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AgriTechNZ recently attended dinner in Wellington with the Hon Stuart Nash, Minister for Economic and Regional Development.  It was a special opportunity to highlight the importance of agritech in supporting New Zealand’s economic growth.      

Minister Nash acknowledged the global challenges for the food and fibre sector including meeting new environmental standards and climate extremes.

“But we’re seeing that our people are responding with ingenuity.  Our agritech sector is developing innovative solutions for the primary sectors in New Zealand and the world, increasing their productivity and sustainability,” says Minister Nash.

“From pastoral farming and dairy to arable cropping, horticulture and fresh produce, viticulture and aquaculture, and more recently digital technologies, we’ve made a name for ourselves doing just about everything you can imagine.”

The Minister was particularly supportive of the role AgriTechNZ can have in telling these stories both locally and internationally.

“The global opportunities for New Zealand from agritech are enormous, particularly if we focus on international markets and tell our stories well” he says.

Minister Nash also previewed TIN Agritech Research showing the growth in the agritech sector.  During the past year, the largest 22 agritech companies had a revenue growth of eight percent and export growth of 6.4 percent.  Companies with revenues over $200 million grew at a rate of 7.7 percent, while companies with revenues of up to $50 million grew remarkably at approximately 30 percent. 

AgriTechNZ CEO, Brendan O’Connell, highlighted the shared challenge facing us all and that great things happen when we work together – the collective genius of the agritech community.  He highlighted three key areas of shared focus that can empower agritech to deliver what the world needs from agriculture:
(1) enablement of digital agriculture – through strengthened foundations and supported adoption.
(2) investment and scale to fuel the change
(3) collaboration and impact

Discover Kiwis Going Global

In case you missed our first story, meet Don Sandbrook, Clare Bradley and Aaron Pannell who share their close connection to the land and the challenges of scaling globally. 

Read more

The Future of Farming is HereDiscover the future of farming right here in New Zealand!  Meet Kiwi agritech innovators Darryn Keiller, Jason Wargent and Tijs Robinson. They’re helping change how we feed the world.
Read more

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Discover the future of farming right here in New Zealand!  Meet Kiwi agritech innovators Darryn Keiller, Jason Wargent and Tijs Robinson. They’re helping change how we feed the world.  View now.

Rolling pastures, dairy cows contentedly chewing the cud, thousands of sheep on a high country station or juicy stone fruit freshly picked from an orchard.  The new reality for farming is very different as food production transitions to an efficient indoor model using tech, data and innovation.  It’s a business model, combining ground breaking science and innovation technology that is going global.

The perfect storm

The urgency for more sustainable growth of fresh produce is being driven by changing consumer preferences, greater awareness of environmental impacts and carbon footprints.

“The need for the industry to transform is obvious.  We have to move towards a digital and data driven model that is less reliant on knowledge workers and manual labour.  It’s not just about technology, it’s about how we farm and grow our food.  We’ve got to change,” says WayBeyond’s Darry Keiller. 

“We’re trying to solve these really gnarly global problems,” he says when describing the challenge of working with the horticulture industry to sustainably grow food to feed the world.  Read more.

Baked-in benefits 

While WayBeyond is focused on bringing growers into the data age, BioLumic is shining a light on the untapped potential that exists in the crops we grow.  Their world-first tech delivers ultralviolet light to trigger biological mechanisms that increase plant growth, vigour and yields. 

“We can come up with a light recipe to unlock a plant’s potential at different stages, starting with the seed.  We call it a light recipe because it’s essentially like baking a cake.  You need to combine the right ingredients for the magic to happen,” he says, adding that it requires a paradigm shift. 

“We’re building a whole new biological understanding and biology is hard.  But you have to ride the roller coaster if you want to have a real, meaningful impact on the world,” says Jason.  Read more.

Carbon champions

Currently, most greenhouses use natural gas to generate the carbon dioxide (CO₂₎ they need to feed their plants.  But locally and worldwide, there is a push to move away from fossil based fuels to more renewable sources.  Hot Lime Labs has a solution, converting wood waste biomass into clean CO₂ for commercial greenhouses.

“We’ve jumped on the wave at the right time.  The world is looking for clean, green solutions; the climate’s not going to become more predictable, land prices aren’t going down and the demand for fresh fruit and vegetables is not going to reduce.  These trends are only going in one direction,” says Hot Lime Lab’s Tijs Robinson.  Read more.

We’d love to hear your stories!

Is connection to the land important to you? What does ‘place’ mean to you and your business? It might be where you grew up, where your business is based, or the unique characteristics of the region you live in. 

We’d love to hear your stories to help inspire other Kiwi agritech entrepreneurs.  Please contact us.

Ngā mihi

Brendan O’Connell
CEO
AgriTechNZ

• Must be from an AgriTechNZ member organisation
• Must be in the AgriTechNZ tier they are being nominated for
• Must be up to date with their AgriTechNZ membership fees

All nominations must be submitted online here by 5pm, Tuesday 31 May, 2022.

AgriTechNZ Executive Council roles and responsibilities include:

• Direct and supervise the business and affairs of AgriTechNZ.
• Attend monthly Executive Council meetings, usually two hours in duration (video conferencing available).
• Represent AgriTechNZ at industry events and as part of delegations.
• Assist with managing and securing members of AgriTechNZ.
• Participate in AgriTechNZ working groups and projects.
• Where agreed by the Executive Council, act as a spokesperson for AgriTechNZ on particular issues relating to working groups or projects.
• Be a vocal advocate of AgriTechNZ.

Online Voting

Voting will take place online in advance of the meeting. The results will be announced at the Annual Meeting. Please see the Charter for an outline of Executive Council Membership and election process. Each organisation has one vote allocated to the primary contact of the member organisation.

Annual Meeting Details

The Annual Meeting is scheduled for 3pm on Tuesday 5 July 2022 and is to be held via video conference. Register for the event here.

Notices and Remits

If you wish to propose any notices or motions to be considered at the Annual Meeting, please send them to elections@agritechnz.nz by 5pm, Tuesday 14 June, 2022.

Key Dates:

• 11 May: Call for nominations for Executive Council representatives issued to members.
• 31 May: Deadline for nominations to be received.
• 7 June: List of nominees to be issued to AgriTechNZ voting members and electronic voting commences.
• 14 July: Any proposed notices, motions or remits to be advised to AgriTechNZ.
• 5 July: Results of online voting announced at Annual Meeting.

Sharing our inspiring stories
Discover the Kiwis taking on the world in our brand new series. First up, we meet entrepreneurs Don, Clare and Aaron who share their close connection to the land and the challenges of scaling globally. Read more >

Join the conversation
How is connection to the land important to you? What does ‘place’ mean to you and your business? It might be where you grew up, where your business is based, or the unique characteristics of the region you live in. We’d love to hear your stories to help inspire other Kiwi AgriTech entrepreneurs. Read more >

Navigating Chaos
In March I joined an event hosted by Boma New Zealand, Navigating Chaos as a Ukrainian Entrepreneur, an interview with Michael Utkin, CEO of agritech business FieldBee. The extreme circumstances the FieldBee teams are working under is inspirational, clearly demonstrating how work and the lives we share it with are so interwoven. View now >

Turbocharge global connections
As borders reopen, it’s time to begin reconnecting in person. If you are considering attending Hort Connections or WineTech, this June in Australia, please let us know. Read more >

Leading the way at Dairy-Tech UK
It was great to see AgriTechNZ members, Gallagher, MilkTechNZ, Levno and UBCO leading the way at this northern hemisphere event. In preparation for future opportunities, we are delighted to collaborate with the United Kingdom Department of International Trade (UK DIT) and UK Agritech Centres to connect our ecosystems. Read more >

Take to the stage at evokeAG 2023 in Adelaide
If you have a global agrifood innovation and tech story worth telling, please submit an expression of interest by 31 May. Read more >

Foundations of digital agriculture
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced support for digital farm environment plans (dFEP) from the Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI) Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund (SFF Futures). To fast track its delivery, SFF Futures is contributing to the Trust Alliance New Zealand (TANZ) led research project. Read more >

Powering up the waka
Andrew Cooke from Rezare Systems has penned an excellent thought piece on optimising a farm with digital solutions while completing necessary regulatory levy compliance tasks as efficiently as possible. Read more >

Blueprint for an industry
It’s not often you see the birth of an entire new sector, but that’s what Puro New Zealand are taking on through a SFF Futures grant from MPI. The grant will help establish an organic medical cannabis industry by developing a blueprint for other Kiwi companies. Read more >

Acquisition strengthens capability
Recently named supreme winner of the New Zealand International Business Awards, Bluelab has acquired automation company Autogrow as part of a global expansion strategy. Read more >

Keeping an eye on investments
Dunedin based member OmniEye has received $1.6 million seed funding to commercialise their on-farm camera system. Read more >

More agritech recognition
Congratulations also to all the agritech finalists in the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards. Special mention to our members Agrisea, Cropsy, Hectre and SmartMachine. Read more >

Primary Industries Summit and Awards: exclusive ticket giveaway!
We have partnered with Callaghan Innovation to offer five member companies (who have entered the awards) a free two day summit pass, plus complimentary tickets to the Primary Industries Summit Awards on 6 July in Auckland. Contact us >

Discover Israel’s Innovation Experience
Israel 360° offers an online academy followed by a week in Israel, touring businesses, meeting investors and networking. Scholarships are available. Learn more >

Step up and represent your community
We have three Executive Council roles up for election in the next two months. Major Corporate, Other Corporate and SME positions are all due, so now is a good time to sort your membership and play a role in our sector leadership. Contact us >

Ngā mihi,

Brendan
Chief Executive
AgriTech New Zealand

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Hort Connections

Australia & New Zealand’s Premiere Horticulture Conference & Trade Show
6 – 8 June, 2022.
Brisbane Convention Centre
View agenda

WineTech

Australia’s Wine Industry Exhibition & Conference
27 – 29 June, 2022
Adelaide Convention Centre
View agenda 

If there is enough interest in either of these events, Callaghan will support Kiwi companies with either a NZ Let’s Connect event prior to the conference or an in-market Mini Mission immediately after.

What is NZ Let’s Connect?

These events are meetups for New Zealand companies attending conferences. It provides an opportunity to network prior to a conference and meet with relevant sector experts from the host city.

What is a Mini Mission?

These are customised for each event and include a one day deep dives to better understand the market. Mini Missions may include a farm or research institute visit, or in-market exploration with agencies from the host city.

If you have registered or are considering attending Hort Connections or WineTech, please let us know here!

Please respond by Friday 22 April 2022.

Can you take on the world from your own backyard?

The sheer bloody minded persistence that paved Don Sandbrook’s big break is still the key to building a global business. Greentech Robotics is on a bold mission – to future proof farming by developing cutting edge robotic capability.  Today, almost all their customers are offshore, but Greentech Robotics is still based in Palmerston North.  We asked Greentech Robotics’ Don Sandbrook how he made it work. Read more.

Shifting mindsets with the power of local knowledge.

It started as a dream, but this award winning Paeroa based family business is creating global impact.  Their tech is unique and uses brown kelp native to New Zealand.

“As a Māori-owned, intergenerational business, we have a different lens on the business than a large corporate might have. That influences our long-term vision. Māori values like kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga and whanaungatanga are part of our DNA,” says AgriSea’s Clare Bradley.

“Our values are not a PR exercise for us, they’re part of who we are. We feel it is our responsibility to look after our natural resources for future generations,” she says. Read more.

Necessity is the mother of invention!

We’re renowned for our ‘number eight wire’ mentality to problem solving.  But when FlipFarm had to think creatively to stop losing their gear and oysters they also created a system to help farmers around the world.

“We built the system for us but once we saw that it worked we knew it was going to solve a big problem for farmers around the world,” says FlipFarm’s Aaron Pannell. Read more.

We’d love to hear your stories!

Is connection to the land important to you? What does ‘place’ mean to you and your business? It might be where you grew up, where your business is based, or the unique characteristics of the region you live in.

We’d love to hear your stories to help inspire other Kiwi agritech entrepreneurs. Please contact us.

View the Hon Damien O’Connor’s media statement here.  

Subscribe to receive regular news and events updates from AgriTechNZ. 

Access your member discount code here

Would you like to know more about agritech in New Zealand?  Subscribe to receive monthly news and event updates.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated and tireless volunteer Executive Council. They guide me and the team and put in considerable effort on behalf of the member groups they represent. They are accomplished, connected and motivated, so it’s not surprising they have achieved quite a few notable results themselves this year.

Our Chair, Kenneth Irons, was selected as the New Zealand representative on the International Standards Organisation’s advisory group on Smart Farming.

Bridgit Hawkins, Chief Sustainability Officer at CropX,  launched Fields Of Change to begin an important and long overdue conversation about women’s leadership in agriculture. 

Maria Jose (MJ) Alvarez, Investment Manager at WNT Ventures, was selected as a finalist for the Westpac and Stuff Women of Influence NZ 2021 for her work increasing diversity in tech and venture capital. MJ was also recognised as one of the Top Diverse Board-Ready Directors by the Superdiversity Institute for Law, Policy and Business and Ministry for Ethnic Communities in New Zealand.

Kylie Horomia, Head of Industry Transformation at WayBeyond, was the driving force behind the recent Global Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Census. The purpose of the Census is to understand the CEA landscape and provide growers’ insights into how their industry is tracking. Dr Haydn Reid and Te Whanau-a-Apanui are developing a spat Hatchery and working with other Iwi in the aquaculture space on the Eastern Bay of Plenty. It’s an emerging story, but one where Agritech will be super valuable, in a place where people need jobs and talent can be developed to support a new developing industry.

Finally, I’d like to thank our members who support this community and enable the development of our shared ecosystem. Through your support we are continuing to promote and advocate for the development of the sector – a collective effort with strong support from our Government partners. That support comes from the justified aspirations for the sector, but also because we continue to collaborate as a sector together.

Brendan O’Connell

CEO

AgriTechNZ