Breaking news in the agtech world abounds here at the beginning of 2023, and as we've tracked the latest announcements, we've been thinking a lot about a few tech updates, especially from major brands, and what they might mean for the agtech landscape in the near future. Today, teammates Komal Patel and Matthew Pryor join Sarah to discuss a few pieces of news from the past few weeks that stood out. We dig into the details, read between the lines, and argue why we think they're worth paying atten...
Jan 25, 2023•24 min•Ep. 129
Agtech has long had an interest in shortening the supply chain between farms and consumers. And yet after years of effort, relatively little progress has been made beyond a proliferation of farmers markets and some new “local” tags at supermarkets. There are a lot of challenges in this space that go beyond a simple technical fix, and overcoming them often requires rethinking the entire business model. Enter Michael Bosworth, farmer and founder of Next Generation Foods, a California-based food br...
Jan 18, 2023•37 min•Ep. 128
2022 was a wild year– both in the world of agtech broadly, and for us here at Tenacious Ventures. We’ve covered a lot of ground, spanning everything from scaling soil tech, to the future of ag marketing, to alternative protein, novel investing tactics, and most recently, the next generation of farm inputs. Today, we’re taking some time to reflect on the most important lessons we’ve learned on the podcast this year– and for us, it all came back to the question of how tech can help mitigate risk i...
Dec 22, 2022•16 min•Ep. 127
There is a lot of momentum in agtech right now around investing at the intersection of ag and climate– and inevitably, many conversations start with a focus on how to measure impact. The problem we’ve been thinking about lately-- this conversation often gets stuck on the measurement challenge. In our perspective, the real opportunities go beyond just measuring the impact of decisions like practice changes. The future is in taking actions that meaningfully mitigate climate risks to agriculture. T...
Dec 14, 2022•38 min•Ep. 126
We’ve talked and thought a lot about autonomy this year, and despite what we think are some promising developments, overall, we continue to be struck by just how hard it is to bring solutions to market. From the technology to the use case, from the regulations to data, there are barriers and problems to solve in every direction. So today we’re covering a ton of ground to understand why bringing autonomous solutions to agriculture is so hard. First, we talk to Connie Bowen of Farmhand Ventures, w...
Nov 30, 2022•37 min•Ep. 125
We’ve been thinking a lot recently about how much the world of agtech has changed over the last two decades, and how companies, and more importantly, their customers, are adapting to an increasingly digitally native world. For years, the focus was on educating farmer-customers and post-sales training. But today, sophisticated growers tell their tech partners, and their peer networks, what they want, need, like, and dislike about their tools, often in real time. Today we dig into this transition,...
Nov 16, 2022•34 min•Ep. 124
Today we're tackling part two of our future of Nitrogen fertilizer discussion, focusing on the realm of business models and strategies. We chat with two companies exploring how we might reimagine the way farmers around the world buy and sell this critical input, including through distributed, rather than centralized, supply chains. We’ll continue our conversation with Bill Brady , CEO and Director at Kula Bio and Charlie Day , CEO at Jupiter Ionics * We also add in some on the ground perspective...
Nov 02, 2022•31 min•Ep. 123
This is the first episode in our series on the future of fertilizer, starting with Nitrogen - the N in NPK. Russia’s war in Ukraine has collided with natural gas supply chain disruptions and sent the price of fertilizer skyrocketing. But, this isn’t the least of the crop nutrient industry’s problems. It’s a space renowned for being complex and confusing. It also relies on an emissions-intensive value chain that has been around now for more than a century. Today’s episode looks at two different v...
Oct 19, 2022•34 min•Ep. 123
For a year that has already seen so much downside for US farmers in the form of extreme weather - from droughts to soaring temperatures - there’s another risk looming: rising interest rates. Adapting to an increasingly unpredictable and extreme climate is not cheap or easy. For farmers planning for the resilience and longevity of their business, the intersection of climate and fiscal risk has us wondering: how are farmers financing future growth, and where does resilience to climate change facto...
Oct 12, 2022•31 min•Ep. 122
While early-stage agtech tends to play in the venture world, it pays to check in with how folks sitting in banking think about their role as partners to startups. Traditional lenders can draw on the best part of a century of connection to agriculture, and potentially offer significant options for financing the growth of later-stage companies. This week we heard from Romie Basra, Senior VP, National Sustainable Tech Practice Leader, and Karol Aure-Flynn, Food and Agribusiness Industries Advisor a...
Oct 05, 2022•29 min•Ep. 121
The decisions by major food companies impact consumers, farmers, and the environment at every stage of the agrifood value chain. But the status quo strategies of ‘Big Food’ don’t always acknowledge the complex, interconnected systems at play around the world. Our guest this week is Dr. Nigel Hughes, Senior Vice President of Global R&D at Kellogg. After spending a career in what he would unwillingly call Big Food, Nigel now advocates for the urgent recoupling of the many smaller systems, from...
Sep 21, 2022•32 min•Ep. 120
We recently launched a three-episode deep dive into the future of risk and insurance in agriculture. Over the course of the series, we heard from one listener who offered to share his experience using novel insurance products to manage the risks of both too little and too much rainfall in his own farming operation. This from-the-field perspective was packed with insights, and was such a powerful contribution to our learning that we asked his permission to use the audio for this episode. Tom Ferg...
Sep 07, 2022•33 min•Ep. 118
While the term “organic” tends to be associated with small-scale production and a preference for manual tools over the latest technology, organic farming advocates claim their methods can reduce the need for expensive inputs like fertilizers and herbicides, improve soil health, and allow farmers to differentiate their product in otherwise global commodity markets. So, what can commodity agriculture learn from organic farming? Our guest this week is Amy Bruch, a sixth-generation farmer of row cro...
Aug 24, 2022•34 min•Ep. 117
Agriculture is exposed to a complex tangle of laws, trade agreements, and competing visions of the future. For farmers, adjustments by legislators at any level of government can have an impact. So while policy is often an afterthought for operators in tech, the pressure for farmers to be engaged and represented in the formulation of new policy is real. It’s for this reason that ag has always invested deeply in advocacy groups. Our guest this week is Emma Germano , President of The Victorian Farm...
Aug 10, 2022•28 min•Ep. 135
Back in May, we published an experimental bonus episode called “The Three Fears of Farm Data”. The conversation centered around the legitimacy of fears held by farmers about sharing their farm data, and kicked off with a particularly hot take: “We in agtech have completely f*****d farmers by making them afraid of sharing their data.” The episode got a huge reaction from around the industry - both positive and critical. It’s clear that the conversation around farm data is one that everyone in agt...
Aug 03, 2022•35 min•Ep. 134
Autonomous farming equipment and robotics in ag is more crowded than ever. Every new acquisition from an incumbent or deployment of venture capital into the space creates more buzz to sort through in the inboxes of analysts, entrepreneurs, and farmers. With the industry growing so quickly, it’s helpful to have a bird’s-eye view of what’s happening, and what it means for the future of agriculture. So, in this week’s episode we give listeners a framework to understand the rapidly moving world of a...
Jul 27, 2022•36 min•Ep. 133
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 and Ecosystem Services Portfolio Leader at Corteva Agriscience . An accomplished data scientist and ec...
Jul 13, 2022•38 min•Ep. 132
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 joined by Matthew Pryor to talk through their learnings in a live attempt to develop an investment th...
Jun 29, 2022•37 min•Ep. 131
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 the first, a 101 on ag insurance, here!) considers a digitally-native product in the hands of farmer...
Jun 15, 2022•34 min•Ep. 130
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 insurance works at all. So, in the spirit of learning out loud, we’re releasing TWO episodes this week. Th...
Jun 14, 2022•28 min•Ep. 129
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 wanted to revisit our original conversation with Mark that was published nearly two years ago. After the ...
Jun 01, 2022•39 min•Ep. 128
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 adopter of new farming innovations, this conversation shows that every decision must be well supported by ...
May 18, 2022•36 min•Ep. 127
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 mind of everyone in agtech battling with adoption and scaling digitally-native solutions: Have we in a...
May 11, 2022•30 min•Ep. 126
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 value for farmers. Our guest on this week’s episode is Iftach Birger , Co-Founder and COO at FieldIn , a...
May 04, 2022•35 min•Ep. 125
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 business plan. How do leaders today account for the broad connections between people, ideas, and identi...
Apr 20, 2022•31 min•Ep. 124
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 alternative-protein entrepreneur Tanja Bogumil . Tanja is the Co-Founder and CEO of Berlin-based Perfegg...
Apr 06, 2022•33 min•Ep. 123
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 have the last few years impacted agtech founders looking to raise capital, and investors on the lookout...
Mar 30, 2022•50 min•Ep. 122
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 New Edge Microbials, a company that has been supplying farmers with legume inoculants and other biolo...
Mar 23, 2022•32 min•Ep. 121
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 work improving the environmental and social impact of supply chains, Jessie sees a huge opportunity...
Mar 09, 2022•34 min•Ep. 120
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 Officer at Bushel, and Travis Martin, an agtech marketing consultant and founder of industry newsletter M...
Feb 23, 2022•35 min•Ep. 119
