GrainCorp Ventures co-led a $9 million investment in ZoomAgri in 2023, bringing artificial intelligence and machine learning to grain quality and varietal recognition in Australia. Since then, GrainCorp has deployed over 40 ZoomAgri devices across east coast sites and ports to test barley for varietal purity, enhancing accuracy and efficiency.
Recently, Grain Trade Australia endorsed ZoomAgri’s ‘Zoom One’ technology for assessing specific barley varieties—Bass, Maximus CL, Commodus CL, RGT Planet, La Trobe, and Spartacus CL—to meet Varietal Purity specifications in Barley Trading Standards. This endorsement replaces slower traditional methods relying on visual inspections and DNA testing, allowing certification and pricing based on Zoom One results starting in the 2026/27 season.
ZoomAgri’s latest device iteration expands capabilities by using cameras instead of scanners, enabling larger sample processing and measuring physical quality of grains and oilseeds through computer vision and machine learning. GrainCorp has installed two of these advanced devices at its Geelong and Port Kembla ports.
Mat Samin, GrainCorp’s Head of Quality, highlights the benefits: “Identifying the correct variety at receival points improves stock segregation and yields higher varietally pure malt segregations, delivering better products to customers.”
Zack Atlas, Strategy and Ventures Manager at GrainCorp Ventures, emphasizes the broader vision: “Trialling AI-powered quality assessments accelerates speed and accuracy, supporting the grains industry’s modernization and delivering better outcomes for growers and the sector.”
GrainCorp’s partnership with ZoomAgri exemplifies the growing role of AI in transforming agricultural quality control and market value.
