FLA to grow appetite for Australian AgTech investment

Over the last three decades, the Australian farm sector has been recognised as consistently achieving the second highest rate of productivity growth in the Australian economy.

Innovation in the farm sector has been the key to these productivity increases, however over this same time period, Australian innovators and technologists have struggled to commercialise these innovations to take full advantage of opportunities on a global scale.

Many of these innovative farming technologies and solutions offer farmers throughout Asia the capacity to rapidly increase their productivity to meet the growing demand for food in the world’s fastest growing nations.

That’s why in May, Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise’s (TSBE) Food Leaders Australia (FLA) is hosting the 400m AgInnovate Investment Forum which will bring Australasia’s key players in Agtech together for the very first time.

This unique ‘firestarter’ event is designed to lead a multi-nation conversation about growing the appetite for investment in Asian AgTech.

TSBE chief executive officer Dr Ben Lyons said forward thinking companies are realising that in order to remain competitive and capitalise on global growth opportunities they need to generate global investment interest to upscale the Asian AgTech sector.

“Asia is on the cusp of an ‘ideas boom’ in agricultural technologies and Australian and New Zealand innovators and investors are perfectly positioned to help fuel and capitalise on this boom,” Dr Lyons said.

FLA is teaming up with the University of Southern Queensland to deliver this ‘catalyst’ event.

USQ is renowned for delivering high-impact agricultural innovation to the global agricultural sector for over two decades.

USQ’s Institute for Agriculture and the Environment executive director Steven Raine said the 400m Forum would shine the spotlight on Australia’s AgTech sector and how investment will drive the next stage of growth for the sector in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We are advocates for this event because we see a critical need to bring innovators, venture capital investors, agribusiness leaders and policy makers together to establish stronger industry collaborations capable of driving large-scale increases in Asian agricultural productivity and sustainability,” Professor Raine said.

Agtech is fast becoming ‘big business’.

According to the global Agtech investment marketplace, Agfunder, more than US$4.6 billion was invested in AgTech globally in 2015, nearly double the figure in 2014, far surpassing initial expectations for the year.

Currently, US innovators and investors are leading the global Agtech revolution.

In 2015, India became a prime Agtech investment ‘hotspot’, followed by a rising tide of emerging systems and technologies from Israel and Europe.

By comparison, China and Australia are still small-scale players in global AgTech innovation, based on the proportion of global investment.

The 400M Forum will explore what can be done to accelerate investment in AgTech in Australia and more broadly, throughout Asia.

400M keynote speakers include co-founder and COO of Agfunder, Michael Dean, Bio Pacific Partners executive director and co-founder Andrew Kelly and AgDNA founder and CEO Paul Turner.

The event will be held on Wednesday, 18 May at the Toowoomba City Library and will feature a showcase of the latest AgTech innovations set to ignite investor interest.

For more information regarding the forum visit www.400mforum.com.au