Applications are open to join the Farmers2Founders Harvest Accelerator program, which equips high potential agrifood businesses with the capabilities and support to scale into various markets and address industry constraints.

This year, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is sponsoring two spots for participants to partake in the project and are hoping to attract innovative grain industry representatives with an idea to improve the industry.

Applicants should be an Australian agrifood tech, food tech or value-added business who are looking to scale their operations in a current market or new customer segments.

GRDC Manager Commercialisation AgTech, Tim Spencer, says the Harvest Accelerator presented a great opportunity for grain growers and industry stakeholders to accelerate their business growth and get their products out to industry faster.

“We sponsor this program as we’re passionate about backing grain growers and industry representatives who are using innovation and technology to address the grains industry's issues and opportunities,” he says.

“We want to support the people who are identifying and developing solutions for on farm issues and help them promote their solutions to other growers who can benefit from them.”

Farmers2Founders Co-Founder and General Manager, Skye Raward says the Harvest Accelerator Program would provide start up businesses with the skills, connections and access they need to accelerate growth into dynamic, versatile markets.

“We have developed high quality programming and partnered it with extensive support from a broad network of industry experts, mentors and investors to help agri-businesses level up their businesses,” she says.

“This program aims to reach the startups that have recognised their business has potential to solve an industry issue but they need help to get it off the ground in terms of reaching their target consumers.

“In the past, we’ve aided Australian agribusinesses with scaling their business by providing tailored support to suit their needs, giving them access to a broad network of mentors and experts and helping them establish tangible strategies to help them connect and sell to their target markets.”

Former GRDC supported Harvest Accelerator participants and Co Founders of Auscrimper, Charlie and Amie Lange, used the information they learnt from the program to define their target audience and develop a strategic marketing plan to boost their industry recognition and sales.

The Auscrimper was developed by the Langes, based off a practice used in the United States, to knock down cover crops at the time of planting - it's attached to a tractor and the blades on the roller ‘crimp’ the stem of the cover crop, which prevents moisture from being able to flow up the stalk.

Charlie says the Harvest Accelerator program aided the business in building their customer research and streamlining their target marketing to ensure they were getting their product in front of the right people.

“Instead of blindly trying to sell our product, we worked with Farmers2Founders to define our target audience and develop a strategy to drive our customers to the top of the marketing funnel,” he says.

“The program definitely helped us get our product in front of the right people.

“For us, the huge benefit was working with the other businesses who were at the same stage as us. It made us feel like we weren’t alone in the process and it provided a lot of support having a community to talk to that were at the same stage as us.”

Applications for the Harvest Accelerator Program close on October 16, 2022. GRDC is looking to specifically sponsor grain growers or industry stakeholders with a business aimed at improving the grains industry.

You can submit your application and find out more information, including requirements of eligible businesses, via the Farmers2Founders website.