The inaugural cohort addresses operational bottlenecks spanning farm energy, workforce physical health, and feed inventory. To combat power unreliability and steep upgrade costs, Surge Energy introduces an Embedded Energy as a Service (EEaaS) microgrid model incorporating solar, battery storage, and smart controls with zero upfront capital outlay. Meanwhile, Levno provides real-time digital monitoring for milk vats, feed silos, and fuel tanks, and K2 Agri’s Skelex 360 exoskeleton offers lightweight arm support to reduce physical shoulder strain during rotary and herringbone milking.

On the software and herd management front, the cohort introduces specialized tools tailored to varying levels of farm complexity. Resolution offers an intuitive, multilingual farm management platform developed by New Zealand dairy farmers for easy daily record-keeping, while UNIFORM-Agri provides advanced herd analytics tracking fertility, health, and feed parameters. Additionally, Trev provides whole-farm financial benchmarking and input reporting to streamline processor compliance and operational decision-making.

Soil health and nutrient efficiency round out the cohort’s focus through Ocean2Earth, Australia’s first EPA-approved producer of composted seafood processing byproducts and kelp biofertilisers. The product range aims to improve soil natural capital and reduce producer dependence on synthetic fertilizers. All seven technologies were evaluated and chosen by an Industry Advisory Committee (IAC) comprising active Victorian dairy farmers, veterinarians, agribusiness executives, and agricultural researchers.