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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

00:51:41

The Innovation Sweet Spot: Aligning Corporates,...

Agtech - So What? ·

2026/03/04

While agrifood innovation often celebrates bold founders and breakthrough technologies, what happens when the incentives of corporates, startups and investors don’t quite align?In this live recording from evokeAG in Melbourne, Sarah Nolet is joined by Brad Fruth, Director of Innovation at Beck's Hybrids, and Frank Wooten, CEO of ArkeaBio and co-founder of Vence (acquired by Merck Animal Health). Together, they explore the “sweet spot” of agtech innovation, i.e. the balance between what customers

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00:29:57

AI as a Competitive Farming Advantage, Paul Windemuller

Agtech - So What? ·

2026/02/18

While farmer distrust of AI remains a key adoption barrier, will farm businesses that are being set up for an AI future have a competitive advantage?Paul Windemuller is a pioneering first-generation farmer and Nuffield Scholar from Coopersville, Michigan (USA). Along with his wife Brittany, Paul built his farm from the ground up with limited capital, relying on ingenuity, automation, and data-driven decision-making to grow Dream Winds Dairy into a highly tech-enabled operation.In this episode, Paul

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00:39:50

Beyond Scale: Native Grains and Indigenous-Led Food...

Agtech - So What? ·

2026/02/04

While there is a growing recognition of the importance of indigenous knowledge in agriculture, all too-often, First Nations people are being asked to fit in with an established model. What if we flipped the script to create food systems that are led by indigenous principles?That’s what Jacob Birch is aiming to do in reawakening a native grains industry in Australia. He’s a proud Gamilaraay man, scholar, Churchill Fellow, and entrepreneur who founded Yaamarra & Yarral, a wholesaler of ancient grains

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00:41:52

The Future of Farming is Autonomous, with Brett...

Agtech - So What? ·

2026/01/21

We’ve hit a tipping point for autonomy in agriculture, so how far off is fully autonomous farming? In this episode, Matthew Pryor sits down with Brett McMickell, Chief Technology Officer at Kubota North America, to unpack his view on what autonomy can deliver in agriculture and why it’s closer than many people think.Brett’s career spans spacecraft control systems and multi-vehicle autonomy. Today at Kubota, he’s helping guide autonomy strategy inside one of the world’s largest and oldest

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00:47:28

Making underwater forestry scalable and sustainable,...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/12/10

Today's episode is a tangible example of a company in the "natural capital" space. While not traditional agtech, the Hydrowood journey hits familiar themes: building a business within nature's constraints, managing capital intensity, and the frustrating search for the right investors.Andrew Morgan watched the Pieman River in Tasmania dam in the 1970s. In 1986, Lake Pieman flooded, submerging centuries-old forests. Many years later, he and co-founder David Wise spotted trees protruding from the dark

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00:32:02

Have we hit the tipping point for autonomy in ag?...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/11/26

Over the past few years, the conversation about autonomy in agtech has moved from “but, does it work?” to “how can I get started?” This is a significant shift, indicative of autonomous machinery becoming a fully commercial category in agriculture.In this episode, Matthew Pryor, Founding Partner at Tenacious Ventures, discusses his recent observations at the Gatton Agtech Showcase, in QLD, Australia, highlighting the move towards production-ready autonomous machinery. He discusses how structure is

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00:44:56

The Business Case for Electrifying Agriculture, with...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/11/12

In the race to decarbonize agriculture, the spotlight often falls on carbon sequestration, genetics, and alternative proteins. But have we overlooked something that’s right in front of us? Electricity.Mike Casey is a self-described “tech bro turned farmer” from Cromwell, New Zealand. Mike runs what’s believed to be the world’s first fully electric farm, made up of 21 electric machines, from irrigation systems and frost-fighting fans, to electric tractors and forklifts. His business is aptly named

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00:45:36

The realities of winding up an agtech app, with Nikki...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/10/30

What happens when an agtech startup with market pull, a clear mission, and global momentum still doesn’t make it?Nikki Davey is the founder of Grown Not Flown, which helped thousands of local flower growers reach customers who wanted sustainable blooms. Nikki’s app directly addressed the problem of ‘flower miles’. In Australia and the US, a store bought bouquet is likely to be made up of flowers that have been flown long distances, from places such as South America, Asia, or Africa.Nikki won the

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00:32:14

Agtech trends: bundling, unbundling, LLMs and more...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/10/15

‘Bundling’ is a well-known business strategy, especially in tech, where it’s not only used to increase sales and move slow-selling products, but also to tie customers into an ecosystem (such as Apple or Microsoft).So what about all the unbundling that’s been happening in agtech recently? While historically we’ve seen seed companies offer bundled options, such as seeds, crop management, and data products, there is now a trend towards ‘unbundling’ in agriculture. This is exemplified by Corteva’s

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00:31:43

Putting cotton farmers at the forefront of the cotton...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/10/01

The biggest issue facing the cotton industry isn't fast fashion or water consumption. It's that the people growing cotton have been rendered invisible. The industry fixates on fiber quality and commodity pricing while the farmers themselves– and their role in determining sustainability outcomes– get lost.Marzia Lanfranchi, founder of the global community Cotton Diaries, is a strategic consultant working to improve supply chain sustainability in the cotton industry. She argues that cotton is viewed

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00:37:44

Will China’s cheaper tractors disrupt ag equipment?...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/09/17

As the world’s largest agricultural economy, when China makes a move, the world pays attention. China has just unveiled an ambitious plan to accelerate its development of ag machinery by shortening its research and development cycles. So will China dominate the future of agricultural machinery, and what does this mean for dealers, farmers, and agtech companies?Lachlan Monsbourgh, Global Rural Agricultural and Environmental Lead at Rabobank, joins us to discuss China’s pivotal role in global

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00:41:14

From agtech adoption problems to high performance...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/09/03

When the agtech is not working in the field, we can be quick to search for answers in the product itself. But sometimes, the solution is not there. That’s because it’s not a technical problem, but rather a social systems challenge.Kevin Boyle is the Director of Organizational and Workforce Development at the Equitable Food Initiative (EFI). He argues that a key component of the farming and food system is often overlooked; and that’s the people who work on the ground. Farm workers can be seen as

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00:43:35

Can robotics solve farm labor challenges? with Sophie...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/08/20

Ask any farmer what their biggest challenge is right now and most will say ‘labor’. But what if, instead of trying to get more farm workers, we focused on changing the types of jobs available on farms? That’s where robotics comes in.Unfortunately, successfully commercializing robots in agriculture has been extraordinarily difficult, especially relative to sectors like healthcare, defence and warehousing.We break down the problem into three key challenges, based on research by Sophie Thorel, robotics

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00:29:39

Are agtech startups just digital agribusinesses? Mark...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/08/06

The term ‘agtech’ now encompasses so many different types of businesses and innovations, that from an investment perspective, it can look overly complex. However perhaps the opposite is true?Mark Kahn, Managing Partner of Ominvore, shares his ‘agtech-agribusinesss convergence theory’; where agtech startups eventually grow to look like a more conventional agribusiness company. He argues that if an agtech startup can’t see a pathway to either becoming an agribusiness or at least complementing one,

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00:39:16

How “Food is Medicine” Could Change Food and Farm...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/07/23

“Food is Medicine” is extremely popular right now, and a few facts suggest it might be more than just a trend. The U.S. alone spends something like $1.5 trillion annually on diet-related diseases, and key issues like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and other diseases are on the rise around the world. There are costly interventions available to manage many of these problems, but an increasing body of research suggests that some of the least invasive (and most affordable) interventions don’t

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00:38:30

How Policy Hamstrings AgTech in California with Walt...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/07/09

When it comes to the production of high-value food crops, California is, without question, a global leader. Plus, much of the state’s thousands of acres of farmland lies within close proximity of Silicon Valley, where high-tech tools and solutions are endemic. And yet, many California farmers are struggling to continue their work, and agtech startups are increasingly looking beyond the state for customers and sectors to serve. So what gives? To answer this question, we asked Walt Duflock, Senior VP

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00:36:40

Is AI the Secret to Next Gen Soil Sampling? with Jack...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/06/27

Finding the right solution often starts with finding many, many wrong solutions. When it comes to some of agtech's most beguiling challenges, like real-time, granular soil testing, many startups have found the wrong solution– either ones that simply don’t work, don’t work at the right price, or don’t work in a way that makes them useful enough. But just because a problem hasn’t been solved yet doesn’t mean it’s unsolvable! And with the recent leaps made in artificial intelligence, a new startup–

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00:42:48

Disrupting the AgTech Ecosystem with Ron Adner

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/06/11

Longtime listeners have heard Sarah and Matthew talk about ideas like “ecosystem disruption” and “adoption chain risk” and “value architecture,” all of which stem from the works of Ron Adner. Ron is a researcher, strategist, and professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University, and the author of two books, The Wide Lens and Winning the Right Game, both of which have been influential at Tenacious. So this week, we’re going straight to the source as Matthew sits down with Ron for a

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00:35:55

Making Sense of Recent AgTech Acquisitions with Shane...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/05/28

Despite a persistent sense of uncertainty in the AgTech market lately, we’re still seeing startups get acquired– even if information about those acquisitions is opaque. Case in point: Syngenta recently purchased Intrinsyx Bio, a biologicals company, for an undisclosed sum. Why do companies conceal this information? And in this moment when everyone has their eyes peeled for some indication of where the market is headed, what can we learn from exits? Sarah sits down this week with Tenacious Ventures’

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00:37:34

How GLP-1 Drugs are Reshaping the Food and Ag...

Agtech - So What? ·

2025/05/14

Over the last few decades, a lot of products and technologies have promised to disrupt the diets and food buying habits of the world’s consumers. But nothing has made true on that promise quite like the emergence of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. These (as of now) injectables are changing the way people– and their households– eat and shop, and CPG companies, quick serve food brands, and others are already seeing a marked decline in purchasing in the months since these drugs have

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185 results

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