On a windswept stretch of Kangaroo Island, Nick Berry built a machine to solve a problem farmers had wrestled with for decades.
“I’m a Kangaroo Island farmer and a mechanical engineer, and Seed Terminator is basically the collision of those two worlds,” he says.
The Seed Terminator bolts onto a combine harvester and intercepts weed seeds at harvest. “It takes the chaff stream and runs it through a multi-stage hammermill so the weed seeds are smashed and can’t germinate,” he explains. “You’re using harvest to stop next year’s weeds, in the same pass.”
The idea of “kill the seed at harvest” has been around since the early 90s. “What was missing was the science and engineering to actually do it. Killing these tiny seeds consistently, at harvest throughput, in dust and vibration and variable crop loads is bloody difficult. It was what I was tackling when I started my PhD in 2010 and I am still challenged to this day.”
After his PhD, Berry had the research – but not yet a business.
“There was a moment out kayaking at Penneshaw where my uncle Mark Ashenden and I decided: either we do this properly or we stop talking about it.”
They built their first commercial units in 2016. “Honestly that first season was brutal – endless hours under machines covered in chaff making sure it would survive a real harvest,” he recalls.
From there, growth came steadily, season by season. Last week, the company marked its “10 years terminating” milestone. But Berry is candid: building a global ag-tech manufacturer from regional South Australia has been a steep learning curve.
“I didn’t know the first thing about building a business when we started,” he says. “One minute you’ve got an invention and a bit of conviction, and the next minute you’re hiring people, building supply chains, supporting customers at harvest and trying to scale manufacturing.”
“It genuinely felt like we were building a plane while flying it.”
It was at that stage – moving from inventor to scale-up founder – that Berry was nominated for the InDaily 40 Under 40 Awards.
“I applied because I wanted agricultural innovation to be part of the conversation at a state level,” he says. “A lot of what we do in agriculture is genuinely world-class, but it doesn’t always get seen unless it’s dragged into the light a bit.
“I also wanted to get out of the ag bubble and meet other people building businesses in totally different industries. I hoped the awards would help widen the network and open doors. Whether that’s partnerships, talent or just learning from people who’ve already done the hard yards scaling.”
Being named a finalist did exactly that – and accelerated his growth as a business leader. “It has helped me broaden my network to business community outside of ag,” he says. “This has also meant I have had to develop how I talk about the business and the product without the ag context.”
That shift – learning to clearly articulate the value proposition beyond a farming audience – has had tangible impact. Investors, suppliers, advanced manufacturers and prospective team members don’t necessarily speak in agronomic shorthand. The awards environment forced Berry to refine his pitch, sharpen his messaging and think bigger about Seed Terminator’s positioning.
The exposure also built confidence. “It has also nudged me to be a little more brave,” he says. “Getting 400 people to do the Seed Terminator Dance at the awards night was a new record!”
The humour masks something more significant: stepping onto a stage in front of hundreds of peers is a long way from testing machinery in a paddock. For a regional founder used to working behind the scenes, the experience demanded a new level of visibility.
That visibility has flowed back into the business. “The 40 Under 40 experience has given us exposure and helped connect me with people to keep this plane soaring,” he says.
Those connections – across finance, advanced manufacturing, marketing and export – have broadened Seed Terminator’s ecosystem beyond agriculture.
“Our mission is to make the Seed Terminator a standard feature on combine harvesters globally by 2030, to stop the spread of weeds from these machines worldwide,” Berry says. “This means we need to make this technology work in all conditions, reliably and efficiently, and manufacture at volume with world-class quality right here in South Australia.”
Scaling to that level requires more than engineering excellence. It demands strategic partnerships, strong governance, skilled teams and the confidence to enter new markets. The 40 Under 40 awards experience helped Berry see his company not just as an invention, but as a scalable enterprise.
As nominations open for this year’s 40 Under 40 cohort, Berry’s experience highlights what the program can offer beyond recognition: expanded networks, sharpened communication, renewed bravery and exposure that fuels growth. He has a clear message for other regional founders who might hesitate to put themselves forward.
“Just do it,” he says. “It is never too early to start telling your story. It is a critical part in business that I have often avoided but, once you start telling it, you really see the impact it can have. You can’t impact the world if no one knows about you.”
Nominations for the 40 Under 40 Awards close on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. Nominate someone or submit you application today.
