FLEDGLING agricultural businesses will benefit from longer mentoring thanks to a $430,000 grant from the federal government.
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Member for Calare Andrew Gee announced the funding for Sparklabs Cultiv8's Stretch project on Friday, saying the incubator had already helped 16 agricultural start-ups grow for a six-month period.
"Given that a lot of these companies require a longer period to be nurtured, especially in the field of food technology, Sparklabs Cultiv8 need the support to be able to provide that service for up to five years," he said.
Mr Gee hoped to see progress in food technology companies.
"These companies are hopefully going to be the future employers and we need need to be encouraging entrepreneurs, people who are prepared to have a go, take a risk, sometimes borrow money and pay it back, but all with the aim of building regional Australia," he said.
"It's definitely a grant which has an eye to the future and I think that's what we've got to do, we need some long-term planning in the start-up field."
We're trying to ensure we're a bridge from ideation and concept to a sustainable business where they're able to achieve the resources in their own right.
- Sparklabs Cultiv8 partner Jonathon Quigley
Sparklabs Cultiv8 operates from the GATE, at Orange Agricultural Institute.
Partner Jonathon Quigley said eight companies went through the program last year, with another eight this year.
He said they included a company from Orange, Moisture Planting Technologies, which has developed a planting system capable of automatically varying the way seeds are planted based on the amount of moisture in the soil.
"The rig can deviate so're you're planting the seed at a better depth," he said.
The ventures also branch overseas to Aquabyte in Norway, which has designed solutions for fish farming and Oxford in the UK, which focused on biocarbon engineering.
"They're regenerating land by drones in relation to mining site and agricultural lands," he said.
He said a business from Sydney was using influencers, the digou network, or Chinese shoppers who buy up products in Australia and send them home, and larger companies like Alibaba to build connections and boost sales in China.
He said his company was working with Silicon Valley to examine the beef supply chain in order to give producers better tools, and also provided start-ups with mentors, capital and networking opportunities, plus helped them hire their first 15 employees and find customers and contracts.
"We're trying to ensure we're a bridge from ideation and concept to a sustainable business where they're able to achieve the resources in their own right," he said.
"They've now raised a total of $33 million over the past two years."
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