West Otago Farmer Luke Kane Wins Rabobank 2026 Prize
West Otago dairy farmer Luke Kane has been awarded the 2026 Rabobank Dr John Morris Business Development Prize.
“We already have had workers from NZ applying for work through AgDraft in Australia,” Grace Brennan, of AgDraft, told Rural News at a Rabobank Farm2Fork seminar in Sydney.
The AgDraft website is a platform where farmers can find reliable labour when they need it most, she says.
“If you are a farmer and you need a job done, you post it on the website. Workers looking for opportunities are profiled on the site.
“You get a shortlist of reviewed workers. When those workers sign up to the site we reference check them. The idea is the farmer knows a bit more about that worker before they get onfarm.
“They are profiled with at least their skills and experience – what they have done before; they get one reference from a previous employer and as they complete jobs with farmers on our site the farmer reviews the worker and the worker reviews the farmer.
“We are trying to create a network of trusted and reliable labour with that network online.”
They have placed people in work ranging from two-week jobs to permanent roles, she says.
AgDraft started 12 months ago and went online six months ago. They are about to launch an upgraded site.
The founder, Ella Shannon, a farmer’s daughter, pitched the idea to a Westpac Innovation Grant scheme and won the pitch.
They have had 60% monthly growth and lots of repeat users. Based in New South Wales, they service all Australia and hope to expand into NZ in the next 12 months.
“As the technology becomes such a huge player in agriculture, and innovation is such a huge coalface we are hopefully on the cusp of people adopting websites like this more often and people achieving efficiencies through online platforms,” says Brennan.
Shannon pitched to investors at the FoodBytes! competition at the Farm2Fork seminar.
Sixty percent of farmers are under-staffed and as a farmer’s daughter Brennan says she often got called back to the farm to help. As an agricultural fund manager she realised the impact this was having on businesses -- throttling productivity, reducing output and curbing plans for expansion. She found there were people with skills and expertise who were finding it hard to connect with the agricultural sector.
They had no way to advertise their skills and experience, nor to see who was a trusted employer.
“Essentially we are taking the word-of-mouth hiring system and leveraging this on line,” Brennan says.
“A worker creates a profile, a farmer posts a job. The algorithms match them based on skills, availability, job preference and location.
“Our point of difference is the review and recommendation system the site offers.” This enables them to extend the trusted network.
They want to expand into key locations in Australia and NZ and into different agricultural industries.
