Time-stressed gardeners wanting to grow their own fresh food may soon have assistance if an ACT start-up succeeds with commercialising its automation technology.
Five Canberra entrepreneurs are currently in Shenzhen, China, on a business accelerator program after defying the odds to secure backing of $100,000 for a four-month intensive program through the HAX investment vehicle.
![A graphic of the visual garden sensor developed by a group of Canberra entrepreneurs.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170914024012im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/0/i/q/7/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw00hm.png/1494550125476.jpg)
The product under development, called Myto, is a visual sensor that monitors home food gardens. It's capable of checking plant health, automatically watering plants and deterring pests.
Chief executive and co-founder James Deamer said the idea of "micro farms" came to him while studying human nutrition at the University of Canberra.
![Canberra startup entrepreneurs Ken Loh, Luke Worth, Arash Joobandi, Tom Watkins and James Deamer are in Shenzhen ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170914024012im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/0/i/p/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw00hm.png/1494550125476.jpg)
"It was there during my studies I began with startups and thinking about our food system," he said.
"I began working with the idea of changing our food system, moving away from monoculture and increasing localised agriculture.
"This not only has huge benefit to our environment, but also for our health as individuals and our relationship with what we eat.
"The problem is that growing food is a full-time job and most of us already all have day jobs.
"I set out to use technology to make it easier, thinking could you be the world's largest food producer without owning any farms?"
Mr Deamer said he began with building small "smart" planter boxes that notified users when growing maintenance was needed.
"Our startup GardenSpace now makes it easy to grow food at home," he said.
"Our product is a visual gardening sensor that looks over a garden and automatically waters your plants exactly the right amount, detects and deters pest intruders and provides some growing insights."
Mr Deamer said the HAX program in Shenzhen was an "amazing" experience.
"The support they offer to startups is the best in the world for hardware developers," he said.
"Inside HAX there are engineers and world-class designers at your disposal.
"They really care about your company and helping you. They have done a lot of hardware projects so they know how it works.
"All that knowledge gets distilled. We also get tutorials from maker experts, designers, lawyers, chief financial officers, accountants and team builders. There are one-on-one sessions with world-class marketers, sales and retail experts.
"I think the best part about all this help is that they aren't trying to make money out of you for consulting, they are trying to make it successful because they care."
Mr Deamer said the group would visit Silicon Valley later this year after successfully completing the program.
"Shenzhen is amazing and we will definitely be spending more time here as we progress our manufacturing," he said.
"Canberra has a lot of talented people, both technical and non-technical, who we'll need to help us on our journey."