Agtech - So What?

When it comes to designing carbon programs in agriculture, there is a very real tension between the science and the commercial realities of drawing down carbon at scale. Particularly, the question of how to incentivize on-farm practice changes is one that many companies in ag carbon have failed to answer. Working at the intersection of these tensions is our guest this week, Emma Fuller , Carbon an...

This week we're bringing you the final episode in our three-part series on the future of ag insurance. Our journey started with learning the ins and outs of how the sector currently operates (check out the ag insurance 101 episode here ) and then talking to key players about new products and technologies entering the industry (check out Damon Johnson on parametric insurance here ).Today, Sarah is...

For a traditionally low innovation industry, things are starting to heat up in agricultural insurance. While it remains something of a black box for many people in agriculture, the forces of climate change and technological innovation are creating the right mix of incentives that could change how the whole industry approaches risk. This second episode of our exploration of ag insurance (check out...

Climate change will mean more frequent, extreme weather and more risk exposure for farmers around the world. This increased risk should be a driver for the business of agricultural insurers. But, it’s not easy to predict how climate change and digital-disruption might transform one of the world’s oldest industries. Actually, we’ve come to realize it isn’t easy to understand how agricultural insura...

Recently the whole team here at Tenacious Ventures had the chance to get out of town and on to the farm. And not just any farm – we visited Jigsaw Farms, home to sheep farmer and long-time friend of the show Mark Wooton and his wife Eve. While out at Jigsaw, Mark and Eve gave us an update on their vision for “sustainable intensification” and their ethos for farm management. In that spirit we wante...

It isn’t surprising that most farmers have to be expert planners and investors. But getting an inside view into how a farmer plans for the future of their business is a rare opportunity. In this episode, you’ll hear firsthand how Hallie Shoffner , a sixth-generation row crop farmer in the Mississippi Delta, makes decisions for her farm and company, SFR Seed . While Hallie is an enthusiastic adopte...

Our latest bonus podcast episode is an experiment. Rather than organize the contributions that usually make up an episode, we decided to hit record on one of the conversations that are always happening internally at Tenacious Ventures. It’s a snapshot into how we think, form and test our assumptions, and decide on what might be next. It also captured the team taking on a pretty hot topic on the mi...

There are many different views about the future of autonomous farming. One is that, out of the emerging autonomous equipment providers and established blue chip suppliers, there will be clear winners and losers in the battle for on-farm dominance. Another is that farming in the future will involve all kinds of autonomous solutions. This second possibility presents tons of opportunities to add valu...

Every decision made by founders, farmers, and leaders in agriculture shapes the future of our food system. Whether it’s the cost per hectare of a biological or the value of a ton of carbon sequestered, the different goals and outcomes that end up in business plans inevitably define how time, energy, and capital are spent. But there are many outcomes of a healthy food system that don’t fit in a bus...

Let’s talk about eggs. Hardly anything can match the egg for complete versatility. Eggs are a crucial ingredient that unlocksthe tastes, textures, and experiences we take for granted in everything from the simplest home omelette to food manufactured on an industrial scale. So, how would you approach replacing the egg with a plant-based alternative? This week on EggTech…So What?, we spoke with alte...

Life is moving pretty fast for founders and investors working in agtech. Recent years have seen record flows of capital into agrifood, driven in part by agriculture potential to provide climate solutions. And the massive disruptions of COVID-19 meant developed markets received a historic taste of what changes will be needed in a world impacted by climate change and further uncertainty. So, how hav...

Biologicals in agriculture have a wildly exciting future. It’s a segment responding to innovation in science, changes in markets, and the urgent pressures of adapting to climate change. New startups coming into the space are generating plenty of buzz, but there are also established players with products in the hands of farmers today. Ben Barlow is a veteran executive and the Managing Director of N...

Sustainability in food and agriculture has come a long way. Far from being “the dirty word” it used to be in boardrooms and at farm-gates, it’s now business as usual to expect CSR policies, ESG strategies, and decarbonization targets from all major agri-food companies. But, according to Jessie Deelo, Chief Hub Officer at Vayda, sustainability is moving beyond typical “top-down” commitments. In her...

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 Offic...

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 proposit...

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...

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 Cortev...

Originally released: 20 February, 2020 We’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 consultanc...

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...

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 meas...

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 Neb...

“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 famili...

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...

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 discu...

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 GD...