On 19 April 2018, Melbourne-based SproutX ag-tech accelerator hub announced this year’s cohort of 19 start-ups – making it the world’s most active ag-tech investor.
The Australian arm of global tech accelerator and investor firm SparkLabs has announced its first cohort of start-ups for a seven-month accelerator program at the GATE, a DPI-backed ag-tech innovation hub launched recently in regional NSW.
Aussie start-up AgUnity, already boasting of a string of wins for its blockchain-based AgLedger app, which helps boost efficiency and income for some of the world’s poorest farmers, will go global in 2018, pitching to major investors at the World AgriTech Innovation Summit in San Fran and at the Global Future Agro Challenge in Turkey.
Australian company The Yield recently launched a new microclimate predictions system for growers of wine grapes and other climate-sensitive crops. Known as Sensing+™, the system combines sensing hardware, AI and grower-friendly mobile apps to enable “faster, more informed decision-making”.
The Reducing Energy Cost in Dairy project was funded by Australian Dairy Farmers to assist farmers in increasing their dollar return on energy investment. The project built on previous work by NSW Farmers and Dairy Australia. Activities...
In 2014, the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage funded NSW Farmers to conduct a study into the connection between energy costs and usage, and water-efficient irrigation practices.
The NSW Farmers' "Farm Energy Innovation Program" was delivered with the help of the Australian Federal Government between 2012 and 2015 under the Energy Efficiency Information Grants program (EEIG).
Next Gen Compost is a two-year project commenced in 2016 aimed at increasing the use of compost made from recycled organic waste in commercial vegetable production. The project is funded by the NSW Environment Protection Authority under its Waste Less Recycle More Organics Market Development Grant Program.
Trials at the Greater Sydney Demonstration Farm show that adding high-grade recycled-organics composts to soils prior to planting has a number of potential benefits for vegetable growers.
Bathurst mixed-farming operator Jeff McSpedden, who grows corn commercially for Simplot, turned to next-gen compost to replace biosolids, deemed a health risk.
Second-generation vegetable farmers Sam and Val Micallef switched to recycled organics compost augmented with slow-release nitrogen to produce more and better vegies for Sydney Markets.
An energy audit of Carramar dairy farm in Womboota found significant savings could be made by renegotiating the electricity tariff for the property’s water pump, optimising the performance of its power-hungry plate cooler, recovering waste heat from the chiller and installing LEDs. Simple.
