Recently the whole team here at Tenacious Ventures had the chance to get out of town and on to the farm. And not just any farm – we visited Jigsaw Farms, home to sheep farmer and long-time friend of the show Mark Wooton and his wife Eve. While out at Jigsaw, Mark and Eve gave us an update on their vision for “sustainable intensification” and their ethos for farm management.
Managing the genetic quality of a herd can be a wicked challenge for Australian farmers. We’re a country with a small number of animals relative to the rest of the world, and formidable, complex biosecurity protocols.
Fortunately, Belinda Cardinal, Founder of breeding and genetics company Caprotek and career dairy goat farmer, enjoys spending time on wickedly difficult problems. After years spent strengthening the genetic diversity of her herd of dairy goats, Belinda attracted all kinds of coverage after importing the genetic material to breed the nation’s first Valais Blacknose Sheep in 2021.
Mark “Ferg” Ferguson is a sheep geneticist who’s paying attention to how both consumer demands and emerging technologies are impacting growers. Drawing on his experience with dozens of clients around Australia and New Zealand, Ferg shares:
insights for agtech companies, like the importance of personas and how to build relationships in a digital world;
what the future of extension and consulting in livestock looks like;
the role of cutting edge technologies in the sheep industry; and
a vision for the future where consumers expectations are met and growers are profitable.
