ADC Innovator Award recognises dairy innovation and advancement – winner Daniel Carson – Alps2Ocean Foods, New Zealand
Congratulations to the 2026 ADC Innovator Award winner Daniel Carson from Apls2Ocean Foods, New Zealand with the innovation of young dairy beef Mīti.
Daniel outlined a pathway for the Australian dairy industry to turn a welfare and waste challenge into a scalable source of value, resilience and climate leadership.
Mīti is a shelf-stable, high protein snack made with young dairy beef and is the result of a grass-fed, low carbon, welfare positive model that grows surplus calves to 10-18 months within existing farm systems with the result being an efficient, traceable, and verifiable ingredient platform for creating low-carbon nutritionally dense food products.
Daniel Carson as winner of the ADC Innovator Award receives a $3,000 travel bursary to assist ongoing professional development in a chosen field.
ADC Innovator Award Finalists:
- Daniel Carson (winner) – Alps2Ocean Foods NZ – Young dairy beef Mīti – integrated dairy-beef system producing shelf stable, high protein snack.
- Meaghan Douglas – Agriculture Victoria – Smart Feeding Project –lifting productivity and reducing effect of time away from pasture
- Majid Khansefid – Agriculture Victoria / La Trobe University – Selective breeding for improved cow survival – updating the Survival Breeding Value with genomic data and predictor traits.
- Wei-Chi Lee – PHNXX – Modular microgrid for dairies – stand-alone power systems (SAPS) for dairy farms combining solar and batteries.
The ADC Innovators Award sponsored by the Gardiner Foundation celebrates innovation and ideas that enhance and help advance Australia’s dairy industry.
Seeking the most innovative ideas or research-backed projects, applications have been narrowed down to a group of finalists who presented their idea or research to the 900+ delegation at ADC 2026 Melbourne.
A written application, video pitch and online interview formed the early part of selection criteria with the judging panel identifying projects of most relevance and impact to the Australian dairy industry. The finalists each presented for 5 minutes to members of the Australian dairy industry at ADC 2026 Melbourne.
Andrew Metcalfe AO, Gardiner Chair said the ADC Innovator Award played an important role showcasing innovation across the dairy industry.
“The diversity and practicality of the innovations, ideas and solutions presented by the finalists as part of the ADC Innovator Award have been fantastic for their ingenuity and sustainability,” said Andrew.
“The range of content covered as part of the ADC Innovators Award ranged from young dairy beef chews, time on pasture productivity, mobile solar energy solutions and breeding for improved cow survival, all valuable and critical components that make up the dairy industry processes and milk production,” he said.
‘The ADC Innovator Award highlights the importance of fresh thinking and practical solutions in shaping the future of the dairy industry. Gardiner Foundation is proud to support this initiative, which not only recognises innovation but also enables emerging leaders to turn their ideas into real impact. Congratulations to Daniel Carson and all finalists for their commitment to advancing Australian dairy.’”
Finalists received complimentary registration to attend ADC 2026 Melbourne 11-13 February 2026, speaker training to assist communicating their project to farmers and the winner a $3,000 bursary to assist professional development.
