Farm

With applications for the 2025 evoke^AG. Startup Program opening later this year, we thought we’d check back in with past participants to find out where they are now – and how the Startup Program helped them get there.
And what better place to start than our inaugural 2019 cohort?
In the third article of our series, evoke^AG. contributor Casey Dunn sat down with Regrow co-founder and CEO, Dr Anastasia Volkova, to hear how she got from a $20,000 pitch contest to having the pulse on over 1.3B acres around the world.

Nearly one in ten Australian workers switched jobs in the past 12 months – the highest rate in a decade. And nearly two-thirds swapped their industry over their occupation, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data. Someone who’s made the switch is Olympic swimmer and gold medallist, Giaan Rooney. TV presenter, media identity – and now a macadamia farmer.
The self-confessed ‘outsider coming into the ag world’ shares how she’s put down roots on a macadamia farm in Northern New South Wales.

As excitement grows for evoke^AG. 2025 in Queensland, we’re shining a light on the Sunshine State’s agrifood innovation ecosystem, from founders to funders – and not forgetting the most critical link in the agrifood innovation chain: the adopters! The producers, processors, and supply chain partners who translate innovation into action.
Here, Ry Collins, of the Bowen Gumlu Growers Association, shares how agritech innovation can drive a more productive, profitable, and sustainable horticulture industry in North Queensland – and what growers up north hope to see from their state’s own evoke^AG. 2025.

With so much capacity, creativity, and conviction in Australia’s agritech ecosystem, our primary industries are turning to forums like AgriFutures evoke^AG. to connect problems with problem solvers. Here, Western Australia’s (WA) Primary Industries Development Chief Scientist, Dr Ben Biddulph, asks WA’s broadacre, pastoral, and horticulture sectors to outline the big challenges impacting their industry – and their wish list for the next generation of agritech innovations.

Just another cattle sale? Far from it. Beef producer, Robert Mackenzie has hosted Australia’s first carbon neutral cattle sale. Not just a marketing ploy for his family’s paddock-to-plate enterprise, Macka’s Australian Black Angus, Robert called the sale the beef industry’s ‘proof of concept’ – evidence it is working towards its Carbon Neutral 2030 target.

One’s a household name in agriculture and brings 185 years of experience to the table. The other boasts a deep-seated knowledge of soil health and is a leading consultant and provider of precision farming services in Australia. An ongoing partnership between Elders and Precision Agriculture Pty Ltd is helping farmers across Australia achieve their goals of improved nutrient use and more sustainable production.