Livestock, and especially cows, get a bad rap when it comes to climate change. But is this fair? There’s no doubt that cows emit methane; however, scientific advancements are increasing our understanding of how methane contributes to global warming, and emerging companies are developing solutions to reduce enteric emissions through advancements such as feed additives and methods to accelerate genetic progress. The path to sustainable livestock is fraught with controversy, but this week’s guests,...
Mar 10, 2021•41 min•Ep. 88
The Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture has a lofty mission: to change the food system. It’s an idyllic 400 acre farming property just north of New York City. It features an on-site, partner restaurant called Blue Hill , which has been made famous by chef Dan Barber and his book The Third Plate. Stone Barns also runs education programs and regenerative agriculture trials in crops and livestock, and welcomes the public to watch how it’s all done. Jason Grauer is their Crops Director. He l...
Feb 24, 2021•40 min•Ep. 87
In a world where food and farming are highly polarized issues, Rob Paarlberg’s approach is to follow the evidence. This has earned him great respect, but also means his well-researched views tend to land him in no-man’s land between traditional industry views and the new food movement. For instance, Rob supports modern commercial farming and the use of fertilizers; however, he’s not a blanket supporter of ‘Big Ag’. He is highly critical of the state of animal welfare in modern American livestock...
Feb 10, 2021•33 min•Ep. 86
There’s always going to be some skepticism about the motives of ‘Big Food’ companies. But, for reasons such as risk management, consumer pressures, and more, the Coca-Cola Company is becoming more focused on the sustainability of its supply chain. While Coca-Cola doesn’t deal directly with farmers, its interest in how products are sourced and grown is increasing. In this episode Ulrike Sapiro, Senior Director of Global Water Stewardship and Sustainable Agriculture at the Coca-Cola Company, discu...
Jan 27, 2021•45 min•Ep. 85
If you’re looking at a career in agtech, chances are you’re going to spend time working with startups. But what’s it like to work IN an agtech startup? A fast-paced environment, no red tape, significant responsibility, and a big vision may come to mind. But there can be downsides, too, such as long hours and setbacks due to the inevitable trial and error that comes with bringing new innovations to the world. The agtech industry is increasingly drawing top talent from all different industries and...
Jan 13, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 84
How do you get a career in agriculture or agtech, when you’re not from a farming background? In this episode, we meet four women who’ve become agtech leaders, despite not having grown up on a farm. At the intersection of two largely white and male dominated industries (agriculture and tech), they have succeeded despite, as they say, ‘not looking the part’. You’ll hear how they first got their foot in the door (from scoring discounted tickets to conferences, to setting up their own networking eve...
Dec 16, 2020•34 min•Ep. 83
The race is on globally to scale carbon markets, where farmers can sell the carbon they sequester in their soil to buyers who want to offset emissions. But right now, the space is often confusing for buyers, sellers, and the intermediaries working between them. And further, both public and private market schemes have been criticized for inefficiencies and high costs to participate. But the game is changing as new technologies and business models seek to lower barriers to entry and improve transp...
Dec 02, 2020•41 min•Ep. 82
Sarah Sivyer had multiple roles in the corporate world before she decided to start farming eggs. She grew up on a farm, but was completely new to chickens, and this was the challenge she wanted: to grow her own business from scratch and apply her corporate knowledge.By tapping into consumer demand for convenience, freshness, and sustainability credentials, Sarah now runs 2500 chickens for her subscription-based egg business, Just Been Laid . Sarah also completed a Nuffield Scholarship on continu...
Nov 18, 2020•43 min•Ep. 81
Cavan Station might have well-known owners today (the Murdoch family), but the large property in southern New South Wales has long held a place in Australian history, as pioneers of the fine wool industry. And Cavan Station is still innovating today. In fact, the 25,000 acre (10,000 ha) farm has undergone a significant transformation over the past 10 years, including adopting the latest technologies, from genetics and genomics, to data analysis and software. At the helm of this change is the Gen...
Nov 04, 2020•31 min•Ep. 80
Mary Shelman is an internationally recognized agribusiness consultant and speaker, and the former Director of Harvard Business School’s Agribusiness program. Mary grew up in Kentucky, watching her father sell farm equipment; now, based in Boston, she helps corporations and governments tackle agriculture’s biggest problems. In Ireland, for example, she helped boost exports and build a national brand through Origin Green , a national sustainability scheme. In this podcast, Mary talks about: How co...
Oct 21, 2020•40 min•Ep. 79
Sarah Mock isn’t afraid of having tough conversations and shining light on thorny issues in the agriculture industry. A journalist with experience in international development and agtech, Sarah recently began a Twitter firestorm with an article asserting that all farming is inherently exploitative. While sometimes accused of being anti-farming, Sarah says this couldn’t be further from the truth. She describes herself as being “not a cheerleader; not the enemy”. Sarah grew up on a farm in Wyoming...
Oct 07, 2020•48 min•Ep. 78
Regen Ag Series #5: Our Verdict, with Sarah Nolet and Matthew Pryor from AgThentic and Tenacious Ventures In this final wrap up episode of our regenerative agriculture series, the team from AgThentic is giving you OUR verdict. Sarah is joined by Matthew Pryor, Partner at AgThentic and co-founder of Tenacious Ventures , to discuss: what it will take to move beyond the polarizing debate over whether regen ag is good or bad; how agtech can unlock cost effective ways to measure, monitor, and verify ...
Sep 23, 2020•43 min•Ep. 77
The gloves are off as our expert panelists debate whether regenerative agriculture can improve farming businesses… or if it’s all hype. Host Sarah Nolet is joined by: Richard Leask, a wine grower and 2019 Nuffield Scholar who traveled the world studying regen ag, and now uses the best of what he discovered back home in his vineyard in South Australia. Toby Grogan, a natural capital specialist from Impact Ag , who advises farmers and investors on how regen ag can increase soil health and farm pro...
Sep 09, 2020•32 min•Ep. 76
Is it possible for large food corporations like McDonald’s to “scale for good?” Nicole Johnson-Hoffman is in charge of supplying beef to McDonalds through the OSI Group , and doing so sustainably. She believes it’s only the big companies that have the power to change entire supply chains and therefore that the future of sustainable food is up to them. Nicole grew up on a small dairy farm in Minnesota and is now a world leader in sustainable beef production. But the industry today is a long way f...
Aug 26, 2020•36 min•Ep. 75
When a company commits to regenerative agriculture practices - it can be accused of ‘greenwashing’ - making people believe it’s doing more to help the environment than it really is. General Mills , the U.S. company behind iconic brands such as Yoplait, Betty Crocker and Cheerios, made a commitment to bring regenerative agriculture practices to one million acres of farmland by 2030.Jay Watson is responsible for this task - connecting farmers in various commodity supply chains with support, tools,...
Aug 12, 2020•35 min•Ep. 74
Sam Trethewey believes ‘regenerative agriculture’ is not a dirty word - but simply the future of farming. Astonishingly, he produces wagyu beef in Tasmania without actually owning any cows. He does this by combining insights about business models from startups such as Uber and Airbnb with the farming practices of regenerative agriculture. Sam grew up on the family farm in Tasmania before working in corporate agribusiness and marketing. In 2016, he co-founded SproutX , the first agtech accelerato...
Jul 29, 2020•35 min•Ep. 73
Mark Wootton is well-known in the Australian agriculture industry as a pioneer in carbon-neutral farming. In 2011, Jigsaw Farms , his family property in south-west Victoria, achieved carbon neutrality - undergoing a process he openly admits was at the time, both “arduous and not necessarily commercially rewarding”. Yet, Mark and his wife Eve Kantor operate a very successful mixed grazing farm where they run 20,000 sheep for fine wool and prime lamb as well as 500 cows. The farm also incorporates...
Jul 15, 2020•37 min•Ep. 72
Karmen Mehmen is a corn and soybean farmer in Iowa alongside her husband Stan and their son Kyle and daughter-in-law Kerri. Their farm, MBS Family Farms, has grown from 160 acres and 40 cows back in the ‘60s to an operation that today supports 20 families. In this episode, Karmen talks about: How technology has enabled them to manage through substantial growth Learnings from transitioning the farm to the next generation How structured coaching and support has helped them become better farmers &a...
Jul 01, 2020•28 min•Ep. 71
Renée Anderson is a farmer in Emerald, Queensland, Nuffield Scholar, agronomist, and overall champion for the cotton industry. In this episode, she shares her insights from Australia and around the world on social license, science communications, and the role that tech can play in helping farmers both improve production and change the narrative about agriculture. Visit our website for our top five insights, Renee’s favorite science communicators, and the resources on racism in agriculture mentio...
Jun 17, 2020•33 min•Ep. 70
David Carter is the CEO of Austral Fisheries, one of Australia’s largest integrated commercial fishing companies. Austral Fisheries is notable for being the only commercial fishing company in the world to be certified Carbon Neutral, offsetting their emissions to zero since 2016. In this episode we talk about: David's path from deckhand to CEO Austral's journey from commodity to branded, premium product The bold goals that Austral have set on issues like bycatch and carbon emissions How technolo...
Jun 03, 2020•36 min•Ep. 69
This episode, live from the 2020 evokeAG conference in Melbourne, features three innovative Aussie producers: Brad “Jonesy” Jones; Sue “Chilla” Middleton; and Mark “Mort” Mortimer. We also cover: the different techs being used in their businesses today their tech wishlists for the future what’s driving adoption of agtech and what’s preventing it where to look for the best agtech solutions how they’re getting involved as more than customers of agtech For links to additional resources (and all the...
May 20, 2020•31 min•Ep. 68
Today’s episode is all about corporate investments and acquisitions in agtech. Two guests, Derek Norman (VP at Leaps by Bayer) and Jim Chambers (President and General Manager of the Worldwide Agriculture Business at Trimble) cover different ways startups can engage with corporates, from early stage direct strategic investments, to channel partnerships, to acquisitions. We also discuss: what Bayer and Trimble are looking for and tips for startup to get investment- and acquisition-ready how the M&...
May 06, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 67
Coming to you live from Australia's first national, virtual AgTech Meetup, this episode explores what alternative proteins are, how big they'll become, and whether this is a pending disruption or untapped opportunity for agriculture. Panelists included: Catherine Tubb - chemistry PhD and Research Fellow at RethinkX Paul Wood - internationally recognized veterinary immunologist, inventor, and Chairman at AusBiotech George Peppou - chef and CEO/Co-founder at cellular ag company VOW Foods In this e...
Apr 22, 2020•46 min•Ep. 66
This week Sarah is joined by a guest host, Cass Mao, Principal Advisor at AgThentic, to chat with Pete Nelson of AgLaunch about how growers and agtech companies can work together in a model that they call "farmer-centric innovation" Pete Nelson, originally a farmer and an English major at University, has been actively involved in building the support ecosystem for new agricultural enterprises for over 15 years. He has worked with a variety of public and private sector partners and helped to laun...
Apr 08, 2020•40 min•Ep. 65
Evan Fraser is a food systems innovation expert, the Director of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph in Canada, and the Founder of Feeding9Billion. Though he didn't grow up on a farm, he brings a multi-disciplinary and systems approach to his work, with degrees and work experience in various fields from anthropology to atmospheric chemistry to agriculture. His passion for agriculture comes from his love of good food and summers spent spent working on his grandfather’s farm (mor...
Mar 25, 2020•29 min•Ep. 64
We hear all the time that we need to "feed the world" and that "agtech can help" But what role will indoor farming play? How do these systems work, what can they grow, and how do they make money? Today’s guest, Allison Kopf, is an agtech entrepreneur and indoor ag expert. Her company, Artemis, builds software for indoor farms and specialty crops. In this episode, rebroadcast (with updates and edits) from a couple years ago, Allison shares an indoor ag 101. We also cover the challenges for women ...
Mar 18, 2020•34 min•Ep. 63
evokeAG , Asia Pacific's largest agrifood tech event, brought together 1300 innovators earlier in February this year in Melbourne, Australia. The jam-packed event featured international experts, innovative farmers, dozens of startups, and much more, showcasing what the region has to offer in agrifood tech innovation. This bonus episode gives a taste of evokeAG and a live recording of the first panel on the main stage: The Asia-Pacific region and how we are rising. Panelists included: Andrew Copp...
Mar 11, 2020•43 min•Ep. 62
Agriculture is often vilified for its environmental impact. But what if agriculture could be carbon neutral? Is that even possible? And what would it cost? Alisdair Tulloch, a fourth generation grape grower, believes it’s not only possible but also profitable.In this episode, Alisdair shares his family's journey to carbon neutral. Why did they decide to take action? How are they measuring? What improvements have they made, and how did they prioritize? We also cover: The practices and management ...
Mar 04, 2020•34 min•Ep. 61
Mark “Ferg” Ferguson is a sheep geneticist who’s paying attention to how both consumer demands and emerging technologies are impacting growers. Drawing on his experience with dozens of clients around Australia and New Zealand, Ferg shares: insights for agtech companies, like the importance of personas and how to build relationships in a digital world; what the future of extension and consulting in livestock looks like; the role of cutting edge technologies in the sheep industry; and a vision for...
Feb 19, 2020•35 min•Ep. 60
Mic Fels is someone I’ve wanted to speak with ever since I read an article he wrote about how his agtech is really making him money. Mic not only crops about 11,000 hectares in Esperance, Western Australia, but has also built and commercialized a range of software products and machinery through his company, iPaddock. Mic and I chat about where the real value is in agtech, and what building products has taught him about startups and about farming. We also talk about: hard earned lessons and tips ...
Feb 05, 2020•40 min•Ep. 59
