Marius Cumming
Hatch TEK Program 4
30 Oct 2023
About
Marius used to be part of AWI and so has extensive experience in the wool industry while working with various farmers in Victoria. Marius is a farmer himself, raising about 6000 sheep for wool and lamb.
The Idea
Marius initially involved developing a prototype of an app called AirFarmer where having limited resources is a thing of the past. Marius believes this concept would also allow contractors to grow with experience while farmers know there is someone reliable to get the job done.
This app would be solving the logistics and payment for contractors to save farmers time and energy.
The issue of farm labour continues to be one of the biggest issues in farming across all sectors. However developing a tinder-style matching platform was met with some concern around trust, therefore Marius looked more at the use of video technology and international staff, specifically in the dairy sector which has a large turnover of staff and often rely on international staff on sponsored visas from the Phillipines to fill demand.
Marius key customer segments include:
- Dairy Farms
- International farming staff
This program dragged me out of an everyday farming mindset and into the thinking of the agtech opportunity
What's Next?
Marius is keen to fail fast, and received valuable feedback from Agrifutures on the idea. He is currently looking for a technical co-founder to enable him to further progress the idea.