“Congratulations to the Challenge finalists. Our top 10 now progress to the Showcase and Awards Ceremony on Tuesday 11 May where they will pitch to a panel of experts to be in for a share of over $130k. Secure your complimentary tickets and join us to celebrate the ideas that will transform the food and fibre sector.”
| Venture Name |
Venture Short Summary |
|
| 2before® blackcurrant powder – a breakthrough pre-exercise beverage |
2before® is a sports nutrition brand taking Canterbury-grown blackcurrants to the world. Our mission is to power fitness, health and happiness through providing consumers with the energy and motivation to exercise. We do this through our breakthrough pre-exercise beverage that powers you to get out, go further and then go again. |
| Clarospec |
Lamb value chains lack routine, objective tools to measure product quality in real-time at industrial scale. This restricts production of consistent product quality and the inability to differentiate products on a demonstrable quality basis. Clarospec enables capture of quality information for: 1. Feedback to producers facilitating continuous improvement, and 2. Streaming product for key markets on a quality basis. |
| Genesmith: Crafted livestock solutions |
Genesmith is on a mission to deploy facial recognition and machine learning to the global livestock industry. They are starting with kiwi sheep farmers with a focus on unlocking the latent potential in the industry by identifying and selecting the animals that are best suited to the farming system. |
| Happy Cow Milk - Milk factory in a box |
Happy Cow Milk Co is developing a milk factory in a box! This internet enabled device will allow farmers to become fully compliant milk processors. This enables farmers to sell their milk directly to their local community using 100% reusable packaging |
| Irrigation Futures Platform |
Irrigation Futures is a new digital platform helping farmers and growers make effective water use decisions through smart tools using advanced soil moisture modelling and integrated weather networks. The technology behind Irrigation Futures is modular so it can integrate with other tools and platforms as a central point of truth to help achieve water sustainability goals. |
| Lateral ® - Harnessing Nature to Control Caterpillars in Agricultural Crops |
Lateral ® is a novel, bacteria-based bioprotectant that controls caterpillar pests in a range of crops. It has a dual mode of action which will improve efficacy and mitigate resistance, as well as being safer for the user, environment and food chain. |
| MET System - Automating the response to weather - Starc Developments |
Agricultural output is heavily dependent on favorable weather conditions, too often we see weather spikes decimate yields. The MET ( Measure, Evaluate, Trigger) System enables set and forget automation of weather-dependent tasks eliminating the damage caused by unforeseen weather. |
| Producing flow batteries’ electrode using agricultural byproducts |
Flow batteries are one of the most promising technologies for large scale energy storage due to their long life, simplicity, and flexibility. The real commercial concern about this battery is its high cost. Improving the efficiency of the battery reduces the battery's size and cost. The key component of flow batteries are electrodes. The electrodes that are used in current flow batteries are not optimized for this application. KarbenFibre utilizes the chemistry and texture of natural fibres to produce optimized electrode that has the potential to reduce the capital cost of the flow batteries by 30%. |
| Pure heart Aotearoa Hemp Milk – Plant nutrition at its best. |
Pure Heart Aotearoa has a vision & is on a mission – Providing nutrition via plant-based alternatives whilst providing employment & stability within our region. To have a strong Whanau, Hapu & Iwi – culturally, economically & socially. |
| WaiMonitor: NZ Waterways Digital Twin |
Freshwater quality is the most important environmental concern for 80% of Kiwis and more than half identify farming activities as the primary cause. We make it easier to restore waterways by providing WaiMonitor, a high-quality nationwide map of NZ's waterways. WaiMonitor helps regulators and consultants understand the impact of geography on freshwater quality. |
