Overview
When Tasmanian-based SSW Dairy opened for business in July 2020, it marked the culmination of five years of scientific research and industry observation. The Agritech had developed a holistic and more sustainable approach to the farm cycle and successfully made its organic dairy herds more productive. Now it was planning to create a road map for other farmers to transition more easily to organic farming.
Probiotics with potential
Underpinning its progress was SSW Dairy’s innovative use of probiotics to boost soil health and trials of biotherapeutics in dairy cows. SSW Dairy’s initial research found that using good bacteria, fish and kelp as natural fertilisers boosted both the quantity and quality of grass for grazing cattle.
The discovery had the potential to make organic farming more sustainable and profitable. But more research was needed before SSW Dairy could develop a replicable and scalable system that could help other farmers.
The right financial ecosystem
Initially, SSW Dairy raised some equity but quickly found that as a new start-up traditional sources of debt financing were not available to help drive their R&D forward.
SSW Dairy Co-founder and Director John Stewart says, “We’d planned to use the R&D tax incentive (RDTI), but thought we were too small for R&D financing. Then we heard about Radium Capital.”
Today, the Agritech is preparing for a major expansion of its R&D and product range backed by regular Radium Advances. Download the full case study to discover more.
