The Modern Acre

Jack Richardson is kicking off a new and improved version of T he Modern Acre newsletter . After starting his career in venture banking, Jack has spent the last five years in AgTech, first at a food waste startup and now in precision technology at an Ag OEM. He's spent most of his career in strategy roles where he's explored ways to make business models work. Outside of his specific roles, he's wr...

Tyler Niday is the Founder and CEO of Bonsai Robotics. Bonsai provides vision-based automation and autonomous solutions to combat growers' biggest challenge: the labor crisis. Bonsai partners with existing manufacturers enabling greater performance, efficiency, and insight than ever before. Prior to founding Bonsai, Tyler held various positions at Blue River technology, developing their product. —...

A new edition of Acre Insights is here! We have a loaded docket today with wife-inspired business ideas for ag, how to make ag more fun, and defining regenerative in California. — This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE . Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE . — Links Buy Nuss Farms Watermelon - https://pickedtoporch.com/products/watermelons?varia...

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in communications from Sacramento State University, Dan moved to Kerman, CA to work on a ranch for his now father-in-law. Working on his father-in-law's ranch, Dan learned quickly about the farming industry and realized his heart's desire was working with primarily almond, pistachio, grapes, and cotton. He also gravitated toward research, development, and...

Devon Wright is the Founder and CEO of Lumo, a hardware and software smart valve agtech startup. Lumo's mission is to massively improve fresh water efficiency and food security. They do this helping farmers optimize irrigation so they can continue to meet our growing food demand with an increasingly volatile water supply. Prior to this, Devon co-founded Turnstyle Solutions and grew it to one of th...

This month, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "After 40 harvests - A framework for succession planning in agriculture." Ariel Patton is the creator of Topsoil , a newsletter bringing you monthly frameworks to help make sense of agriculture, at just the right depth. Ariel has focused her career on driving digital transformation of agriculture to help farmers manage th...

In 2000, Steve Brazeel founded SunTerra Produce, which has grown from a one-person produce brokerage firm into an industry-leading, full-service platform handling sales, marketing, farming, food safety, harvesting, storage, and distribution activities for specialty crop producers on over 5,000 acres throughout the US and Mexico. Born out of SunTerra's participation in the USDA's ground-breaking Fa...

Scott Nelson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Make Hay. Launched in partnership with Purdue University and High Alpha Innovation, Make Hay is a SaaS marketing platform that enables brands to produce authentic and trusted agricultural-related content at scale, all while amplifying and empowering the voices of America's Agriculture Industry. — This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more H...

Jack Richardson is kicking off a new and improved version of T he Modern Acre newsletter . After starting his career in venture banking, Jack has spent the last five years in AgTech, first at a food waste startup and now in precision technology at an Ag OEM. He's spent most of his career in strategy roles where he's explored ways to make business models work. Outside of his specific roles, he's wr...

Grant Mulligan is a Director of the Investment Group at AlTi Tiedemann Global, a global wealth and alternatives manager. Grant focuses on the firm's climate sustainability impact investments, specifically nature-based solutions and decarbonization technology. Prior to joining AlTi, Grant was a Project Director at NatureVest, the in-house impact investing team of The Nature Conservancy. He advised...

Matt Aronson is the Chief Revenue Officer of Verdant Technologies. Verdant is committed to reducing global waste and enhancing sustainability through their proprietary technology, HarvestHold, which extends the usable life of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Tune in to hear more about their approach to food waste and how Matt and the team are focused on scaling profitably. — This episode is presen...

Luiz Beling is the new CEO of Apeel Sciences, a leading company in supply chain innovation for the fresh produce industry. With over two decades of agriculture industry experience, Beling brings a wealth of knowledge and skills in driving innovation and fostering strategic partnerships. Beling most recently held leadership roles at Farmer's Business Network and Bayer Crop Science, where he led lar...

Kelly Damewood is the CEO of CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers), one of the first organic certification agencies. Kelly has spent over a decade working towards a single goal: helping organic farmers thrive. After her own experience running a small farm, she went to law school determined to help farmers who farm in a better way. In her previous role as CCOF's policy director, Kelly spearhe...

Zac Ellis is the Sr. Director of Agronomy at Olam and oversees thousands of acres of almond production. The Olam Group is a leading food and agri-business supplying food, ingredients, feed and fiber to 20,900 customers worldwide. Their value chain spans over 60 countries and includes farming, processing and distribution operations, as well as a sourcing network of an estimated 5.0 million farmers....

Dave Friedberg is CEO, Chairman, and co-founder of Ohalo Genetics ( https://ohalo.com ), which is accelerating evolution to unlock nature's potential. Dave excels at developing and deploying agricultural technologies that boost farmer productivity while reducing humanity's land, water, and energy footprint. Dave is also CEO and founder of The Production Board (TPB), a venture foundry that builds a...

Help us celebrate our 350th episode by doing one (or all!) of the following: Share a recent episode with a friend or colleague Join our membership community The Modern Acre Co-op Subscribe to our new newsletter focused on food & ag strategy — Tim Bucher  is the CEO and Founder of  Agtonomy , a hybrid autonomy and tele-assist platform for agriculture vehicles. They partner with established equipmen...

Jack Richardson is kicking off a new and improved version of T he Modern Acre newsletter . After starting his career in venture banking, Jack has spent the last five years in AgTech, first at a food waste startup and now in precision technology at an Ag OEM. He's spent most of his career in strategy roles where he's explored ways to make business models work. Outside of his specific roles, he's wr...

Austin is an expert on agricultural and antitrust policy. During the 2020 presidential campaign, he advised candidates Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg on agricultural policy before ultimately serving as Co-Chair of the Biden campaign's Agriculture Antitrust Policy Committee. He is a Fellow of the  Thurman Arnold Project  at Yale University, an initiative that brings together f...

Michael Lavin is the founder and managing partner of Germin8 Ventures , a purpose-driven venture capital firm that believes in the power of technology to fix the global food system. Founded in 2018 and backed by C-level executives, entrepreneurs and technologists across the food and agriculture industries, Germin8 is building a portfolio of entrepreneurs and businesses with the potential to profou...

Jason Giannelli is the farm manager for two large California farming operations, Old River Farming and R & G Fanucchi. Jason shares more about what's happening on the ground in California right now with SGMA, farming practices, and regulatory pressures. — This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE . — Links Jason on LinkedIn Join the Co-op

Chris Tolles is the CEO and Co-Founder of Yard Stick. Yard Stick measures soil carbon. Scientists and farmers alike know that climate-friendly agricultural practices have the potential to remove atmospheric CO2 at gigaton/year scale. When these practices are adopted, more carbon is stored in soils, improving soil health and fighting climate change. But significant measurement challenges have held...

Kevin Bearley is a Principle at Pinion and partners with business owners to create sophisticated income and tax solutions that include structuring organizations, transitioning businesses, and maximizing tax benefits at present and into the future. Kevin navigates complex family dynamics and advises family business owners that fair doesn't always mean equal. When putting together estate plans, he f...

Did you miss World Agri-Tech in SF last month? Do not fret, because Tim and Tyler break it all down for you with their takeaways from attending the show. — This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE . — Links World Agri-Tech Join the Co-op

Pat McCullough is the CEO of ProducePay , the marketplace transforming the global produce industry into a more connected and sustainable supply chain. Prior to being appointed CEO in January, Pat served as a board member and advisor to ProducePay for two years. An esteemed global business leader, McCullough brings to this role more than 25 years of corporate experience and deep expertise in intern...

The Food Manufacturing Guy is a food manufacturing CEO with extensive experience in vertically integrating a food brand. He also has built a following on X for spicy takes on the food industry while keeping his account anonymous. Tune in for his first ever podcast interview where we dive into some of his takes. — This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE . — Links The Food Manufacturing...