A meeting of minds, expertise and innovation has culminated in Black Box Co — a company driving productivity across the Australian beef supply chain by leveraging untapped data.
In 2020, Emma Black and Shannon Speight found themselves on an unexpected career path as entrepreneurs, on their way to becoming leaders in their field.
A path that, in hindsight, makes perfect sense.
Before they launched their startup, Black Box Co, and even before they'd met, Emma and Shannon both studied and worked in roles where they helped solve a range of challenges faced by the Australian beef industry.
And without knowing it, they'd both decided to solve one big challenge in particular that Black Box Co would go on to tackle — one that could unlock insights for smarter, more profitable and sustainable beef production.
Taking on the data challenge
Shannon first discovered what is perhaps the beef industry's biggest challenge when she coordinated a large-scale genomics project across northern Australia. A qualified veterinarian, she worked with cattle producers to gather genomics data to help make reproductive predictions.
"I noticed the farmers and producers I worked with on the project collected and saved data about their cattle, but they didn't have any real way to organise or analyse it effectively," Shannon said.
"I also realised to generate insights that can make any real advancement in this space, you need access to an incredible database."
At the same time, Emma worked as a consultant in livestock nutrition and meat processing, then as an extension officer with Queensland's Department of Primary Industries.
Working closely with beef producers and industry stakeholders across the entire supply chain, she had a bird's eye view of the vast amounts of data going unrealised at every stage.
"I also noticed the same problems were cropping up for people across the industry. I could see that if farmers had data-backed insights about the whole supply chain at the farm, or even at the genomics level, problems could be avoided at the production or consumer end of the spectrum and vice versa," Emma said.
When they met, Shannon was in the early stages of developing software to begin tackling the data challenge.
"We both knew the data existed in silos across the supply chain, but it needed to be pulled together and shown to people through a simple access point," Shannon said.
The pair pooled their experience to refine the software's direction, and together they began solving what seemed an impossible puzzle.
That's when Black Box Co was born.
Unlocking the black box
Five years on, Emma and Shannon lead a team with expertise across genomics, fertility, meat science and nutrition, data science and software development.
They're unlocking meaningful insights across the beef supply chain, and building their platform to be a data powerhouse for producers.
Black Box Co's cloud-based system currently taps into a pool of data collected on more than 5.5 million animals across the beef supply chain, and this number continues to grow.
"There's a lot of insider data available on livestock out there now that you can access, even if you're not collecting your own data on-farm," Emma said.
"We pull together information from multiple systems that are already being used. That might be performance data from the farm, the feedlot or the abattoir."
And of course, users can input their own data. But Black Box isn't about data collection — it's focused on analysis and insights.
The platform processes and refines raw data from across the supply chain, then shares insights through a user-friendly dashboard, ready for decision-making.
"You can choose to look at everything, from genomes right through to eating quality. You can use the whole system to see how all the information intertwines to complete the puzzle," Emma said.
"But you might just want to solve one missing piece of the puzzle for your business. For instance, if you just want to see how your cattle are performing in the feedlot, you can."
Contact
Email DPIAgTech@dpi.qld.gov.au
Last updated: 12 Oct 2026