Founding Members Update - Issue 4, 2022

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AusAgritech Leaders Alliance Update

Welcome to Issue 4 of the AusAgritech Leaders Alliance Update. You'll find:

An introduction to the 2022-23 Committee
AusAgritech Leaders Alliance News & Announcements
Recap on membership and engagement opportunities

Read on for all of the latest from AusAgritech!

Meet the 2022-23 Committee

We are delighted to introduce the newly elected AusAgritech Committee, who were announced at the recent Annual General Meeting.

Andrew Coppin (President):
Managing Director
Farmbot Monitoring Solutions

Andrew was the President of the founding AusAgritech Board, giving him a unique understanding of the ecosystem and what the Association is progressing towards. Andrew also runs a successful Australian Agritech, Farmbot Monitoring Solutions, giving him an intimate understanding of the challenges and opportunities within our sector.

Andrew has a pragmatic and practical approach to trying to resolve the current issues that agritech is facing in Australia, and we are thrilled to welcome Andrew back to the position of President to continue his efforts of advancing in the interests of agritechs for the benefit of the nation.

Cal Archibald (Treasurer):
Director
Beanstalk AgTech

Cal has been actively contributing and advocating for the Australian agritech ecosystem over the past 5 years and plans to dedicate his career to the sector. He is motivated to formalise these efforts and channel them through a contribution to the Agritech association as he feels the timing is right to advocate for the agritech industry to be recognised as valuable and growing industry seperate to agriculture as he feels the current federal funding channels for agritech and ag innovation are not fit for purpose.

He believes the Association can play a key role here over the coming years, and would like to use his corporate contacts to build and strengthen the Assocation - through key partnership and sponsorships and provide connections into those networks for members.Cal also leads the Agtech Meet-Ups in Perth, Western Australia. We are thrilled to welcome Cal to the AusAgritech Committee.

Lewis Frost (Secretary):
Chief Operating Officer
Ceres Tag

Lewis believes it has been a privilege to work with the founding Board to establish AusAgritech and support our CEO and the team through our first year of key programs and being the voice for agritech at the Federal level in 2022.

He wishes to continue to support the Australian AgriTech ecosystem through advocacy, networking, alignment, education and taking our combined message to the various levels of government and industry bodies for the betterment of the sector.

Lewis has a comprehensive professional background spanning remote animal monitoring, livestock genomics, animal health and molecular diagnostics. He helps organisations adopt, extend and commercialise these technologies and services; be it start up, SME or multinational enterprise. As an advocate of tech adoption in production animal industries, Lewis am excited to be at the helm of the future of the agriculture sector both as Ceres Tag COO and current board member of the Australian AgriTech Association.

Rechelle Leahy:
CEO & Founder
RegionalCollab

Rechelle is delighted to serve on the AusAgritech Committee. She will bring her strong board and governance skills and independence from the agritech ecosystem to help build a robust and resilient Association.

Rechelle has extensive experience in driving growth and change-making programs across rural and regional Australia, government engagement and community building. She looks forward to supporting AusAgritech and help drive its design and delivery of its membership offering and programs that will drive digital transformation across rural and regional Australia. Rechelle believes that AusAgritech's success is incredibly important for the agritech ecosystem, agriculture, rural and regional Australian and all Australians. She would like to support AusAgritech achieve its mission, together with its partners and members.

Matthew Pryor:
General Partner
Tenacious Ventures

As a founding, and now current Committee member of AusAgritech, Matthew believes in the importance of continuity of committee membership, alongside welcoming new committee members. Matthew Pryor is co-founder of Tenacious Ventures and a Partner at AgThentic. He was previously co-founder of Observant, an Australian agtech pioneer acquired by Jain Irrigation in February 2017. He was the founding chair of Rocket Seeder, a food & ag innovation accelerator, chair of the Australian Government Agriculture 4.0 Task Force, a founding committee member of the Australian AgriTech Association and a current member of the CSIRO Agriculture & Food Advisory Committee. He is passionate about promoting Australian agri-food innovation globally.

Fiona Turner:
CEO & Co-Founder
Bitwise Agronomy

Fiona is an innovator, disruptor and lover of technology. Fiona is a results-oriented technology professional with over 15 years of experience in new product development for infrastructure, utilities, construction/asset management, government, banking and manufacturing industries. Fiona brings her skills as a thought leader in digital transformation, a clear strategic vision and innovative approaches to data management and technology.

Fiona currently has a number of roles:

Co-Founder of Bit Wise Agrimony –Tech start-up using AI, robotic/drones, analytic and AR to unlock the power of data for Famers. Bit Wise Agrimony is at an exciting place about to release the GreenView application and just secured a $9 billion alcohol companies as one of our flagship clients. She owns Jinglers Creek vineyard with her husband Holland.Fiona is the President of Startup Tasmania and board member of Enterpize.

Have you submitted your logo to feature in the AusAgritech Members Directory?

Don't miss out on the chance to be exhibited in our AusAgritech Members Directory.

This directory is a great promotional and networking opportunity, and will allow other members to search and find you for Direct Introductions, plus give you great exposure in the wider agritech ecosystem!Submit your logo here >> https://forms.gle/A3Lj81j4rEgtS3cm7

Please note: we require you to submit your logo in the correct file size to feature in the Directory.

We need your case studies!

It's the federal election year, and AusAgritech is currently advocating on behalf of the wider Agritech ecosystem to see Agritech recognised as its own sector. We are seeking a cross-portfolio approach that will see Agritech recognised for its significant contribution to safeguarding and future-proofing the Australian economy, and it's contribution in helping Australia to reach its ambitions for productivity, sustainability, digitalisation, jobs growth and emissions reduction.

We want to hear from you. Can you share any stories or case studies that will help us to bolster our case?

We need insights such as:

Why the current funding allocations are not servicing Agritechs
Your experiences as to what hinders Agritech adoption
Insights from farmers about the benefits of Agritech
Your experiences regarding models that are working overseas

If this is something that you can assist with, please reach out to Kara at marketing@ausagritech.org who is compiling case studies to assist us in our Election Position Statement.

We want to support you as Foundation Members and AusAgritech Leaders Alliance Members. We are always open to feedback, suggestions and insights on how we could provide a greater member value experience for you.

We would love the opportunity touch base about your membership to ensure we are progressing things where we can and meeting your expectations.

Please book in a 30minute catch up with us via this link.

Well done to AusAgritech Leaders Alliance Members Pairtree Intelligence who took out the Judges Choice for Best Pitch at the recent Fishburners Agtech Pitch Night with Chartered Accountants!

https://loom.ly/7sMtbGs

A brilliant feature on Regrow Ag and founder Anastasia Volkova, unpacking their new $50M capital raise.

Read the full article below 👇

https://loom.ly/GqM4aGA

Cotton Seed Distributors has been working with DataFarming to map all QLD and NSW cotton fields over the 2022 season.

Remote sensing data has been used to identify actual planted areas and to determine proportions of irrigated vs. dryland production. Well done to the Data Farming team.

https://loom.ly/vN4Xu6Y

AusAgritech Leaders Alliance Members Platfarm have someone new in the driver’s seat!

Congratulations to Lyndsey Jackson who is stepping into the CEO role.

You can read the full article on Lyndsey's appointment below 👇

https://loom.ly/URL7bJ0

Is there a specific topic, news feature or area of interest that you feel deserves a write up? We are more than happy to take on board suggestions for future posts, features and articles! Email marketing@ausagritech.org for your suggestions.