From Crop to Commercial Ingredient
The Growers Discovery Phase service is a plant-science led evaluation designed to help growers explore new ways to translate crops (and surplus) into commercial ingredients for new markets.
Move beyond raw material supply into higher value ingredient pathways
Unlock new Value of Your Crop
Growers are no longer limited to supplying raw materials. Access to new data from new commercial formats of a crop (and surplus or waste by-products) is creating new commercial opportunities for growers today.
The primary industry challenge:
- Expanding beyond seasonal income
- Reducing reliance on commodity pricing
- Accessing new markets
- Creating long-term value from existing crops
The opportunity is diversification. Unlocking value already in your crop.
For over a decade, we have worked with growers evolving beyond raw material supply; into ingredient development and, in some cases, retail brand ownership.
By converting the biomass into advanced Cellular Extractions, we can then explore the analytical data to determine if a botanical has potential to be translated into commercial ingredients across industries including Cosmetics, Nutraceutical, AgTech and more.
Supported by Cellular Extraction™ and phyto-compound profiling to identify key biomarkers, molecules of interest, and pathways into clinical validation.
Explore the possibilities to:
- Participate in higher-value markets
- Diversify revenue streams beyond harvest cycles
- Reduce reliance on commodity pricing
- Repurpose surplus or B-grade material
- Enter new markets - skincare, haircare, ingestible and emerging sectors
- Move up the supply chain across B2B and B2C pathways
- Explore new export opportunities
- Discover potential patent opportunities
This is where the Grower Discovery Phase provides a starting point.
We Work With Growers. We are growers.
We have an R&D Farm. We understand Growers. The risks, the cycles, the decisions that shape every season. We see b-grade stock, surplus crops (fruits and leaves), waste by-products such as coffee berry from bean removal, and more as potential for new ingredient development.
We are farmers too.
Our R&D Nursery is where we 'wild cat' on species we think have potential, to test and study, and then share with our grower partnerships.
For over a decade, we have worked alongside Growers to explore how more value can be created from what is already being grown.
Not by growing more.
By using more of what you grow.
- Repurposing surplus.
- Unlocking value from B-grade material.
- UPCYCLING, processing waste by-products.
- Exploring new uses for nutrient-dense crops.
- Understanding the profile is the beginning to connect botanicals to your historical use applications.
We built the Growers Discovery Phase service to support growers looking to diversify, learn more, translate into new commercial formats, evaluate potential new markets and explore new commercial pathways.
Sharing our knowledge, our resources and our industry connections to open access where we can.
Image: Ciánan (CJ) Carroll, Head of Extraction & Operations at NATIVE EXTRACTS for over a decade.
UNIQUE CUSTOM SERVICE
The grower Discovery Phase Service
Our Grower Discovery Phase service is a structured, fee-based evaluation designed to help you understand what your botanical contains (profiling the hydrophilic compounds), and what it could become.
By converting biomass into Cellular Extractions, we explore analytical data to determine whether there is potential for your crop to be translated into a commercial ingredient.
It is a structured evaluation grounded in plant science.
This service is designed for growers wanting more:
- Data on their botanicals, crop surplus, and upcycled processsing by-products
- Characterisation on what phyto-compounds we capture from within the cells of your botanicals
- Insight into where it could be applied
- Direction on potential commercial pathways
- Data to start future R&D and clinical research pathways
Image: Dr Joseph Nastasi, NATIVE EXTRACTS Lead Research Scientist - Biomaterials & Phytochemistry
A structured discovery pathway to explore potential and determine next steps
How We Evaluate Your Botanical
Lets get you started.
- Raw Material Declaration to establish chain of custody
- R&D Bench-scale Cellular Extraction
- Supply of extract concentrate for trials
- Internal physicals - QA/QC
- COA, TDS and SDS regulatory documentation drafted
- Qualitative analysis - characterisation of phyto-compounds
- Review of potential extract function from a water-soluble entourage perspective
- Commercial and further R&D pathway discussion
"We don't need to grow more, we need to use more of what we grow."
Global demand in plant extracts accelerates
PLANT EXTRACTS - A Growing Global Industry
The global plant extracts market continues to expand with industry analysis projecting growth toward USD $85 billion by 2030, according to MarketsandMarkets.
Global consumer demand for natural ingredients continues to increase across cosmetic, nutraceutical and wellness product categories, resulting in Brands and Formulators seeking:
- Traceable supply chains
- Advanced plant science
- Transparent ingredient origin and compelling backstories
For Growers, this signals a shift - increased interest in natural ingredients, new platforms for visibility and amplifying the supply chain, and new commercialisation potential.
Often crops have limited markets without a clear understanding of their broader potential.
Without knowing what a botanical offers in extract form:
- Application pathways remain unclear
- Market positioning is limited
- Value is difficult to define
Understanding what your crop contains changes this.
- Where it could be applied
- What it could become
- How it can be positioned commercially
Analysing your botanical's phyto-compound profile is the first step.
THE RISE UPCYCLED INGREDIENTS - DRIVEN BY CONSUMER DEMAND
ARE YOU UPCYCLING harvest surplus and processing by-products?
Upcycled ingredients are not a niche movement. They are scaling. Upcycling is about working with growers to use more of what we already produce, unlocking new discoveries while reducing waste and creating new opportunities across the supply chain.
Driven by consumer demand for pro-planet options — upcycled ingredients are projected to grow 5x by 2027.
This reflects a broader shift in the cosmetic sector and opportunities for the primary industry. Performance, circularity, and responsible sourcing are no longer optional.
UPCYCLED EXAMPLES:
In 2024, NATIVE EXTRACTS embarked on Australia's most ambitious UPCYCLED ingredient project with Kagome Australia, one of the largest tomato growers and processors in the southern hemisphere. Converting thousands of tonnes of tomato seeds (derived from waste streams) into a valuable 'active' oil, rich in lycopene (carotenoid), phytosterols and fatty acids targeted to the cosmetic and hair care industries. We launched our upcycled Red Velvet Oil™.
NE COFFEE BERRY Cellular Extract
It's not just coffee ground waste that can be valorised into cosmetic ingredients. There’s so much more to explore in the discarded berry left on farms after the seed is removed.
Our Cellular Extraction™ harnesses the entourage of hydrophilic phyto nutrients - caffeine, trigonelline and chlorogenic acid, and more.
Making this ingredient worth exploring for anti-ageing, body care, periorbital care, or haircare.
What ingredient development can unlock
From Grower to Retail Brand
Some growers have extended beyond raw material supply progressing into finished product development. What starts as a crop can become a new ingredient format. And in some cases, a retail brand.
Diversification beyond traditional crop supply chains to enter new ones. From field to application, and in some cases, to retail shelf.
Eg. Dominic Smith, one of our strategic grower partners operates a successful aquaponics system for his potent Native River Mint along with a wide diversity of dry crops in Monash, South Australia. He has expanded his crops into natural skincare and drinks ranges:
- Diramu Skincare
- Pundi Bitters
Our recent pre-clinicals on the NE Native River Mint Cellular Extract has been peer reviewed and published in a global Teir 1 publication - Biomedicines journal, reporting outstaqnding results in the down-regulation of inflammation via the nitiric oxide pathway. This expands new knowledge on Dom's Native River Mint crop.
For some, more knowledge can translate to supplying new ingredient formats, and for others it could lead to brand creation.
Transparency across the supply chain
Connecting Growers to Brands
Supply chain transparency is no longer optional.
Brands are seeking closer connection to where ingredients are grown, who cultivates them, and how harvest timing influences extract integrity.
Through our Source to Story (Meet the Grower) collaborations, Growers become part of this narrative.
For growers, this enables:
- Visibility within products
- Transparency in brand storytelling
- Connection to end-market applications
- Leveraging brand platforms to reach wider audiences
The Colgate-Palmolive Skin Food Range featured NATIVE EXTRACTS as their Australian botanical ingredient partner.
When first approached, NATIVE EXTRACTS raised the lack of inclusion of First Nation Growers in the native botanical supply chain at the time: Indigenous participation across the native botanical supply chain was represented at less than 2%.
Colgate Palmolive launched their “We, Not Me” campaign, three First Nations growers were highlighted through a ‘Meet the Growers’ QR initiative connecting consumers to the people behind the ingredients.
Transparency builds trust.
Consumer expectations have shifted. Natural is no longer a differentiator.
Brands are now demanding transparency, traceable supply chains and eco-conscious manufacturing practices.
Begin your botanical evaluation
Whether you are exploring new markets or seeking to better understand your botanical's potential, complete the survey.
Research & Industry References
NATIVE EXTRACTS
Colgate-Palmolive commitment to buy from First Nations growers
Tier 1 peer-reviewed journal, Biomedicines
Synergistic Combinations of Native Australian Plants Against Skin Inflammation and Wound Healing
AUSTRALIA'S MOST AMBITIOUS UPCYCLED BEAUTY INGREDIENT
Red Velvet Oil™ REVOLUTION
Page Image References: HEADER Image, Dale Chapman, Adjunct Associate Professor The University Of Queensland & Founder of My Dilly Bag. Lisa Carroll, CEO of NATIVE EXTRACTS. Dr Joseph Nastasi, NATIVE EXTRACTS Lead Research Scientist Biomaterials & Phytochemistry