by Peter Wren-Hilton | Oct 16, 2024 | Brisbane Biological Symposium
Powered by Platform10
I’m delighted to share the news that Platform10 will be co-hosting the Brisbane Biological Symposium on Monday 17 February 2025 with CSIRO & Wharf42. The Symposium is a major element of CSIRO’s Agriculture & Biosecurity Innovation Series, timed to coincide with evokeAG 2025, Australasia’s premier AgriFoodTech event.
This is an important development and exciting outreach opportunity. Following the launch of the Platform10 Global Partner Network at the 2024 Salinas Biological Summit in June, the Brisbane Biological Symposium is the first formal Platform10 sponsored event taking place outside the US.
This inaugural regional Symposium is being curated to provide researchers, producers, ag biological entrepreneurs, investors and policy-makers with a better understanding of Platform10’s cross-border field trials program to support farmers and growers meet the rapidly growing global regulatory and consumer demand for ‘less chemicals, more biologicals’.
The Symposium Steering Committee brings together sector experts to support its purpose. They include;
Jon Spaits – CSIRO Program Development & Innovation | Catalysing Australia’s Biosecurity
Dr Louise Thatcher – CSIRO Team Leader of Microbial Technologies
Dennis Donohue – Director, Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology
Dr. Jeana Cadby – Director, Environment & Climate, Western Growers
Miriam Hall – Business Manager, Plant & Food Research (NZ)
Peter Wren-Hilton – Founder, Wharf42
The Symposium will take place at CSIRO’s Eco Sciences Precinct in Brisbane. We’ll provide more details about the Symposium agenda over the coming weeks.
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Sep 18, 2024 | 2024 Salinas Biological Summit
Over the past couple of months, we’ve published videos of every 2024 Salinas Biological Summit keynote presentation and panel discussion in the Wharf42 newsletter.
Today, we’ve collated every video into a single collection to make it easier for you to review some of the truly fascinating insights that were shared by our 40+ expert speakers / presenters.
As we begin to prepare for next year’s Summit program in Woodland, we’ve set a high bar for ourselves. June’s compilation of premium content provides a brief insight into where we want to go. It’s all about creating value for everyone engaged in this exciting and hugely important area of agrifoodtech; growers, entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, advisors and policymakers.
You can view the entire 2024 Salinas Biological Summit Video Collection here
Please feel free to download and share.
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Sep 12, 2024 | 2025 Salinas Biological Summit
Following the two highly successful inaugural Biological Summits in Salinas, the 2025 Salinas Biological Summit is taking to the road!
I’m hugely excited to share the news that on 24-25 June 2025, the 2025 Summit will be hosted at the Yolo County Fairgrounds in Woodland, California. Located just a few miles from the UC Davis campus, close to California’s capital, Sacramento, and on the doorstep of Central Valley, the new venue provides us with a unique opportunity to build on and enhance the Summit Program to deliver more opportunity to everyone attending the event; partners, exhibitors and delegates.
As well as serving up another content-rich Program of presentations and panel discussions, 2025 will see the first Startup event focused entirely on emerging companies in the biocontrol sector, as well as the introduction of real-time demonstrations of biological solutions being applied ‘in the field’.
As the global demand for ‘less chemistry, more biologicals’ accelerates, the need to provide growers with the tools necessary to develop new integrated pest management programs, as well as meet the increasing calls from regulatory bodies, is critical.
With lessons learned in 2023 & 2024, the 2025 Salinas Biological Summit will raise the bar and provide a totally new & enhanced experience for those joining us in Woodland next year.
Learn more at www.salinas-summit.com
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Aug 7, 2024 | Wharf42
Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to address the Animal & Plant Health New Zealand conference in Wellington to share insights into the development of the Platform10 Global Partner Network.
Earlier, I had joined the Leaders breakfast, on behalf of Wharf42, to hear NZ Minister for Regulation, David Seymour, release the Terms of Reference for the regulatory review into the approval path for agricultural and horticultural products. To quote Seymour, ‘“Right now, there are too many delays, and the process is too complex. It stops farmers and growers from getting access to products that have been approved by other OECD countries”. In short, New Zealand has woken up and realized it needs to accelerate the registration of emerging soft chemicals and biologicals to remain competitive.
Wharf42 will actively support this process. Currently it can take five to nine years to bring a new product to market. That is totally unacceptable. Our mission is to ensure that the review enables New Zealand to establish best practice and become a global leader in terms of its regulatory process. The good news is that Minister Seymour is looking to take recommendations to Cabinet within 6 months and potentially the new regulatory framework within 12.
A game-changer for New Zealand farmers and growers and an opportunity to build a global template for others to follow.
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Jun 6, 2024 | Platform10
I was delighted to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with New Zealand’s Plant & Food Research last week. Below is a copy of the Media Release that was published to support the signing.
Plant & Food Research has joined a global initiative looking at finding new ways to control plant pests and diseases.
The Platform10 initiative is an international collaboration that aims to speed up the development of new biological control products for protecting crops against pests and diseases. Plant & Food Research has joined the collaboration, which aims to conduct trials in New Zealand and Australia.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Plant & Food Research CEO Mark Piper and Peter Wren-Hilton of Wharf42 on behalf of Platform 10.
“Platform 10 was formed to help give growers confidence in adopting new biological alternatives to pest and disease control as global regulations around pesticide use tighten,” says Peter Wren-Hilton. “By providing a mechanism for growers to engage at the research phase, through field trials, we hope to increase understanding and uptake of these new biological products. Plant & Food Research has a strong track record in developing biocontrols and taking them through to the commercialisation phase, so were the ideal partner for us in New Zealand, working in the counter season to our trials in the USA.”
“Growers and marketers are increasingly looking for new ways to manage insect pests and diseases on their land that are more environmentally sustainable,” says Miriam Hall from Plant & Food Research. “We’re excited to be working with Platform10 to support validation of new products at the research stage and help growers understand how they can transition to new management protocols that incorporate biological controls into their crop management.”
Platform10 emerged from the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit where it became apparent that a global framework to accelerate promising biopesticide companies, rigorously assess products, enhance grower confidence, and facilitate market development and adoption was required. Launched in California in November 2023, Platform10 was established to bring growers to the centre of the innovation ecosystem. Platform10 will provide other key stakeholder groups within the specialty crop sector with the opportunity of learning about these problems and challenges at first hand.
