Artesian agrifood senior manager Victoria Prowse, GRDC general manager of strategy and business development Ron Osmond, GrainCorp head of investment Jordan Jeffery and Hort Innovation general manager sustainability and production Anthony Kachenko at EvokeAg. Photo: AgriFutures GrowAg

AUSTRALIAN agritech investment funding increased 141 percent compared to 2022, according to a report compiled by AgriFutures Australia growAG released yesterday at evokeAG 2025 in Brisbane.

The report, A guide to investing in Australian agritech shows the surge is driven by a strong focus on innovative sustainability and climate solutions, aligning with global trends in the sector.

Australia’s growing agritech sector is building momentum, with over 550 agrifood tech businesses driving innovation.

In 2023, 87pc of agrifood tech funding focused on sustainability solutions, reflecting the industry’s growing commitment to tackling global challenges.

The ag biotechnology category saw the greatest investment of US$86 million, followed by novel farming systems at $33M, innovative food at $24M, and farm robotics, mechanisation and equipment at $9M.

Funding opportunities

AgriFutures Australia global innovation networks general manager Harriet Mellish said Australia’s agritech sector offers substantial growth potential, and its funding gaps present an opportunity for strategic investment.

“There are a number of sectors where Australian agritech is receiving significant funding, most notably in the ag biotechnology space, but there are many other worthy innovations that deserve additional funding and require further investment,” Ms Mellish said.

“While some areas like climate-focused technologies are receiving significant attention, other important areas like resource optimisation and autonomous solutions need greater funding to reach their full potential.

“The report highlights that Australia’s agrifood tech sector continues to outperform global trends.

“While funding declined by 33pc in 2023, lesser than the global average of 49pc, Australian agritech funding saw an increase of 141pc compared to 2022.”

However, while the future appears bright, Ms Mellish said Australia’s emerging agritech sectors still require further support.

“Australian agritech startups demonstrate early traction, driving breakthroughs, but they need resources.

“The goal is for local or international investors to acquire or scale innovations with strong growth potential, leading to long-term returns in comparison to other markets.”

Industry, corporate collaboration

Alongside this report release, EvokeAg hosted a session discussing agritech investments and the role of regional development corporations (RDC) and corporates.

It featured GRDC general manager of strategy and business development Ron Osmond, Hort Innovation general manager sustainability and production Anthony Kachenko and GrainCorp head of investment Jordan Jeffery, who agreed that having clear goals and strategies was key to making meaningful investments.

GRDC launched its investment vehicle, GrainInnovate, in 2019, while GrainCorp’s Ventures program began three years ago, and Hort Innovation’s Venture Fund is now four months in.

“We are very mandate driven; we want to see impact in the grains industry, and we want to see impact for growers specifically,” Dr Osmond said.

“If we can demonstrate impact and value for the Australian grains industry, we want to have a look at it and we are pretty agnostic about where that comes from.”

Mr Jeffery said GrainCorp targeted investments supporting “people, capabilities and assets” and agritech that didn’t tackle challenges for these areas was “probably not the investment for us”.

“We are razor focused on trying to add value and having channels to add that value,” Mr Jeffery said.

Mr Jeffery said there was clear roles for RDCs and corporates in the investment space.

“The RDCs are critical in supporting that early stage…more specifically that’s around when they’re trying to figure out right market fit and trying to do some of the deep research in market.”

He said companies like GrainCorp can support startups after that phase “to drive traction and really get out of pure research and development and start pushing into commercialisation”.

Dr Osmond said RDCs can provide startups unique support via connection to growers and a national footprint.

“Having that national footprint and connection can really help as well as some of our awareness raising vehicles that we have.”

Cross-industry investment

The speakers agreed that the RDCs and industry across the entire agricultural sector needed to collaborate and pool investment to maximise results for shared challenges.

Mr Jeffery said “cross-industry capital collaboration” would open up more opportunities for investment and agritech to grow.

“There is a lot of cross-over between, for example grains and horticulture.

“I think there is more opportunity there to engage across industry and then with different forms of capital as well is what we see as all playing a critical role in driving success.”

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