Food and AgriTech has been one of Australia’s most promising innovative sectors of the economy, with a rapidly growing startup ecosystem emerging around it.
The food industry has been rife with disruption and has seen the adoption of advanced technological processes, from high-tech sensor devices, farm-based robotics and automation to at-scale production of plant-based meat and other protein products.
The embrace of these innovations has driven profitability and sustainability in the wider food production sector of Australia, and increased the potential for foreign investment and economic growth.
The importance of this sector to Australia’s economic recovery has been recognised by the federal government, with the inclusion of food and beverage as one of its six priority areas under its Modern Manufacturing Strategy.
The InnovationAus Awards for Excellence Food and AgriTech category seeks to highlight companies making innovative advances and leading the way in this growing sector. Finalists in the category for 2021 include a Tassie company sustainably cultivating seaweed to solve major environmental issues, and a plant-based meat products industry leader.
The finalists in this category are:
The InnovationAus 2021 Awards for Excellence will be presented at a gala black-tie dinner held on Wednesday, December 1, at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney. You can book your tickets at the Awards website. For further enquiries, please email Awards@InnovationAus.com
Behind the finalists
Sea Forest is a Tasmania-based environmental technology company looking at the sustainable cultivation of Asparagopsis seaweed. Sea Forest produces an Asparagopsis feed supplement for livestock which greatly reduces the production of methane, addressing two significant challenges of our time: climate change and food shortages.
Sea Forest is the first and largest supplier of these products in the world, and is using science and technology to pioneer the development of a new, environmentally-positive industry for Australia.
Marinova is a Tasmanian advanced manufacturing firm specialising in the development and production of high purity seaweed extracts to improve human health. The company manufactures a unique portfolio of fucoidan compounds – highly bioactive polysaccharides derived from brown seaweed.
Using its proprietary extraction process, Marinova produces the world’s only high purity, certified organic fucoidan with global regulatory acceptance.
Fenn Foods is a Queensland-based company leading Australia’s meat culture change through a range of locally produced plant-based meat products. Its range is sold by small cafes and large food service chains around the country. The range includes burgers, “meatballs”, mince and pulled “meat” in flavours such as chicken, beef and lamb. Each product is made to appear, taste and cook like meat, helping the wider food service industry better accommodate for growing demand for plant-based options.
In 2020, Fenn Foods produced the world’s first carbon-neutral certified plant-based mince, and the whole company will be carbon-neutral certified by 2022.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.