Two university friends who founded a fresh produce delivery service during COVID-19 lockdowns, salvaging food that would have otherwise been wasted for cosmetic reasons, have won the prestigious 2025 Melbourne Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Farmers Pick founders Joshua Ball and Josh Brooks-Duncan were recognised for their success at a gala event at W Melbourne last night, which was the first time in the initiative's history that anyone has won both the top accolade and the Sustainability & Social Responsibility award.
The latter was a category that garnered an enormous shortlist of candidates that was painstakingly whittled down to the finalists announced on the night.
Ball and Brooks-Duncan pipped other high-fliers to the post such as Trailblazer winner Michael Ramsey of STRONG Pilates, MA Services Group founder Micky Ahuja, People First Healthcare founders Dr Mohammed Al Ebrahimi and Ali Al Ebrahimi, and FUNDAY Natural Sweets founder Daniel Kitay.
The event saw an unprecedented turnout in nominations for the Deep Tech category that was launched last year - and won in 2025 by Andromeda Robotics co-founders Grace Brown and Yan Chen - alongside a strong showing for the new Beauty & Wellness category which was ultimately taken out by Jordan Mylius of Hairification.
The Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winners took home three awards including Food, Beverage & Hospitality, while Jamie Marciniak of solar transition facilitator Electrify Me won both the Specialist Services and Startup categories - the latter an award he had previously received in 2020 with his former business Your Energy Partner.
As was the case in Sydney, the initiative's blockbuster panel of judges held a variety of perspectives on the leading performers among the cohort, but only one entry could take home the top prize.
That was entry was a venture founded just over five years ago when Ball and Brooks-Duncan - coming from backgrounds in data, tech and logistics - set out to fix a "broken" system of food waste.
"During initial visits to markets and farms, farmers told us that up to 30% of crops were rejected for purely cosmetic reasons, while consumers were paying more for less," Ball explains.
The friends started delivering boxes of “perfectly imperfect” produce directly to households with early mornings, long days and late nights becoming the norm as they "focused relentlessly on getting Farmers Pick off the ground and finding a way to scale it".
"Resources were stretched thin, whether it was people, funding, or time," adds Brooks-Duncan.
"Every task, from building relationships with farmers to establishing logistics, developing our story, and sharing our vision, needed our full attention."
He claims the current food system has been optimised for looks but not taste, nutrition or freshness for decades, which the founders feel is a "true disservice to Australians".
"From day one, we’ve catered to Australians who feel let down by the major supermarkets," he says. "People are frustrated by rising prices, excess packaging, and a lack of traceability."
Over time the company has built a network of more than 70 farmers across the country rescuing imperfect produce and redistributing it to 44,000 Australian families.
"Our direct-to-consumer model allows us to reduce waste and strengthen the connection between farmers and families," says Ball.
"For fresh produce, those ties let us rescue fruit and vegetables that might otherwise go to waste, whether they’re surplus, come in different shapes and sizes, or are at risk due to shifting demand, while guaranteeing freshness and fair returns for growers."
This year the group has replicated its fresh produce model with a butcher-quality meat offering called The Fridge, delivered "straight from local farmers to door, with every cut clearly traced to its farm of origin".
"Traceability and provenance matter to us because our survey shows that only 14 per cent of Australians know where their meat comes from, while over 55 per cent do not feel connected to the people producing it," says Brooks-Duncan.
"We aim to change this by ensuring every cut is traceable back to the farmers who raised it through clear labelling."
The 2025 Melbourne Young Entrepreneur Awards were supported by its corporate partners - the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Program, RSM and iVvy.
The judging panel comprised Vita Group founder Maxine Horne, Greencross founder Dr Glen Richards, Acusensus co-founder Alexander Jannink, Go1 co-founder Andrew Barnes, CitrusAd co-founder and Rocket Advisory partner Brad Moran, Dental Boutique co-founders Dr Reuben Sim and Dr May Chan, Loanezi founder Renee Tocco, and Business News Australia founder Camilla Westerlund.
See below for all winners from the night, and we thank all participants for sharing their stories with Business News Australia.
- Melbourne Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Joshua Ball & Josh Brooks-Duncan - Farmers Pick
- Trailblazer: Michael Ramsey - STRONG Pilates
- Beauty & Wellness: Jordan Mylius - Hairification
- Deep Tech: Grace Brown & Yan Chen - Andromeda Robotics
- Digital Disruptor: Sonny Moshinsky, Joey Moshinsky & Richard Mathieson - Tutero
- Fashion & Design: Nathan Yun & Rex Zhang - Paire
- Finance & Fintech: Trent Scheirs & Lachlan Catanese - Grant Help
- Fitness: Michael Ramsey - STRONG Pilates
- Food, Beverage & Hospitality: Joshua Ball & Josh Brooks-Duncan - Farmers Pick
- Health & Medicine: Dr Mohammed Al Ebrahimi & Ali Al Ebrahimi - People First Healthcare
- Legal: Chloe White - Visa Sidekick
- Manufacturing & Supply Chain: Melinda Farley - Kollektive
- Marketing: Ethan Donati – My Million Dollar Funnels, Ethan Donati Enterprises
- PR, Media & Events: Harley Cannard - Ausso
- Professional Services: Micky Ahuja - MA Services Group
- Property & Construction: Ellie Vaisman & Giovanni Pino - Procon Materials
- Retail & Services: Natasha Marcello – For Keeps Merch
- Specialist Services: Jamie Marciniak - Electrify Me
- Startup: Jamie Marciniak - Electrify Me
- Sustainability & Social Responsibility: Joshua Ball & Josh Brooks-Duncan - Farmers Pick
- Technology: Blake Thomson - Xeople Group, SlakeTech, Vertex
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