David Proctor — Founder, Antarctic Royal Seafood & UMARA

I’m an Australian food producer with more than 16 years' experience building food brands and bringing products to market nationally.

My focus today is on creating more value from one of Australia's most underutilised seafood resources: sardines.

After discovering a traditionally produced sardine fish sauce in Port Lincoln, I saw an opportunity to reposition it as a premium
12-month fermented garum for modern kitchens. That journey led to the development of Port Lincoln Sardine Garum and, in collaboration with SARDI, UMARA Dust, a world-first powdered garum designed for chefs and food manufacturers.

My work is driven by a simple idea: taking overlooked Australian resources and transforming them into premium ingredients through fermentation, innovation and thoughtful product development.