Accelerating Innovation in Australian Grains: AgriBusiness Connect’s 2025 Plant Vitality Accelerator Driving Impact
By Helen Woodland, Program Coordinator, AgriBusiness Connect
Australia’s grains industry is an $81 billion economic engine—anchoring regional communities, feeding global markets, and underpinning critical advances across more than 24 million hectares of broadacre farmland. Yet, for growers, the pressure is intensifying: climate volatility, rising input costs, and growing compliance demands are testing profitability and resilience.
At AgriBusiness Connect, we see this not just as a challenge—but as an opportunity. Through our 2025 Plant Vitality Accelerator, supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), we’re working with visionary startups to deliver solutions that address today’s pressures and unlock tomorrow’s potential.
From smart chemistry to AI-powered biosecurity, this year’s cohort is a powerful reflection of the GRDC’s 2023–28 Strategic Plan in action—translating high-level strategy into outcomes across paddocks, portfolios, and policy.
The GRDC’s strategic vision focuses on four pillars:
- Harness existing potential
- Reach new frontiers
- Grow markets and capture value
- Thrive for future generations
Meet four standout innovators in our 2025 Accelerator, each aligning with these pillars while reshaping the future of Australian grain production.
D R Grains
Smart Fumigation for Safety, Compliance and Sustainability
D R Grains is transforming post-harvest grain storage management with its FAaMS and FumConX platforms—IoT-driven fumigation systems that enable automation in application and monitoring of fumigants, whilst providing enhanced operator safety and validation of efficacy.
These technologies deliver verifiable certification for hygiene, emissions, and export compliance—critical in a world where low-emission, traceable supply chains are becoming a market access necessity. D R Grains is directly addressing challenges of safety, sustainability, and compliance for on-farm stored grain fumigation treatments.
Phyto FortifAI
AI-Powered Biosecurity for Predictive Pest and Disease Detection
Phyto FortifAI is pushing the frontier of biosecurity through AI, hyperspectral imaging, and satellite data. Its system provides early detection of pest and disease threats—before visible symptoms emerge.
This enables growers to act with precision and timeliness, protecting yields, reducing chemical use, and enhancing Australia’s clean and green export advantage. The platform supports national biosecurity objectives and strengthens our global leadership in responsible agricultural trade.
NanoSoils
Nanotech Crop Protection for Sustainable Input Use
NanoSoils is redefining pesticide and biological input delivery with patented nanoparticle formulations that improve adhesion, solubility, and efficacy at lower doses.
The result? Greater impact with less chemical use—lowering costs, minimising environmental exposure, and improving crop resilience. In a context where input efficiency and environmental performance are critical, NanoSoils offers a science-backed step-change for sustainable grain production.
Renutrients
Circular Economy Fertiliser from Recycled Batteries
ReNutrients is driving Australian-first innovation at the intersection of fertiliser security and waste recovery. By localising a globally proven circular nutrient technology, the company is introducing a novel approach to micronutrient delivery, transforming recycled alkaline batteries and other waste streams into a sustainable source of zinc, manganese, copper, sulphur and nitrogen for Australian agriculture.
With plans to establish regional manufacturing in Queensland, ReNutrients is strengthening sovereign capability and supply chain resilience, while positioning Australia as a leader in agricultural circularity and resource-efficient fertiliser innovation.
What This Means for Australian Grains
At AgriBusiness Connect, we believe that innovation must be both practical and scalable. The companies in our 2025 Plant Vitality Accelerator are delivering exactly that: technologies that translate national strategy into on-farm impact and market advantage.
Each startup is tackling a core challenge in the grains sector – from climate resilience and input efficiency to biosecurity and circularity. Together, they represent the future of Australian grains, where strategy meets action, and innovation meets the paddock.
With GRDC’s valued support, we’re proud to accelerate the solutions that matter – creating lasting value for producers, the supply chain, and Australia’s position in global markets. These technologies will be showcased to the sector in August 2025, offering a window into the next wave of solutions transforming Australian agriculture.
