Yesterday, I provided an update on Day 1 at the Irish Ploughing Championships in Carlow. The official attendance stood at 105,000. Looking at the crowds today, I expect that number to be significantly larger. It’s been hot once again and just crazy busy.
Yesterday, I shared some of my takeaways of Ireland’s agri-business landscape. Today, I want to talk about the kiwis who are here and killing it; the investors we have met and the opportunities for New Zealand agritech’s sector.
Any offshore New Zealand agritech mission is a sum of its people. The delegation to the UK and Ireland have been superb. Great ambassadors for the country, they have engaged every step of the way. Hat therefore tipped to these great NZ representatives.
- AbacusBio
- AgResearch
- Agritech New Zealand
- Auckland Uniservices
- Callaghan Innovation
- Fonterra
- GPS-it
- Lincoln Agritech
- MilkTechNZ
- Next Farm
- NZ National Fieldays
- Paysauce
- Rezare Systems
- RiverWatch
- Trev Holdings
- Zero Home Farm
As well as the formal delegation, we have met independent NZ exhibitors from Figured, Gallagher, Hansen, Kaiwaka, LIC, Saber, Tru-Test, Waikato Milking Systems and Yardmaster. Add in Ambassador Brad Burgess and the team of in-market supporters from MFAT & NZTE. All up, we have over 45 kiwis on-site. (The photo above shows some of this team inside the NZ Pavilion this morning).
Collectively we are ‘Powered by Place’. At an NZTE breakfast reception this morning, we formally launched the NZ Agritech Story. We were joined by leading Irish agribusiness players. It’s taken 8 months of preparation and it’s great to say that the Story is now officially ‘live’. To view it, check out the Agritech New Zealand website here; the new home of the NZ Agritech Story
I had invited a couple of leading venture investors to join us for the launch; Cathal Fitzgerald, Head of the Irish Sovereign Fund’s agritech investment team and Richard O’Gorman, Director of Rabobank’s Global Agritech Fund. We spoke about New Zealand’s current agritech landscape and the work of the ‘All of Government’ agritech taskforce to help build and scale the sector. I know both Cathal and Richard through our joint partnership with Farm2050. It was great to be able to facilitate this connection on the other side of the world. Their interest in the New Zealand investment landscape is as strong as ever.
Today is our final day at the Plough. Tomorrow, we head off to spend the day with Teagasc, Ireland’s state agency providing research, advisory and education in agriculture, horticulture, food and rural development. The value of this Mission is building. I look forward to updating tomorrow from the home of Ireland’s agri research excellence.