[PRESS RELEASE] World-first soil carbon technology earns Forbes agronomist national acclaim: Guy Webb a finalist in the Australian Agriculture Awards

21 September 2026- Forbes-based agronomist Guy Webb has been named a finalist in the Sustainability in Agriculture category of the inaugural Australian Agriculture Awards, for his work helping farmers build soil carbon and get paid for it.

Webb, who grew up watching Central West topsoil vanish in dust storms, was inspired to develop adoptable, economical methods for soil carbon sequestration. In 2015 he founded SoilCQuest2031, a not-for-profit research institute, and went on to co-found Loam Bio, which has raised $155 million to develop CarbonBuilder, the world's first fungal inoculum for carbon sequestration in broadacre crops. The technology is now active in Australia, the US, and Brazil. Webb also helped design SecondCrop, allowing farmers to monetise sequestered carbon through the Government's ACCU method, and co-invented FurrowMate, a device for precise inoculum application at planting.

"Carbon can be a polarising, complicated subject for farmers already flat out running a business," Webb said. "I bring it back to something simple: creating better soil."

Webb, now Chair and General Manager of SoilCQuest and Chief Agronomic Officer at Loam Bio, said the nomination was a chance to make soil carbon part of the business of agriculture rather than an externality.

Sixteen NSW finalists across five categories will attend the state awards dinner in Sydney on 30 September, with state winners progressing to the national awards in Canberra in November. The Australian Agriculture Medallist wins a Toyota Tundra Platinum valued at $181,000. [END].