Farming insects and lifelong lessons with Olympia Yarger

Waste warrior and insect farming pioneer, Olympia Yarger of agritech startup, Goterra, has earned the 2023 ACT Australian of the Year award for her commitment to tackling climate change. In this Humans of Agriculture x evoke^AG. collab podcast, Oli Le Lievre unpacks Olympia’s diverse and entrepreneurial life experiences.

Food

Insects Agritech Food waste December 2022 Humans of Agriculture

57 mins

by Oli Le Lievre

Humans of Agriculture

View more contributions

Posted on 28 Nov 2022

Olympia Yarger, CEO and Founder of Goterra.

This week we bring you another Humans of Agriculture x evoke^AG. collaboration podcast with Oli Le Lievre. Here Oli catches up with Olympia Yarger, the CEO and Founder of Goterra, a food waste management company, using robotics and black soldier flies to turn food waste into a protein source, used as animal feed and a nutrient-dense fertiliser.

Earlier this month, Olympia was announced as the 2023 ACT Australian of the Year for her contributions in dealing with climate change. Goterra’s food management system has processed more than 35,000 tonnes of waste and saved more than 66,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

The modular biowaste converters have been a huge success for Sydney’s Barangaroo precinct in managing high-volume commercial and retail food waste. The Woolworths Group has also incorporated Goterra’s solution into their business model to help achieve zero food waste going to landfill by 2025.

Olympia shares her story with Oli about how personal tragedy led to her traveling overseas and how those experiences helped shape who she is today and ultimately led to the creation of Goterra.

Learn more about the Humans of Agriculture podcast and read Oli’s stories, here.

Interested in attending evoke^AG. 2023 at the Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia on 21-22 February 2023? View the full two-day program, including all speakers and partners involved in evoke^AG. 2023. Tickets are on sale here.

Agtech in the west is aiming high and this start-up is a perfect example

Using technology to solve consumer concerns is nothing new in the 21st century. But two brothers from Geraldton in Western Australia have taken it to a whole new level, utilising blockchain expertise to track premium Australian food from the farm gate to its final destination in China – and facilitating sustainable, and global consumer interactions.

Food

4 May 2023

6 min read

Biosecurity: how are we safeguarding our $100 billion industry target?

As an agricultural industry, we’re targeting $100 billion per annum in farm gate output by 2030. But in the past 12 months, the offshore outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Indonesia and the presence of the Varroa mite on our home soil threatens to derail the sector.

Food

2 May 2023

Expert panel shows opportunities for SynBio in Australian agrifood sector

Australian diners will soon have the option to tuck into a piece of meat grown from animal cells in a laboratory rather than a paddock. Synthetic biology, or SynBio, is also helping to engineer ingredients for plant-based proteins, design crops for fuel production, and the development of insecticides with the help of bespoke microbes.

Food

28 Mar 2023

5 min 30 second read

Read

Agrifood tech funding is down but not out, according to these leading VCs

At first glance, AgFunder’s Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report makes for pretty bleak reading, showing a 44% drop in investment in the sector in 2022 compared to 2021. But beyond the headline figures, there’s a more nuanced story to tell – and looking forward, it’s not all bad news.

Investment

9 Jun 2023

Agtech in the west is aiming high and this start-up is a perfect example

Food

4 May 2023

6 min read

The fringe benefits of agtech

The application of agtech is often positioned to improve operational efficiency, profitability and sustainability. But could this narrow definition be limiting the adoption of agtech on farm and in the supply chain?

Farm

3 May 2023

4 min read

Putting humanity at the centre of agtech goals

With a track record for running and re-engineering complex businesses, Mark Allison, Managing Director and CEO of Elders, is widely recognised as one of the thought leaders of Australian agribusiness.

Farm

2 May 2023

6 min read

There’s opportunity for agriculture in carbon markets but how should we use it?

Government, industries and companies are stepping up their climate commitments and evoke^AG. 2023 highlighted the opportunities and potential challenges for agriculture in tapping into the carbon market. A panel of experts working in this space argued there’s more than one way for farmers to cash in on soil carbon and climate friendly management practices, but that data is the key.

Farm

2 May 2023

6 min read

Listen

Highlights from evoke^AG. 2023

In this evoke^AG. 2023 podcast series you can hear from global change makers and thought leaders who examine how innovation and tech intersect to improve our agrifood sector. These conversations tackle some of the big challenges for our food, farmers and natural resources, exploring tech-savy solutions and opportunities to drive change.

Future

6 Jun 2023

Putting humanity at the centre of agtech goals

Farm

2 May 2023

6 min read

There’s opportunity for agriculture in carbon markets but how should we use it?

Farm

2 May 2023

6 min read

Make it waterproof: opportunities for agtech in the ocean’s blue economy

Australia has the third largest marine area in the world and the ‘blue economy’ already contributes more than $81 billion* to the nation’s bottom line. And like land-based agriculture, there’s increasing pressure for the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth and to produce food and energy, while conserving the ecosystem.

Tech

14 Apr 2023

5 min read