Ranging in age from 19 to 24, these five antipodeans are working to revolutionise the process of bringing food from farm to Aussie tables.
The Australian agriculture, fisheries and forestry industry crossed the $100 billion valuation threshold last year. Eighty per cent of what was produced was exported abroad, with China and the USA being our biggest customers.
Back at home, a new generation of changemakers is working to put the world’s oldest industry onto the trajectory of further growth and efficiency. These five enterprising antipodeans have been named as Groundbreakers by AgriFutures Australia, an R&D organisation that invests in developing rural industries.
They talk to Forbes Australia about their motivation to tackle ANZ’s food challenges, and the new ground they are actively breaking.
Tiarna Scerri, 25
PhD Student, Charles Sturt Gulbali Institute for Agriculture
“I love dairy cows and the dairy farming community that welcomed a girl who did not grow up on a farm. Being able to contribute to the dairy industry – in my own unique way – is an opportunity that I want to fully embrace and do justice to,” says Scerri.
“I chose to work on the issue of mastitis in the dairy industry primarily because it is an important sustainability issue that I believed required a biotechnological solution. It’s also a highly interdisciplinary issue, which has given me the chance to explore farmer views and attitudes towards biotechnology and examine the regulatory frameworks relevant to biotechnology.”
Jessie Armstrong, 24
Founder, Agrishift
“My motivation to start Agrishift really sparked at EvokeAG in 2025. While I’d had the opportunity to dabble in some rural contracting and ambassador opportunities, last year’s event inspired me to take some accountability and leverage the experience and insights I had gained from working in Agricultural extension,” says Armstrong.
She grew up on a cattle station in a rural NSW town called Hay, and is applying her skills to address drought innovation.
“I didn’t think we were intentionally designing programs and approaches to workforce solutions with enough emphasis on people and the culture we curate in our businesses. The old mindset of ‘that’s just the nature of the job’ and ‘that’s just how we’ve always done it’ isn’t sufficient anymore for attracting and keeping talented passionate people in our industry, and I think I can help with that.”
“I believe that regardless of how innovative we become, or what Agtech and artificial intelligence models we develop, people will remain at the centre of agriculture. At the end of the day, we all eat food, we all value connection and stories. I don’t believe that the sustainability and innovation our industry seeks can be achieved in silos; we need to support the people who have seemingly niche skills and insights to have the confidence to step into our industry, regardless of where they’ve come from, or how old they are when they enter.”
Elisa Harley, 19
Founder, Enivo Pots
Kiwi Elisa Harley founded her biodegradable plant pot company Enivo Pots in 2025. Her entrepreneurial journey started years before that, however.
“Enivo Pots started when I learnt that New Zealand gardeners and nurseries use an estimated 350 million plastic plant pots every year. Hearing that 98% of them have only a single use, made me ask ‘why does planting trees have to create waste.’ The positive impact that a biodegradable plant pot could make was obvious, so since the age of 16, I have been working on building that solution, creating a biodegradable plant pot, made in New Zealand out of local materials.”
Harley was named 2023 ‘Youth Wellingtonian of the Year,’ and is currently a student at the University of Canterbury, alongside her work on Enivo Pots.
“My long-term commitment to creating sustainable businesses is built off of the foundation of my love for nature, and a desire to ensure that future generations can also experience its beauty. Doing it all whilst being a young female founder is also very important to me. I’ve had many people laugh at me, and not take me seriously. So whilst pushing past every hurdle, I have been sharing the journey publicly, hoping to encourage other young people so that they too can know that they can use entrepreneurship as a tool to build solutions for the problems we experience daily.”
Jade Luxton, 20
Founder, Sterineedle
“I didn’t set out to build a company; I set out to solve a real problem I saw farmers facing every day. Growing up around my grandparents’ farms, I saw how relentless the work was. There are always a thousand jobs to do, and very little time,” says fellow New Zealander Jade Luxton.
“When I was 17, a deer farmer approached me with a simple frustration of constantly changing needles during velveting. It was time-consuming and costly. I thought there had to be a better way. So I started designing a solution for him. What began as one farmer’s problem quickly revealed a much bigger opportunity. This wasn’t just about saving one person’s time; it was about improving efficiency, reducing infection risk, protecting livestock value, and supporting better animal welfare across the industry.”
Luxton’s invention is a plastic-mold that works as a holster for vaccination guns. Every time the gun is holstered, the needle is sterilised in a reservoir of disinfectant.
“Farmers shouldn’t have to compromise on essential hygiene practices due to time or cost pressures. I’ve always had a strong love for animals. I saw that same care reflected in my grandparents and the way they managed their herds. Agriculture is built on a two-way relationship between the farmers who are doing the work and the animals they care for. I wanted to create a tool that strengthens that relationship.”
Sam Rogers, 19
Founder, GrazeMat
“I grew up on a cattle farm where we managed 6,000 head in North Queensland. We knew we could run a better, more productive operation that didn’t only work for the cattle but the land too. The biggest barriers were time and money, we knew practices like rotation and grazing were important, but finding people to move our cattle more often was impossible,” says Rogers.
He has a background in robotics that he says ‘allowed him to sit on both sides of the farming fence.’
“I saw the gap and what was possible to be implemented to bridge it. We had a hunch that it wasn’t just a challenge we were facing, and could change what was possible for many others.”
The 19-year-old has his eye on international expansion, already setting up projects in California and receiving interest worldwide.
“We’ve had traction in the United States, Brazil, even from someone with 60,000 cows in Kazakhstan, as well as a producer in Namibia reaching out needing their water buffalo shifted. Moving cattle at scale has been something that GrazeMate has been supporting over the last 8 months in 60 countries.”
Want to see more Forbes articles on your feed? Tap here to make Forbes Australia a preferred source on Google.
Look back on the week that was with hand-picked articles from Australia and around the world. Sign up to the Forbes Australia newsletter here or become a member here.
