Australian tech start-up Oceanfarmr says its Farm to Buy system is an alternative to traditional farm finance and will allow aquaculture producers greater access to capital for growth.
Oceanfarmr, formerly SmartOysters, said access to capital is a significant growth barrier for ocean farmers. Farm to Buy enabled farmers to expand their production by utilising unused resources to grow their farm and business.
While agricultural farms often have the option of land as an asset to secure financing, aquaculture farmers have traditionally found it more difficult to access capital as water based farmland is not privately owned. By monitoring and managing on-water leases, Oceanfarmr said it can help those in the aquaculture industry overcome this barrier to growth.
Oceanfarmr will provide farming resources, under the agreement that when the crop is sold the proceeds will be used to pay out the finance and the farmer will own the new farming system outright, allowing for farmers to expand their production, and eliminating debt risks from traditional financing options.
Oceanfarmr founder and marine biologist Ewan McAsh said that the sustainability outputs were ‘endless’.
“For every $10 million US dollars that is invested in sustainable aquaculture through Oceanfarmr farm finance, the benefits for the environment include the capture of an estimated 39 tonnes of nitrogen, 298 tonnes of carbon and 1,239 gigalitres of water filtered,” McAsh said.
Capturing hundreds of data points over time across crops, assets and activities, the Oceanfarmr team aim to work closely with farmers on the Oceanfarmr app to provide business insights and food production infrastructure.
Farmers can sell the crop with an agreed portion of the revenues being paid to the finance provider, at which point ownership of the infrastructure reverts to the farmer, allowing them to farm their own crops with their own infrastructure moving forward.
The tech startup has already commenced taking Farm to Buy orders with the first $168,000 signed and a pipeline of $38 million across Australia, New Zealand, North America and the UK.
The launch coincides with a crowdfunding campaign which invites local investment into the blue economy. As the only company dedicated to the ocean farming sectors of oysters, mussels and seaweed, Oceanfarmr is uniquely positioned as the core technology to finance the growth of the regenerative ocean farming industry.
The funding from the campaign via Birchal will be used to accelerate and expand the Farm to Buy program, allowing more farmers to access much needed resources to grow their farms sustainably. In addition, the capital raise will enable Oceanfarmr to expand their current offerings.
