Leading agtech founders set to the spill the tea
She is a renegade founder transforming food waste management one maggot at time. He is a Harvard and Oxford Scholar, and ex-international rower. But are their views on what it will take to accelerate the Australian agrifood tech and innovation landscape as different as their CVs?
Hear from Justin Webb and Olympia Yarger in The Great Exchange.
The pursuit of innovation continues at a breakneck pace as we teeter on the edge of ecological, environmental, and economic uncertainty.
So, with all the ideas, money, and power in the world, how does Australia use its exceptional edge to be a global leader in agricultural production and sustainability?
To kick off day two of evokeAG. 2024, AgriWebb Co-Founder and Chairman, Justin Webb, and Goterra Founder, Olympia Yarger, will come together to ruminate on what it’s going to take for Australia to become a global leader in agricultural production and sustainability.
They’ll be debating tough topics like whether Australian startups should be encouraged to scale up and grow domestically, or whether being an incubator and exporter to Europe and the USA is better?
Why has progress in agrifood tech and innovation been slow? Is it corporates, or Australia’s Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs), who aren’t pulling their weight?
Olympia Yarger. Image | Pip Williams.
Olympia is a pioneer of sustainable food production. A key figure in agricultural sustainability and climate tech, her bold vision transforming the agrifood supply chain.
Goterra uses cutting-edge tech to turn food waste into protein-rich feed and fertiliser. It is a deep tech startup that has expanded to six sites in four states and manages food resource recovery for some of Australia and the world’s biggest brands like Lendlease and McDonald’s.
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Olympia’s entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to sustainability have earned her numerous awards and recognition, including being named Australian of the Year for the Australian Capital Territory and having a species of fly named for her by the CSIRO.
Justin is the Founder, and Managing Director of AgriWebb, an agtech Software as a Service (SaaS) company that manages over 20 million livestock across 150 million acres, with $50 billion in agricultural assets. AgriWebb supplies sustainability data to the world’s biggest beef suppliers and consumers: McDonald’s, OSI, Sainsbury’s and the USDA; simultaneously serving commercial and ecological benefit to the farmer as well as the red meat ecosystem.
Justin Webb will be back on the microphone at evokeAG. 2024. Image | Nick Cubbin.
Prior to AgriWebb, Justin founded, scaled, and sold three companies, including AI-based asset management hedge funds. He was an internationally competitive rower and holds an Honors BA in Economics and Applied Mathematics from Harvard and an MBA with distinction from Oxford.
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Justin and Olympia are two stars of the Australian and international agrifood tech and innovation scene. But is that where their similarities end?
The session will be facilitated by the inimitable Bryce Ives, so get a coffee and get stage-side for this not to be missed debate. With Olympia, Justin and Bryce on stage, it’s guaranteed to be punchy, fresh and funny.
View the full two-day program, including all speakers and partners making evokeAG. 2024 possible.
Find more itineraries with everything you need to explore Perth and surrounds here. Tourism WA has also got you sorted with a trip planner, helping you map your week in Perth to perfection. Want to go where the locals go? Joan Lim, Project Director – evokeAG. WA 2024, from the Department of Primary Industries, shares her go-to from everything from dining to daring experiences here.