The Modern Acre

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE Bowery Farming is rethinking farming and we had the great pleasure to talk with the person who is helping bring the future to life there. Henry Sztul is the Head of R&D and BoweryOS. We discuss Bowery's vision and mission for the future of agriculture, focused on bringing fresh and local produce to cities around the world. Bowery leverages advanced technology to...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE Sarah Nolet knows the AgTech space and works with both startups, corporates, and farmers in the industry to help create and build the future of food and agriculture. We dive into her company, AgThentic, which provides leading consulting services to the industry. Sarah shares how the company was originated and how it has evolved and grown to now include a venture...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE Anna Haldewang's class project in college has turned into her full time job with the help of some viral media coverage highlighting her unique idea. Tune in to learn more about Plan Bee, Anna's company that is developing a drone that mimics the work of a bee by pollinating plants. Anna is very passionate about the issues affecting bees and it was great learning...

We had the great honor to interview the co-founder and CEO of Square Roots, Tobias Peggs. Tobias has an incredibly successful career as the CEO of multiple companies, acquired by Adobe and Walmart, not to mention a background in Artificial Intelligence. Tobias shares the story of how Square Roots started with co-founder Kimbal Musk. Square Roots is a platform and program that empowers and trains u...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE We have finally made it around to one of our favorite topics -- beer! We had the great pleasure to talk to an industry veteran, Ron Silberstein, who has founded one of the first organic breweries and, most recently, the first craft malting house on the west coast. Admiral Maltings utilizes a traditional, low-volume method to malt grain and barely from local farm...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE Our first repeat guest on the show is Chris Laudando. Chris was a part of the Forbes AgTech Summit episode ( listen here ) and after talking to him, we knew we had to get him back on the show for a full episode. Chris has so much insight to offer in the food and ag tech space with his work at Motive Engineering, which is an engineering services firm that acceler...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE This episode showcases the best of startup innovation in food and ag! We had the pleasure of talking with Nina Meijers, who is a Senior Associate and Platform Manager of FoodBytes! by Rabobank. FoodBytes! was launched within Rabobank as an initiative to engage with the startup community, focusing on food and ag. Nina has extensive background in sustainable food...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE We had the great pleasure of interviewing a fellow podcaster and standout farm-marketer, Tim Young. Tim has an incredible story, from having a successful career in corporate America to leaving it all to start a farm while focusing on his family. As it turns out, Tim was rather successful farming and has since transitioned to build an online academy that helps fa...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE We loved talking with Alexandra "Rae" Danell, who started Harvest Joy Design to share the unique story of farms through photography. With a passion for agriculture and marketing, Rae decided to start a business outside of her day job. We discuss how her previous experience led her back to the world of agriculture and how she started and approaches her business....

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE We loved getting to talk to Igino Cafiero, who is the co-founder and CEO of Bear Flag Robotics. Bear Flag is a startup focused on tackling the challenge of automating farms to reduce cost, increase output, and make farms safer. Igino shares more about the origins of Bear Flag, how they approach autonomy, and how to run a company that's so dynamic. The future of...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE On our 30th episode (!!!) we had the great privilege to talk with Rob Reclerc, who is the Co-Founder and CEO of AgFunder. AgFunder is the leading online investment platform, focused on AgriFood Tech investments. We talk about how the business started, how it's evolved, and how it's focused on media and news to grow their online presence. Rob had so much insight...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE This week we talk with Harry Ferdon of SWIIM System, which was recently ranked as one of the Top 25 Most Innovative AgTech Startups by Forbes for the second straight year! The water challenge facing farmers across America and globally has come up many times on the podcast. We were thrilled to dive into SWIIM System's business model and learn about the value they...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE Brett Podolsky joins The Modern Acre to talk about how he helped create the Farmer's Dog, a dog food company focused on using real, fresh food and delivering customized servings to their customers. Brett shares the vision behind the company and why using real food is so important to the brand. While the company is not directly involved in a agriculture at the fa...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE What a great, jam-packed episode! We chat with Curtis Garner of Bowles Farming Company, an innovative 6th-generation family owned and operated farm in California. Curtis dives deep into the vision, operations, and challenges at Bowles. We discuss everything from conventional vs. organic and labor challenges to agtech and sustainability. If you are involved in ag...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE This week we talk with Adam and Jean O'Neal of PepperHarrow Farm. PepperHarrow Farm is a 20-acre boutique flower farm in Iowa that Adam and Jenn have scaled over time without increasing acreage. They have done this by leveraging multiple revenue streams and optimizing their business strategy. We talk everything from farmers markets to growing an authentic social...

Check out the Forbes AgTech Summit  HERE Indianapolis Summit in September HERE We had the opportunity to do live interviews with 3 speakers from the Forbes AgTech Summit in Salinas last week! We wanted to extract as much value from these guests in our short time, so we asked them these two questions: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the agriculture industry today? What technology...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE We loved the chance to talk to Noushin Ketabi about starting Vega Coffee by focusing on empowering growers at the farm level in Nicaragua. What makes Vega unique is cutting out the middle men in the coffee supply chain. Noushin talks about the origins of Vega, scaling the business, optimizing the supply chain and logistics, and organic growth. If you're interest...

Check out the Forbes AgTech Summit  HERE Tune in to hear the story of how Chiles Wilson started Branch to Box, a fruit delivery service that provides companies with fresh produce and snacks on a recurring, subscription basis. This episode has it all, as we talk through starting a company solo, early challenges, how to pivot, and how to grass-roots market your business. Chiles also shares how he is...

Check out the Forbes AgTech Summit  HERE Farming.... In the ocean. Roger Bason, CEO of 3D Ocean Farm, shares his wealth of knowledge on the ocean farming industry. We dive into his background, what aquaculture is, and his latest venture in the space, 3D Ocean Farm, which is being funded through an impact investing platform called Rabble . Roger take us inside an ocean farming operation, from setup...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE FarmHer was founded by Marji Guyler-Alaniz to shine a light on women in agriculture through photography. It has since grown into a massive online community and media business with a presence online, on TV, and at events. Marji and FarmHer's communications manager, Lexi Marek, talk about how the business was formed and how it has evolved and grown over time. We d...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE Small Robot Company's name is simple, but their vision is vast. Founders Ben Scott-Robinson and Sam Watson Jones talk about how their UK startup was formed and how they plan to execute their vision. The company is developing a three-robot autonomous system unlike anything seen in the tractor space. Ben and Sam share how they plan to go-to-market as "farming as a...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE This is a must-listen episode with HarvestPort CEO, Brian Dawson. Not only do we dive deep on Brian's latest venture with HarvestPort, but we also talk about the agtech industry landscape as a whole. Brian shares how HarvestPort originated and how it has continued to innovate through a hybrid marketing approach, while continuing to listen to its customers to evo...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE Henry Gordon-Smith  is the Founder and Managing Director of Agritecture, an urban agriculture consulting company. Agritecture was started by Henry as a blog resource for all things urban agriculture news, business, and design. He shares about how he started his career in hydroponics and grew his blog into a successful consulting business. Henry gives his take on...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE California Olive Ranch is the premier olive oil producer in America. We had the great opportunity to talk with Logan Jennings, the production operations manager at CA Olive Ranch, to discuss his journey with the company over the past several years. Logan entered the company as an entry-level employee and has gained responsibility while learning much of the full...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE In this episode, we talk with Michael Mazourek, who is one of the founders and head breeder at Row 7 Seeds. Row 7 is completely rethinking seed development. Where most seed companies are focused on maximizing quality and yield, Row 7 is focused on maximizing different attributes: taste and flavor. Row 7 is developing seeds for new breeds of vegetables by working...