Australia’s 85,000 agricultural businesses are trending towards increasing accountability around farming practices and their impact on the environment. Pic: DjelicS (E+) via Getty Images.
Tech
Zeotech has made a strategic investment in environmental farm management tech start-up Regen Digital.
The early-stage investment establishes a symbiotic partnership aligned with Zeotech’s agronomic objectives, aimed at developing agri-products that improve nutrient management and offer farmers access to carbon markets.
For starters the company is kicking in $140,000 for a 4% post money interest in Regen, through a fully subscribed $500,000 seed capital round being undertaken by the group.
The Zeotech (ASX:ZEO) investment represents a cornerstone 28% share of total seed funding to support the establishment of Regen’s ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) platform – which aims to establish the value of a farmer’s environmental assets with an Environmental Farm Assessment (EFA).
The EFA will be used to create a farm’s ‘digital twin’ helping farmers better understand, define, market, execute and deliver transactions in carbon, biodiversity, and other emerging markets.
Farmers can then model different environmental actions and the way these would impact their operations and income.
Regen Digital aims to launch the EFA in Q1 2022 and attract an initial pool of 1,000 farmers (the current EFA waitlist stands at over 250 farmers) from a market of more than 85,000 agricultural businesses in Australia.
The platform will capitalise on the growing trend towards increasing accountability around farming practices and their impact on the environment.
“The opportunity to support the establishment of a digital platform which Australian farmers can trust to manage their environmental transactions and data, was compelling,” Zeotech MD Peter Zardo said.
“[It] highlights Zeotech’s commitment to foster development of innovative technology in the agricultural sector.
“The capability to allow farmers to create a ‘digital twin’ of their properties to measure environmental improvements and open up new sources of revenue is exciting and aligns to Zeotech’s objective to develop zeolite centric products to improve agronomic outputs and offer potential access to carbon markets.”
As part of its investment, Zeotech will also have access to Regen Farmers Mutual, which was founded by a group of farmers, conservation organisations and expert advisors who came together to explore opportunities and barriers for farmers to engage in carbon and biodiversity markets.
The company sees the relationship as a potential future pathway for development and distribution of its agricultural products – which target nutrient management and soil carbon enhancement.
Not to mention the extraordinary access it provides to a unique cooperative of innovative Australian farmers with an appetite to transact in carbon and biodiversity markets.
ZEO is presently undertaking a comprehensive agronomic research program with Griffith University where pilot trials are aimed at confirming the potential for the surfaces of reactive zeolites to be effective for carbon sequestration, for both organic and inorganic phases.
Griffith University believes the mechanisms underpinning these sequestration processes suggest positive prospects for long-term soil carbon storage.
Essentially, the synthetic zeolites can be used to develop an economically compelling fertiliser delivery platform, which offers multiple benefits – including the potential for soil carbon sequestration.
Just for starters, the results show synthetic zeolites are capable of:
“Zeotech’s work with Griffith University in developing products to facilitate access to carbon markets, whilst improving on farm economics is synergistic Regen Digitals and Regen Farmers Mutual approach to helping farmers achieve their goals,” Regen Digital MD Rohan Clarke said.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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