The Growhub, a Singapore-based one-stop farm to table solution for food traceability and data analytics, announced Friday that it has inked a 5-year lease agreement with the Food Innovation Precinct Western Australia (FIPWA), to establish Western Australia’s first food innovation centre creating a corridor between the two countries for agri-innovation, research, and commercialisation of new value-added food products.
Both parties said in a statement that the collaboration will also enable Australian and global entrepreneurs, food companies, and agri-enterprises to cost-effectively network, research, develop, and market test new value-added food products derived from Western Australia’s primary produce, as well as develop new blockchain technologies to enhance food traceability.
Construction of the centre has already begun and is expected to be completed by July 2022.
“This is just the beginning of a new era which we believe is a true game changer for the entire industry. We are excited to have kickstarted the initiatives together with the lease signing and area development. The immense support from our government bodies, committees and stakeholders both in Singapore and Australia have been extremely instrumental in this process. The Growhub ultimately aims to bring trust to the table across Southeast Asia and continues to double down on addressing Singapore’s ‘30 by 30’ food security goal,” said Lester Chan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, The Growhub.
The United Nation projects that global food demand will rise by 60 per cent by 2050 due to global population growth, which reinforces the need for sustainable food exports and innovations.
Earlier in April, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) cautioned against rising domestic inflation for non-cooked food items, driven by surging agricultural commodity prices. Per the MAS, this will in turn feed into higher prices for food services over time, making consumers more inclined to consider spending on premium food items.
In contrast, fuelled by Asia’s growing middle class, consumers are becoming more affluent, sophisticated, and demanding, which could lead to $2.4 trillion of incremental food spend in Asia by 2030, estimated PwC, Temasek, and Rabobank’s in 2021.
“There’s nothing quite like this project in Australia – it’s a regional hub for food and agri-tech businesses, a mentoring and networking centre, and a food
production site with common-use facilities. There are development and research grants available, business mentoring and development opportunities, and it all comes from a local government that’s punching well above its weight and delivering value for its ratepayers.” said Shire of Murray President Cr David Bolt.
The GrowHub holds exclusive agreements with premium producers in Western Australia to distribute their products in the Southeast Asian market for more than 100 unique products in categories such as Honey, oat milk, wine, beer, and barley. Additionally, it is also producing its own brand name food products for export to Southeast Asia.
The GrowHub is a food and agri-tech company from Singapore, with an exclusive commercial partnership with Western Australia Food Innovation Precinct (WAFIP). Currently in eight markets across Australia and Asia Pacific, The GrowHub offers access to trusted premium products at affordable rates through the development of new agri-food and blockchain technologies emerging from its innovation centre at WAFIP.
With the capital, network, and expertise, it uses technology to improve the experience of “farm-to-fork”. From crunching data to enable producers to improve yields, leveraging statistics to enable better transportation of produce, or the information on the quality of food you pay for at the table, its technology allows for full food traceability across the supply chain.