Frequently asked questions

grow^AG. is the gateway to Australia’s agrifood innovation system. It formalises a shared vision to showcase world leading agricultural research, unique technologies and commercialisation opportunities in one, easy to use location. 

grow^AG. is a collaboration between the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) and Australia’s 15 Research & Development Corporations, often referred to as the RDCs. 

All the information on this platform is free to access and allows investors, corporates, startups, researchers, industry, government and universities from Australia and around the world to locate information and opportunities to deliver innovation back to the farm and the food supply-chain. 

The 15 Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) are agricultural, forestry and fisheries industry specific government agencies that fund, invest in, and manage research, development, and extension projects that deliver benefits back to industry. The RDCs are funded by Australian government funds and industry levies. 

AgriFutures Australia manages on behalf of the 15 Australian Research and Development Corporations (RDCs). 

grow^AG. lets you search by keyword and by filters. Here are some tips to refine your keyword search.

1. Use “double-quotes” to search for exact phrases. 

• "sheep woolgrowers" will only return results that contain that exact phrase, spelled as provided.

2. Use AND, OR and NOT to refine your searches.

When written in capitals AND, OR and NOT have special meaning. 

• 'sheep AND woolgrowers' will only return results that contain both terms.
• 'sheep OR woolgrowers' will return results that contain either word.
• 'woolgrowers NOT sheep' will return results that contain 'woolgrowers' but not 'sheep'.

3. You can use parentheses to create increasingly fine-tuned searches.

• 'woolgrowers AND (development OR marketing)' will only return results that contain 'woolgrowers' and at least one of 'development' and 'marketing'.

Get in contact via this enquiry form. One of our team will be in touch to assist with your technical issues. 

Provide all feedback and suggestions about the platform via the contact page enquiry form.

Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated with our latest news and opportunities. 

Get in touch with us via our contact page enquiry form.

All the information on this platform is free to access. Likewise organisations involved in the Australian agrifood innovation can upload a research project, commerical opportunity and organisation for free. 

grow^AG. showcases Australian agrifood research, development, and extension projects that are current or have been completed since 1 July 2018.

Initially the platform features projects led by the 15 Australian Research & Development Corporations (RDCs). Over time we look forward to featuring  projects led by other organisations in the Australian agrifood innovation system. 

Australian-based researchers and research organisations working on a project relevant to the agrifood sector are invited to reach out to the grow^AG. team about sharing relevant research projects (current or completed since 1 July 2018) through the platform. Entities must agree to specified Terms and Conditions.

Enquire about submitting your research project with grow^AG. via this page.  

Each research project has an individual "enquire now" link to enable you to register your interest. Submit your contact details and purpose and the completed form will be shared with the organisation responsible for the research project and the grow^AG. Community Manager.

An opportunity is a clearly defined problem or opportunity around which an Australian agrifood organisation is seeking engagement from another organisation. Proponents might seek to engage potential participants to create, progress or commercialise a potential product or service. This may include an expression of interest for a commercial partnership, research partnership or collaboration, investor or licensing arrangement. It is not intended to include identification of customers or trial sites for individual entities already in the market. 

Submit your details and the opportunity information using the form provided and agree to the Contributor Terms and Conditions. The team will review the opportunity and contact you with any questions about the information provided.

The contributor remains the owner of all content which it submits to grow^AG.. Information listed on the platform is publicly available information and must not be commercial in confidence. Contributors must agree to the Contributor Terms and Conditions when submitting an opportunity to be listed on grow^AG.

Commercialisation is the responsibility of the opportunities author and their partners.

Please submit the opportunity and the Community Manager will contact you directly.  Get in touch with us via our contact page enquiry form if you have any questions when completing your form.

Each opportunity has an individual "enquire now" link to enable you to register your interest. Once submitted, this is sent onto the organisation responsible for the opportunity and the grow^AG. Community Manager.

TRL describes the stage of readiness and maturity of the challenge or opportunity being pursued. 

TRLs are based on a scale from 1 to 9 with 9 being the most mature.

Early (TRL 1-4): Describes the challenge or opportunity being pursued and undertakes premliminary R&D to determine if the concept is feasible. 

Mid (TRL 5 - 7): Proof of concept in the laboratory then in the field resulting in the development of a minimum viable product (MVP).

Late (TRL 8 - 9):  Commercial optimisation of the product/service, testing and commercial distribution.

Organisations that contribute to the Australian agrifood innovation system and are actively looking for collaboration activities around agrifood investment and/or research. Organisations must have an ABN and be one of the following: accelerator or incubator, corporate, government agency, industry body, industry consultant, investor, research funding body (including RDC’s, CRC’s, ARC), private research organisation, public research organisation, research service providers (labs, research sites, demonstration farms) or a startup, scaleup or SME.

Submit an organisation profile via the form to be featured on the platform. 

If you would like to submit your organisation visit here. 

Challenge led innovation is a process of connecting a clearly defined problem with potential solutions.

grow^AG. shares 'innovation challenges' relevant to Australia's agrifood sector and which are open to Australian participants within the opportunities area of the platform. Hint: filter for 'innovation challenge' to find these.

If you would like to submit an opportunity you are running to be listed on grow^AG. please submit an expression of interest.

Alternative Protein: Plant based, lab-grown, cellular, fermentation-based, a-cellular proteins. 

Aquaculture: Production of aquatic animals in ocean and land based systems. E.g., Salmonids, tuna, oyster 

Beef cattle: Grass and grain fed, live export 

Cotton: Cotton, cotton seed, fibre 

Cross industry: Climate change, biosecurity, farm health and safety 

Dairy: Milk, butter, camel milk 

Eggs: Free range, caged 

Essential oils: Tea tree oil, Australian native oils 

Forestry: Sawn wood, plywood and veneer, paper and wood-based panels, pulp and woodchip, sawlog 

Fruits: Apple, pear, avocado, banana, blueberry, cherry, citrus, custard apple, dried grape, dried tree fruit, lychee, mango, melon, nashi, olive, papaya, passionfruit, persimmon, pineapple, prune, raspberry and blackberry, strawberry, summer fruit and table grapes 

Game: Deer, buffalo, kangaroo, ratite 

Cereal grains: Wheat, barley, rice, oats, sorghum, maize, triticale, millets/panicums, cereal rye and canary seed 

Honeybees: Pollination, honey 

Natural capital assets: Natural resource assets such as soil, water or carbon with potential economic value. 

Nuts: Almond, chestnut, macadamia, pistachio, hazelnuts 

Oilseeds: Canola, sunflower, safflower, linseed, soybean 

Other rural industries:  These are other industries that conduct research, development and extension (RD&E) and have projects represented on growAG. But do not concisely fit within any other industry filter. They are small and emerging industries that are not aligned with the traditional commodity industries. Their inclusion reflects the historical structure of the Australian Agricultural Innovation System. These industries include (but are not limited to): mushroom, truffle, ginger, pasture seeds, goat fibre, flowers, nursery, coffee, sesame, hemp. 

Packaged food: Processed and prepared food including pre-cooked, canned, frozen meals, ingredients 

Pasture, fodder & feed: Pasture seeds, hay, silage 

Pork:  Pigs 

Poultry: Chicken meat 

Pulse grains: Lupins, field peas, chickpeas, faba beans, lentils, vetch, peanuts, mungbeans, navy beans, pigeon pea, cowpeas 

Sheep & lamb: Grain and grass-fed sheep, lamb, live export 

Sugar: Sugar cane 

Vegetables: Broccoli, lettuce, potato, tomato, carrots, onions, pumpkins, cucumbers and pyrethrum 

Wild catch fisheries: Commercial live-catch fishing including rock lobster, abalone and prawns  

Wine: Wine grapes 

Wool: Sheep, fibre 

Animal health: Describes the R&D area involved in animal production including animal health and welfare, husbandry, nutrition, and interaction with plant production in mixed farming systems.

Aquatic animal health: Describes the R&D area involved in ecology, evolution, pathology, and toxicity of pathogens, diseases, and natural toxins that impact aquatic animal health whether wild or farmed.  

Biosecurity: Describes the R&D area associated with monitoring and modelling of key exotic pests and diseases, surveillance to demonstrate area freedom and allow rapid response to incursions and response technologies including pre-emptive responses from breeding (e.g., disease resistance) and other control methodologies (e.g., access to chemical control options).

Climate & weather: Describes the R&D area related to accurately forecasting weather (what will happen in the next days and week to two-week forecasts) and modelling climate (what are long term predictions regarding temperature, rainfall etc.). Includes weather forecasting, climate modelling, climate change mitigation, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon farming technologies.

Convenience: Products, technologies and supporting supply chain elements that are designed to provide convenience to users/ consumers. This could relate to consuming food products on the go, packaging, checking results in-field, enabling use of ecommerce or vending machine technologies that increase convenience of access and speed. 

Connectivity & Infrastructure: Enabling infrastructure including telecommunications and data connectivity, transport and logistics

Data rights: Rights and policies governing access to data

Extension & adoption: Describes projects focused on the communication, training, and education of farmers, advisers, and researchers. These projects are intended to provide people with the necessary knowledge and skills to implement new practices and technology on-farm and at an industry level. Commonly R&D projects have Extension and Communication related outputs. In this instance, only projects that are explicitly extension and adoption focused will be tagged as such.

Farm business management: Describes the science supporting enterprise integration to maximise farm business profit and sustainability and manage risk. It also includes sustainability elements associated with ecosystem management and ecosystem services.

Functional food & ingredients: Functional foods and beverages are those that provide a health benefit to the consumer beyond basic nutrition. Examples include foods that have been fortified with beneficial nutrients or foods that are free from certain components such as lactose or gluten-free. A functional ingredient is a bioactive compound that can be used in the manufacture of functional food products.

Genetics: Describes the R&D into areas such as gene discovery, gene editing, genetic modification, conventional breeding, quantitative genetics and predictive methods. Much genetic expertise is applicable to both plant, animal, and fish production systems.

Hygiene & shelf stability: Describes the R&D into novel processing and packaging to deliver enhanced food safety, food hygiene, sterilisation, preservation, and extended shelf life or shelf stability, including with better attributes (flavour, nutrition, texture) retained.

Input costs: Includes all external inputs required for production such as crop protection, nutrition and soil ameliorants, animal and fish health, feed, energy, water, plant and equipment and infrastructure and labour.

Market opportunities: Describes R&D related to the commodity market analysis, identification of new market Functional foods and beverages are those that provide an extra health benefit to the consumer beyond basic nutrition. A functional ingredient is a bioactive compound that can be used in the manufacture of functional food products. opportunities. This could include new and emerging market intelligence or sector development.

Modelling: Describes the application of scientific models for physical, mathematical, and conceptual representations of processes and systems.

Personalisation: Technologies that provide or support the adoption of personalised nutrition advice (for instance following analysis of consumer’s lifestyle habits or DNA or microbiome).

Plant health: Describes the R&D into areas such as plant production including, disease management, weed management, pest management, rotations, nutrition, agronomy, harvest, storage and handling. It also includes plant physiology and often overlaps with soil and water R&D as well as animal R&D in mixed farming systems.

Price & quality: Includes R&D related to the interaction between price and quality of agricultural products. Such as protein, eating quality and freshness.

Risk reduction: Relates to risks to the business that includes production risk, resource risk and financial management of risk.

Sensory & flavour: Describes R&D addressing sensory attributes including flavour, odour, texture and taste.

Soil: Describes R&D into soil physics and chemistry that is required for soil characterisation and mapping, improving soil health that includes soil amelioration (e.g., liming to address soil acidity) (and understanding the interaction of plants with soil biology (e.g. rhizobial interactions).

Water quality & efficiency: Describes the R&D in water quality and use including irrigation technologies to maximise water use efficiency.

Yield: Describes the R&D into areas that relate to yield potential determined by underlying genetics as well as addressing natural resource constraints that limit attainable yield (e.g., soil and water constraints).

Alternative protein: Technologies related to developing alternative proteins (including plant based, lab-grown or cellular, fermentation-based, a-cellular) and enhancing their functionality or attributes such as taste/texture.

Animal technology: Technologies for the production of animals that increase production and minimise inputs while maintaining sustainable natural resource management as well as animal health and safety. This includes animal genetics, feed, veterinary medicines, hardware, and software used for animal husbandry and management.

Aquaculture technology: Technologies related to the production of aquatic animals in ocean and land based systems. This includes aquaculture recirculation, cage, pond, tank and raceway systems and their associated technologies such as aeration, water conditioning, biofiltration, fish pumps, graders, counters and feeding systems.

Automation: Technologies supporting labour savings and/or precision farming. Includes UAV technologies and integration of imagery with robotics and engineering to automate repetitive tasks (e.g., fruit picking) or where a greater level of precision (e.g., weed detection and control systems) contributes to farm business profitability and sustainability.

Consumer health: Technologies related to the development of novel nutritional products, this can include nutraceuticals and beverages marketed to consumers.

Crop protection: Technologies that increase yield, limit yield losses from pests, weeds, and diseases (crop protection), address the impact of natural events (heat, drought, frost stress).

Data & AI: Technologies related to the software and data systems that underpin and enable agrifood technologies. These can include animal, plant, supply chain, traceability, and climate monitoring technologies.

E-commerce & market platforms:  Technologies that support efficient market performance as well as identifying requirements that fundamentally impact demand, price and market access.

Food processing technology: Technologies related to the novel processes and technologies used to produce and preserve food stuffs.

Fisheries technology: Technologies related to commercial and wild catch fishing industries. This may include trawl nets, buoy technologies, fishing line and hook hardware and boat design.

Harvest technology: Technologies related to the harvest process of animal produce (both food and fibre), crops (both food and fibre), wild catch fish and aquaculture.

Imagery: Technologies related to the specific equipment, hardware and software related to drones and satellites for aerial monitoring.

Indoor agriculture: Technologies and practices related to the cultivation of crops within buildings, this can be specific to residential or commercial real estate.

Input management: Technologies that aim to optimise the efficient use of seed, fertilisers, and natural resources (e.g., soil and water).

IoT & smart farming: Technologies for the monitoring of key production assets and constraints and analysis of the data to assist farm business decision making. This includes monitoring of soil water, nutrition, crop, and livestock performance, yield and weather.

Machinery & hardware: Technologies related to mechanical implements or hardware used to produce food and fibre. This may include tractor, crop planting, spray application, weather and disease monitoring and other implements.

Novel ingredients: Technologies related to novel ingredient production (e.g., gluten free barley) and emerging crop development (e.g., sesame) as well as storage technologies.

Plant science: Technologies developed relating to plant production including, rotations, nutrition, agronomy, harvest, storage and handling.

Processing & packaging: Technologies that support the post farm gate value chain including transport, storage and handling logistics, processing efficiencies, novel products (e.g., human health, bio-industrials etc).

Renewable energy: Technologies developed for closed loop farming innovation is a growing market segment along with energy systems offsetting inputs and creating revenue streams such as agrivoltaics, carbon arming etc e.g., carbon sequestration could fit in here or 'Input management', depending on the user).

Robotics: Technologies related to robotic software, hardware and equipment production used in the production, harvest, processing and transport of animal, plant, and food products.

Traceability: Technologies that enable integrity management systems of plants, animals, and food throughout the supply chain. Such technologies are used to create value, identify provenance and enhance biosecurity protections.

Animal welfare: Describes the R&D involved in animal production including animal health, welfare and husbandry.

Biodiversity: Describes the R&D related to the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, forests and biodiversity loss.

Climate change: Describes R&D related to climate change mitigation, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon farming.

Crop pollination: Describes R&D related to the sustainable management of the pollination industry and alternative pollinators to the European Honey bee.

Drought: Describes R&D related to drought resilience and management.

Energy: Describes R&D related to renewable energy. This may include closed loop farming, biomass for clean energy and methane recycling.

Food security: Describes R&D related to sustainable food production. This may include increased productivity and diversification and market access

Land degradation: Describes R&D related to the sustainable management of the land. This may include land management practices that reduce soil erosion, run-off, land clearing.

Ocean, river & lake health: Describes R&D related to the sustainable management of the oceans, river and lakes.

Waste: Describes the R&D related to the reduction in resource and agriculture, fisheries and food waste or repurposing agriculture, fisheries and food waste into new food or feed products.

Workforce: Describes R&D related to the capacity building of people in rural industries.