12 weeks, we can really get to know them. And then after the program, we think we can be a really good partner for them as they continue their journey to scale and hopefully start to expand outside of Australia. We really want to be that long-term partner with them.’

Drew Radford:
You've seized upon the opportunity to partner with the Victorian Government to deliver the accelerator program. Why is that collaboration important to you?

Michael Macolino:
We believe that within the ecosystem of Melbourne and also broader Victoria around the regions as well, what is represented there is actually a really good cross-section of different types of crop types, huge amounts of research in organisations like the La Trobe University and CSIRO, and a vibrant startup ecosystem in other areas as well. AgTech is not siloed. AgTech, the technology, the research, the people come from a whole range of parts of the ecosystem. So, in order for an ecosystem to exist, you need researchers collaborating with farmers. You need farmers who are inviting AgTech companies to come onto their farms and see the challenges and when they've got technologies, have a mechanism of testing and validating that.

What we find often is if geographically it's too dispersed, having that connectivity becomes too difficult. What we saw as an organisation in Victoria is first of all, a willingness from the Victorian Government, from Agriculture Victoria, and also InvestVic to really get behind this, put the capital behind it, and also give us the support and the integration into their other initiatives. We know that there are things like demonstration farms. We know that they've also supported other programs like Sprout X and Farmers2Founders and Rocket Seeder.

Those programs are really focused on that pre-seed and seed stage of the commercialisation journey, and what they do is they help to create new companies and they help companies to figure out, is this actually a viable business? They help them with that growth. And then, where we fit in is building this new layer of the ecosystem that currently is a little bit hit-and-miss, which is, companies that have been around for two or three years, they've got a team of five to 10 people. They might have a million dollars or $2 million of revenue, but ultimately, they're hitting a bit of a ceiling. In order to grow past that ceiling, what we need to do is go, "Okay, here's how we can facilitate that next step." It's that global growth step.

But it also works the other way as well. Invest Victoria and Global Vic, they're also connected into the broader agricultural sector, the broader agribusiness sector. Again, coming back to that market pool, what we're able to see is where there is industry need within Victoria, where we can also find innovation in North America and start to bring that into Australia as well, with Victoria being that landing pad for those companies.

Drew Radford:
That's a really sound description and explains the cycle and where you're at particularly well. We're recording this at evokeAG. What does an event like this mean to someone like you and your organisation?

Michael Macolino:
I've been to evokeAG in 2019 and 2020. Back then, I was fairly new in some ways to this ecosystem. It's amazing to see every time I come to Evoke how the ecosystem in AgriFood globally has evolved and matured, to see the companies and how their technologies have become more sophisticated, how their business models have become more sophisticated. But I often have a look at the ecosystem globally having gone through almost three phases. There was this grassroots phase, which was I'd say pre-2019. Then we had this engagement phase, where a few early adopter farmers started to come along to events like evokeAG and get involved with this type of stuff. Now, we're really in this integration phase, where it's like everyone knows that climate, sustainability, new forms of farming systems, this is not a theory. It is fact.

Coming to evokeAG, what we observe is how all these parts of the ecosystem actually interact and look at doing business together. For us, when we're looking at companies to invest in or we're looking at corporates that we can assist, what we see through discussions that we have, through presentations, and just that general interaction in the expo area is what is real and where is there opportunity for us, but also where can we be additive? What we're really looking at from an Australian perspective is we know there's a lot happening here and we don't want to be the company from Silicon Valley that's coming in to take over. We really want to be additive and collaborative in this ecosystem. I think the value and the ethos of evokeAG has always been around collaboration and really a rising tide lifts all ships type of approach to AgriFood innovation and the ecosystem around it.

Drew Radford:
Michael, in terms of business and startups and the work that you've done, you've got a lot of runs on the board. What would your advice be to somebody who's got a good idea, doesn't really know where to go, but was passionate about it?

Michael Macolino:
Yeah, it's a tough one. It's a place that I was at many years ago. First of all is before you start, have a lot of conversations. When I wanted to get involved in agriculture, I had an interest through some things that I'd done in the past, I went out to field days. I've got a photo on my Twitter headline and it's actually my black WRX in between a whole bunch of white Utes at a field day. I've actually used this analogy many times because I think that there's so many people who are outside of agriculture who have experience and have a skillset that can really be applied and actually solve some real problems in agriculture. Quite often, that's in the form of a technology or a business. What they have is a hammer, then they're looking for that nail.

So, I really encourage people to get out there, get on farm, come along to events like evokeAG, come to things like meetup groups, just start to talk and understand what are the real problems, what is the distribution, what type of support is needed for that type of technology, and really where is the business model and the opportunity for them. The more that they talk... This is what I found personally. It was probably an 18-month journey for me to really figure out where my skills and experience and network could be applied to agriculture. I was really on the money in terms of what I could actually contribute. Since then, I've been able to do some really exciting things.

Drew Radford:
You have been really able to do some exciting things and you've really been rolling your sleeves up. Without pumping air into our tires too much, where do you see Australia's AgTech sector? We're only a small country, but how are we faring and what are the opportunities?

Michael Macolino:
I've had a lot of conversations over the past day or so at evokeAG. The ecosystem is really starting to fire. The enthusiasm for what we're doing is incredible. I think our genuine opportunity is within Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. We have a population density. We have representation of pretty much all crop types and farming systems. We have world-leading research organisations. We have startups that are ambitious and have excellent technology. What we need to do is bring all of that together, but I think the big opportunity for us is that in order to bring new technology to market, it requires iteration.

One of the biggest challenges in AgTech is that if you're building a robot for harvesting or for seeding or you've got a new type of fertiliser, that can only be applied in a say, 2 to 3 month harvest window. If we can build that counter seasonal narrative to the Northern Hemisphere, so companies do some R&D and development and so forth in the Northern Hemisphere and then they come to Australia, they come to New Zealand and they keep on developing that while the Northern Hemisphere is going through winter, we can really increase the iteration cycles and the rate of innovation. I think that in some ways, that is a real opportunity for us. I think the other thing is also we have a lot of research that is locked up in our research organisations, and we need to find ways of connecting research into industry and enabling industry to understand what research exists and pull that into realisation and commercial application as well.

Drew Radford:
Well, Michael, I think Australia and AgTech is in good hands with the work that you and some of your colleagues are doing. Certainly inspirational stuff. You paint the picture really well. Thank you so much for taking the time and joining me for this AgTech Innovators podcast.

Michael Macolino:
Fantastic. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to AgTech Innovators. For more episodes in this series, find us and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback. So, please leave a comment or rating and share this series with your friends and family.

All information is accurate at the time of release. Contact Agriculture Victoria or your consultant before making any changes on farm. This podcast was developed by Agriculture Victoria, authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne.

Speaker 1:
Welcome to AgTech Innovators, keeping you up to date with information from Agriculture Victoria.

Drew Radford:
Startups arguably most want to make a difference. Undoubtedly though, they all want to make a dollar. G’day. I'm Drew Radford, and the gap between an AgTech idea and successful commercialisation can be vast. However, helping narrow that are organisations like Rocket Seeder with their AgTech Seeds program. To discuss how, their managing director, Emma Coath, joins us in our pop-up studio at evokeAG. Emma, thanks for your time.

Emma Coath:
Thanks for having me, Drew.

Drew Radford:
Emma, you're heavily involved in the AgTech sector. Before we drill down into the work you do with AgTech startups, what's the term AgTech mean to you?

Emma Coath:
Yeah, I guess I take more of a global definition of AgTech, which is probably a bit different to how people understand it in Australia, particularly that sort of state government level. So our definition is whole of value chain, so that's right through from the farm right through to the consumer. The reason why I'm a big fan of that is because whatever you do on a farm has an impact post-farm gate.

It's a whole continuum that you have to consider because at the end of the day, it's a food product in someone's fridge that's grown and it's transformed through that supply chain on the farm and through the supply chain. It's not in isolation that you can't look at it just in one part of the supply chain. So that's things that happen before and things that happen afterwards.

Drew Radford:
What does Rocket Seeder do?

Emma Coath:
Rocket Seeder supports startups essentially but startups can come in many different forms, particularly in the agrifood sector. So we support, in our AgTech Seeds program in particular, researchers from universities and also state government organisations to commercialise their research and technology. They may not actually go on to start a business, but they may have a role in the ecosystem working for another startup or advising a startup. Also, we support entrepreneurs, so that has been our bread and butter since we started 6 years ago and we feel we do that well. Sometimes these startups don't go anywhere but sometimes they end up doing really well or they stay in the ecosystem and have other roles. But that's what we do. We support startups and founders.

Drew Radford:
Emma, in that AgTech Seeds program, what sort of people have been working with you? You've got some examples or an example you could share?

Emma Coath:
Yeah. Well, it's a 2-year program, so we finished the first program last year. So we've got James Diamond from AirAgri, co-founder essentially with his brother Paul. They have a family farm, 3 or 4 generations. James in particular is a tech guy. He spent his whole career in technology, very knowledgeable about technology, very smart, and saw the opportunity to build something, a technology product that will support farmers.

So he was thinking throughout our program last year where he's best placed, what would be his niche, I guess, his value proposition to farmers? And so he ended up focusing on farmer safety and using technology and internet of things and hardware to basically help farmers be safe on farm. He's just started last year. He's developed a huge amount in that short amount of time, and it's really exciting for us to find out and follow his journey to see where he'll be this year and next year because he's the perfect founder. And alongside his brother Paul, they understand farming because they are farmers. But then again, James has just got all of this knowledge around technology and the combination of the 2 is perfect.

Drew Radford:
It is perfect. And I've spoken to James and he's coming up in an upcoming series and talks about the focus that he achieved through the program and also the connections within the industry, which are really, really important. You said you're interested in seeing where he's going in the next couple of years. So what benefits do people get from doing the program?

Emma Coath:
Even though this is pre-accelerator program as opposed to full accelerator program, with the full accelerator program, we put them through the ringer in terms of pitching. So we have a really good pitch coach based in Sydney, Peter Brown, and he really strips them back as people and as founders and helps them to develop and communicate their narrative, and then we put them in front of all sorts of people, investors, and practice makes perfect. So they really benefit from that. So the pre-accelerator program, AgTech Seeds, we don't do all that. They still have to put together a deck, pitch what they do. But there's three elements to our program.

One is that they get some tools which are fairly generic across the startup ecosystem. We use the strategise a business model canvas. The other programs do the same thing, but then we provide one-on-one coaching. So we've partnered with an organisation called Cruxes Innovation that specialise in working with researchers in particular. That's their area of focus. There's that academic side of it if you like, providing them with these tools, which are hugely useful when they're on their own and then they can look at their business model canvas, put it up on the wall and go, ‘Okay, we're going to look at this market segment now because it's just not working,’ and they can do that all themselves.

Then there's the connections that they have between the cohort because we have quite diverse cohorts with diverse backgrounds and then the connections that we make within the sector. So we're targeting people with STEM skills to bring them into the agriculture sector or the agrifood sector. So whether that's around engineering or IT, so many different types of science and technology and those skills, we want to bring them into the sector. Often, the participants don't have knowledge of the agrifood sector, so what we do is we have a whole heap of mentors in a huge network across Australia and overseas as well. So it's just introducing them to people so they gain a better understanding throughout the program. Then they've got those relationships and connections ongoing as well, so it's not just during the program, but there's the legacy after the program as well.

Drew Radford:
It sounds very broad and the legacy was what I was getting at there in terms of the connections that you make. You mentioned in there evokeAG, and we're recording this at evokeAG. How important is an event like this for the people that you're working with and you as well?

Emma Coath:
These events are wonderful for startups for a couple of different reasons. One, because it forces them into the spotlight. So whether they have an opportunity to pitch, we've got three startups pitching tonight. But it's really throwing them into the spotlight, putting them under the pump, if you like.

These types of events, and particularly Evoke, which is very supportive of startups and understands the need for them to put themselves forward, great opportunity. And then if they get selected to be as part of Startup Alley, so then anyone can come up and talk to them and ask questions, often difficult questions that they find difficult to answer, but again, putting them on the spot as well as the opportunity to promote themselves, what they're doing, whether that's to investors, potential customers or just even supporters as well.

We sort of try to encourage them to look bigger than they really are. A little bit like Australians generally in Australia - we're pretty small, 26 million people, but we punch above our weight. So that's what we encourage our startups to do. And events like evokeAG provide a platform to do that.

Drew Radford:
AgTech, what do you think the future in Australia looks like?

Emma Coath:
I guess it's what I hope it to be with programs like ours and government like the Victorian Government supporting our AgTech Seeds program, which is wonderful, is helping to build the ecosystem so we get the critical mass. It's about building a community of innovators and supporters of innovators essentially, so we can create a sector that addresses a lot of these challenges that we're facing, whether that's variable weather, if you like, at the moment. And technology can enable these changes, so I guess that's the opportunity. So things that we're dealing with right at the moment or bigger picture sustainability issues. So we need a number of ways and we need to support solutions that solve food loss and food waste problems. So whether that's on farm where there's a lot of potential to do that, particularly reducing food loss, or through chain or in the home, there's a lot of opportunity to do that and a lot of work to do.

Drew Radford:
Emma, you work in an exciting space, a really rapidly changing space. Emma Coath, thank you very much for taking the time and joining us for this AgTech Innovators podcast.

Emma Coath:
Thanks for having me, Drew.

Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to AgTech Innovators. For more episodes in this series, find us and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback, so please leave a comment or rating and share this series with your friends and family. All information is accurate at the time of release. Contact Agriculture Victoria or your consultant before making any changes on farm. This podcast was developed by Agriculture Victoria, authorised by the Victorian Government.

Speaker 1:
Welcome to AgTech Innovators, keeping you up to date with information from Agriculture Victoria.

Drew Radford:
If it's not simple, farmers aren't going to use it. That sounds pretty obvious, but according to Matt Anderson from Farmers2Founders, sometimes people with great AgTech ideas get lost in them, rather than look at how the idea will work in the paddock.

G’day, I'm Drew Radford and Matt's well qualified to make that observation because his job is working with AgTech startups. I've caught up with him in Adelaide at Australia's premier AgTech event evokeAG. Matt, welcome to this AgTech Innovators podcast.

Matt Anderson:
Thank you, Drew, it's great to see you on a busy schedule.

Drew Radford:
Matt, I just want to take one step back. You're from a farming family by background, but now you're involved in the AgTech space, and I want to get to that in a moment, but tell me the family farming story first.

Matt Anderson:
Yeah, so I grew up on my family farm in North-West New South Wales. We're about 75 kms west of Quirindi in an area called Liverpool Plains. Although it's Plains Country predominantly around there. We're actually a cow calf cattle operation in the hills, a very dear place to me. And I spent a lot of time in my youth running around with other farming kids and enjoying the landscapes and the business that we ran. More recently I've been back in that community as well, after many years away.

Drew Radford:
Yeah, you have been many years away. You became a lawyer.

Matt Anderson:
I did, yes. I did what a lot of country kids do and went away to school in a bigger city, down in Sydney, and then pursued a law degree and practiced for about 3 years in commercial property. It was a pursuit that was something that I was aiming for and it was something that I thought would be a longer term trajectory, but a couple of years into that process, the yearning to go home and be a bit more closer to my agricultural roots was getting stronger and I started to look for ways in which I could make that happen.

Drew Radford:
Well, you have found a way to make that happen. You work with Farmers2Founders, who are they? What do they do?

Matt Anderson:
Farmers2Founders has been around since about 2018. One of the fundamental beliefs of the organisation is that we believe in innovation, we believe in technology and the process of using innovation to solve problems in agriculture. But the fundamental need is to have producers at the heart of that, otherwise there's a real risk that what we're solving and what we're doing is not real and the technologies that we're providing are not actually addressing the need.

Farmers2Founders was set up to try and respond to that need, and the way in which we do that is basically interject at various points across the innovation journey to make sure that there's that bringing back to the roots, the producer.

That starts with early stage ideas and startups that are building their companies, and it goes all the way through to a lot of existing technologies that are out there in the market, ensuring they can get into the hands of farmers and be effective.

Drew Radford:
You're explaining this in language I can understand and that's a genuine compliment, because there's a lot of jargon in this space and you're breaking it down.

You said, ‘We interject at certain points,’ I think you said, ‘In that journey,’ and you look after a program called TEKLAB. A very, very cool name, but I assume that's a point of interjection, so what's TEKLAB do?

Matt Anderson:
The point of interjection is really right at the early stage. We partnered with LaunchVic and the wonderful team at Ag Vic as well to deliver a range of programs, a pathway of programs where ideas that might be sitting in the heads of a farmer or a student, an entrepreneur or a researcher can come to the fore and they can have a pathway where they can pursue that idea into an AgTech solution. So there's a range of stages of that program and it really takes them from what could be something on the back of an napkin all the way through to a business that's looking to scale. And then beyond that program there are a range of other pathway opportunities that can go on from there as well. That was a program that we're running currently that's really focused on the very early stage ideas and bringing them out into the world.

Drew Radford:
How's it worked then? You've given a bit of a broad brush stroke there. An idea in somebody's head, but then I assume they've got to join up to the course, and what goes on there? How do you even attract people like that?

Matt Anderson:
Well, going back to that key goal of ours is that we try and focus on the problems first, so we look to really identify what's going on in regional communities on the farms and things that... In Victoria are really pressing for a lot of people in the agriculture sector and understand those problems first and then use those as fodder for people to come solve and come forward and really try and respond to that with technology and solutions they may have.

That's our north star, that's what we try to do in attracting people with ideas. But of course we also open it up to all kinds of different minds and people who want to solve these problems. As I said before, we work with farmers who might want to come forward with an idea here, but we also work with students who are doing some sort of ag and food degree and looking to maybe take a different career path going forward.

So we open up a very broad expanse to people who want to come forward. And you're right, there is an application process and they can go through that on our website and pitch themselves in a small way to come into the program. It's a very open application process because we don't want to be striking out any individuals or ideas or teams before we really know what they've got for them.

Then following that, there's a 2 stage program. Hatch we call it, is the very first stage of that, which is all about idea validation. It's about understanding what the farmers are needing or what your end customer is needing and how you're responding to that and building your solution in response to that problem rather than the other way around.

And then the Hone program, as you can probably hear in the language and the title of that program is refining what you're doing. It's understanding the business you might need to set up, the way you might make some money, doing it the way you get your product into the hands of customers, and all that intricate pieces of how the business is run.

They're the 2 key phases and individuals or businesses that come out the other side of that program will hopefully be in a stage where they are genuinely up and running and starting to sell their solution, their service, their product and starting to help farmers in that process.

Drew Radford:
How important is it that government's involved in this? I was reading a disturbing statistic the other day that only 2% of startups in Victoria are ag related.

Matt Anderson:
It's very important. I think there's an opportunity across all kinds of different organisations, whether it's corporates, whether it's universities, but governments play a very key role in that too. And you're right, we're at a very early stage in many respects of what is in its own right, its own sector, an AgTech sector, and there's a lot of opportunity to bolster that sector and definitely funding is a key part of that. And making sure programs like ours and many others that are out there can really support the people that can come forward and do that.

So look, I think it's a really critical role in ensuring that not only can we build some fantastic new startups that come out of Victoria and can go global as well as across Australia, but also to ensuring that we can help Australian farms and Victorian farms to be as sustainable, productive, profitable as they can be with technologies as a part of that picture.

Drew Radford:
You mentioned you're not the only one in this space. There are others that the Victorian government's involved with. What do you reckon makes Farmers2Founders unique?

Matt Anderson:
The story is told in our name. We're called Farmers2Founders because we really believe in that collaboration and that cross pollination between farmers and potential tech developers or entrepreneurs. So right from that very beginning, that first Hatch program, basically the first session you do as part of that is understanding your customer. And typically the customer in this space is the farmer.

Across our team we've got a broad breadth of experience in AgriFood, but a lot of our staff and our mentors and our coaches have been involved in the agriculture sector for a very long time. They have deep connections, they've been on farm themselves perhaps or are currently on farm. And so they are able to not only connect the entrepreneurs with those relevant networks but also give them a really true picture of how their solution fits into agriculture in Victoria.

Drew Radford:
That must be absolutely crucial and for one of a better description, it's almost your superpower. You straddle both worlds, so you've got the practical versus the great idea. But-

Matt Anderson:
That's right, and I think we'll hear a lot of these conversations probably across the couple of days here at evokeAG in Adelaide where there is a fantastic rate of and pace of change going on across the sector and there's fantastic initiatives that are coming about and we always want to encourage more entrepreneurs to come forward and do that process. But, if it's not coming back to a core problem and typically that problem is faced on farm or throughout the supply chain, then it's hard to see the benefit. It also means that it's more difficult for the startup if you are pursuing something that ultimately isn't of significant pressure for an individual farmer or farming business. Then it's going to be hard to sell that and it's going to be hard to get that adopted and be able to actually make a sustainable business from it.

Those are fundamentals that we believe for new entrepreneurs coming forward.

Drew Radford:
You raised evokeAG, that's where we're sitting right at the moment recording this. How important is an event like this for an organisation like yours?

Matt Anderson:
It's really important. What you've probably seen even this morning as people are flooding through the doors is that there's a really big atmosphere and energy of innovation and there are representatives and partners from state governments and federal governments and corporates and all the rest. So there's a really good energy and a really big melting pot of people and ideas. It's always good to touch base with that and see where those sort of things are.

But it also goes back to that comment that you mentioned before. We can't do this, and I don't mean Farmers2Founders, I mean us as a sector, without collaboration and support across the whole AgriFood ecosystem. So it's necessary to get these sort of people in the room and get these ideas happening and get people understanding where there are opportunities and where we can continue to push things forward.

For our organisation, that's what we are here to do. We're here to promote the wonderful startups that we work with and some of the work that we do in regional communities and with farmers, but we're also here to try and drive the conversation forward a bit more and make sure that there's a continuing focus from all those different areas that I was mentioning before on reinvesting and then continuing to drive the conversation.

Drew Radford:
Harking back to the program, what sort of pathways exist for startups once they've gone through your program?

Matt Anderson:
On the Farmer2Founder's perspective, we have a continued pathway really. So following that Hone program, there's an opportunity to then join a what's termed an accelerator, which is usually reserved for existing companies with a bit of traction, who've got some customer acquisition who are out there in the market actively looking to scale or get bigger and access different markets.

That harvest program we call it, is a real opportunity for companies that might be at a little bit more advanced stage than the early ideas and who are looking to take themselves further. We also then offer, given our national and international presence, the opportunity for some companies to come into a program that scales them into Singapore. And we have some international connections and partners in the Singapore AgriFood tech ecosystem as well if they're looking for that particular market. And we do have international connections more generally as well. So, the Hatch and Hone is just the beginning of a broader process that we have available.

Drew Radford:
You must see some remarkable ideas come through your door. Is there any that you can share an example of the journey that they've been through with Farmers2Founders?

Matt Anderson:
We see a lot of remarkable businesses and we see a lot of remarkable people and I think that's one of the really exciting things about what we do is that there are a lot of fantastic ideas out there, but sometimes it takes very particular and special individuals to make them come to reality.

Some of the examples that we've had, we've particularly in the TEKLAB program, we've had a couple of young brothers who are running a drone spraying business that's got some really interesting ideas. They've had multiple startups that they've run before and they saw agriculture given that they have a background in regional Victoria as a chance for them to apply their trade. One of them has a CASA certified license and they've been out spraying blackberries and all kinds of different things in that area. And one of the difficulties for them was to understand the business model around what they're trying to do.

So they came into our program with some really good technical skills and understanding of the capabilities they had, but not quite sure how they can implement that and looking for that business model. They've been fantastic to work with in bringing them forward.

And we've seen lots of others. There's such a broad spread of ideas and that's the thing about AgTech, agri food tech, all these labels, is that it actually really encompasses so many different aspects. Whether it's on the food side, the manufacturing side, the processing side, or even the production and the farming side as well. So, we work with entrepreneurs all across that landscape.

Drew Radford:
It's interesting that you mentioned the drone brothers, I've interviewed them as well and they're coming up in a later episode and are a great illustration of the process that they've gone through as well.

I watched a video of yours and sustainability came up repeatedly in this short video. It's obviously very crucial to what you are doing.

Matt Anderson:
It is, and I think it filters through for everything we do, whether it's the TEKLAB program or some of our broader projects and involvement in the industry.

One of the reasons for that is that really where agriculture is at the moment has, as a very general statement, been in a pretty good spot. But we know that that might not last and we know that some have suffered a lot in recent months as well with the difficulties in climate and global challenges and pressures that are existing on the sector. So the need to be sustainable on a very individual farm basis, but also as a sector is pressing.

We see technology as an enabler and people who are building technology solutions as potentially a bit of a solution to that. As a way to build sustainability across the system, across the sector, but also for farmers who are using technology in the right way.

It is intrinsic in many ways to what we're trying to do, is make farmers and the industry more sustainable, whatever that means. Whether that's environmental or simply on a dollars basis, how can we be here for generations to come? And technology's a key part of that.

Drew Radford:
Just lastly, Matt, what do you reckon the biggest challenges are for AgTech startups once they head out into the world after completing a program like yours?

Matt Anderson:
There are several challenges that many of the entrepreneurs and founders who are listening to this will know with all of them. And sometimes it's hard to avoid them, but I think one of the big conversations that's been going on for some time and certainly will be here at evokeAg and a lot of companies that'll be facing going out into the wide world is this point around adoption. It sits on in multiple different areas, and the common conversation is to say that that farmers are slow at adopting technology. And that's true to some degree, but there's also a need for these startups and entrepreneurs to be really wary of how they play in that space and really well of how they communicate to farmers and how they put their ideas out into the world.

That's why when we are working with a really early stage company or idea, we instill in them this idea of ‘You need to be out there understanding what farmers are doing,’ because if you get down to that later stage and you're trying to sell and push what you're doing onto a farmer and you're not really communicating that value, return on investment, the actual application of your technology, then it's not going to get very far.

So, getting this adoption right for the startup and for the farmer is really critical. And Farmers2Founders, offers a range of services and projects in that space as well. Once you get to that stage, you're only so good as those who are using it and you might have the best idea in the world, but if it's only being used by a couple of people, then it's not really creating the impact that I suppose many entrepreneurs are searching for. The more that you can overcome those hurdles and get in the hands of more farmers, the better for you and the better for the farmers as well.

Drew Radford:
We're a funny mob in Australia in terms of, you said that point there that there is this perception that farmers are sometimes slow to adopt and yet we have some of the most efficient farmers in the world because we've got the least subsidised. So, surely they're also open to ideas?

Matt Anderson:
I absolutely agree with you. I think some of the farmers in Australia are some of the most innovative and I think we're seen on a global sense to be that we've got a great reputation for our Australian farmers.

When I say that there's a bit of a perception that we're slow to adopt it, it's an industry perception, but I think it relates more to this more modern sense of AgTech. It's the digital industries, it's the apps and the drones and those kind of things which are moving at such a rapid rate that it is hard to keep up with. And that's the problem where I think some of this adoption point is coming in is that things change on a week to week basis and new ideas and startups are coming out. That's where there needs to be a bit more of a focus on supporting those to get onto farms.

Drew Radford:
I think you make a really good point there because we have unfortunately an aging population when it comes to farmers. I forget where it is, it's around about 60. And I get technology fatigue. It's my business. And you are talking about stuff that's moving, changing all the time and sometimes you just want to do your job. But you need the new tool that's coming down the line. I don't know how you deal with that digital fatigue.

Matt Anderson:
It's a big challenge and whether or not it's because of an aging population or because of the rapid rate of change or all these things, but one of the biggest bits of feedback we get from the farmer communities is "Just make it simple. Just make it simple and easy." And that's what one of the things that we try to instill in our companies as well is just try and boil down to the really key bits that they need and make it easy for them.

Drew Radford:
Matt, you articulate this fabulously. You've got a foot in both camps so you understand that making it simple is really appealing for everybody when it comes to dealing with new technology.

Matt Anderson from Farmers2Founders, thank you for taking the time and joining us for this AgTech Innovators podcast.

Matt Anderson:
Thank you, Drew, wonderful to be here.

Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to AgTech Innovators. For more episodes in this series, find us and follow us wherever you get your podcasts.

We'd love to hear your feedback, so please leave a comment or rating and share this series with your friends and family.

All information is accurate at the time of release. Contact Agriculture Victoria or your consultant before making any changes on-farm.

This podcast was developed by Agriculture Victoria, authorised by the Victorian Government.

Speaker 1:
Welcome to AgTech Innovators, keeping you up-to-date with information from Agriculture Victoria.

Drew Radford:
Technological advancements are crucial in any industry, and agriculture is no different. However, in Victoria, despite it being one of the major industries, only 2% of startups in the state are AgTech-focused. If the sector wants to remain competitive, something needs to change.

G'day. I'm Drew Radford and, indeed, something is changing. Agriculture Victoria is investing in the growth of the Victorian AgTech ecosystem. In this series, we're going to focus on pre-accelerator programs being delivered with the help of LaunchVic.

What's it all mean? Well, to find out, I've come to evokeAG, which is being held this year in Adelaide. It's the number one event on the National AgTech Calendar. I'm joined in our onsite popup AgVic podcast studio by one of the people facilitating the Victorian AgTech push, Mark Sloan. Thanks for your time.

Mark Sloan:
Pleasure to be here, Drew. Thanks for having me.

Drew Radford:
Mark, we're going to talk about the project you help lead, which focuses on AgTech innovation.

But, firstly, you've got one of the longest titles I've ever seen. I think it's community Project Lead, Regional Innovation Network, Agriculture Sector Development. It's a big title. What's it mean?

Mark Sloan:
My role involves working with the AgTech ecosystem in Victoria and trying to help facilitate the development of our local AgTech startups.

Previously, I've been involved with Agriculture Victoria in the Internet of Things trial and digital ag investment scheme, which is in more farmer-facing funding opportunities, whereas this one is really focusing on the AgTech startups themselves.

Drew Radford:
So you've certainly got a bit of tech on your boots, for want of a better description. You also live in regional Victoria. You got a farming tie-in?

Mark Sloan:
I've run some Merino ewes and fat lambs from time to time. At the moment, I've got some neighbors just cropping our property at the moment.

Drew Radford:
I think it's an important connection, though, because you are trying to facilitate AgTech startup environment. But unless they can talk the language of farming, never the twain shall meet in some circumstances, I would imagine.

Mark Sloan:
Oh, that's spot on. You know, I think it's really important for the AgTech startups that are coming through the system not only to be able to connect with their target audience, for want of a better word. But also understanding the pain points of the farming community. I think that's a really important point that some of the AgTech startups that are coming through the system, not just in Victoria, but more widely, that's a really important point that they do miss.

And it's great to have a technology solution, but what's its application and how are you going to tell that story? What's your narrative going to be when you put it in the marketplace?

Drew Radford:
There's a lot of language and jargon around this space, but maybe we should really define what is AgTech.

Mark Sloan:
Everybody's got a slightly tweaked version of this from one another. For me, AgTech is everything on the farmer side of the fence gate that is used to improve production outcomes, lower cost if possible, improve quality of life. Doesn't have to be of necessarily a financial gain, but anything that farmers can get some benefit from. But yeah, it has to be, for me, before the farm gate and, yeah, used in primary production.

Drew Radford:
I reckon that's a great definition. You get some benefit from, and it could be simple. I mean, you go back, what would it be, 120 years stump-jump plow, whenever it was. That would've been AgTech then, surely.

Mark Sloan:
Oh, definitely, definitely. And because it hasn't got some wires coming in and out of it, it hasn't got some connectivity involved with it, yeah, definitely.

Drew Radford:
Well, this series, Mark, what can people expect to hear and get out of this series?

Mark Sloan:
Yeah. So in this series, we're really concentrating on informing anybody out there who's got an innovative idea, just really giving them a bit of a pathway that they can access to get their ideas off the ground.

We've got a number of initiatives that we're working through as part of this latest program. One is working with several pre-accelerator providers, so Rocket Seeder, SproutX, Farmers2Founders. We're also working with SVG Thrive who are rolling out an accelerator program on our behalf.

Drew Radford:
I was reading a stat the other day that was saying in Victoria the startups only 2% are agriculture related. So I'm guessing organisations like yours are saying, "Well, we've got to try and facilitate this, energise this." I'm obviously helping tell those stories, but there's more going on in the background to make it happen.

Mark Sloan:
Spot on, Drew. The government sees part of its role as nurturing the AgTech startups that are out there and building our ecosystem in Victoria so that we do have the capacity in the state to continue to be innovative.

That's our role at the moment. That's where we're at. Like I've said before, we've done the farmer-facing stuff. Now it's time to address the actual AgTech ecosystem locally.

Drew Radford:
Ag Vic is scooping up a lot here and trying to get a lot of people together and get things working. We're recording this at evokeAG. I imagine in that kind of role a conference like evokeAG is really important. What sort of role does it play for you?

Mark Sloan:
There's already been a great networking opportunity and everybody I speak to kind of reinforces that about these types of events is the networks that you create and that you connect with.

That's a big part of being successful. You can have a really great idea and you can have good people with your business, but it's all about spreading the word, I guess.

Drew Radford:
You mentioned startups and how they go about and try and help it out. That's largely what this series is going to be talking about within the Victorian environment and we're going to be interviewing a few organisations that Ag Vic and other government departments have partnered with.

Coming up next in this interview is somebody who's delivering one of those. It's a pre-accelerator program. Just for the language, can you decode really what that means?

Mark Sloan:
Yeah, sure. The pre-accelerators are really the first step that an entrepreneur will take in formalising their product, really. It just helps those entrepreneurs coming into the AgTech space understand what the market requires, provide some guidance on how to develop your products, encourage the user to collaborate with other startups in that pre-accelerator. So it's really just that initial step on their journey with their startup.

Drew Radford:
It sounds like a very important step in terms of testing the idea.

Mark Sloan:
Yeah, definitely, and they do a really good job, all the three different pre-accelerators. I've spent a bit of time with all of them. They all do a really good job on helping the entrepreneurs actually identify where their product fits, if it fits.

Drew Radford:
Lastly, Mark, what do you hope people get from this series?

Mark Sloan:
I really hope that we reach out to people and they could be farmers listening to this, going about a day's work in their tractor, anybody that has an idea that they think is relevant to agriculture, has an application, is solving a problem. Really hope that this series provides them with some pathways to explore that idea.

Drew Radford:
That's Mark Sloan from Agriculture Victoria, and as he mentioned, there's several organisations they've partnered with to help foster AgTech startups. To find out more, I caught up with SproutX Program Manager, Maxi Juang.

Maxi Juang:
SproutX started out as Australia's first agriculture tech accelerator program. What this means is we empower the humans behind the food and AgTech sectors through commercialisation support.

What does that mean? It means we catalyse and supercharge connections between anyone who's anyone within this space. It'll say like Australian founders, investors, industry mentors, academia, agribusinesses, industry bodies and governments to get this entire sector at the forefront of the AgTech world stage.

Drew Radford:
I understand it involves a lot of players. It's not just like one business. There's a lot of people funding this and backing it and involved.

Maxi Juang:
That is absolutely correct. What SproutX does is because we are at the epi center of all of these and we are able to sort of see a trend, a way that we can best support this community forward, a lot of these players end up having a very common goal, agree on common challenges and also strategies tend to align together as well. So hopefully that paints a little bit of a picture of how everyone works together in the scene.

Drew Radford:
You run a number of programs and I understand one of your roles is to do with the Business of Agriculture program. What does that actually do?

Maxi Juang:
This is essentially a 101, if you will, of dipping your toes into the pond of agritech. So anyone, say, if you're coming from a software development background, you're someone who comes from a family that's been working in produce markets or, say, you are a law student that sort of wants to understand a little bit better on, say, IP or legal issues within this particular sector and you have an idea of how to innovate and get things working a little bit better in this sector, Business of Agriculture is where we all meet together.

We run them through a 10-week free program to equip them for their own self-curated map to guide them in their journey into the sector.

Drew Radford:
You said they're self-curated so that must mean the structure varies from person to person, or is there some key aspects that are common across it?

Maxi Juang:
Yeah, that's a very good question. There's definitely a theme that we do follow in terms of what they need to do.

First, they need to understand who's who in the zoo, the sort of people they can expect to come across what their individual interests are.

Then, we walk them through the basics of how to refine all the wonderful ideas that our future founders have and the methodology on troubleshooting and stress testing them.

We also equip them with the resources and tools to say, for example, budgeting, having an expectation that somewhere down the line you need to learn finance modeling as well, what kind of legal support that you probably can have because agriculture is so broad

This is where we would help the founders a little bit less and to help themself to drive the sorts of direction that they want to take it to. We open doors for them, we guide them through, pass them on to our industry experts, mentors and friends in the ecosystem.

Then we sort of guide and stay alongside them as they initiate those conversations themselves. That is the self-led part and the self-curated kind of support that they like to see from SproutX. But we’ll definitely have a very clear framework on the order of things.

I know it's 10 weeks, which is very short, but we also try to allow for a little bit of time for the future founders to work on their own data, say, like pitches, the little black book that they want to curate for themselves, et cetera.

Drew Radford:
There was a couple of terms in there, Maxi, that I just wanted to get clear, and I think you actually made one of them clear, future founders. That's what you basically label people who go through the program, is it?

Maxi Juang:
Yes, correct.

Drew Radford:
The opening of doors for them, it must require then very strong connections across a broad section within the agricultural industry.

Maxi Juang:
Yeah, absolutely. We are very fortunate enough to have a huge and supportive community from all parts of AgTech and, don't forget, these people with their own ambition and interest, would also bring through their network as well.

What we do is we actually separate into two lead mentors for our program. There's a startup part, but there's the agriculture part. Startup heavily focus on the commercialisation.

But when it comes to the science, the complexity, the deep rabbit holes of the agriculture sector, this is where we lean into the wonderful and brilliant minds of the agriculture or AgTech space.

So we're fortunate enough to be able to just use the SproutX name to say, "Hey, I have someone who's really interested in this space. This is a brief that we have prepared for them and this is the sort of queries that they are looking to get answered. Can you support?" Most likely, all of the time they will be able to share through a bit of their expertise. There's a lot of interest in this space and everyone comes from a very like ecosystem build, as opposed to a consultancy view so there's a lot of love in this industry.

Drew Radford:
I get the impression, too, there's a lot of testing of the ideas. Is it sometimes coming down to, "Yeah, well, that's a great idea, but what problem are you solving?" Is that part of the process?

Maxi Juang:
Oh, a hundred percent, and it's sometimes like really frustrates us to see some future founders, or for other program's founders, who's gone through and have got bad advice and have decided to divert their capital in ways that does not sustain them in the long run.

So us, in an early stage space, play a very important role of having hard, but necessary truths as well, and happy to share that a lot of the personalities that come through are all resilient founders, people who are able to separate the business and the person to be able to say, "Cool, let's put everything on the table, look at it and work at it together."

We've had founders who's come through our main accelerator programs and pivoted six times, so in a span of six months, that's once every month. It's kind of like this is the best place for you to fail fast so that you can rebuild yourself up in a sustainable way that you can go out into the market post-SproutX.

We've also had founders who's come through and wanting to do everything at the same time. So what SproutX does is we will lay out all options to say, "If you're going down path A, B versus C, this is probably the sort of people that you need to speak to, to be able to realise this idea. These are also views that does not support what you think, but we're just going to provide all of them for you to think about it yourselves."

Drew Radford:
You mentioned pathways there, which leads me to beyond the program. So what pathways exist for startups once they've completed the Business of Agriculture program?

Maxi Juang:
Well, we do have another accelerator program, which takes a span of six months.

This program is actually where, after a Business of Agriculture with a 10K equity-free funding that we will be able to give these entrepreneurs to kickstart their startup, we then are able to funnel them through to the accelerator program where we turn the heat a little up and to get them to start commercialising, which means an intensive period of exposure in front of investors, potential partners, probably suppliers as well, for them to tinker and sandbox their ideas and start pedaling it in front of the governments, in front of agri corporates, in front of investors. Then hopefully, if they're also interested in this, being able to go global as well, which we are able to patch them through to our wonderful friends across the world in getting them a foothold into the foreign market.

Drew Radford:
Maxi, you've certainly got a lot going on there and it sounds like a bit of a pressure cooker situation, too, in terms of you really prod and pull and test all of those things.

Maxi Juang from SproutX in charge of the Business of Agriculture program, thank you for taking the time and joining us for this AgTech Innovators podcast.

Maxi Juang:
Thank you so much, Drew. Lovely chatting to you.

Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to AgTech Innovators. For more episodes in this series, find us and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback, so please leave a comment or rating and share this series with your friends and family.

All information is accurate at the time of release. Contact Agriculture Victoria or your consultant before making any changes on-farm. This podcast was developed by Agriculture Victoria, authorised by the Victorian Government.