“This is a great example of the shift taking place following the loss of our car manufacturing industry here in South Australia,” says BDO Partner, David Fechner.

“Seed Terminator is undertaking local research and development and working with innovative local manufacturers to produce a best-in-class product which is exported to the world.”

The brainchild of company co-founder and Kangaroo Island farmer Dr Nick Berry, the Seed Terminator tackles a problem inherent to crop farming: the harvesting process essentially results in the distribution of weed seeds – setting farmers up for further weed problems into the future.

In 2016, those ‘problems’ were estimated by Australia’s Grain Research Development Council to cost Australian grain growers about $3.3 billion annually, and – because weeds deprive crops of sunlight, water and important nutrients – yield losses of 2.76 million tonnes.

They also put the cost of herbicide resistance at $187 million a year, for herbicide treatment and other weed control practices.

The Seed Terminator provides a smart and cost-effective solution that also addresses the issue of increasing herbicide resistance in weeds. An attachment that retro-fits to most combine harvester brands, it uses multi-stage hammer mills to pulverize weed seeds along with the chaff so they can’t sprout, and distributes the resulting substance as nutrient-rich mulch.

“Our agriculture sector is facing pressure on many fronts, with consumer demand and resource challenges constantly evolving, while environmental concerns increase. Our farmers are a resilient, innovative group and need technology that helps them rise to meet these challenges. Seed Terminator has provided an intelligent and effective solution that fits with existing practices and is affordable – the fact that they’ve largely kept their workforce and manufacturing capability based in South Australia is a real bonus for the state,” says Fechner.

Marking a milestone for the company, and for their local manufacturing partners, Seed Terminator Director Mark Ashenden says the proud South Australian company designs, tests, manufactures and ships globally all from Adelaide.

He says affordability is an important consideration for the business and its clients.

“Our vision is to reach as many farmers as possible, as quickly and economically as possible,” Ashenden says.

“While we develop the technology, we also need to reinvest in making it better.”

Although Seed Terminator is a proudly local South Australian business, it is having an impact well beyond our shores, exporting machines to Europe, Canada and the USA.

However, Dr Berry says it is the innovative and longer-term approach of Australian farmers that has contributed most to their success.

“Farmers care deeply about their land and its ability to produce food for the world – they also want to hand down the farm to their kids and grandkids,” he says.

“That long-term attitude isn’t only in Australia but it is pretty unique.”