evokeᴬᴳ⋅

This week we speak to Agronomeye, an Australian agritech startup, giving farmers a razor-sharp 3D view of their farm using ultra-high-resolution imagery to create a groundbreaking farm-scale ‘digital twin.’ Agronomeye's AgTwin platform came to life through a collaboration with innovation heavyweights, Microsoft and CSIRO. And it's helping optimise on-farm decision-making with advanced mo...

From stone fruit to apples, Rubens Technologies is empowering fruit farmers to fetch the top dollar for their premium products, using AI prediction technology.  Understanding and assessing fruit quality in a more timely, and far less intrusive way – is the solution Daniel Pelliccia, the CEO and Co-Founder of Rubens Technologies, has been testing vigorously and is ready to take to market. Combining...

This week we catch up with Mark Allison, the CEO of one of Australia’s largest agribusinesses, Elders . Mark spoke at evokeAG. in Melbourne, back in 2020 – a time before Australia and the world were plunged into lockdown due to COVID-19. At the time, Australia had suffered one of its worst droughts on record and bushfires had ravaged large parts of the community. Now as Australia starts to emerge...

This week we speak with Naeem Zafar who made the Silicon Valley home 25 years ago and in that time, he’s founded seven companies and invested in, and advised on, more than 30. Until four years ago though, he’d had very little to do with agriculture, let alone attempting to produce tech to solve problems for the sector. An electrical engineer by trade, now Naeem is single-handedly disrupting the po...

Matt Newell, a perennial cereals research officer with NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) sees a very big future for perennial wheats in Australia.  With the support of AgriFutures Australia, the duo have established an early-stage cluster of researchers and industry end-users to guide development of this new crop to target the premium artisan grain market. Delivering improved sustaina...

Today we hear from the Queensland AI Hub about the endless opportunities that Artificial Intelligence offers the Australian tech industry and how we can make the most of it.  AI is already creating exponential impact globally, and locally for our food and fibre supply chain, by alleviating workforce and labour shortages – a problem for Australian and global agriculture.  Here our evokeAG. contribu...

With more than 40 years in the venture capital game, Andy Ziolkowski – the Managing Director of US-based food and agriculture-focused venture capital firm, Cultivian Sandbox and Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Cultivian Ventures – knows a good investment when he sees one. With evokeAG. 2022 around the corner Andy reflects on the bounty of opportunities in food and agriculture coming out of Aust...

This week we speak to renowned angel investors Rachael Neumann and Kylie Frazer who joined forces to launch Flying Fox Ventures . After meeting at an industry dinner three years ago, both agree it was professional love at first sight, and the rest, as they say, is history. Flying Fox is an early-stage venture capital firm looking to back early-stage startups to help growth and scale – and for more...

Plastic is a remarkable material, but the planetary impact has never truly been costed. While its indestructible makeup has served a multitude of benefits, it has simultaneously eroded the health of our environment. An ambitious UK spinout, Xampla has developed a next-generation plant-based alternative to replace single-use plastics and microplastics. The best part is the plant-protein-based plast...

This week, we catch up and explore the collaboration between two agritech leaders; Phil Tickle, Co-Founder of Cibo Labs and David Smith, Co-Founder of Ceres Tag .  The pair attended Beef Week 2021, where David officially launched Ceres Tag – the world’s first direct to satellite animal tracking and data platform.  Since then, both companies have integrated their systems, to provide livestock farme...

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

This week, we speak to Emma Weston, CEO and Co-Founder of AgriDigital about blockchain technology, how it’s evolved and used across agricultural industries today, specifically grains, and how it’s empowering farmers to access value beyond the farm gate.  AgriDigital’s recent integration of its farmer product, Waypath with Geora , a blockchain solutions-based company, is supporting this goal. The i...

This week we speak with George Peppou, the Co-Founder and CEO of Vow, a Sydney-based cultured proteins startup – cultivating a new food category. Vow is building a library of cells from a range of exotic animal species, both domesticated and undomesticated, to mix and match properties to explore what flavours, textures and nutritional profiles might best appeal to consumers. George openly disclose...

Two years ago, Batlow, NSW was devastated by one of Australia’s worst bushfire seasons on record. Our evokeAG. host and fellow farmer, Stephen Honner caught up with Ian Cathels, Manager of Ardrossan Orchards, at their Woodburn orchard, in the middle of their fruit picking season – to see firsthand their progress and how new technology is driving on-farm efficiencies.  Stephen and Ian speak about t...

As the Managing Partner of Omnivore – the largest and oldest player in the Indian agritech venture scene – Mark Kahn understands what it takes to really ‘make it’ after building a venture capital firm from the ground up that’s pioneered agritech investing in India. Omnivore boasts a portfolio of more than 25 agritech startups in an economy where agriculture and agribusiness account for a quarter o...

Did you know $20 billion of food is wasted in Australia every year? Globally, that figure is closer to $1 trillion. But how can we improve supply-chain management if we don’t know what, or where the problems are? Australian agritech startup, Escavox has a solution. It's a little blue box tracker, described as CCTV for food, that’s placed in a fresh food carton at the point of packing and trav...

This week, Oli Madgett, grape grower and Founder of Platfarm , talks with Sarah Nolet from AgThentic about the future forces impacting agriculture, taking a longer look at how climate volatility will not only usher in migration of people, but also shifts in growing regions and methods for production. While no one can predict the future, AgriFutures Australia, Agthentic Advisory, and the Institute...

This week we speak with Robert Waterworth, CEO of FLINTpro; a new venture that is leveraging a growing pool of innovative environmental data technologies to help its users rapidly calculate, track and forecast greenhouse gas emissions from changes across the global land sector.  In a time where natural capital accounting is becoming hugely important in addressing the challenges of climate change,...

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

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

Perth agritech startup, SWAN Systems’ innovative approach to water management has received global recognition as Rabobank’s FoodBytes! Pitch 2020 agtech winner. The multi-faceted solution provides a ‘data playbook’ for users across the globe to save precious resources year-on-year and achieve better yields at lower costs. We caught up with SWAN Systems’ Rod Campbell to learn more about the tech, w...

Wilmot Cattle Co’s pioneering carbon credit deal with Microsoft has caught the attention of farmers, investors, corporates and everyone in between – proving that carbon farming can in fact be profitable, when measured. Stuart Austin shares his advice for others seeking to monetise their natural capital and reduce on-farm risk. Read his story here .  

Back in 1975, intangible assets accounted for 17% of corporate value, today they account for 90%. To paint a rich picture of the largely unknown world of intangible assets, we dive deep into conversation with EverEdge Assets Managing Director, Michael Masterson, Tim Hyde, CEO and Founding Director of Swan Systems and Massimo Garbuio, Associate Professor of Sydney University’s Business School to ex...

Dynamic duo: Zetifi and AuctionsPlus, join forces to change the way livestock auctions are run, that’s fetching higher prices in the saleyards and greater productivity in the paddock. We catch up with Angus Street, CEO of AuctionsPlus , Australia’s go-to online auction platform for agricultural and livestock sales, and Dan Winson, Founder & CEO of Zetifi , a wireless networking startup, based...

We caught up with Ben Wynn, Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Wynergy , a Tamworth-based solar energy startup, on a mission to transform Australia's solar power industry with its unique agrivoltaic design. With the innovative design, farmers will be able to run livestock and plant pastures in and around their solar panels. It's a partnership between solar companies and farmers that...