Central Queensland farmer Sarah Donovan is excited about progressing her agrochemical platform after taking part in the Agtech and Logistics Hub’s GRDC GroundUp program.
Ms Donovan is the founder of Cirquitive, a QR code-based platform that allows the traceability of agricultural and agvet chemicals, fertilisers and other farm inputs throughout the supply chain.
She says her future is “looking bright” after completing the 12-week GroundUp accelerator, with many lessons learned and connections made.
“I had some pretty big expectations when joining the accelerator. I knew that we would be given some great tools as how to progress with your start-up and your start-up idea,” Ms Donovan explained.
“I was just so pleasantly surprised with the level of support that we got and not from just the people running the program, but also the other participants in the program.
“We got to share a lot of knowledge. We learned from one another, so it was just a fantastic program to be a part of and very grateful for the GRDC to fund it.”
Through GroundUp, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) invests exclusively in innovative start-ups that have the potential to benefit Australian grain growers.
Ms Donovan’s circular agrochemical cloud-based regulatory compliance and sustainability platform enables farmers to better manage and maintain their agrochemical usage, inventory, compliance, audit, and the disposal of expired chemicals and empty containers.
Her goal is to help primary producers attain the “highest level of agrichemical compliance” and make their job a lot easier when it comes to record keeping, while also improving sustainability.
The GroundUp program was delivered online, enabling Ms Donovan and other innovators who live remotely to take part.
Participants were given the opportunity to collaborate with industry and present their solutions to further refine ‘market fit’.
The accelerator finished with the GroundUp Agtech Showcase Day on 16 February, an event where participants could pitch their innovations and network.
Ms Donovan said she was grateful for all the connections she made through the Agtech and Logistics Hub.
“They put us in touch with a variety of people with some fantastic skills just to progress our concept and I found that so incredibly valuable because they’re not people I would normally feel comfortable reaching out to,” she said, reflecting on her GroundUp experience.
“In the immediate future I will be looking forward to a lot of networking opportunities the Agtech and Logistics Hub has afforded me, so it’s exciting times ahead.”