Emma Black has deep roots in the agriculture industry, having grown up on a large-scale sheep station in Western Queensland. After studying at the University of New England in Armidale, Emma worked in livestock nutrition consulting and meat processing to expand her knowledge across the supply chain. 

Committed to applying this knowledge throughout the wider industry, she took up a position in extension services. Through this role, Emma worked closely with beef producers and industry to provide insights into livestock nutrition, pasture and livestock management, data analysis and property management. 

Emma was awarded the inaugural Zanda McDonald Award in 2015 and held a position on the judging panel for the next few years. It was during this time she met and formed a friendship with Shannon Speight who was in the initial stages of envisaging a software service that could solve the problem of data in the beef supply chain going to waste – Black Box Co. 

With her knowledge of the livestock industry, Emma knew from the start Black Box Co was an innovative solution that could bring about real change within the sector. To date, Black Box Co has secured production data on more than 3.8 million animals.

As Chief of Industry and Product at Black Box, Emma travels across Australia, meeting with clients and industry to hear feedback firsthand on the product and works directly with the development team to ensure industry insights are utilised to improve the Black Box software. Emma finds it rewarding seeing clients using Black Box on-farm, and the benefits the product has on the producer’s businesses. 

Emma is proud of all the Black Box team has accomplished and believes there will come a time when every producer in the supply chain will utilise Black Box to help drive key business decisions at the click of a button.