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I am writing from Ireland where I have just attended the 2019 Agtech Nexus Europe conference. I was joined by Vic Crone, CEO of Callaghan Innovation and Sprout Accelerator’s Dean Tilyard.  We have been exploring opportunities for increased collaboration between our respective agritech sectors.  Read more about my time here in A Letter from Dublin.

Our visit has been part of a much more significant journey; the development of a national agritech strategy which will help drive the growth of our sector.  Following several meetings with Government Ministers in recent months, an ‘all of government’ taskforce has been established to work with industry to build this strategy. While many Kiwis will be spending the holidays on the beach, Agritech New Zealand will be working closely with this taskforce to help accelerate its work. Agritech New Zealand’s diverse membership allows us to ensure this strategy will have a very strong commercial focus.  Building New Zealand agritech to support New Zealand’s own primary industries adopt more home-grown tech to provide more efficient and sustainable farming practice, as well as helping scale our members’ businesses offshore, are two of the key metrics driving our position.

As we approach the final days of 2018, I am tempted to conduct a review of some of our agritech sector’s great achievements of the year.  There are many, but the scale of opportunity makes focusing on 2019 a far more productive use of time and space. Three significant events have been identified for the year ahead and we are working with Government agencies to support New Zealand agritech delegates attendance.  These key diary dates include:

• EvokeAG 2019 conference, 19–20 February in Melbourne, Australia
• Forbes Live Agtech event, 26–28 June in Salinas, California, USA
• Irish Ploughing Championships 17–19 September in County Carlow, Ireland.

Additionally, our strategic global partnerships with both Farm2050 and Western Growers will provide a number of exciting opportunities for New Zealand agritech companies looking to scale offshore through 2019.

At home, the first six months will see significant Agritech New Zealand input into the development of the New Zealand Agritech Story.  We are working with the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) and New Zealand Story project team to ready this for launch at National Fieldays in June.  By curating a coherent and compelling New Zealand agritech story, we will be more effective when talking to international partners about the New Zealand agritech ‘advantage’.  Agritech New Zealand would like to publicly recognise the funding commitment made by Government to help develop this story.

Early next year, we will announce our first working groups and national workshops.  These will allow members to participate and engage in key forums on critical issues such as the development of disruptive technologies for nutrients, the future of digital farming and the opportunities for accessing global capital.  Agritech New Zealand has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to ensure the outcome of these working group discussions lead to recommendations for amending related policy and regulation settings.

2018 has been quite a year! In the six months since Agritech New Zealand was formally established, we have focused on creating necessary building blocks to support and scale the country’s agritech sector.  With many of the building blocks now in place, 2019 promises to be an incredibly exciting place to be. We hope you will join us on this journey.

The team at Agritech New Zealand would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a very prosperous and safe New Year.

Ngā mihi
Peter Wren-Hilton
Executive Director
Agritech New Zealand

Welcome to our new members this month

•  Advanced Biotech NZ (ABNZ)
• AerotekFan
• AGMARDT
• Agrisea
• Be Amorgos
• Cawthron Institute
• Ento Solutions
• Foundation for Arable Research (FAR)
• Haunui Technology Group
• Jade Software Corporation
• KPMG
• Mount Albert Grammar School
• Plant & Food Research
• Precision Hawk
• Solcor
• Think Technology
• University of Auckland
• Verify Union
• Zeddy

News

Join the large New Zealand delegation attending, evokeAG, 19-20 February, 2019 in Melbourne.  Here’s five reasons to put evokeAG on your ‘to do’ list! Tickets are available here.

Super early bird rates close on Friday for MobileTECH 2019.  Check out the keynote speakers for the annual event which showcases tech transforming the primary sector.

Have your say and share your views on policy!  Final submissions for the R&D Tax Incentive close 14 December.  MFAT submissions for a post-Brexit free trade agreement close 11 February, 2019.

Join the New Zealand pavilion at BIO 2019, celebrating globally important innovations in biotech.  Please register your interest with MBIE by 14 December.  

What does the future of New Zealand’s public sector look like?  Register to attend the Future Government Summit, 26-27 February, 2019 and help create a roadmap for the future.  Includes GovTech, tech trends, innovation and more.

Would you like to be involved in Techweek19?  Plan an event to inspire New Zealanders and build capability.   If you would like to be involved in the programme highlights, submissions close this week.

A new local report suggests that nearly one in five farmers is struggling to keep up with the pace of technological change and 80% of them are underestimating its effects.  Read more about emerging tech and the adoption lag here.  

In other news, “a trusted, secure digital identity is crucial for all New Zealanders,” said Minister Woods at the official launch of Digital Identity NZ last week.  Join the digital identity conversation here.    

Join the AI Forum at the 31st Australasian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence this week in Wellington.  Applications for the AI Impact Challenge, helping solve some of the world’s biggest challenges close on 22 January.

Entries for the 2019 Hi-Tech Awards are now open!  Check out the categories and consider a nomination.  Save the date for the 2019 Gala Dinner on 24 May in Auckland, during Techweek19.

Agritech New Zealand is a membership funded organisation.  If you are not already a member, please consider joining us.  Have you been forwarded this newsletter?  Receive your own copy each month, simply subscribe here.  

Save these 2019 event dates; Tech Marketers conference on 28 February, AI-Day on 28 March and Techweek 20-26 May.  

I am spending three days meeting up with some great Irish agritech innovators, investors & ecosystem players. The week culminates in my attending and participating in the AgTech Nexus Europe conference which is being held at Dublin’s Conference Centre on Friday.

It’s a long way to travel from Tauranga. 3 flights. 32 hours. Each way.

So you might ask why?

The answer is pretty straightforward. The opportunity for increased collaboration between New Zealand and Ireland’s agritech sectors is huge. Both countries have similar pastoral farming systems; both countries produce premium agricultural product and both countries are committed to building more sustainable farming practices – for both the environment and the farmer.

There’s one thing however that we don’t share and that’s the greatest value add. We operate in two very different hemispheres. This offers agritech companies with the opportunity to conduct R&D, as well as product and in-market validation during not one, but two growing seasons. That’s massive.

Let’s say you are a Waikato-based early stage dairy tech business developing a solution for calving. Right now, active application would take place during the New Zealand winter season. There then comes that long break until the next calving season begins. Imagine however if you could be part of a structured and well-supported landing pad in Ireland and could continue that R&D and product validation work during the northern hemisphere calving season. In a world where speed to market counts for so much, this could significantly accelerate the opportunity. This explains why I am in Ireland exploring ways to establish a more formal bridge between Agritech New Zealand and our Irish counterparts.

The good news is that Ireland’s agri sector is listening and is ready to engage. Last night, I spoke at a private dinner function to several of Ireland’s leading agritech ecosystem partners, including the Irish Sovereign Fund. I am giving similar presentations, in different settings, over the next 36 hours to other key Irish players. There’s a purpose.

In September next year, working closely with Callaghan Innovation, we intend to invite a large delegation of New Zealand agritech companies to attend the 2019 Irish Ploughing Championships. Think National Fieldays. On steroids. Over 100,000 visitors each day for three days.

By then, I want to have that bridge built. I want New Zealand agritech companies to be able to leverage the opportunity that a dual hemisphere strategy can offer.

Next week, I will publish a more detailed account of how my meetings have gone and where to from here. These are exciting times for both New Zealand and Ireland’s respective agtitech communities.

• the strategic importance to our sector of becoming Farm2050’s first ‘Country Partner’ and the opportunity this provides emerging, disruptive New Zealand businesses to work on some of the really big problems facing the world’s agricultural industry. This partnership also provides access to both connected global capital and a number of major international agribusinesses.
• partnering with Western Growers, North America’s largest producers of fresh produce, to address key challenges around labour and the need to automate more on-farm processes and applications. This is creating significant new commercial pathways for New Zealand agritech businesses to enter a major offshore market.
• working with Callaghan Innovation and NZTE to ensure that New Zealand’s agritech sector takes full advantage of the upcoming Trans-Tasman agritech conference, evokeAG. This is being held in Melbourne from 19–20 February 2019.
• designing a major one day event during Fieldays 2019 to showcase the best of New Zealand agritech to our farmers, growers and orchardists, as well as international delegates. This will take place in the Bledisloe Centre at Mystery Creek on 13 June 2019.
• establishing working groups that address key challenges facing the primary sector. These groups will make recommendations to Government for potential policy and regulation setting changes, where appropriate, to improve the productivity and sustainability of the sector.
• supporting a major new initiative to identify disruptive technologies in nutrients; both from a standpoint of application, measurement and efficiency, as well as novel nutrient technologies such as microbiome/soil health technologies.

There is plenty more in the pipeline and I will be working with Agritech New Zealand’s Executive Council so we can soon share more of our work programme plans.

Later this month, I will be travelling to the AgTech Nexus Europe conference in Dublin. I will be meeting several prominent members of the Farm2050 collective and meeting representatives of Enterprise Ireland to discuss participation in next year’s Irish Ploughing Championships. This is a major opportunity for New Zealand’s dairy tech sector.

I look forward to reporting back from Ireland next month, in what will be the final Agritech New Zealand newsletter for 2018.

Ngā mihi

Peter Wren-Hilton

Executive Director

Welcoming our new members this month
Blinc Innovation
Callaghan Innovation
Cucumber
Data Engineers
Farmlands Cooperative
Fonterra Cooperative
Gallagher Group
HGM Legal
Information Power (Vinea Software)
IoA
KPMG
Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC)
Meander
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Enterprise (MBIE)
New Zealand National Fieldays
New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE)
New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF)
NZ Controls
Onfarm Data
PAANZ
Priority One
Regen
Spacebase
Spark New Zealand
Sprout Accelerator
VirtualSpace
Woodhaven Gardens
Zag (Solitus NZ)
Zespri

NZ HI-TECH AWARDS – Open for entries soon!

UpStarters – Share our Tech Story

NEWS

Did you know that Canterbury has over 70% of New Zealand’s irrigated land? Learn more at Blinc Innovation’s Creating a Sustainable Farming Future at the New Zealand Agricultural Show, 14-15 November in Canterbury. Seminars include biosecurity, innovation and water resilience.

Connect with the New Zealand delegation at evokeAG, 19-20 February, 2019 in Melbourne. Discussions include AgData, AI, food provenance, robotic farming, new value chains and more. Early bird tickets have been extended till 11 November.

Join the New Zealand IoT Alliance’s first Connect Event on 20 November in Auckland. Discussion includes security analysis and IoT at the edge

Register for the 2019 Sprout Accelerator cohort. Entries for the inaugural #TechRocketshipANZ close 23 November.

In international news, New Zealand has once again topped the World Bank’s ranking of the best country to start and run a business!

Missed Microsoft’s Future Now event in Auckland last month? Watch the keynote talks here. Also, view the highlights from the TIN100 report.

Learn more about Google’s AI for Social Good programme, including the AI Impact Challenge, to help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges! Applications close 22 January.

Entries for the 2019 Hi-Tech Awards open on 3 December. Join the launch events on 28 November in Auckland, 5 December in Wellington and 6 December in Christchurch. Save the date for the Awards Gala Dinner on 24 May in Auckland.

Agritech New Zealand is a membership funded organisation, so if you are not already a member, please consider joining us.  Have you been forwarded this newsletter?  Receive your own copy each month, simply subscribe here.

Following the signing of two major strategic partnerships with Farm2050 and Western Growers, Agritech New Zealand is working on a number of exciting new initiatives.  The partnerships provide an opportunity to rapidly scale all aspects of New Zealand’s AgriTech ecosystem including research, industry, government and investment.
 
To provide a better understanding of these opportunities, Agritech New Zealand is hosting a nationwide roadshow in October.  We plan to provide insights into how local AgriTech businesses can take part in these initiatives.
 
Join the roadshow in your city and meet Agritech New Zealand, Callaghan Innovation and our local hosts to learn more about how your organisation can benefit from:

• connecting with major New Zealand Tech Alliance members including the AI Forum, BioTechNZ, IoT Alliance and NZTech.
• engaging with Callaghan Innovation to support your research and development capability.
• the global collective of venture capital firms that comprise, Farm2050.
• the strategic partnership with Western Growers, the largest network of fresh produce farmers and growers in North America.  Can you leverage this unique market opportunity for your tech?
• participating in the evokeAG conference. Are you ready to export to the Australian market?
• joining working groups and workshops focussed on major issues affecting the country’s primary sector and technology’s role in addressing them.
• meeting and engaging with key stakeholders in New Zealand’s emerging AgriTech space.

Register to attend this free event series on 9 October in Palmerston North, 12 October in Wellington, 15 October in Nelson, 16 October in Lincoln, 19 October in Dunedin, 23 October in Hamilton, 24 October in Auckland and 25 October in Tauranga.
 
Our roadshow is about you and how we can help grow your business, so please reserve your free ticket today!  
 
As we tour New Zealand, we look forward to meeting you and showing you how Agritech New Zealand is connecting, promoting and advancing AgriTech.
 
Ngā mihi
Peter Wren-Hilton
Executive Director

NZ Cyber Security Summit – Explore the Issues

UpStarters – Share our Tech Story

NEWS

Early bird tickets are now available for evokeAG , 19-20 February, 2019 in Melbourne.  Conversations include AgData, AI, food provenance, robotic farming, new value chains and more.  Learn more.

Calling all New Zealand AgriTech startups embracing practical application of new tech.  Apply to enter evokeAG’s Pitch Tent by Friday 28 September and you could win free flights and accommodation to Melbourne!  

Make the most of Expo 2020 Dubai, with NZTE’s Gulf Opportunities Showcase in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch in October.

Register for the 2019 Sprout Accelerator.  The five month accelerator is designed for AgriTech startups.  Learn what’s involved, eligibility, how it works and other FAQs.

With over 700 incidents in the last quarter, New Zealand is facing a growing number of cyber incidentsas reported in CERT’s latest quarterly update.  CERT’s Cyber Smart Week is 8-12 October.  Check out their new resources and become an official partner.

Is your company ready to scale up with international growth? Enter the inaugural #TechRocketshipANZAwards.  Categories include clean growth, feeding the nation, tech for change and more.  Entries close 23 November.  

Discover the practical applications of Blockchain technology.  Blockworksis 12 October in Auckland.  Save these 2019 event dates; Tech Marketers conference on 28 February, AI-Day on 28 March andTechweek 20-26 May.

Agritech New Zealand is a membership funded organisation, so if you are not already a member, please consider joining us.  Have you been forwarded this newsletter?  Receive your own copy each month, simply subscribe here.

Visit our website for more news, events and opportunities!

9 October: Palmerston North: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-2018-agritech-new-zealand-showcase-palmerston-north-tickets-50247491600

12 October: Wellington: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-2018-agritech-new-zealand-showcase-wellington-tickets-50153586728

15 October: Nelson: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-2018-agritech-new-zealand-showcase-nelson-tickets-50371205632

16 October: Lincoln (Christchurch): https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-2018-agritech-new-zealand-showcase-lincoln-tickets-50247764416

19 October: Dunedin: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-2018-agritech-new-zealand-showcase-dunedin-tickets-50339090575

23 October: Hamilton: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-2018-agritech-new-zealand-showcase-hamilton-tickets-50248054283

24 October: Auckland: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-2018-agritech-new-zealand-showcase-auckland-tickets-50248278955

25 October: Tauranga: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-2018-agritech-new-zealand-showcase-tauranga-tickets-50248394300

This is about you and how we can help grow your business. Reserve your free ticket today and learn how Agritech New Zealand is connecting, promoting and advancing the country’s agritech sector.

Over the past few weeks, I have been speaking to many players in New Zealand’s emerging agritech sector. As Executive Director of Agritech New Zealand, it’s an important part of my job description.

At the same time, I’ve also been speaking to a large number of New Zealand’s primary sector end users – farmers, orchardists and some of their trusted advisors. A common theme is emerging.

Whilst the agritech sector is addressing a number of end user issues, the delivery is coming in the form of a broad array of different solutions and apps. Each one addresses a specific problem, but each one has a different GTM model and each one requires a different set of purchasing behaviours. And this is the rub.

Typical farmers or orchardists (at least those who I have met) do not want to have to deal with multiple tech solutions from multiple providers. They have, in their view, a set of common issues which they want to be addressed by a single platform; two at most.

There will always of course to be the specific challenge which only a bespoke solution can manage. In the main however, issues around soil, nitrogen, effluent, irrigation, pasture growth and supplementary feed (as examples) apply across most properties.

This poses a challenge and one that was highlighted by the recent visit of international delegates to the ’10 billion mouths’ conference in Tauranga during Techweek. In a relatively small market such as New Zealand, how many ‘soil sensor’ companies do we need? If the rest of the country’s agribusiness sector has taught us anything, only 2 – 3 such vertically-focused companies will survive and flourish. Duopoly in New Zealand’s primary sector is often the name of the game.

And yet, there are no shortage of new entrants. Each one competing for investment, market share and cut through. How many are fit and ready enough to address the much more significant global market opportunity is questionable. That requires scale, and this poses a much bigger question for the country’s agritech sector.

When I see emerging agritech businesses coming out of the likes of Israel, Holland and Ireland, they have scale. And often and not, this is because these businesses are the result of some early stage M&A activity in those countries. In other words, start-ups in complimentary fields have chosen to work together as a JV or full-on merger in order to provide a platform solution to manage a range of addressable issues. Think of in-field sensors, drones & data analytics all wrapped up in a single solution. Or platform. Or whatever you want to call it.

As the 30+ kiwi agritech companies I am joining next month head off to the 2018 Silicon Valley AgTech Immersion Program & Conference, I expect to witness a number of new examples of these kinds of integrated agritech platform examples in the US. It’s likely to create some interesting and I trust enlightening conversations about the value of more NZ collaboration whilst we are ‘on the bus’.

I certainly hope so.

You can follow our progress whilst in Silicon Valley at the Agritech New Zealand Twitter handle: agritech_nz

Last week, I had the opportunity to represent Agritech New Zealand at two major agtech events in the San Francisco Bay area: The Mixing Bowl IT Food conference in the city and the Forbes Live AgTech Summit in Salinas, Monterey Bay.

In Salinas, I was joined by about 600 other agri innovators, agribusinesses and agri investors. It was good to see Steve Saunders of the Plus Group there, as well as a number of the international delegates who recently visited New Zealand during Techweek18 and attended the ’10 billion mouths’ headline agritech conference in Tauranga.

I’ve visited Salinas several times before. I will be back again next month with an expected 20+ kiwi agritech companies who are taking part in the 2018 Silicon Valley AgTech Immersion Program & Conference. So just what were my biggest takeaways from Forbes Live last week?

The first is that innovation in the agritech sector is growing at an exponential rate, with emerging technologies such as AI taking a serious chunk of both attention and investment. The opportunities that AI offer were a message that resonated during a number of the panel discussions.

The scale of investment was another key learning. US$ 100M investments are now common as new opportunities such as indoor and vertical farming come to the fore.

Plant-based alternative protein players continue to attract investment, but the real riches wait for those working in the cultured meat space. There is a ton of money waiting for evidence of real advances in this sector and no shortage of start-ups globally working to achieve that end.

Two marquees were dedicated to the Forbes Live Innovation Showcase. Early stage companies from a number of countries displayed a range of agritech-focused applications; many were addressing some of the biggest current farmer challenges including labour, water and environment. On the Wednesday morning, I had attended the Thrive Accelerator demo day and met a number of these same entrepreneurs exhibiting in the Showcase Expo.

It was good to catch up with Colin Brown waving the kiwi flag at the TracMap stand. Colin and his team have recently left the Western Growers Technology & Innovation Center to occupy new offices just up the road. As they build their North American market presence, they have outgrown the Center and needed more space to expand. It’s a great tribute to Colin and the team. Still based in the Center were Warren Bebb & Jason Wargent from Biolumic. It was good to learn more about their recent significant funding close. Exciting times ahead for the team as they continue to grow their US footprint.

Next month, I will be joining a new cohort of kiwi agritech entrepreneurs visit the region. We will be meeting the team at Thrive and visiting the WG Technology & Innovation Center. We will also be spending a few hours at Driscoll’s learning not only about some of the technology they deploy to create berry cultivars, but also to listen to several of the same early stage companies pitch their business propositions.

Last week reinforced my strongly held view that New Zealand agri-technology competes with the best. If we simply sit back however and don’t take proactive steps to engage with the wider global market, both ag and investment, then we will never reach our full potential.

Agritech New Zealand’s purpose is to ensure that New Zealand becomes a global leader in science & innovation to benefit the global primary sector. Initiatives that we have planned over the coming weeks and months are designed to help reach that goal. You can read more about them as we publish those details to this site.

Last week, I attended the Mixing Bowl IT Food conference and the Forbes AgTech Summit in the San Francisco Bay area.  These annual events showcase some of the best startup and early stage agritech companies emerging from the USA.  They also provide a platform to benchmark the performance of New Zealand’s agritech sector against our most competitive global peers.  Having viewed pitches at both events, my assessment is that New Zealand stacks right up there with the best, even if some might regard my view as biased!  So, this month, I’m sharing insights from three influential global thought leaders on the state of New Zealand agritech;  Adrian Percy, the global head of research and development at Bayer CropSciences, Microsoft’s worldwide director of life sciences and agriculture, Claudia Rossler and Arama Kukutai, the co-founder of San Diego based agri-focused investor, Finistere Ventures. You can view their thoughts in the news section below.

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Agritech New Zealand is delighted to be working with Callaghan Innovation to once again support kiwi agritech businesses wanting to attend the annual Silicon Valley AgTech Immersion Program & Conference. This is the third year that New Zealand will be taking a major delegation of early stage and established agritech professionals to learn more about Silicon Valley’s rapidly expanding agtech innovation & investment space.

Over the past two years, 40+ New Zealand agritech businesses have attending the Program and Conference. Many, including TracMap, Robotics Plus, GPS-it and Autogrow have gone on to establish a formal presence in North America to both grow their own footprint and generate increased export sales for NZ.

Traffic has not been one-way. Investors such as George Kellerman from Silicon Valley-based Yamaha Motor Ventures; Driscoll, the world’s largest producer of berries; and other leading US agribusinesses & venture funds, led by Arama Kukutai of Finistere Ventures, have made the return trip (s) to New Zealand. I myself will be back in San Francisco in 10 days’ time, representing Agritech New Zealand at both the Mixing Bowl Food IT & Forbes Live conferences. Momentum is building as New Zealand’s agritech presence in the Bay area becomes more prominent and visible.

From Monday 27 – Thursday 30 August, the New Zealand delegation will be joining an expected 100 other international delegates for the 3-day immersion program and 1-day conference. Callaghan & Agritech New Zealand have been working with our partners, Silicon Valley Forum, to help build this year’s program. On Friday 31 August, we are planning a New Zealand-only day, where we will discuss the opportunities for closer collaboration with partners from across North America.

The focus of this year’s program is around horticulture and cropping.

It’s great to acknowledge the commitment that the team at Callaghan continue to input into this initiative. The payback to New Zealand is immense, as new opportunities for investment into New Zealand agritech businesses become more apparent, and access to the North American market better supported.

Callaghan has today released more details of the 2018 Immersion Program & Conference. Agritech New Zealand encourages you to view the information here. https://www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz/news-and-events/silicon-valley-agritech-2018

Agritech New Zealand will be joining the kiwi delegation at its base this year in San Jose. We very much hope that you will join us.

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Agritech New Zealand has negotiated a ’10 billion mouths’ conference discount for subscribers to its newsletter and readers of its blog with the organisers of Techweek18.

The cost to attend the ’10 billion mouths’ conference which includes admission to all the sessions, including break-outs, the day’s catering and the after conference Networking Reception is just $295. This includes GST.

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