Future Of Agriculture

Please participate in our listener survey to help us focus the direction of the show: https://airtable.com/shrCB33GWIUCIxVRU  E-commerce is nothing new. I think all of us have probably bought more online than ever this past year. But the company we’re featuring today, Pinduoduo, has taken this to a whole other level by gamifying e-commerce and making it a social experience. A big part of their strategy is selling agricultural products online. One of the biggest drivers changing the future of agriculture is consumer preferences, what they buy and how they buy it. Today we explore some pretty incredible insights into how this is changing in China.  We have on the show Xin Yi Lim, who is the executive director of Sustainability and Agricultural Impact at Pinduoduo. The platform, which has been described as “where Costco meets Disney”, started in 2015 and has grown to over 700 million active users in China. Before joining Pinduoduo in 2018, Xin Yi worked for SIngapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, both in its

Thanks to the Field Work podcast for sponsoring this episode. Visit www.FieldWork.org to learn more.  Interest in local and regional food systems has been trending upward for a long time. The pandemic has only accelerated consumer interest in having strong relationships with where they buy their food. But what sounds easy on the outside: farmer produces food and consumer buys it - is much more complicated in practice. First of all, there aren’t enough local/regional slaughterhouses for livestock producers to scale their direct-to-consumer operations because of low margins, regulations, and labor. Today’s episode tells the story of how Adam Parks built a local meat business, and how he is part of a group that has formed a cooperative to solve this problem of local meat processing. Adam is the founder of Victorian Farmstead Meat Company located in Sebastopol, California. They have been selling local meat in the area since 2010 at farmers markets, through a CSA (community supported agriculture), and more recent

The reason for today’s special episode is The Farm Workforce Modernization Act that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is now moving on to the Senate. This legislation is an effort to make progress on the mess that is U.S. ag labor policy. Shay Myers, a farmer who was featured on this show back in episode 178, called me to talk about the importance of this bill to U.S. farmers and their employees. In fact, over 300 agricultural organizations supported the bill. Ag labor reform like this has been attempted for decades, but has never been passed, mostly due to politics.  First, what does this bill do? Put simply, it improves the process for H-2A workers, which is the name of the visa for temporary agricultural workers. It also makes it mandatory that agricultural employers e-verify employees legal work status for employment. Finally, and perhaps most controversially, it establishes a program for agricultural workers and their families who are already in the United States to earn legal status

Thanks to the FieldWork podcast for sponsoring this episode. Visit www.FieldWork.org to learn more.    This episode is a good follow up to https://aggrad.libsyn.com (Episode 250) about one example of how agtech is helping smallholder farmers in developing countries. We are again talking about the potential for agtech in developing markets in this episode, but this time from a different perspective. My guest Igor Buchatskiy sees real opportunities in very large integrated agricultural operations. Whereas last week we focused on smallholder farmers, this episode is about the very large, sophisticated operations that are hungry for technology and innovation in the developing world.  Igor is a mechanical engineer by training, but after getting his MBA at the University of Chicago, he started a career in management consulting. That led to a job with a family office back in his home country of Ukraine. It was in that role that he discovered his love and fascination for agriculture in 2007. Since that time, he’s

Thanks to the FieldWork podcast for sponsoring this episode. Visit www.FieldWork.org to learn more.  We talk a lot about the types of technologies that are geared towards larger operations, but what’s out there that has the potential to really improve the lives of small farmers, especially of those in developing countries. We have a really interesting example of one of these innovations in this episode. https://wrmsglobal.com (Weather Risk Management Services) is an India-based company that collects data to help producers manage their risks. The company started off as offering just crop insurance products, which is still a big part of their business, but they’ve also expanded into products that incentivize and reward farmers for using risk management strategies.  In other words, a farmer pays a premium and agrees to certain farming practices. In return they are provided a guaranteed yield, and paid if their yield drops below that threshold. This helps take away the risk of adopting new practices. https://wr

Thanks to the FieldWork podcast for sponsoring this episode. Visit www.FieldWork.org to learn more.  David Doll is the General Manager of Rota Unica Agriculture based in Portugal. He grew up on a direct-to-consumer apple and peach orchard in southern Indiana, then got a master’s degree in plant pathology from UC Davis. After a decade as a farm advisor for the University of California focused on tree nuts, he took on his current role of moving to Portugal to manage a large-scale diversified tree crop operation there. On top of all of that, he writes what I think is probably the most in-depth blog dedicated to just one crop that I’ve ever seen at http://www.thealmonddoctor.com (The Almond Doctor). I’ve really appreciated interacting with David online and in the FoA community. I think you’re going to really enjoy his perspective here today.    “I think everyone would say the same thing, but you have to be able to be willing to know what your shortfalls are, be honest with yourself and then throw in the extra

We can all agree that sustainability that comes at the expense of productivity and efficiency is not truly sustainable at all. We are going to need to meld together what’s best for the productivity and profitability of growers with the ecosystem services they can provide.  Just recently agtech company FluroSat announced that they acquired another agtech company, https://www.daganinc.com (Dagan), and the combined company was re-branded to a new name: https://www.regrow.ag (Regrow). You might remember FluroSat founder Anastasia Volkova from her first appearance on this podcast back in episode 175. She joins us again today, now as CEO of Regrow, along with Dagan co-founder and now Regrow Chief Strategy Officer Bill Salas. Both of them are accomplished scientists as well as entrepreneurs. We have a great conversation here about why this merger made sense, what differentiates their carbon model, called DNDC, from other ways to model carbon sequestration, and how their newly combined and rebranded company will he

The question of “what are the real problems in agriculture that need to be solved?” is one we ask often here on this show. If you ask that to a dozen people, you’ll probably get about 20 different answers. But herbicide resistance is one that hits home for many. As you’re about to hear, the tools we’ve been using for decades are becoming less and less effective, and the pipeline for new active ingredients has been empty for a long time. Every year more and more weeds show signs of resistance - which is not a trend that can continue.  Today’s guests are the co-founders and co-CEOs of Israel-based WeedOut, a biological herbicide company which uses proprietary pollen to sterilize weeds like Palmer Amaranth, otherwise known as pigweed. Dr. Efrat Lidor Nili and Dr. Orly Noivirt-Brik are both accomplished scientists who have already been a part of one successful exit: they worked at Rosetta Green which was purchased by Monsanto in 2013. WeedOUT is a portfolio company of Fulcrum Global Capital, who partnered with m

Today Janette Barnard co-hosts to bring us an innovative virtual fencing product for cattle ranchers. Frank Wooten joins us as the founder of Vence. Vence offers producers optionality in their grazing operations whether large or small. This technology provides for rotational grazing opportunities while bridging obstacles such as large uneven terrain, poor connectivity and weather dynamics. The ramifications of this opportunity may allow US producers to better compete in the grass fed and grass finished product market.    “At a high level we are solving the problem of increasing yield and land management for cow-calf and cattle operators around the world…..we are enabling the ability to set up animal control at a very granular level without the need for physical fences or manual labor.” - Frank Wooten   “It’s not that physical fences are an insufficient solution. It's that they are a static solution to a dynamic problem.” To be able to adapt your ranching practices to changes in your land and terrain allow

Today’s show connects back to episode 241 with Craig Rupp of Sabanto, where we talked about, among many other things, how the Climate Corp has been able to become a central data collection platform on so many large scale farms.  Ranjeeta Singh, the Chief Product Officer of The Climate Corp joins us to further explore data ownership, product strategy and design thinking. Ranjeeta was hired last year to drive the product strategy and roadmap for Climate’s digital farming solutions. She has more than two decades of background in hardware and software at the intersection of IoT, AI and data science with companies like Intel and Teradata. She holds five patents at Intel, and multiple publications. She is also the recipient of the “Top 50 under 50 most powerful women in technology”. Her perspective as someone coming from a career in tech to now a career in agtech is something I found interesting and insightful.    “People only think of Climate as a Fieldview platform...I have talked about the three lines of busin

This is one of two short episodes I’m releasing for you today, both exploring some aspect of farm data. You may have already listened to the first part with Dr. Terry Griffin at Kansas State University. Now we turn our attention to another Purdue graduate, Aaron Gault, cofounder and agronomy manager of Advanced Agrilytics. Advanced Agrilytics offers agronomy services equipped with their analytics platform, which helps farmer customers get a better picture of what’s working and not working in their agronomic practices.  Aaron focuses on in-season crop management and the understanding of real-time crop performance influenced by the environmental conditions of any given growing season. Aaron’s ability to integrate yield response probability with in-field stimuli is a key component of Advanced Agrilytics sub-acre approach to understanding yield. Before joining Advanced Agrilyitcs, Aaron worked as a professional agronomist for leading agriculture companies. Aaron and I discuss what makes Advanced Agrilytics app

For the first time, I’m releasing two episodes on the same day. I’ve trimmed each of the two episodes down to about half of my normal length so the total time commitment on your part is still about the same as a regular week, but if you’re a subscriber, you probably already noticed, there are two today.  There’s a few reasons for this, but mostly it’s to try something new. This isn’t something I’m planning to keep doing on a regular basis, but maybe occasionally, if you like it, so let me know what you think.  Both of today’s episodes are about farm data. This one you’re about to hear is on the economics of farm data with Dr. Terry Griffin, and the next one is on the analytics of farm data with Aaron Gault, which I encourage you to listen to after this one.   I’ve been meaning to bring Dr. Terry Griffin on the show for a long time, because he is not only well-researched and data-driven, but as you’ll hear he’s not afraid to explore ideas that may be somewhat unconventional or even unpopular. Terry is asso

Big shoutout to two new members of the FoA community this week, Italo Guedes and Sara Faivre, thank you both for your involvement and support. If you’d like to support this show and join a community of some really smart people passionate about ag, you can do so at www.patreon.com/agriculture.  For years, I have been on a somewhat public quest to understand regenerative agriculture. Where is the line between regenerative and not regenerative? Are these claims I’m hearing of more profit with very few inputs credible? Where is the science that backs all this up? Where does ag innovation and technology fit into this model? These are just a few of the many questions I have asked. This goes back to episode 44 in 2017, and shows up again and again in episodes 64, 109, 135, 182, 199, 216, 222, and 232...just to name a few. Frankly, I’m often left with more questions than answers. Not because my guests haven’t been forthcoming - they have. I think it’s more due to the fact that it’s more complicated. As my guest on t

Craig Rupp is the CEO and founder of Sabanto. Prior to founding Sabanto he was a cofounder of 640 Labs where FieldView Drive was originally created. The first part of today’s episode will be about Craig’s journey at 640 Labs and its eventual acquisition by Climate Corp. Despite all of these impressive innovations and industry game-changers, that’s not the only thing he joins us to share about today. His current project, Sabanto, is gaining momentum and continuing to develop its autonomous tractors.    “In the last month, I was just amazed as to how mature our software is and how hands-off we have become. The little tractor that we use is very dependable and our software is very mature.” - Craig Rupp   The Sabanto tractors can participate in tillage, cultivation and tine weed and are one of the “hardest working tractors in the US” according to Craig. While initially they required intensive monitoring they have continued to develop and allow for more autonomy. By continuing to develop the technology and all

In recent years, the idea of farmers getting paid based on stewardship has really taken off. Whether that’s the discussion of companies paying for carbon sequestration, soil conservation, water quality or any other number of “ecosystem services”, it seems to be a trend that is not going away any time soon. But how much real demand is there for this vs. just marketing and PR? Obviously, we all want cleaner air and water, but who is lining up to pay for it to create the right incentives to make it happen? And, does this even scale? Jason Weller is the Vice President of Truterra, LLC, the sustainability solutions business of Land O’Lakes Inc.. Many do not know that Land O’Lakes Inc. is one of the nation’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives. Before joining Truterra, Jason served as Chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the nation’s largest working lands conservation organization. That makes him uniquely suited to talk about the role of both public and private sectors in this sustainability conve

Today we are joined by Naeem Zafar. Naeem is a 7x serial entrepreneur and 5x CEO, with multiple successful exits. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of TeleSense, an IoT company creating real-time wireless sensing and predictive analytics for the stored grain industry. TeleSense is a portfolio company of Fulcrum Global Capital and adds to their story that we have had the privilege to share with you so far. A lot of the attention has been paid to sensors in agronomy with soil, water, etc. But think about this with stored grain: every year we produce billions of bushels of corn, soybeans, and wheat, just in the U.S. alone. A lot of that is stored and handled multiple times: maybe in farm bins, in a local grain elevator, on a barge or rail car, at a processing facility, or export house where it goes on to further handling. So there are several opportunities for the grain quality to be affected, and a lot of current solutions of checking quality are still mostly manual: meaning sending someone up to look at

Around the new year I like to reflect on previous episodes and pull out insights that I think are important for the future of agriculture.  As I reflected on the content from this past year, an insight became immediately clear: agtech has a long way to go. As much as we talk about the money that has poured into the industry and how much potential there is for the future of agriculture, progress has been, by most measures, slow. And change - in a lot of cases - has been minimal. This isn’t an indictment on anyone in the industry, instead it’s a statement that we all probably don’t say often enough: innovation is hard.  There are some real forces working against the advancement of agricultural innovation. Today’s episode explores these barriers that are holding back the entire sector and profiles companies that are directly addressing and trying to eliminate those barriers. Loyal listeners know that I love this idea of enabling technologies. Which is to say, breakthroughs that open the floodgates for numerous

Check out another great ag podcast: www.OffIncome.com. Today’s episode is really one of those that I think embodies my vision for this show. It’s the vision you just heard me reference: where we take innovative ideas, in this case artificial intelligence, and we look at the point in which the meet practical realities.  The reason this is so important to me, is: first, it’s so much easier to learn and understand new technologies by observing their use cases. And secondly, I am convinced this intersection is really the best hope we have for getting a glimpse into the future of agriculture.  We have on the show Craig Ganssle, the founder and CEO of Farmwave:  an agriculture technology company that is transforming the world’s agricultural information into AI data models that power decision-making and preserve the future of farming. In this episode you’ll hear how Google Glass originally led Craig to agriculture, how artificial intelligence works and how it’s applied to a variety of use cases, from predicting t

One of the biggest criticisms of ag tech and really many ag innovations in general is they often seem to be a solution that is looking for a problem rather than the alternative. This mismatch is often doomed to fail leaving many ag entrepreneurs frustrated. The Beef Alliance is trying to change that in the cattle feeding industry through their program called Feeding Innovation, a Beef Alliance Startup Challenge. The Beef Alliance wants smart entrepreneurial, problem solvers to see real potential opportunity and apply their talents to the cattle feeding industry. They're putting up $50,000 in the form of a cash prize and the chance at a pilot project to the winning startup of the competition. So even for startups that don't win that top prize and chance to pilot, it's still an opportunity to engage with leaders throughout the cattle feeding industry who could end up potentially becoming customers and investors. **Learn more about the startup challenge: https://beefalliance.com/startupchallenge/ The Beef Alli

Victory Farms is a Tilapia farming operation on Lake Victoria in Kenya. Since it was founded in 2015 it has become the largest fish farm in East Africa and is now the fastest growing Tilapia Farm in all of Africa. Joseph Rehmann is the CEO and founder of Victoria Farms and joins us today to share his journey towards becoming an innovative entrepreneur in Kenya with an environmentally sustainable aquaculture operation.    “It really felt like an opportunity to be where I wanted to be, in a field that I’m passionate about which is growing things and being able to have a meaningful impact from the work I do.” - Joseph Rehmann   Joseph observed that while Africa’s population is booming the development of local food sources was decreasing resulting in an increased dependence on imported food. He discusses the supply and demand mismatch that he was able to find a market in to not only build his business but help local populations.   “You've got 200 or 300 million people in the East African block and you've go