The Rural Innovation Lab Story

The Rural innovation lab is a platform of collaborative partners supporting farmers and growers to experiment with, up-skill in, and drive technology and innovation.

The Rural Innovation Lab was created by a couple of Manawatu farmers, Mat Hocken & James Stewart, who were both involved in NZ’s first Agtech Hackathon. Upon Mat’s return from a Nuffield Scholarship, looking at global agricultural innovation, they decided they wanted to have a crack at solving some of farming’s wicked problems, from here in the Manawatu/Whanganui.

With the support of some key partners, Mat and James created the Rural Innovation Lab to help entrepreneurial farmers and growers connect with like-minded thinkers and new ways to solve problems; to get ahead of the changes and disruptions in farming.