October Newsletter – Leveraging Global Agritech Connections

Kia ora readers,

It’s great to be back in New Zealand. Having just returned from the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland, where I joined 20+ New Zealand agritech entities on the Callaghan Innovation-led agritech mission, leveraging our expertise globally is especially topical. At a time when Brexit is dominating the local news and with both the UK and Ireland’s agriculture sectors facing significant disruption, the opportunity for New Zealand agritech exporters to Europe has never been higher.

To support kiwi agritech companies looking to leverage the opportunity, Agritech New Zealand has begun discussions to establish formal landing pads for in-bound New Zealand agritech companies in both countries. These landing pads will be supported by a complete ecosystem ‘wrapper’; desk space, access to in-market agri expertise, access to research capability and support, potential Government grants, access to investors and perhaps most importantly, the ability to validate your product and service locally.

Agritech New Zealand will be working with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) and other in-market Government agencies to support this initiative. The UK Department of International Trade and Enterprise Ireland are providing additional on the ground assistance and support.

Establishing an in-market presence in Europe follows our work in North America where several early stage agritech companies have successfully established themselves. Our ongoing engagement with the Western Growers Technology and Innovation Center in Salinas, Northern California, is testament to this strategy.

This is important for the broader New Zealand economy. Over the past five years, New Zealand’s exports of agritech products and services has flatlined at approximately $1.5 billion per year. Given the size of our primary sector, we believe this underscores the sector’s real potential. By building a global network of in-market agritech-based landing pads, we believe we can greatly accelerate and scale this dollar number.

Building New Zealand’s agritech capability is a prerequisite to strengthening our position in the world’s agritech marketplace. To support this, Palmerston North based Sprout Accelerator has announced that pre-registrations for its 2020 Accelerator programme are now open. Sprout plays an invaluable role within New Zealand’s agritech ecosystem. For those unfamiliar with its activities, Sprout, a member of Agritech New Zealand, is a six month business accelerator designed for the next generation of agritech and future food companies. By helping develop a pipeline of new emerging agritech companies, the Sprout Accelerator is helping build the country’s longer term agritech capability.

Now that I am back in New Zealand, my immediate focus has turned to the All of Government agritech taskforce and its Industry Transformation Plan (ITP). On Monday, I will be attending a hui at Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga in Hastings to enable Māori whānau, hapū, iwi and industry to provide feedback on the Government’s draft agritech strategy document.

Proposals for planned actions and initiatives under this draft document will then be submitted to Government Ministers. A number of Government agencies are currently supporting different streams within the Plan’s strategy. Agritech ITP will be the first sector plan to be formally submitted and I will update, more fully on what this might look like in next month’s newsletter.

These are hugely significant times for the country’s agritech sector. Whether onshore or offshore, by working together, we can continue to build and scale our capacity to increase export sales, as well as secure the adoption by farmers and growers of agri-technology at home.

Join us as we accelerate the opportunity.

Ngā mihi,

Peter Wren-Hilton
Executive Director
Agritech New Zealand

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