Zetifi unit testing
Tasmanian seaweed company receives funding from AMGC
T
asmanian seaweed producer and manufacturer Sea Forest has received federal government co-investment of $675,000 from the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC). The funding will be used to develop and manufacture the company’s novel method for delivering oil-based Asparagopsis seaweed as an additive to feed solutions for milk, beef and wool livestock to reduce digestive-related methane emissions. The funding follows the recent capital-raising by Sea Forest to expand marine farming, harvesting and processing operations at its 1800-hectare sea lease at Triabunna, just north of Hobart. The company’s operations feature a hatchery with a marine lease growing Asparagopsis seaweed and a processing plant that converts the seaweed into user-friendly products that reduce carbon emissions. The world seaweed market is currently worth $11 billion and the Australian Seaweed Institute predicts that the Australian market could be worth $100 million in 2025 and $1.5 billion by 2040. According to the CEO of Sea Forest, Sam Elsom, the company is making good progress with its Asparagopsis seaweed feed 4
November/December 2021
supplements. “From our stage one farm we plan to produce 7000 tonnes a year of seaweed for livestock, which will go a long way, initially cutting carbon emissions from livestock by about 400,000 tonnes per year.” Dr Jens Goennemann, Managing Director of AMGC said: “Sea Forest’s solution is grounded in solid research which reduces methane emissions from livestock flatulence. Sea Forest has proven that local manufacturing can deliver globally relevant products that reduce carbon emissions and do so with no impact to operations for milk, beef and wool producers.” Administered in consultation with all Industry Growth Centres, the 4th and 5th tranche of funding from the federal government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative has been awarded to 10 Australian manufacturers to address many of the six National Manufacturing Priorities. The successful round four and five recipients included two from the food and beverage sector (which is one of the priorities): • Sea Forest Ltd (TAS) – detailed above. Total project commitment $3.24 million ($675,000 from Commercialisation Fund) • Zetifi (NSW) – Commercialisation of ZetiBase, a high-availability wireless network gateway for regional and remote businesses. Total project commitment $812,000 ($396,000 from Commercialisation Fund) The other eight projects included: • MolyCop (NSW) – Recycling • Sleeptite (VIC) – Medical • Nexxis (WA) – Resources Technology & Critical Minerals Processing • mDetect (VIC) – Resources Technology & Critical Minerals Processing • Savic (VIC) – Clean Energy • Samsara (NSW) – Recycling • Ellen Medical Devices (NSW) – Medical Products • Kinaltek (NSW) - Resources Technology & Critical Minerals Processing These 10 co-invested projects represent a total investment of $16.2 million, with 60% of total funds ($10.1 million) contributed by the manufacturing industry and the remainder ($6.1 million) from AMGC’s $30 million Commercialisation Fund. “The latest round of investment via the Commercialisation Fund brings the total number of projects supported to 31. Each of these projects will generate significant opportunities, injecting close to $50 million into local operations to commercialise, scale and take Australian products global,” Dr Goennemann said. For more information and to apply for a grant go to: https:// www.amgc.org.au/projects/.
www.foodprocessing.com.au
