CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

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• Australian Young Farmer of the Year 2011

• Built a multi-million dollar business

• Employing 85+ staff

• Producing 50 unique lines of fresh produce

• Listed in the top 50 fastest growing companies in Australia 2 years running

• Delivering 150,000-180,000 bunches, punnets and pots to consumers & chefs each week 34

• Initially I looked at farming as a business rather than a farm

• I identified a problem with fresh herbs in Australia; retailers and consumers

were getting poor quality produce and inconsistent prices

• Cooking culture in Australia was changing with the growth in popularity of

cooking reality TV shows such as Master Chef

• My first steps into the industry was not to begin farming myself, rather work

with farmers to better understand their environment

My first steps

• I learnt that field crops were tough and very variable

• I met my business partner and we experimented with hydroponic grown basil

• Through trial and error we perfected the formula and expanded our production

• This lead to increased performance and output, Through consistency we

increased customer satisfaction & continued to grow

Traditional farming was hard

Hydroponic vs. Field

Disconnected Processes • Software was limited and complex

• Many processes were manual or inefficient

• We built our own platform called ‘Habitat Wired’

• This allowed us to digitally connect our customers directly to our staff and farms, reducing errors and increasing efficiency

• We built a proprietary modular mainframe that can continue to evolve with our business

Habitat photo

BasilPlanted: 01/08

Batch: 1234Harvest: 10/9 Grower: Jan

Learn More

Building a new format• Moving from field production to hydroponic improved our production from 150 to 350

bunches per sq. meter per year

• We were still only using 60% of our greenhouses space and continued to have high labor costs

• We designed a new farming format that has increased our production to 606 bunches per sq. meter per year, utilising an additional 25% of greenhouse space and increased labor productivity by 30%

• We received a $435,000 interest free loan from major Australian supermarket chain ‘Coles Supermarkets’

2016 NUFFIELD STUDY TOPIC

Sky Greens SINGAPORE

• On just 5.5 sq. meters one of the Sky Greens towers can grow 2,500 plants

• Water usage is only 10% of the amount used in conventional farming

• Hydroponic system on a rotating A frame, with low energy input

• Challenges in allowing UV / sunlight to get to plants evenly

• 7-10 year return on investment, with minimal growing support

SPREAD JAPAN

• Worlds largest vegetable factory, producing 21,000 heads of lettuce a day

• Stable 365 days a year production

• Uses 13 times less water, with no environmental run off

• High energy costs, is it natural?

• 10 year return on investment, only proven on a few salad varieties

Gotham Greens NEW YORK, USA

• Rooftop greenhouse producing 30,000 salads & basil bunches a week

• 10% of produce is supplied to supermarket below

• Uses a traditional nutrient flow system

• Challenges around sunlight due to shading

• High capital start up costs

Freight Farms BOSTON, USA

• Produces 800-1000 mini heads of lettuce a week

• One person can operate in 15-20 hours a week

• Cost $300-500 a month to run and can be deployed anywhere

• Investment $85,000 USD + Shipping

• 100 units are deployed across the US, but business model is yet to be proven as sustainable

Farming Forward• Fresh Leaf will expand it’s farming footprint from 30,000 sq. meters to 100,000

sq. meters incorporating our new format and research technology

• We will continue to expand Habitat Wired to not only gain efficiencies, but also give our customers & the next generation of farmers a better way to understand farming

• We will continue to benchmark ourselves against global methods of farming, moving towards carbon neutral production and distribution as well as while striving to reduce inputs and increase outputs.

• We will reduce toxicity levels that are common in modern day agriculture.

ThankYou

and Lets feed the world by

Innovating and Farming together!