Agtech consultants have a big business these days as more and more entrepreneurs join the sector and grapple with the complexities of getting to market. So it was only a matter of time before a bunch of them joined forces to better advise startups, corporates, and others in the space.

The newly announced AgTech Advisory Collective is one such group, made up of several different independent services collectively aiming to provide a broader range of expertise and services to those in the agtech industry.

Agtech consultants have a big business these days as more and more entrepreneurs join the sector and grapple with the complexities of getting to market. So it was only a matter of time before a bunch of them joined forces to better advise startups, corporates, and others in the space.

The newly announced AgTech Advisory Collective is one such group, made up of several different independent services collectively aiming to provide a broader range of expertise and services to those in the agtech industry.

“Right now, more and more individuals are doing independent consulting work on a specific focus area, whether that’s go to market, capital raising or product validation,” AgTech-Pro‘s Patrick Honcoop explained to AgFunderNews in a recent conversation.

In July 2022, SVG Ventures | THRIVE launched in Australia with a bold ambition: to grow the agritech ecosystem in Australia and New Zealand.

The US innovation investor has made a huge impact in the year since it set up in Victoria. It launched its flagship THRIVE APAC Accelerator Program, with 10 Australian startups in the first cohort. In December 2023, SVG Ventures | THRIVE announced it would be investing in Pairtree Intelligence, an agricultural data aggregator from the first cohort. Australian agritech companies Pairtree, Swan Systems and Cherrp were also among the 25 finalists in the THRIVE Global Impact Challenge.

Ten Australian growth stage agrifood tech companies have been selected by SVG Ventures|THRIVE to participate in their new Asia-Pacific (APAC) Accelerator program, based out of Melbourne, Victoria.

As a part of SVG Ventures|THRIVE’s commitment to supporting the agrifood tech ecosystem in Australia, the Silicon Valley investment platform founded its APAC Accelerator program in 2022.

After establishing their APAC headquarters in Melbourne last year, bringing the program down under is an obvious next step for THRIVE, which supports over 8,000 startups from over 100 countries.

Its major program – the THRIVE Global Impact Challenge – has been a huge drawcard for startups looking to make a name for themselves in the global agrifood tech ecosystem.

Building a viable AgTech business starts with testing an idea.

Agriculture Victoria is partnering with SVG Ventures Thrive to help with access to global markets and venture capital.

In this AgTech Innovators episode, you will hear from Michael Macolino about SVG’s accelerator program and why it is unique.

SVG Ventures Thrive, an innovation and investment platform based in Silicon Valley, has established its ANZ headquarters and launched its innovation and investment platform in Melbourne to grow their footprint in the Asia Pacific region.

Expanding on the success of their collaboration in the 2022 Thrive Global Impact Challenge, SVG Ventures|THRIVE and Dairy Australia have today announced a new partnership focused on advancing AgriTech sector engagement and investment to drive sustainability and efficiency outcomes for the Australian dairy sector. 

Through this partnership SVG Ventures|THRIVE will facilitate a range of initiatives with Dairy Australia, aimed at bolstering dairy sector engagement across the AgriTech eco-system. The goal is to cultivate a robust pipeline of commercial innovation that directly tackles key challenges within the dairy industry.

Pairtree Intelligence, an Australian AgriTech innovator, has secured investment from SVG Ventures through the Pioneer Fund, following their participation in the inaugural THRIVE APAC Accelerator program. This marks the tenth investment by the Pioneer Fund this year.

The investment signals SVG Ventures growing engagement in the Australian AgriTech sector, following the launch of their APAC operations in July of 2022 in partnership with the Victorian Government. The Thrive APAC Accelerator program fills a prior support gap in the Australian eco-system, for growth stage companies ready to scale into international markets.  

“COLLABORATION IS CRUCIAL TO TACKLE THE CHALLENGES FACING OUR FOOD SYSTEM, ENSURING THAT AGRIFOOD TECH IS DEPLOYED RESPONSIBLY AND SUSTAINABLY.”

The Modern Acre podcast explores the latest in business, investing, technology, and sustainability in agriculture.

The application of agtech is often positioned to improve operational efficiency, profitability and sustainability. But could this narrow definition be limiting the adoption of agtech on farm and in the supply chain?

A panel of experts at evokeAG. 2023 discussed the peripheral value drivers that producers should consider in their pursuit of digitising their business and explained that return on investment is not always measured in dollars and its impact is not always seen in the paddock.

Here we outline some of our key takeaways from discussion highlighting the opportunities for agtech developers and entrepreneurs to ensure their solutions deliver return on investment, and what producers should consider when introducing technology into their farming businesses.

A video recently went viral, showing the classic 90s video game Doom playing on the screen of a 4640 John Deere tractor’s display screen.

The video from the annual Las Vegas cyber security event known as DEF CON shows ‘Doom guy’ holding the steering wheel of the green tractor while driving through a field, with the words John Deere watermarked across the top of the display. While the image itself is quite innocent, its true meaning presents an important question to the Agriculture Industry, can you hack into the food system?

AgTech consultants Farmers2Founders are looking to link farmers with advanced technology to solve on-farm problems through a program called TEKFARM. Introducing farmers to tech companies to develop on-farm solutions will help increase yields.

Established in 2018, Farmers2Founders offer programs to benefit farmers and are now starting the TEKFARM in partnership with the agricultural industry in South Australia. 

Founder of Farmers2Founders, Dr. Christine Pitt, said their new TEKFARM program will help producers find, test and select the best technologies for their farming operations as well as give AgTech companies with proven technologies the chance to deliver more value to their customers.

Prime Minister Albanese has been sworn in and looks set to be joined by many new independents. Now technology conversations have focused on the road ahead. Headwinds have grown stronger in the tech industry on many fronts during the past month, but the challenges are tied to opportunities for organisations in every industry. And the ability to succeed consistently returns to one idea – it’s not about the tech, it’s the people behind it.

The AgTech startup hubs will be located at two of the existing PIRSA AgTech Demonstration farms, located at Minnipa on Eyre Peninsula and Struan and Kybybolite in the South East.

The State Government has opened expressions of interest for AgTech companies wanting support to develop and commercialise their ideas on the demonstration farms, assisted by a range of services to be delivered by the BDO Advisory’s AgTech division and Hydra Consulting.

Associate Director for AgTech at BDO Michael Macolino, said 35 companies have already deployed their technology across the PIRSA demonstration farms since they were launched in June 2020, “we will be offering additional commercialisation support to these companies to help them meet the needs of regional producers”.

Two new agtech start-up hubs will open, one in the South East and one on the Eyre Peninsula.

Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister David Basham announced the new start-up hubs at yesterday's AdvanceAg conference.

"The hubs are very much about letting farmers have access to people developing new ideas and those developing new ideas having access to farmers so they can actually fine-tune their production to make it commercially viable and extendable," Mr Basham said.

"It's about bringing all the parties together so the conversations can occur to achieve better outcomes.

“It has been a really fascinating year. It’d be an understatement to say it’s been a tough year,” said AgriFutures Australia Managing Director, John Harvey.

At Adelaide’s impact and innovation festival, Southstart in May 2021, John Harvey caught up with agritech entrepreneur and BDO AgTech Lead, Michael Macolino, to reflect on the approach needed to accelerate the Australian agritech ecosystem in response to COVID-19.

Just two weeks prior to Australia closing its international borders in 2020, AgriFutures hosted its second annual evokeAG. event. Despite its infancy, John explains, “We’d created enormous interest – and we tapped into incredible energy in Australia around agrifood tech, which was very exciting.”