Farm to Own Case Study: Pinnacle Oysters

Pinnacle Oysters is a second-generation oyster farm located on the Clyde River on Australia's New South Wales South Coast. Pinnacle farms a combination of Pacific Oysters and Sydney Rock Oysters.

The challenge faced by Christos Paschalidis from Pinnacle is how to fund the growth of his farm without impacting his cash flows. Grants are typically small and not intended for expansion purposes. Traditional financing solutions don't account for oyster growth periods and the resulting cash flow limitations. Where traditional finance is available, it often requires the personal home as collateral and a director's guarantee.

Pinnacle uses Oceanfarmr for farm operations improvements:

Chris started using the Oceanfarmr platform in early 2021. His aim was to improve farm efficiency, spending less time on the water assessing farm needs and more time having his team handle crop, gear, and
maintenance tasks. Over the course of 2021, as the Pinnacle team used the Oceanfarmr app, the crop, gear, and maintenance activities performed by the team became more consistent week in and week out. Oysters requiring attention decreased to less than 3%, and gear requiring attention decreased to less than 5%. Pinnacle Oysters became a high-performing company.

Crop mortality was reduced, and crop value increased!

First Farm to Own transaction:

In 2022, Oceanfarmr recognized that Chris was a high-performing farmer and began discussing the option of growing his farm with Farm to Own, Oceanfarmr's alternative financing solution. Farm to Own enables farmers to develop new water using a share farm agreement. Oceanfarmr supplies the new cultivation gear and a crop. The farmer farms the crop as part of normal operations, and at the end of the grow-out period, revenue from the crop is shared, with the farmer taking ownership of the new infrastructure.

At the beginning of 2023, Pinnacle Oysters received their first truckload of gear, which was deployed shortly after.

Time for more water!

While Chris was using Farm to Own to expand his farm by increasing the amount of gear and crop on his existing water, this allowed him to use his free cash to acquire additional water. He then used another round of Farm to Own to roll out equipment and gear across that water again, with no upfront cash outlay and using only his incremental labor and equipment.

“Being able to use Farm to Own to get this gear has allowed me to use my money to buy another lease and expand my farm” - Christos

Second Farm to Own transaction:

In August 2023, Chris deployed his second Farm to Own transaction onto the newly acquired water.

Farm Result:

The combination of using the Oceanfarmr app to improve his operational efficiency and Farm to Own to expand both his existing water capacity and additional water capacity has resulted in a measured 33% increase in crop and, significantly, a 44% increase in crop value over the past 12 months alone. Pinnacle's Oysters requiring attention remain at less than 2%, and gear requiring attention is less than 2%.

Oceanfarmr is currently in discussions with Chris about the next three transactions over the next 12 months.

Chris believes he is now 10 years ahead of his farm development and business growth plan.

For more information on how Oceanfarmr can help grow your oyster, mussel or seaweed farm please contact:
In US: ewan@oceanfarmr.com
In Australia: manda@oceanfarmr.com