Why a studio?
Australian agriculture has world-class production, world-class research institutions, and world-class operators. What it has less of is dedicated, independent capacity to sit between those things — to investigate where the sector is heading, design what comes next, and convene the conversations that need to happen across producers, industry bodies, government, capital and technology builders.
Most of the analysis available to the Australian industry is either produced by organisations with something to sell, imported from overseas contexts that don't quite fit, or locked inside institutions that don't share it widely. We started Fodder to do the work that sits in that gap — independent, Australian, evidence-led, and in the open.
We believe the next decade of Australian agriculture and food will be shaped by decisions made over the next few years. We want those decisions to be made with better information, sharper foresight, and a clearer view of what's actually possible.
What we believe.
A few principles shape how we work.
Independence is the product.
Our research is published on its own terms. Our advisory work is structured to keep that independence intact. We say no to engagements that would compromise it — because the moment we don't, our work is worth less to everyone.
Evidence over enthusiasm.
Australian agriculture is full of confident claims about the future. We try to make fewer of them, and to back the ones we do make with research, fieldwork and honest uncertainty.
Australian context, global awareness.
Most of what's happening to Australian agriculture is happening to agriculture everywhere — but rarely in the same way, the same order, or with the same constraints. We pay close attention to global signals, and we take the Australian context seriously enough to translate rather than transplant.
Foresight and execution belong together.
Research that doesn't connect to action is decoration. Execution that isn't grounded in research is risk. We work across both, and we think the integration of the two is where most of the useful work actually happens.
The interesting questions are usually shared ones.
The shifts reshaping the sector — digital, automation, supply chain, resource, capital — affect producers, processors, policymakers and technology builders simultaneously. We design our work to bring those audiences into the same conversation rather than addressing them separately.
Four modes of work.
Fodder operates across four connected modes — independent research at one end, hands-on design and delivery at the other, with advisory and convening between them.
Research & Foresight
Research & Foresight is where most of our published work sits — industry analyses, scenario work, and briefing papers across digital agriculture, automation, supply chains, resources, capital and global markets. This work is published independently and made available to the industry as a contribution to the broader conversation.
Advisory
Advisory is how we apply that research to specific decisions. We work with operators, agribusinesses, peak bodies, investors and government on questions where independent analysis and foresight are more valuable than vendor-led perspectives.
Design & Prototyping
Design & Prototyping is where research meets the world. We design and test new systems, models and operational concepts — taking ideas far enough to prove or disprove them before anyone commits to building. This is the studio side of the studio, and it keeps our research honest by forcing it into contact with reality.
Convening
Convening is how we connect what we learn back to the industry. Events, roundtables and programs that bring producers, researchers, technology builders, investors and policymakers into the same room — because most of the sector's hardest questions are ones no single group can answer alone.
The four modes feed each other. Research informs advisory. Advisory surfaces problems worth designing for. Design produces evidence that informs the next round of research. Convening connects all of it back to the people living the questions.
The people behind Fodder.
Fodder Studio was founded in 2025 by Matt Anderson, with a background spanning agriculture, technology, policy and law. The studio works with a network of contributors, fellows and collaborators across the Australian agricultural and food sectors.
[Brief paragraph on the founder's perspective and what brought the studio into being. This is the section that does the most work for trust — it's worth writing carefully and personally rather than corporately.]
We're based in Tamworth, NSW, and we work across Australia.
Independent by design.
Fodder operates independently. Our research is published on its own terms, and our advisory and design work is structured to keep that independence intact.
Where a project moves from research and design into technology delivery or implementation, we work with a network of partners chosen to fit the work — including Agri-IT, our regular technology build partner. These relationships are disclosed, and they are structured so that our research and advisory work remains independent of any single delivery outcome.
We publish a clear position on conflicts of interest, research funding, and editorial independence. (Link to a short Independence Statement page when ready — this is worth having as a standalone document.)
Where to start.
If you're commissioning research, considering an advisory engagement, or interested in our programs and events — we'd like to hear from you.