Projects and Ventures

Agritechnology has formed wholly owned subsidiaries and joint-venture companies to further the commercialisation of a number of its discoveries.

Australian Functional Foods Pty Ltd

Functional foods offer benefits beyond basic nutrition; promoting optimal health and reducing the risk of disease.

Australian Functional Foods (AFF) uses technology developed at Agritechnology to process fruit and vegetables to produce functional food and beverage products and nutraceuticals.

For more information, see the cherry case study.

Alternative Fuels Corporation Pty Ltd

Ethanol is made from crops or plants containing large amounts of sugar or else components that can be converted into sugar, like starch or cellulose. In Australia, ethanol is produced from feedstocks such as sugar cane waste, red sorghum waste and algae.

The Alternative Fuels Corporation Pty Ltd (AFC) has technology, developed at Agritechnology, to increase the capacity of ethanol plant operations while co-producing large volumes of food grade yeast.

The AFC mission is to commercialise its patented knowledge, processes and procedures to:
Create an abundant supply of new vegetable protein
Dramatically increase production of ethanol without depleting agricultural crops

Agritechnology is continuing to develop products under contract to AFC.

AFC’s offshoot, AFC Yeast, is promoting the protein-rich yeast that is a by-product of ethanol production as a stock feed additive or for human consumption as a milk extender, protein concentrate, egg replacement or protein chew.

For more information, see the yeast case study.

Bio Processing Australia Pty Ltd

Bio Processing Australia Pty Ltd (BPA) was formed in 2007 to develop and commercialise a unique opportunity identified by Agritechnology and Peregrine Partners.

Peregrine saw a potential market opportunity and Agritechnology identified the technology to exploit it. BPA tested the concept against existing IP and lodged a patent application in parallelwith intensive experimentation and fundraising activity.

BPA was located with Agritechnology who provided technical input, product design and back office support, allowing BPA to focus on market and investment activities.

The technology was successful for both large-scale yeast products and very novel niche products and BPA has generated sufficient funds to retain its early stage equity holdings while continuing to develop its technology.

BPA now has a multi-million dollar turnover and an internationally recognised food company is distributing product throughout Southeast Asia.

The BPA model hinges on operating a market and product development program in tandem with technology development. BPS is currently using this technology as the cornerstone for a proposed major bioprocessing facility in Australia.