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Agtech - So What?
Alle als (un)gespielt markieren ...
Manage series 1789437
Inhalt bereitgestellt von Sarah Nolet. Alle Podcast-Inhalte, einschließlich Episoden, Grafiken und Podcast-Beschreibungen, werden direkt von Sarah Nolet oder seinem Podcast-Plattformpartner hochgeladen und bereitgestellt. Wenn Sie glauben, dass jemand Ihr urheberrechtlich geschütztes Werk ohne Ihre Erlaubnis nutzt, können Sie dem hier beschriebenen Verfahren folgen https://de.player.fm/legal.
We tell the stories of innovators at the intersection of agriculture and technology to answer the question: what really is agtech and why should you care?
…
continue reading
194 Episoden
Alle als (un)gespielt markieren ...
Manage series 1789437
Inhalt bereitgestellt von Sarah Nolet. Alle Podcast-Inhalte, einschließlich Episoden, Grafiken und Podcast-Beschreibungen, werden direkt von Sarah Nolet oder seinem Podcast-Plattformpartner hochgeladen und bereitgestellt. Wenn Sie glauben, dass jemand Ihr urheberrechtlich geschütztes Werk ohne Ihre Erlaubnis nutzt, können Sie dem hier beschriebenen Verfahren folgen https://de.player.fm/legal.
We tell the stories of innovators at the intersection of agriculture and technology to answer the question: what really is agtech and why should you care?
…
continue reading
194 Episoden
Alle Folgen
×A
Agtech - So What?

“Food is Medicine” is extremely popular right now, and a few facts suggest it might be more than just a trend. The U.S. alone spends something like $1.5 trillion annually on diet-related diseases, and key issues like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and other diseases are on the rise around the world. There are costly interventions available to manage many of these problems, but an increasing body of research suggests that some of the least invasive (and most affordable) interventions don’t come in a pill or vial, but in a grocery basket. Agrifood tech is definitely not sitting on the sidelines. We’re seeing a new wave of startups emerging in this space, building on the lessons of food businesses of the past. To explore this trend, we spoke with one such founder– Brad McNamara , CEO and Founder at Morrissey Market , a “food is medicine” distribution startup. Brad was formerly at Freight Farms , a vertical farming company that strove to sell, not the produce, but the farm itself, in the form of a tech-enabled shipping container-sized farm. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
When it comes to the production of high-value food crops, California is, without question, a global leader. Plus, much of the state’s thousands of acres of farmland lies within close proximity of Silicon Valley, where high-tech tools and solutions are endemic. And yet, many California farmers are struggling to continue their work, and agtech startups are increasingly looking beyond the state for customers and sectors to serve. So what gives? To answer this question, we asked Walt Duflock , Senior VP of Innovation at Western Growers Association on the show to help us connect the dots on why California’s world-renowned ag and its state-of-the-art tech sectors are struggling to align. Policy plays a big role here, but shifting tides around agtech funding are also having an effect. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
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Agtech - So What?

Finding the right solution often starts with finding many, many wrong solutions. When it comes to some of agtech's most beguiling challenges, like real-time, granular soil testing, many startups have found the wrong solution– either ones that simply don’t work, don’t work at the right price, or don’t work in a way that makes them useful enough. But just because a problem hasn’t been solved yet doesn’t mean it’s unsolvable! And with the recent leaps made in artificial intelligence, a new startup– Soil Action – is taking another crack at this problem, hoping that a novel approach will help align the stars of effectiveness, usefulness, and affordability. The co-founders at Soil Action, Jack Oslan and Nate Storey , also know a thing or two about tackling big challenges in agtech. They both were also co-founders at vertical farming startup Plenty, and this week, in addition to hearing about Soil Action, we’ll also hear about lessons learned from that journey. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
Longtime listeners have heard Sarah and Matthew talk about ideas like “ecosystem disruption” and “adoption chain risk” and “value architecture,” all of which stem from the works of Ron Adner . Ron is a researcher, strategist, and professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University , and the author of two books, The Wide Lens and Winning the Right Game , both of which have been influential at Tenacious. So this week, we’re going straight to the source as Matthew sits down with Ron for a wide ranging discussion of how fundamental business strategy has changed in recent decades, and how agtech companies and investors can learn lessons from other sectors to inform their business models, go-to-market strategies, and the very way they understand the spaces where they play. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
Despite a persistent sense of uncertainty in the AgTech market lately, we’re still seeing startups get acquired– even if information about those acquisitions is opaque. Case in point: Syngenta recently purchased Intrinsyx Bio, a biologicals company, for an undisclosed sum. Why do companies conceal this information? And in this moment when everyone has their eyes peeled for some indication of where the market is headed, what can we learn from exits? Sarah sits down this week with Tenacious Ventures’ Matthew Pryor and Shane Thomas , author of Upstream Ag Insights , to do a deep dive into the latest news and discuss what it all means. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
Over the last few decades, a lot of products and technologies have promised to disrupt the diets and food buying habits of the world’s consumers. But nothing has made true on that promise quite like the emergence of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. These (as of now) injectables are changing the way people– and their households– eat and shop, and CPG companies, quick serve food brands, and others are already seeing a marked decline in purchasing in the months since these drugs have gone mainstream. Given the speed with which people are adopting these treatments, and how fast the therapy affects their diets and choices, many in the food and ag sectors have been caught flat footed by a dramatic change in preferences among 10% (and growing) of consumers. Who will be the winners and losers? To tell us more about what the future might hold for ag and food alike, we’re joined this week by Mary Shelman , Founder at the Shelman Group . 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
Big news from Tenacious– WE’RE HIRING! Do you share our mission of unlocking impact at scale in agri-food systems? Check out our open roles here . ... Is agtech a good fit for venture capital, and vice versa? This question - existential for some - is flying around in the ether right now. We’ve been thinking about both the bearish and bullish answers a lot lately. And we’ve been intrigued by the possibility of shifting the question away from black and white answers , into nuance. Namely, we’ve been asking: if venture capital is not a perfect fit for agtech, but there are big opportunities for technology in agriculture, how else might agtech companies get funded? To help us take on this larger inquiry, we called on friend of the podcast Connie Bowen , Founder of Farmhand Ventures . Connie has been both thinking about deploying alternative funding models in agtech. She brings the insight she’s gained from utilizing (and passing) on some of these alternatives, including redeemable equity, to the podcast this week. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
Between COVID-19, Avian Influenza, and African Swine Fever, ordinary consumers are more aware than ever of the risks of infectious diseases on animal and human health, and to society at large. Ag technology that helps farmers better prevent the spread of diseases is more relevant than ever, and that was a big part of the motivation for today’s guest, Rob Hannam , CEO of Farm Health Guardian . But Farm Health Guardian was far from the only livestock biosecurity agtech company in the space, and at some point, when the team came in contact with a competitor with a complementary suite of technologies, they did something unusual. The two companies merged. Given the current state of agtech funding and global financial markets, we thought the time was right to invite Rob on to talk about how he and his team first started exploring the idea of a merger, how they thought about the decision, and how it helped them unlock new opportunities and a more complete product. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
For commercial farming operations, determining whether or not new tools, technology, and practices work can be a big undertaking. From install and setup costs to helping the team involved climb the learning curve for effective use, even when technologies lead to big benefits, it can be tough to get the ball rolling. One farm that we’ve learned about recently decided to turn these challenges into a product. The insight is simple– that on the other side of all these tech adoption challenges, there are technologists and companies eager to learn how to overcome them, and to gain third-party information about how their product works in commercial settings. So Boolah, an Australian malt barley grower that manages 70,000 hectares across their network of connected farms, has built a testing and trial business that helps them neutralize the costs of trying out and implementing new tech and tools, while also providing high value data and research to their partners. To tell us more about what’s going on at the farm, we’re joined this week by Brooke Sauer, Head of R&D at Boolah . 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
For years the food tech space has been rife with companies eager to replace familiar standbys– from protein to sweeteners to colorings– with cheaper, more healthful, or more climate friendly alternatives. There have certainly been a few successes, but there have also been some big and spectacular failures. Whether we’re emerging from the dust of the most recent bust or have a ways to go still, we’re actively watching the space to see what founders and investors alike are learning from the frothy boom cycle with its incredible stats and promises, and from what came after. To understand a bit more about how this food tech ingredient space is changing, from products and go-to market to business models and financing, we’re joined this week by Jake Berber , Co-Founder and CEO of Prefer . 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
There are a few topics in agtech (and in the tech startup world more broadly) that are truly perennial– problems that must be solved again and again in new and innovative ways as markets, customers, and businesses evolve. Adoption is one of those challenges, and go-to-market strategies are another. We’ve been thinking about the challenge of adoption a lot recently, and also what changes in the marketplace will mean for the retail channel and product distribution for agtech in particular. Today, Sarah sits down with Tenacious Ventures’ Matthew Pryor and Shane Thomas , author of Upstream Ag Insights , to do a deep dive on these topics. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
When your organization is tasked with the job of getting growers to adopt new technology, there are a few tried, and frankly, not-so-true options to choose from. The world is lightly littered with various flavors of demonstration farms– properties where technologies can be piloted, field days can be hosted, and farmers can be converted from tech skeptics to believers. But in our experience, the problem with demo farms is just that they don’t usually do that much to actually drive adoption. The innovation team at Wine Australia, however, have managed to buck the trend. Their approach to demo farms, and agtech adoption more broadly, is unusual in many ways, and the features that set them apart have led to dramatically improved experiences for farmers and tech companies, ultimately leading to better adoption rates and outcomes for their industry. To learn more about their work, and their lessons along the way, we’re sitting down with Paul Smith , General Manager of Research and Innovation, and Dave Gerner , Regional Innovation Program Manager, at Wine Australia to discuss the custom program they built for their industry, which has led to meaningful success in increasing agtech adoption among Australian wine grape growers. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
Controlling weeds on farms is a sticky, two part challenge. First, you’ve got to identify the weeds, as distinct from the plants you want to grow. Then, you’ve got to destroy the undesirables and keep the rest. For today’s farmers, these two tasks can seem straightforward, but to do them at the scale required in modern agriculture– not so much. Identifying weeds, especially with computer vision, is a topic we discussed on the podcast last year, and now we’re circling back to talk about the available solutions on the destruction side. Herbicides have been the unchallenged behemoth in this space for decades, but as issues with efficacy and environmental impact mount, farmers are increasingly looking to other options. In the last few years we’ve seen many novel solutions– from mechanical tools to microwaves to flamethrowers. This week, we’re sitting down with Liam Hescock , Founder and CEO of Azaneo , one of our portfolio companies, to talk about their solution– which harnesses the power of electricity. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
As the new year gets underway, we’ve been thinking about the likely ups and downs ahead for the agtech world. We’ve been searching for insights in the recent announcement that FMC’s corporate venture capital division is shutting its doors, and thinking about what a trend in CVC pullbacks might mean for the lay of the land in agtech. We’ve also been taking time to think about the agtech companies that currently stand out in today’s tough market conditions, and what it is that sets them apart from the pack. Today, Sarah sits down with Tenacious Ventures Managing Partner Matthew Pryor and Shane Thomas , author of Upstream Ag Insights , to discuss the news and expectations for agtech in 2025. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
There’s nothing like the end of another year to have us reflecting on the recent successes in the world of agtech, and the many challenges still left to overcome. One thing that has continued to stand out to us in 2024 is the vital need for more business model innovation. There’s so much amazing technology that already exists, but for one reason or another, it is not getting adopted or utilized; it’s not delivering on the promised impact or commercial potential. Over the last twelve months we’ve talked to countless entrepreneurs and innovators who are finding novel and fascinating ways to overcome business model barriers, even when they aren’t using those words to describe their efforts. So this week, Sarah is sitting down with Tenacious Ventures Managing Partner Matthew Pryor to connect the dots on business model innovation that we’ve discussed in different podcast episodes all year long. 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 information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.…
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