Food2Soil crushing it with crowd funding
Canberra region award-winning environmental company, Food2Soil, is smashing it with its current crowdfunding raise, raising $100,000 on its first day and over $270,000 to date. Editor Serina Bird talks to cofounder Josie Grenfell about how Food2Soil is turning food waste into fertilizer.
Food waste problem
Food waste is a massive problem for the environment. Annually, 7.6 million tonnes of food waste in Australia ends up in landfill, where it rots and produces greenhouse gases. 17.5 million tonnes of CO2 is created from food waste in landfill, which accounts for 10% of Australia's overall emissions.
Food2Soil, cofounded by local sustainability champions Josie Grenfell and Annabel Schweiger, is tackling this problem by using food waste to create a fertiliser for the soil. Rather than composting waste to break it down, Food2Soil ferments the waste to create a kombucha-like substance that acts like a tonic for soil. The product is microbial-rich and acts as a natural biofertilser for plants and soils.
Grenfell and Schweiger are winning awards for their product, including winning the Women in Agriculture (Women Changing the World Awards) 2023, and receiving a silver medal in London at the Women Changing the World Awards last year.
To date, Food2Soil has saved 151,886 cups worth of coffee grounds from landfill, reduced 10,100kg of CO2 emissions, and diverted 5,316kg of food waste from going to landfill. And with a new facility just opened 4 months ago and a crowdfunding raise currently on, they are poised to do more.
Queanbeyan hospital
“And then you’d see people dumpster diving for food at the Woollies across the road.”
The Food2Soil story started across the border, in Grenfell’s role as environmental sustainability manager at Queanbeyan Hospital championing ways to reduce food waste. ‘A personal bug bear was that I hated that we would provide nutrition to patients on the ward. They often wouldn’t even touch it, and we would take it downstairs and throw it in the bin,’ she said. ‘And then you’d see people dumpster diving for food at the Woollies across the road.’
She spearheaded an ambitious food waste campaign in 2018 that resulted in Queanbeyan Hospital becoming the first hospital in New South Wales to successfully divert food waste. The project has prevented over 8,000kg of organic waste from going to landfill and saved 14,000kg of CO2 emissions. It has also helped feed vulnerable people in the community.
‘I was like a dog with a bone,’ said Grenfell about her passion for change. ‘I went into the kitchen and said “guys, let’s do this”’.
Grenfell worked with OzHarvest and local charities to donate food such as biscuits, cereals and dry goods that hadn’t been opened or been exposed to infectious diseases. She then contacted Olympia Yarger (Canberra’s 2023 Australian of the Year). Yarger’s insect business, Goterra, was just starting out and Grenfell was able to develop a partnership with them to reduce food waste.
Six months ago, the team was recognised at the NSW Health Awards for its initiative, with Grenfell publicly acknowledged. ‘My message here is that if you’ve got an idea and you can see it’s going to work, keep on at it. We’ve got something they are now trying to implement all over the state,’ she said.
Do you wanna do it?
Josie Grenfell (left) and Anabel Schweiger (right)
It was through the Queanbeyan Hospital project that Grenfell and Schweiger met. Queanbeyan-based Schweiger also had a strong background in sustainability and waste management – and she’s a professional chef with an interest in food and food waste.
Schweiger is a consultant at Biota Sustainability, where she works with hundreds of small to medium businesses to improve their sustainability. This has included involvement in the New South Wales government’s Bin Trim program. Funded by the NSW Environmental Protection Agency and launched in 2012, Bin Trim is the largest program of its kind in Australia. In terms of scale, it worked with 38,000 businesses and diverted 260,000 tonnes of waste away from landfill in 8 years from 2014 to 2022.
Grenfell and Schweiger bonded over the need to reduce food waste. They both knew author, recycling advocate and founding member of the Zero Waste International Alliance Gerry Gillespie. Gillespie is passionate about soil, especially returning organics to soil (ROTS) and pioneered a hydrolysate* method for processing waste. Grenfell and Schweiger liked his method and decided to commercialise it, with his blessing.
‘So we were like – this just makes sense. You know, we can ferment. It’s a no-brainer. Do you wanna do it? And so, we just looked at each other and we went, yeah,’ said Grenfell.
‘We laugh now and go, my Lord, we were so naive. Had we known the time and energy that would have gone into it, I don’t know if we would have done it. But now we’re at the point where the future is more paved and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel,’ she said. ‘I think you’ve got to be a little bit nuts to do something like what we’re doing. You’ve got to be really passionate. You’ve got to believe in what you’re doing, like to the core of yourself. And then maybe, be a little bit of a risk taker.’
The first batch
The cofounders purchased 60-litre plastic containers that are often used to brew beer. They also bought heat belts and blankets. Grenfell’s Aunt Gayle then let them store their containers in her garage.
‘We need to have a Hale Gayle product because she’s been amazing. We would be macerating (food waste), and she’d bring us cakes and morning tea. I remember the day when we had 12 lots of 60-litre vats all sitting fermenting quite beautifully in warm blankets in her garage.’
The first few batches were lovingly made. They made their first inoculum (similar to a kombucha SCOBY or sourdough starter) at that time. ‘Annabel [Schweiger] is the Queen of making inoculum,’ said Grenfell. Then they bought an old mixer from an Australian naval ship, which they used to mince everything up because they had outgrown the Thermomix.
They were based in Aunt Gayle’s garage for 18 months before their next move.
Out in the bush
Food2Soil then moved to Tharwa, near the Freshford equestrian centre. The owners, Hamish and Janice Sinclair had established an agrihub and were renting plots of land to startups. They welcomed the new startup. The location was in a pristine area 10 minutes south of Tharwa. Food2Soil moved into the back of an old farm shed. The owners installed a wall for them, and the cofounders then cleaned up the space and installed windows and doors they found on Facebook Marketplace. They then connected the water system to tanks. As there was no power system, they brought in a generator.
The new facilities allowed Grenfell and Schweiger to install 8 x 800l stainless steel milk vats for fermenting products, plus space for a larger macerator. But while it was a beautiful area, they outgrew it. The minimal facilities – no running hot water, no bathroom (or toilet), no ability to heat – also made it challenging, especially on frosty Canberra mornings.
After two and a half years the cofounder realised they needed to pull the pin or go big. They decided to expand.
Expansion and fundraising
Josie Grenfell at the new Food2Soil facility at Hume
In late 2023, Food2Soil moved into newer, larger premises at Hume. Food2Soil is now housed in an almost 400 square meter facility and uses 7000l fermenters. The company has also now hired its first operations manager.
Six months before the move, Grenfell and Schweiger began scouting for a new site and equipment. They realised they would need funding to support the site upgrade and equipment investment. They spent six months doing accelerator programs, talking to venture capitalists and family offices. ‘They all said to come back when we were making half a million dollars. But how do we do that if we can’t get the equipment to produce enough product?’ said Grenfell.
They successfully received some significant angel investing at the end of 2023, mainly through people they knew aka ‘family, friends and fools’. With that investment, and a big chunk of skin in the game from their own pockets, they were able to relocate to the new site. But they still needed more money to fund the upgrade.
Grenfell said venture capitalists they spoke to had suggested crowdfunding could work for them. ‘The advice was that we would have a good chance because of the type of business we are and the environmental message,’ she said.
They looked at a range of platforms and decided on Swarmer. They then engaged in marketing. ‘There’s a lot involved in crowd raising we didn’t know about, and a lot of planning,’ said Grenfell.
“Now we’ve got these little mini superfans all over the country”
The crowdraise has been hugely successful. They raised $100,000 on the first day and have already raised nearly $270,000. The round closes this Wednesday, 17 April. Their raise has even attracted celebrity endorsement, with Australian actor and keen gardener Paula Duncan providing a video testimonial.
More than the funds, the crowd raise has helped promote Food2Soil’s brand and message. ‘We’ve been able to connect with people all over the country, and a lot of them who have expressed interest (1,500) are customers who have loved what we’re doing – and who are now investing. And then they’re telling their friends to invest, and now we’ve got these little mini superfans all over the country.’
Through the raise, they have also connected with a Sunshine Coast startup that wants to use cane toads for fertilizers. Food2Soil is interested and wants to explore that option. ‘It’s a really nutritious product because of all the blood and bones – and the skin is really nutritious. It’s all full of good nutrients for the soil,’ said Grenfell.
Marketing and stocking
Originally, the founders thought Food2Soil would be used by local agricultural farmers. They provided them with free products to test and provide feedback. But what they found was that farmers were just too busy. ‘They didn’t say it’s bad. They didn’t say it’s good. They just didn’t say anything.’
Grenfell and Schweiger then pivoted towards home gardeners, selling at local markets. They spent their Saturdays and Sundays at places like the Capital Region Farmers Market, Haig Park markets and the Bus Depot markets. That enabled them to interact with local customers. But it also wasn’t the right fit for their product in the long term. ‘It wasn’t a product like bread or eggs that you would need every week,’ said Grenfell. ‘You might need a bottle say every six months. So, once you pay your market fees etc we weren’t going to get anywhere as we were much too small.’
They then built a website so they could reach a broader market. ‘We started small. We couldn’t go big as we couldn’t produce a lot, but we needed to make enough to get traction, testimonials and customer validation.’
Once they had sufficient supply, they started selling in supermarkets. Their product is now stocked in IGA, Alpha Fresh and SupaBarn. And in a new deal with Harris Farm markets, they will work with Harris Farm markets to process its waste while it stocks its product when the new store opens in Majura next month.
Food2Soil’s crowdfunding campaign on Swarmer is live. It closes on Wednesday, 17 April.
* Hydrolysate refers to any product of hydrolysis. Protein hydrolysate has special application in sports medicine because its consumption allows amino acids to be absorbed by the body more rapidly than intact proteins, thus maximizing nutrient delivery to muscle tissues.
