As Wharf42 increases its focus on leveraging agrifood technologies to tackle both agricultural production and agrifood supply chain greenhouse gas emissions, we are delighted to be able to support this fantastic initiative as an ‘Official Collaborator’ with the team at Spacebase.
Spacebase, in collaboration with Planet has announced the launch of the Space for Planet Earth Challenge. The Challenge is seeking innovative ideas to address carbon sequestration and coral health in the region. You can join the opening kick-off event on 2 August in Christchurch (either in person, or via livestream). You can register your interest here.
The text below is taken from the Spacebase website. It resonates fully with Wharf42’s own values and mission to address our changing climate. A very sincere High 5 to Eric & Emeline for their enthusiasm and endeavour in supporting the build of New Zealand’s emerging space technology ecosystem. This Challenge is a great endorsement of that work.
A Climate Emergency
We are in a climate emergency. Without any intervention, the planet may be 4 to 5 degrees warmer by the end of the century, rendering much of the planet mostly uninhabitable with extreme weather, sea level rise, and mass extinctions of life. We have an urgent need to work together and engage a broader community of researchers and innovators in the region to address the problems created by climate change.
Today, we have unprecedented access to satellite remote sensing data and technologies that can help us better detect, monitor and measure these changes. The computational capability to analyze this data today is critical in making better management decisions and creating policies to reverse the damage caused to the Planet.
Leveraging Satellite Data
Satellite remote sensing has been the principal method of monitoring the impact of climate change. New satellite data, and wider access to computing and analysis tools, are enabling researchers to develop new solutions. Setting out a specific climate related challenge, with a deadline, would provide an incentive to researchers and innovators to translate research into practical tools and also encourage new teams to develop their skills to address these challenges.
The prize challenge can be used to reward successful advances in the state-of-the-art while creating opportunities for space education and outreach, and stimulate economic growth and development in the sector.
The Challenge
There are two challenges aimed at two levels; University / Startup &High School.
University/Startup Level
Carbon Sequestration Using satellite data, in combination with other data sources, help develop verifiable methods to measure carbon sequestration on land and in coastal areas.
High School Level
Coral Health Help improve the monitoring of coral health changes due to climate change using satellite technology.
Excited by the opportunity? Then tune in to the official opening on 2 August and register your interest here.
I’m delighted to have been invited by Ireland’s All Business Post Group to take part in their Agritech Global Leaders Forum. It forms part of a new programme being developed called the SEED Summit.
It’s a virtual event and takes place next Thursday – 8 July.
The SEED Summit series of agritech events is the first time these events have been curated in such a format. The Global Leaders Forum session looks at the visionary and potential disruptive developments in agritech as the sector revolutionises agricultural and food output. I’m delighted to be sharing the platform with Hadar Sutovsky, Vice President External Innovation, ICL Group, Israel and Theo Kanellos, Director Business Development and Allliances, Zoetis International.
The Summit organisers’ recognise New Zealand as being a global leader in agritech ecosystem development. As national agritech ecosystems begin to form across the world, including the nascent Agritech Ireland, creating a global network of connected entrepreneurs, investors and corporates becomes more important.
New Zealand’s presence and input at the Summit is enhanced by Brendan O’Connell, CEO of AgritechNZ, who will be talking about agricultural innovations that solve real problems. Brendan will be joined by Cathal Fitzgerald, Senior Investment Director Food and Agriculture, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. Cathal visited New Zealand back in June 2018 as part of a Farm2050 delegation and attended the launch of AgritechNZ at Mills Reef Winery in Tauranga. It’s great to see that linkage continuing!
Next Thursday’s event is expected to attract leading CEOs of Irish and international agribusinesses, policy influencers in Europe and key global institutions, as well as the leading academics leading the advancement of research in the sector. The All Business Post Group has a solid reputation for curating a number of Ireland’s leading conferences and events.
To register for next week’s Global Leaders Forum, visit www.sat3summit.com
Last week, I spoke to Dennis Donohue, Director of the Northern California-based Western Growers Innovation & Technology Center on the Center’s ‘Voices of the Valley’ podcast. It gave me the opportunity to share New Zealand’s agritech story as well as discuss a number of emerging global trends.
I first caught up with Dennis back in 2015. I was based in Silicon Valley at the time and became aware of this new investment asset class called ‘agtech’. What I learnt was that very little of this investment was finding its way across the Pacific. I returned to New Zealand in late 2015 and the rest as they say is history. Today, Agritech New Zealand is a strong industry-led organisation and there is no lack of capital for globally-focused investable agri-technology companies in the country.
In the podcast, we talked about three key focus areas for the Center (plus, I’ll add a fourth); These are labor (lack of and cost of), food security and rapid diagnostics. The fourth reflects the work and support of Karen Ross, the California Agriculture Secretary, who together with Dennis and the team at WG are looking at longer-term workforce skills and talent training. As robotics and automation begin to play a bigger role in the field, growers and their staff need to be up-skilled to operate in this significant emerging technology-driven environment.
During our call, my current focus on the impact of our changing climate also resonated. Water in states such as California, Nevada & Arizona is a major consideration for growers. I’ve seen at first hand in high-production areas such as the Central Valley and the Salinas Valley, the ongoing impact of drought. As I write this post, the western seaboard of the US is suffering some of its highest June temperatures on record. Seattle, in the northwest, hit 37.2c yesterday. Further north, Lytton in British Columbia (Canada) reached 46.6c. A taste, I suspect, of what’s to come with our changing climate.
In the podcast, we spoke about some of the emerging global trends and specifically about some of the specialist strengths of different national and regional agritech hubs. Dennis and I speak frequently on this subject. Western Growers understand that they need to be aware of what is happening globally to address some of their local challenges. The Center and its team are very open to this conversation.
Next month (travel bubble willing), I’m heading across the Tasman to keynote at South Australia’s AdvanceAg conference. Once again, it’s not just about sharing our story. It’s about identifying opportunities for collaboration across borders to address some of the major challenges that we discussed on the podcast last week. As the impact of climate change, labour shortages and the prospect of feeding a rapidly growing global population become more urgent, developing these collaborative cross-border frameworks will become ever more important.
If you want to check out last week’s ‘Voices of the Valley’ podcast, you can listen to the recording below.
AgriFutures Australia today officially announced details of their revised programme for evokeAG 2022. With the ongoing global pandemic and borders remaining closed, the decision has been made to host two one-day events; in Perth & in Sydney.
It’s great to be able to finally to share this news. I have once again been invited to be part of the evokeAG steering committee and my visit to Australia next month includes a detailed session with John Harvey and the evokeAG team at AgriFutures. Building a programme that contains a strong trans-Tasman element remains our strong joint ambition.
For the purposes of this post, I’ll simply copy and paste some of the content from today’s formal announcement. As the programme develops over the coming weeks, particularly with a New Zealand focus, expect more updates via this blog.
‘In a response to continued uncertainty with interstate and international travel, evokeAG. is going bi-coastal in 2022, taking the region’s premier agrifood innovation event to both Perth, WA and Sydney, NSW.
After two successful events in 2019 and 2020, evokeAG. will once again bring the agrifood community together – including farmers, corporates, agribusiness, researchers, startups, scale-ups, investors and government – to look at what’s next in farming technology and food innovation.
John Harvey, Managing Director of AgriFutures Australia, says that committing to host two events in 2022 is critical to supporting farmers, by driving innovation. While it has been great to connect with global stakeholders digitally over the past year, it is hard to replace in-person conversations and the energy created by bringing like-minded individuals into the same room.
“We have seen so much growth across agritech and food innovation, not just in the last 12-months but really the last three-years, with Australian and New Zealand innovators attracting increased investment and global demand each year,” said Mr Harvey.
As local and global agrifood innovation continues to mature, and grow increasingly collaborative, delivering these world-class technologies back to farmers and growers is critical.
“Working with farmers to increase profit and adopt sustainable practices is critical, connecting agrifood innovators with farmers is the key,” Mr Harvey continues, “there are a lot of great initiatives that support this, including evokeAG.”
The evokeAG. events will take place in Perth and Sydney in 2022, making it easier for people to access one of the events, regardless of border restrictions’.
It was with incredible pleasure (and some relief) that I was able to announce at National Fieldays this morning the hosting of the 2035 Oceania Summit in April 2022.
Good things take time and this Summit is a great example of that. Ever since we announced earlier in the year that Wharf42 would be co-hosting the AgriFoodTech Climate Summit at COP26 in Glasgow, plans have been underway to create the first global regional follow-up event.
In Australia, the Climate Targets Panel says that Australia should be aiming to reach net zero emissions as early as 2035. In New Zealand, the Climate Change Commission has submitted to government its recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Across wider Oceania, climate change has had, and will continue to have, profound ramifications for the people living in the region.
The Summit will feature regional and international keynote speakers, breakout panels with domain experts, an exhibition showcasing current research being undertaken across the region, a startup hub with a pitch event to global investors, as well as extensive networking opportunities.
We have been privileged to work with the International Business Events team at Tourism New Zealand and the fabulous folk at Auckland Unlimited to help make this happen. Today’s announcement is the culmination of many months work and builds on the significant and emerging research and development opportunities being created across the entire trans-Tasman and wider Oceania agrifood ecosystem.
Next month, Jacqui and I will be spending time across the ditch speaking to partners and friends in New South Wales, ACT & South Australia. Over the past two years, we have successfully established strong relationships with many agrifood organisations in Australia and we are looking forward at inviting them to actively engage and participate at the 2035 Oceania Summit.
By bringing together researchers, startups, investors, policy makers as well as farmers and growers, the 2035 Oceania Summit has been designed to showcase local solutions that will create global impact.
To learn more about the Summit and to register your interest in learning more, please visit the Summit website at www.2035.ag
We look forward to working with you to help our country and our region make a real difference.
