by Peter Wren-Hilton | Feb 26, 2025 | evokeAG
Wharf42 experienced an awesome evokeAG 2025!
We were joined in Brisbane, Australia, by Dennis Donohue, Director, Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology & Dr. Jeana Cadby, Western Growers Director, Environment & Science.
On Monday 17th, we all took part in the Brisbane Biological Symposium, co-hosted with CSIRO & supported by AgriFutures Australia. The Symposium gave us the opportunity to soft-launch Platform10 in Australia. Dr Adrian Percy, Executive Director of the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative (N.C. PSI) and Platform10 Advisory Board member gave the keynote speech. A number of leading Australian and New Zealand speakers provided valuable insights into the opportunities facing the trans-Tasman region. I was delighted that three key New Zealand organisations spoke at the event; Plant & Food Research, AgResearch & ‘A Lighter Touch‘.
The collaborative trans-Tasman theme continued well after the Symposium. On Wednesday 19th, I had the opportunity to moderate the Platform10 Biologicals panel at an evokeAG 2025 conference breakout session. I was joined by Adrian, Jeana & Louise Thatcher from CSIRO. We continued to discuss how this global initiative could support farmers & growers everywhere transition from hard chemical pesticides to lighter chemistry and biologicals. The conversations went well beyond the rooms of the conference. On Thursday & Friday last week, following evokeAG 2025, I engaged in several wash-up meetings with key Australian stakeholders looking to engage with Platform10.
Those conversations continue today. Over the coming weeks, I expect to be able to share details of a trans-Tasman framework designed to bring key New Zealand & Australian stakeholders together to take a leading role in the build of Platform10’s global outreach. It’s an opportunity for our region to step up and play a significant role in helping farmers and growers everywhere adapt to the world’s changing regulatory and consumer environment.
evokeAG 2025 was a great place to start this trans-Tasman discussion. Please check out this website for ongoing updates as these conversations develop.
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Feb 23, 2023 | evokeAG
Jacqui and I have just completed an absolutely awesome few days at the evokeAG 2023 conference in Adelaide. Hat doffed once again to the amazing team at AgriFutures Australia for delivering an epic feast of great content, great speakers and fantastic networking!
Nothing however in today’s ‘new normal’ operates in complete isolation. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to moderate the ‘Biologicals’ workshop with three great panelists; Ben Barlow, Ethy Levy & Kioumars Ghamkhar. Several thousand miles to the east, the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit was confirming its latest speakers at exactly the same time. Like the representatives attending evokeAG from 18 different countries, the issue of biologicals and soil / plant health cuts across borders. So just who has joined our speaker list in June over the last few days?
- Cristina Rohr; Cristina is Managing Director, Food & Agriculture, S2G Ventures
- Eugenia Saini; Eugenia is FONTAGRO’s Executive Secretary, a unique sustainable co-financing mechanism for the development of agricultural technology in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain
- Larry Taylor; Larry is the Co-founder & Managing Partner of The Yield Lab, Asia Pacific
- Stuart Woolf; Stuart is President and CEO of Woolf Farming & Processing, and in-coming Chair, Western Growers
They join a growing cohort of great presenters who will highlight the importance of smart sustainable agriculture at a time of our changing climate and emerging global regulation around the application of chemicals to our soils and plants.
You can learn more about the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit, the draft program, more speakers, ticket sales, accommodation discounts etc. at www.salinas-summit.com. With a 2-day optional field trip to meet growers in North America’s ‘fruit bowl’ – Central Valley, it’s going to be another few days of ‘awesome’.
Final word however to evokeAG 2023. The conference provided the opportunity to once again meet in person, network and identify opportunities to collaborate. If you are looking to meet key players in California’s agrifood ecosystem and delegates from around the world, we are looking to repeat the same recipe in June. It’s a recipe that the team at Agricultures delivered this week and one we are keen to replicate again.
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Feb 6, 2023 | evokeAG
As all eyes focus on Adelaide for the evokeAG 2023 conference in less than two weeks, please let me introduce you to Ben Barlow, Kioumars Ghamkhar and Ethy Levy, the three awesome panelists on Day 2’s Biologicals workshop on Wednesday 23 February.
As the demand for nutritious and affordable food continues to rise, the need to accelerate sustainable agriculture, improve crop yields and offer protection against a wide variety of plant diseases and insect pests has never been more important. Across the globe, research and investment into biologicals continues to accelerate as consumer opinion and regulator activity begin to focus on supporting the development of chemical pesticide alternatives.
The evokeAG biological workshop panelists will provide both expert opinions and share insights into the global landscape for biological research and deployment. Meet our panelists here;
- Ben Barlow is Managing Director, New Edge Microbials. NEM is the leading Australian owned producer of scientifically developed biofertilizer, biocontrol and biostimulant products for agriculture.
- Dr Kioumars Ghamkhar is Director, Margot Forage Germplasm Centre, AgResearch NZ. Kioumars has a strong plant evolutionary biology background with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Plant Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution from University of New England, Australia and Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia.
- Ethy Levy is a Venture Partner with Kinneret Impact Ventures. Kinneret Impact Ventures is the first Israeli Agritech and Climatech specialized VC Fund established by the farming community in collaboration with industry and academia to target emerging Agritech, Foodtech, Watertech, and Climatech startups.
Wharf42 is delighted to bring this workshop to the evokeAG conference. In June, we are co-hosting the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit in California. This workshop will provide a direct link to June’s Summit and help position Australian and Kiwi biological researchers and start-ups with our Summit partners, Western Growers.
We very much hope you can join us in Adelaide for what will be a fascinating conversation.
The good news is that tickets for the evokeAG Conference are still on sale. To secure yours, simply sign up at Main registration site – Registration (eventsair.com)
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Oct 27, 2022 | evokeAG
I’m delighted to share the link to the evokeAG 2023 Program which actually went live 5 minutes ago. Keen to ensure that kiwis get some of the first dabs at the content!
As a member of the evokeAG steering committee, I can only applaud the team for pulling together a programme which features almost 100 speakers over 2 days. As the stardust finally settles on this month’s 2035 Oceania Summit, I know just how much effort goes into building a high-profile, compelling programme. The team at AgriFutures has certainly delivered.
From Outer Space and back Down to Earth, evokeAG will ignite agrifood tech innovation with its star-studded line-up.
Across two-days, some of the best and brightest change agents and thought leaders in agrifood tech will push the boundaries of what’s possible, and deep dive into the issues, trends and opportunities that will shape farming and our food system, now and into the future.
evokeAG 2023 is a timely and important opportunity to come together to address important topics and drive critical conversations.
Make sure you are part of the conversation. View the Program and purchase your tickets via www.evokeag.com/program
For New Zealand researchers and agritech businesses looking to attend next February’s event, Callaghan Innovation, NZTE & the Agritech ITP team are putting together a kiwi delegation programme which will include field visits around the conference. If you have not experienced the amazing agrifood ecosystem that exists in South Australia, this is one event you will not want to miss!
