The Changing Face of Innovation
Led by two inspired women, Dr Christine Pitt and Skye Raward, Farmers2Founders is driven by a passion for the agrifood and fibre industries. Since their inception in 2018, Farmers2Founders has set out to centre producers at the heart of innovation across the agricultural industry. Placed at the intersection of two male dominated industries, agriculture and tech, these incredible women, led by their desire to create meaningful opportunities for Australian farmers, have gone on to build the largest agrifood tech and innovation accelerator in Australia offering support programs for those wanting to reimagine the future of agriculture.
Skye and Christine both bring to the table a unique combination of academic know-how, creative flair and hands on business expertise which has seen the pair forge an ecosystem that has supported 100’s of innovators since their inception. With no signs of slowing down, Farmers2Founders is set to continue to play an imperative role in the emergence of solutions to the major challenges facing the Agriculture industry today and tomorrow.
Their fully integrated suite of programs are designed to support individuals and teams from their very first idea through to business growth and international commercialisation. “What our ethos is and has always been, is to put producers at the centre of the innovation process. That translates across all elements of what we do and the programs we deliver. It’s also represented in our name, Farmers2Founders. Where we can support farmers to become founders or facilitate farmers to work with founders. When we first started, we only worked with producers, supporting them in their startup journey. Now we’ve broadened the scope, working with students, researchers, tech developers, all sorts of different people to broaden the reach and influence farmers can have on the industry at a number of different levels. Allowing farmers to have a more active role in the building of the solutions to some of the biggest problems the agricultural industry is facing and to always ensure farmers are kept at the centre of the innovation process.” Shares Skye. Pairing this ethos with the continued support of industry heavy-weights and government institutions such as Grains Research and Development Corporation(GRDC), Meat & Livestock Australia(MLA), LaunchVic, PIRSA and the TNQ Drought Hub. Which all contribute to providing dynamic support and advisory services, leading to the ongoing success of Farmers2Founder’s multiple national, global, regional and sector specific programs that are run each year.
While Farmers2Founders has an ambitious and grand vision for the future, that vision comes with an under- standing that each individual they work with has the potential to bring about monumental change. And each program has been developed to meet participants where they’re at and to support them to progress their own vision. Like that of Malkah Muckenschnabl, founder of Lymbo. Malkah moved to Australia with her mum when she was just 10 and after spending most of her childhood in South Australia, relocated to Melbourne for university before moving into a career in agribusiness banking with ANZ. During this time, Malkah discovered a significant opportunity in the recruitment aspect of the ag sector. Seeing the significant inefficiencies in the linear and traditional ways of recruiting, Malkah noticed that a new era of employment was emerging. Where so many other considerations needed to be made to entice young people into an industry with ongoing staffing and talent acquisition issues.
This led Malkah to participate in two of the Farmers2Founders programs. The Hatch program, developed to enable founders to validate a business idea, and subsequently Malkah participated in the Hone program. Where founders are supported to bring their business idea to life. With the continued support of the farmers2founders team, Malkah has successfully launched and continues to grow Lymbo, her start-up designed to change the way young people are recruited into jobs, all while maintaining her corporate career. It’s very impressive indeed. “An idea is a business if it solves a problem and you can validate that. If the idea is ultimately a solution to solve a problem out there, then that’s entrepreneurship. Farmers2Founders taught me that and it has put my business in great stead as we continue to grow.” Shares Malkah.
The work of Malkah and many others like her is enabling Farmers2Founders to redefine the role producers and others active in the agricultural industry can play in the innovation process. “There are some significant challenges with the adoption of technology here in Australia. Not because farmers don’t want to adopt technology, but because tech developers are creating solutions that don’t fundamentally meet the problems that farmers need to have solved for them. There is a huge amount of entrance coming into the agtech sector as it’s gaining popularity. Lots of solutions are being developed and lots of non-traditional players are entering the space that don’t truly understand the people that they’re developing solutions for. So we’re working to bring together producers, intermediaries, tech developers and other stakeholders, to facilitate the acceleration of agtech adoption through a more collaborative approach.” Says Skye.
Agriculture certainly isn’t an easy industry to permeate with many of us born into the business of farming. But that intense connection to the farming process is not something Skye, Christine or the Farmers2Founders team shy away from. Instead they’re wanting to showcase the knowledge and understanding producers hold and ensure that is harnessed throughout the development of new technologies and solutions to the industries biggest challenges.
Which has also seen Farmers2Founders expand their repertoire to include more support pathways, focusing not just on those wanting to launch an agtech start up but also for those wanting to understand how being more innovative in their approach to their own farming operations can have an impact and foster opportunity as well. Leading to the launch of value adding specific programs designed to support farmers as they explore alternative opportunities for themselves. In general, value adding is the process of changing or transforming a product, be it meat, grain, wool or the like, from its original state into something more valuable. Such as a wheat producer making their own flour and selling it at a premium price to a high end bakery instead of straight to a trader.
And for many farmers, value adding undertakings are often seen to be expensive and cumbersome, but with the support of Farmers2Founders producers are able to access the services and understanding that are essential to any value adding initiatives success. Bringing the power back into the hands of producers. “Consumers are demanding to be closer to their food sources, which brings a huge opportunity for producers. The other side of the value adding coin is that in most cases, producers lose control of the final product they deliver to the market as soon as it leaves the farm gate. We’re always working to pull that value back to producers and to allow them to maintain more control over their produce as it moves through the supply chain and makes its way to consumers. It’s a fundamental belief we hold.” Shares Christine.
As the adoption of on farm value adding initiatives continue to grow in popularity we’re seeing Farmers2Founders play a role in the large scale creation of new job opportunities across the industry. Both for those from a farming background wanting to come home and be involved in their family operations and for those without a traditional agricultural background looking for ways to bring their skills to the industry.
This consistent underlying ethos of working to support all of the elements that combine to deliver successful innovation is also reflected in the calibre and determination of the Farmers2Founders team. With a fully remote team of 11, based across Australia and with most based in the regions, the team consists of individuals with a deep connection to and understanding of the industry. Which contributes to a culture committed to a holistic approach to solving some of the biggest challenges the Agricultural industry will face in the future.
Matt Anderson is one such team member. A farmer’s son from Spring Ridge in NSW’s Central North, Matt has recently left behind his career as a corporate lawyer and is now spending more time at home on the family farm. Having experienced for himself the hurdles of successfully implementing tech and agtech innovation on farm, Matt has joined the Farmers2Founders team seeing the position as an opportunity to play a role in the implementation of a new era of agricultural technology. “After spending a couple of years working in the legal world I knew it wasn’t really for me, I was looking for something that would bring me back home and back to agriculture. I wanted to be a part of this emerging space, to be an active player in the future of the industry. Farmers2founders is a fully remote business which means I can be at home, helping on the family farm and maintaining a full-time career. Balancing my desire to be involved in the family operation and to be able to maintain a corporate role that has the potential to influence broader outcomes for the industry is the absolute dream. Working this way is an emerging trend that will continue to work in the favour of the primary production industries and regional communities. There are plenty of new ways for people to become involved in the industry that isn’t necessarily labour based anymore. New ways of operating and new technologies are coming to the forefront and creating a bright future for our industry.” Shares Matt. Matt is now the manager of agtech projects for Farmers2Founders. Highlighting that the organisation is not only supporting the aspirations of the innovators that benefit from their programs but also the inspired and ambitious people that make up their team as well.
It’s undeniable that this group of dynamic problem solvers and progressive thinkers have nailed the formula for unlocking the unyielding power of centering those who face an industry's biggest problems in the middle of the problem solving process.
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