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PODCAST

Agtech - So What?

We tell the stories of innovators at the intersection of agriculture and technology to answer the question: what really is agtech and why should you care?

technology food

All Episodes

00:34:33

The Authenticity Premium in AgTech Marketing with...

Agtech - So What? ·

2022/02/23

AgTech companies make promises to investors to grow fast and be quick to iterate or change direction. But they also make promises to customers who think more in seasons instead of product development cycles, and who value long-term relationships with a mutual investment.These are difficult pressures for agtech marketers to manage. In this episode, we hear from Camille Grade, Chief Marketing Officer at Bushel, and Travis Martin, an agtech marketing consultant and founder of industry newsletter

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00:31:52

Win-Win Business Models for Farmers and Startups with...

Agtech - So What? ·

2022/02/09

Balancing the desire to do good with the need to build a business that can scale is a challenge for every entrepreneur. Particularly in agriculture, finding strategies that solve for both the users of the product as well as beneficiaries of the solution is key. For Marissa Cuevas Flores, Founder and CEO of MicroTERRA, it took several iterations before her team settled on a workable value proposition that could contribute to massive global challenges like preserving fresh water and feeding the

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00:39:03

Genetics, biosecurity, and the cutest sheep in the...

Agtech - So What? ·

2022/01/26

Managing the genetic quality of a herd can be a wicked challenge for Australian farmers. We’re a country with a small number of animals relative to the rest of the world, and formidable, complex biosecurity protocols.Fortunately, Belinda Cardinal, Founder of breeding and genetics company Caprotek and career dairy goat farmer, enjoys spending time on wickedly difficult problems. After years spent strengthening the genetic diversity of her herd of dairy goats, Belinda attracted all kinds of coverage

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00:34:15

The Tricky Business of Scaling Soil Tech - Adam...

Agtech - So What? ·

2022/01/12

The science and technology of soil is rapidly evolving, but translating it into a scalable business that can offer viable products to farmers has long been a tricky proposition. But it’s one that Adam Litle, the CEO of Sound Agriculture, has devoted much of his career to answering.Adam was part of the executive team at Granular, the farm management software company acquired by Dupont (now Corteva) for $300M. Now, at Sound Ag, he’s leading a company that’s raised more than $95M to develop a product

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00:34:46

FROM THE VAULT: Mark Ferguson on science, sheep, and...

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/12/22

Originally released: 20 February, 2020We’ll be back with new episodes in January 2022, but for the holidays we thought we’d bring back a favorite episode from the vault!Mark Ferguson or “Ferg,” is a sheep geneticist who’s paying attention to how both consumer demands and emerging technologies are impacting growers. He’s the co-founder and Director of neXtgen Agri, an online livestock consultancy, and Genesmith, a startup applying facial recognition and machine learning to the global livestock

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00:44:21

What's the role of government in agtech ecosystems?...

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/12/15

It’s fair to say most entrepreneurs (and farmers!) aren’t big fans of government rules and regulations for fear of being slowed down by red tape and bureaucracy. However, the political environment in which a startup develops can have a big impact on its ability to find investment and support, especially in agtech, where ecosystems are still very new for most countries.The United Arab Emirates is investing heavily in agtech, seeking to make Abu Dhabi the global center for innovation in agriculture

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00:41:15

Bonus Ep: Later-Stage Agtech Startup Wrap, feat....

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/12/08

Where are all the women founders in agtech, especially at later-stage startups? What does an acquisition really feel like, and when does it make sense? In this Bonus episode, we answer both these questions, as well as build on the key insights from our latest series: “Later-Stage Agtech Startup Lessons”.This episode features:Anastasia Volkova - co-founder and CEO of Regrow*, an independent measurement reporting and verification platform. Regrow, (formerly Flurosat), recently acquired US agtech

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00:48:11

Later-Stage Agtech Startup Lessons #3 - Charles...

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/12/01

Farmers Business Network is one of the most well-funded startups in agtech. Just recently, they announced a $300M Series G round, bringing their total funds raised to $870M and their valuation to nearly $4 billion. So, where did it all begin?In this episode, FBN co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Charles Baron, explains how his Silicon Valley upbringing unexpectedly collided with rural Nebraska, resulting in an idea for a new kind of agribusiness- one that would connect farmers and increase

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00:39:58

Later-Stage Agtech Startup Lessons #2 - Paul...

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/11/17

“When you say, ‘can I have your money?’ Then, people speak the truth.”Paul Lightfoot is a serial entrepreneur who has learned several lessons the hard way, from raising money to communicating purpose to hiring (and firing). After spending much of his career as a software CEO, Paul wanted to follow his “calling” to enter the world of sustainability and foodtech.But this meant moving from a familiar career trajectory to an industry that, 10 years ago when Paul was entering it, barely even existed. In

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00:36:22

Later-Stage Agtech Startup Lessons #1 - Michael...

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/11/03

In this 3-part series, we’ll share the lessons from agtech startup founders who have grown their agtech companies from idea to at least 100 employees. We’ll be examining what’s worked (and hasn’t), differences between agtech and other industries, and what the founders have learned along the way about the industry and themselves.This episode, the first in the series, features Michael Gilbert, CEO and founder of Semios, a crop management platform initially focused on tree fruit, nuts and vines, based

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00:31:14

Bonus: Investing in tech to enable regen ag

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/10/28

Venture investment into technology companies that have the potential to scale regenerative agriculture is accelerating. However, it is a relatively new domain for venture capital, and it comes with its own unique set of challenges.So what role can VCs play in the regen ag landscape? And what technologies and trends are VCs looking at to guide their investments?This bonus episode features a discussion from a live panel conversation at the Regenerative Food Systems Investment Forum (RFSIF), in

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00:39:19

Why You Should Give a F*ck About Farming - Gabrielle...

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/10/20

Does the average citizen actually need to care about how their food is produced? This is the central question Australian author and journalist, Gabrielle Chan, set out to answer. Her latest book, “Why you should give a f*ck about farming” details her firm conclusion that, yes, if you eat food, you should in fact care about agriculture. While the old days of agriculture as the top contributor to GDP are over for most Western countries, Gabrielle argues the future of food and farming is becoming

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00:41:01

Farmers and Startups: Lessons and Tips for Collaborating

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/10/06

The divide between farmers and startups can seem like a chasm. Tech culture and agriculture have evolved from completely different backgrounds, and even seem to have their own languages. So how can agtech bring together two very different groups?In this episode, you’ll hear practical tips from farmers and agtech experts on how to build mutually beneficial relationships. For startups, this includes approaching farmers as partners, rather than ‘customers,’ and understanding ‘grower economics’. And for

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00:39:58

Bonus: The Economics of Valuing Natural Capital - Ken...

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/09/29

Dr. Ken Henry became well-known in Australia for his bold economic reforms as the Treasury Secretary throughout the 2000s. His approach to conservation and agriculture is equally as bold, advocating for the natural environment to be valued, and even predicting “an explosion” in financial instruments to measure soil carbon, vegetation, biodiversity and other aspects of nature.As an economist, former Chair of the National Australia Bank, and current board director of Accounting for Nature, he brings a

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00:59:54

100th Episode Special: our most popular guests on...

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/09/22

For our 100th episode (hooray!), we’ve brought back some of our most popular guests to check in on what’s changed in their businesses and in agtech since we spoke, and the new technologies and opportunities we can all be looking out for.These guests were popular for a reason:Mark Wootton - dubbed the ‘carbon neutral farmer,’ Mark is a pioneer in measuring natural capital… yet, he’s also highly skeptical of the regenerative agriculture movement.Stu Austin - manager of Wilmot Cattle Co, which recently

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00:38:26

Getting Off the Commodities Treadmill - Loran Steinlage

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/09/08

Loran Steinlage has been labeled a ‘regenerative’ farmer and branded a conservationist, yet as a farmer in Iowa, in many ways he’s far from the stereotypical image of either. He lives in the heart of the Iowa corn belt, but says he now doesn’t care whether he grows corn or not.In this episode, Loran shares how his drive for innovation has come from a series of difficult and life-changing events in his personal life. This, coupled with his love of tinkering with machines has helped him unlock new

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00:40:46

Designing Crops to Change the Plant-Based Food System...

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/08/25

Benson Hill is designing crops and ingredients for some of the world’s most popular plant-based food brands. But the company has no intention of becoming a brand itself. Instead, it’s focused on revolutionizing the entire food system, from how plants are grown, to what they taste like, to the range of crop varieties on offer.Founder and CEO, Matt Crisp, started Benson Hill nearly a decade ago as a plant biology company, using analytics and machine learning to increase yields. Now it has grown to

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00:44:48

Bonus Episode: Did Silicon Valley Kill Agtech?

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/08/18

The Silicon Valley model for innovation has worked famously for many software based companies, such as Facebook and PayPal. However, when it comes to agtech, the Silicon Valley template for startup success hasn’t translated very well. This template, of either “user is the customer” or “user is the product” is rather limited in agriculture, where the farming population is small (restricting scale) and the stakes are high.This episode features Rob Trice, the founding partner of Better Food Ventures

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00:42:42

Carbon neutrality and tackling misinformation in red...

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/08/11

Red meat is increasingly seen as the “bad guy” when it comes to climate change. Undoubtedly, animal agriculture has an impact on the environment, with 10 percent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from livestock. But Australia's leading red meat marketing and R&D organization, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) says the negative environmental impacts from red meat are often overblown.While lamb and beef are still very popular in Australia, and cattle farmers are currently enjoying

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00:39:19

Is the Future of Farming Hands-Free?

Agtech - So What? ·

2021/07/28

For some, the concept of hands-free farming is terrifying; for others, the prospect is game-changing and exciting. But, is fully autonomous farming really possible?In this episode we chat with Kit Franklin, senior lecturer in agricultural engineering at Harper Adams University in the UK, who in 2016 set out to prove an entire crop cycle could be done autonomously. The project was called Hands Free Hectare, which later expanded into Hands Free Farm after garnering worldwide attention and for

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181 results

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