47. Goterra

Revenue: $1.97 million
Founder: Olympia Yarger
Head office: Hume, ACT
Year founded: 2016
Employees: 54
Industry: Agriculture
Website: goterra.com.au

How Goterra started

Goterra emerged from founder Olympia Yarger’s interest in conventional sheep and cattle production. She initially wanted to establish a traditional farming operation, but she quickly saw that feed costs would be a monumental financial burden, especially due to external factors like the changing climate. The agriculture sector was crying out for some sort of stability, and it arrived in the unlikeliest of ways: using insects in tandem with industrial robotics.

In order to address waste issues while also ensuring a consistent feed source for livestock, Yarger created Goterra, with the core concept being an autonomous insect robot – a mobile insect feedlot – designed to be placed near waste sources. These units are revolutionising waste management thanks to their ability to convert organic waste into protein using black soldier fly larvae.

Growth

With so many farmers seeing the value – and cost savings – of the Goterra solution, interest peaked straight away. As a result, Yarger had to try and meet rising demands while balancing an operational expansion in the Australian market and plans for global penetration.

While growth has been strong and fast, there remain biases for the Goterra team to overcome, such as perceptions of waste being cheap, which can hinder investments in the space. Despite all this, Yarger remains stoic that initiatives like Goterra can and will greatly contribute to climate-change mitigation.

Where to next

Goterra has big plans for global expansion in 2024. But closer to home, it hopes to be able to deploy its maggot robots in every region across Australia.

For now and into the future, Yarger and her team will continue to innovate and explore new ways that insects can support sustainability.

Goterra also won The Sustainability Award category in The Smart50 Awards 2023.