Agtech - So What?

We are certainly not alone in our interest in how artificial intelligence will shape agriculture in the coming years. We’ve been learning out loud about both the tech that might emerge, but also about how AI might shape existing tools, especially agtech software. In our recent report, Yield Maps Killed AgTech Software, Can AI Fix It? , we put forward some of our research and theories, and we got a...

As the US works to hammer out requirements for sustainable aviation fuel tax credits, the potential for the airline industry to open a huge new market for oil seeds has watchers in the sustainability space wondering what’s next. Will the opportunity for agtech to provide producers with the tools they need to meet production requirements and prove sustainability credentials be substantial? The sust...

This week, we’re breaking down the freshest announcements from the agribusiness, agtech, and broader policy and tech worlds to share insights and ask “so what?”  Sarah is joined this week by Shane Thomas , author of Upstream Ag Insights. For more information and resources, visit our website .  The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general inform...

At the intersection of ubiquitous and affordable cameras and internet connections, growing farm sizes, and increasing environmental and social vulnerabilities sits the opportunity of farm security. The number of applications for this kind of remote monitoring are endless– from discouraging stock and equipment theft (or solving cases after the fact), to detecting bushfire conditions, to marketing p...

The modern fashion industry creates a ton of waste. From the field to the cutting line, to the supply chain and consumers' closets, today’s ultra-cheap “fast fashion” obsession means everyday a lot of fiber gets carted off to landfills around the world.  Some amount of that fiber however– especially cotton– is not only biodegradable, it can actually be a valuable addition to soils, especially in d...

As the world continues to get more crowded and less climatically predictable, the risk of biosecurity issues– from pest and disease invasions to food security and environmental health concerns– is only growing. Science and technology have major roles to play in helping us prepare for possible risks, and deal with them when they arise.  Today, we’re tackling these issues in one geography, Australia...

This week, we’re breaking down the freshest announcements from the agribusiness, agtech, and global ag policy worlds to share insights and ask “so what?”  Sarah is joined this week by Tenacious Ventures Managing Partner J. Matthew Pryor and Shane Thomas , author of Upstream Ag Insights. For more information and resources, visit our website .  The information in this post is not investment advice o...

The global ag sector has recently passed a turning point, with prices and future outlooks for key commodities taking a decidedly pessimistic turn. Though market volatility is nothing new for producers, it does change the profitability equation. One of the first targets for pencil-sharpening and scrutiny tends to be farm inputs– from crop protection chemistry and fertilizers, to equipment purchases...

Weeds are a very expensive problem. According to one 2016 study, if weeds were left to grow unchecked in agricultural fields across just the US and Canada, the cost in lost productivity would total over $43 billion. And challenges are mounting. Though the last century has been ruled by crop protection chemistries that have kept weeds at bay– crafty wild plants have quickly adapted and the existing...

There are few areas of the ag sector that are more in need of tech solutions than tree fruits. All around the world, factors like labor shortages, an aging farm workforce, mounting regulations, and rising costs have put fresh produce growers in a bind.  AgTech innovators have been hard at work on tools - especially harvesting tools - for years. But progress has been much slower than many hoped. On...

This week, in a new experimental format, we’re breaking down the freshest announcements from leaders in the agribusiness, agtech, and ag production worlds to share insights and ask “so what?” Sarah is joined this week by Tenacious Ventures Managing Partner J. Matthew Pryor and Shane Thomas , author of Upstream Ag Insights .  What John Deere’s announced partnership with Starlink means for farmers,...

Somehow it’s December again, and another year has come and nearly gone. We've spent a lot of time reflecting on the highs and lows of a particularly unpredictable year for Tenacious Ventures, our portfolio companies, and agtech more broadly. In that spirit, we’re taking time to talk about what we've learned from a year of fundraising, advising, learning and podcasting. We’re joined today by our ed...

Hearing the stats about startup failure rates (70 - 90%), and how one - only one- investment drives returns for most VC funds, is one thing. Actually experiencing it, is another. In line with our learning out loud ethos, today we're talking about Nowadays , a Tenacious portfolio company that recently wound down operations. Nowadays was a manufacturing platform for whole cuts of clean label plant b...

There's a persistent myth in the startup space, and in agtech especially, that the most important way that corporates can support startups is through direct investments. In our experience , this is an insanely incomplete picture. Agribusiness and agricultural production are complex and enigmatic worlds, and newcomers to the space need guidance and support from advisors, customers, and support infr...

2023 has been a year of both investing and fundraising for us here at Tenacious Ventures. And sitting on both sides of the table has highlighted to us just how much of the investing world is stuck in a black box. In general, we’ve found that this opacity can be a huge barrier, especially in an industry like agri-food– where venture funding hasn’t been a long-standing part of the ecosystem.   So we...

We've spent a lot of time this year talking about the future of specific sub-spaces of the food system– fertilizer, vertical farming, alternative protein, and ag retail, just to name a few. We’ve focused a lot on the existing internal trends and pressures that help us predict what might be coming next, but we’ve talked less about the factors outside of the expected, not least the way that people -...

As 2030 looms and the climate commitments made in the last decade come into clear (and often disappointing) focus, one important lesson we’ve learned is that not all greenhouse gasses are created equal. Despite the many metrics created in the hopes of simplifying our way to climate action, CO2 is neither the most potent greenhouse gas nor, arguably, the most important priority in the short term. T...

Without a doubt, the global fertilizer sector sits at the center of a complex web of international industries. From energy to mining and food to agriculture, turning deep earth minerals from the far reaches of the globe into the food we eat every day is no small task, and even tiny changes can have outsized, and often unpredictable, impacts. That’s why, as we continue our thinking around what the...

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have been making waves across the global economy, but it’s not always clear how these language creating tools can make a difference in industries like agriculture. While companies everywhere are scrambling to develop their own proprietary AI tools before they even know what they’ll use them for, many in ag are left wondering– should I be using ChatGPT too?  Today w...

Innovation in the protein space has most recently seen a lot of hype around “alternative” proteins, from high tech microbe engineering to proprietary science that makes plants into something magically similar to juicy burgers or satisfying nuggets. But innovation in protein is a much deeper field. And when it comes to actually getting products to customers, protein innovations are just as likely t...

A few months ago, Matthew got the chance to represent Tenacious on a panel at the Evoke Ag Conference in Adelaide, Australia. The conversation was called “Going Global, Who's investing in Agribusiness,” and featured a group of investors who tackled some of the most pivotal questions facing the agtech investment space today; from tackling sustainability and ESG and managing through a generative AI...

In recent years, the vertical farming startup space has been characterized by ecstatic highs and disappointing lows. More than a billion dollars worth of funding has flowed into a relatively small number of investments, but despite this resourcing and years of runway, we’ve started to see frequent, high profile collapses. So, is there a value proposition with vertical farming? Or was it all hype,...

On the surface, the opportunity to transition on-farm energy to electricity seems limited at best. Farm jobs and farm equipment are big, and often require a level of power that electric options have historically been unable to meet. But between advances in electric vehicles and shifting dynamics in farm operations, those limitations are starting to dissolve. So we’ve started to wonder: is on-farm...

When we think about the effects of climate change on the ag sector, we tend to focus on the impacts to the farm– particularly those events will have an impact on farmer livelihoods. The reality is, unpredictable weather during the growing season is only one part of the challenge. Generalized climatic uncertainty from season to season is proving to be just as crippling, and not just for farm operat...

In the ag business sector, the retail channel is sacred. Ag retailers are home to the people who actually shake hands with farmers, know their kids by name, and drive by their fields regularly. So if you’re someone looking to sell a product or service to a producer, it can be almost impossible to go around these heavily-influential, and often highly localized, organizations. And yet, the ag retail...