Australian Country Choice: EOI for innovations to strengthen Australia’s beef supply chain

Opportunity for

• Entrepreneurs, start ups, researchers, technology providers and industry partners developing practical, scalable innovations relevant to the beef supply chain.
• ACC is particularly interested in partners who are open to collaboration, iteration and real world testing within a commercial operating environment.
   

Opportunity description

Industry challenge

The Australian beef industry is operating in an increasingly complex environment, facing pressure to lift productivity, improve efficiency, reduce costs, meet evolving sustainability expectations and maintain world‑class standards of animal welfare and food safety.

As one of Australia’s largest vertically integrated beef supply chains, Australian Country Choice (ACC) operates across breeding, backgrounding, farming, feedlots and processing. This scale creates both opportunity and challenge, solutions must be practical, robust and capable of operating in real production systems without disrupting day‑to‑day operations.

Key challenges include identifying cost‑effective nutrition and feed inputs, improving animal health and performance, reducing emissions intensity, increasing automation, and enhancing data‑driven decision‑making across the supply chain. In processing environments, there is also a need for technologies that improve efficiency, safety, quality assurance and workforce capability.

Many promising innovations struggle to cross the “valley of death” between concept and commercial deployment due to limited access to trial environments, animals, infrastructure or industry partners. 

Current opportunity

ACC is open to conversations with innovators who are ready to trial, test or validate solutions within a commercial beef production and processing environment that can help them with their challenges.

This opportunity is focused on collaborative, engagement models, including:

• In‑kind trial partnerships (e.g. access to animals, feedlots, processing facilities, samples or operational environments)
• Pilot trials, proof‑of‑concept testing or scaled validation
• Co‑development and iterative refinement of solutions based on real industry needs

ACC is not seeking large capital investment proposals through this opportunity. Instead, the focus is on solutions that:

• Address clear operational or industry challenges
• Are at late‑prototype to early‑commercial stage
• Can be tested with minimal disruption to operations
• Are open to adapting based on trial outcomes and industry feedback

For innovators, the return on investment includes access to real‑world testing at scale, industry insight, validation from a leading beef supply chain, and potential pathways to longer‑term commercial partnerships if trials are successful.

Go to “Enquiry now” to express your interest. When submitting your enquiry, please outline the challenge you are addressing, your proposed solution, and the type of engagement or partnership you are seeking from ACC.

Opportunity background

ACC has a long history of engaging in research, development and innovation across the beef value chain, working with universities, industry bodies and commercial partners. The business operates dedicated R&D capability within its feedlot operations and regularly participates in industry‑aligned trials and collaborative projects.

ACC’s approach to innovation is practical and outcomes‑focused, with an emphasis on solutions that can deliver measurable improvements in productivity, efficiency, sustainability and animal welfare. 

This opportunity builds on that foundation by opening the door to a broader pipeline of innovators aligned to ACC’s strategic priorities.