Agribusiness buzz in brief

ASIC is suing the re-named Freedom, now Noumi, plus its former managing director, Rory Macleod, and former chief financial officer, Campbell Nicholas, for alleged continuous disclosure breaches.

Freedom Foods nearly collapsed in 2020 after the business discovered accounting inconsistencies and outdated stocks, forcing a write-down of more than $590 million and later leading to the sale of its Freedom snacks and cereal products business.

In February ASIC began civil penalty proceedings alleging the executives misled investors, auditors and directors, and allowed the company to breach continuous disclosure laws in 2018-19 and 2019-20 by failing to fully disclose the true state of the company's financial position.

Noumi, the name behind the Milklab and Australia's Own brands, said its admissions were based on information known or should have been known by the former officers at the centre of the allegations.

"It is not practicable at this stage to meaningfully quantify any civil penalties or costs which may be imposed on the company," a statement from the company said.

The Australian agricultural landscape has no shortage of ambitious, goal-setting plans and strategies, but the Australian Farm Institute is asking if they make sense as a collective?

The AFI will host its 2023 Roundtable event in Canberra on October 17 under the theme, "Beyond $100 Billion: Connecting Australia's Agrifood Strategies".

Given many of the industry's strategies and targets have been significant influencers of investment in - and perceptions of - Australian agriculture, the AFI suggests the sector needs a better system to connect these multifaceted initiatives.

The event aims to look at redefining 'value' for Australian agriculture, looking beyond dollars, existing targets and assumptions, including looking beyond the farm sector's 2030 Roadmap, droughts and sustainability.

Participants will have the option of joining the Roundtable online if they can't attend in person.

The founder of the Dutch campaign against emissions reduction laws targeting agriculture is one of the headline speakers leading this year's National Farmers Federation national conference on October 26 and 27.

The NFF says the event at Canberra's national Convention Centre promises the most exciting speaker lineup yet.

Caroline van der Plas founded the Farmer-Citizen Movement in the Netherlands in response to the farmer protests triggered by emissions reduction rules targeting agriculture.

Also on the bill is technology futurist, Dr Jordan Nguyen, speaking about megatrends in AI, virtual reality, gene editing and robotics and what this could mean for agriculture, and cricketing legend, Glenn McGrath, sharing his story, including his foundation's work with rural health services.

New Zealand stock exchange head of analytics, Julia Jones, will unpack global macro trends and their impact on agri sector prosperity, while ABARES' Dr Jared Greenville and Rabobank's global strategist, Michael Every, will discuss the shifting sands of global trade.

A big political lineup includes federal Agriculture Minister, Murray Watt; Trade Minister, Don Farrell; Communications Minister, Michelle Rowland; Nationals leader, David Littleproud, and Member for Indi, Helen Haines.

Syngenta Australia New Zealand has appointed NZ-based Dr Greg Pringle as its market manager for biologicals ANZ.

Dr Pringle has most recently been senior commercialisation manager at NZ industry research body, Plant and Food Research, working on biological solutions for pest and disease control in crops, yield optimisation and enhanced farm productivity.

He has 35 years' experience in plant science, including plant breeding and crop agronomy work.

Syngenta's ANZ managing director, Paul Luxton, said his appointment was an opportunity to further the company's offerings to help future proof on-farm sustainability and contribute to its mission to provide local growers and advisors with world-leading innovations.

Namoi Cotton's chief financial officer since early 2022, Sonya Ryan, is to depart the company in October, to be replaced by incoming financial consultant, Andy Baldwin.

Mr Baldwin, who is well known to the cotton ginning and marketing business for his past consulting roles, will take over as CFO from October 25.

Executive chairman, Tim Watson, said Ms Ryan had played an important role in the executive team, bringing great experience and expertise to the role which she will hand over after finalising Namoi's half year results.

Earlier this month Andrew Metcalf rejoined Namoi as company secretary, having previously held the job in 2020 and 2021.

Origin Energy and the Coles supermarket group have teamed up to cover the roof area of about 100 stores and Liquorland bottle shops with solar panels.

The deal is expected to provide about 20 megawatts of power capacity during the next three years, primarily for the electricity grid, but also contributing to about 20pc of each store's energy needs.

Batteries will be installed at about 30 or the retail sites to store surplus electricity.

Coles wants to be relying entirely on renewable electricity by 2025.

Another online food delivery service has fallen victim to the COVID-19 pandemic's lockdowns - or rather, the end of the lockdown era in 2022.

The Melbourne-based Providoor fine dining restaurant meal delivery service owes unsecured creditors about $5.3 million, including almost $4m owed to gift card purchasers.

Now in liquidation, Providoor was set up by celebrity chef, Shane Delia, in 2020 using his own kitchens at his Maha restaurant to prepare meal kits for his customers and other top eateries.

The service thrived during the pandemic doubling its sales in 2021-22 to about $45m and expanding to Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.

However, by 2022-23 it was absorbing quarterly losses of between $1m and $3m as COVID restrictions lifted and real restaurant eating opportunities returned.

Providoor's business name and data base have since been sold for $270,000.

Horticulture sector body, Freshcare, is to launch its inaugural Australian Assurance Summit at The William Inglis Hotel in Sydney, on November 14 and 15 with the theme "Assurance equals sustainability, safe futures and certification".

The summit is designed to recognise the value of assurance and certification systems in supporting growers to deliver safe and sustainable food.

Its focus is to facilitate discussion about how to better embrace an assurance mindset - as opposed to audit - and engender a broad sense of optimism and confidence in the assurance systems in place.

Chief executive officer, Jane Siebum, expected up to 250 delegates including growers, winemakers, supply chain businesses, retailers, on-farm technology providers, exporters, researchers, and policy makers.

Australian documentary maker and comedian, Craig Reucassel, will be a keynote speaker.