Optimizing Decision-Making by Crop Doctors on Farms

Anastasia Volkova is the CEO and Co-founder of Regrow, which was named Fast Company's number one most innovative company in agriculture in 2023. They empower the world's largest brands such as Kellogg's, Cargill and General Mills to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across their supply chains. Their product began as a data and analytics offering to agronomists and farmers to help build a localized growing roadmap, identifying what crops to plant, what fertilizer and other inputs to use, how much of it to use, and an irrigation plan. By building this roadmap for growers, Regrow realized that it could then help food brands and processors have a much deeper knowledge of how the food they source is grown. Beyond expertise, Regrow's product helps companies proactively lower their supply chain emissions by incentivizing best practices across their grower network. 

In this conversation, Anastasia traces her journey from starting Regrow to the company it has become and discusses the agricultural practices that can make the biggest difference in emissions mitigation. The company raised a Series B of financing last year from Galvanized Climate Solutions among others, and is a leader in driving regenerative agriculture practice changes at scale.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [02:30]: Anastasia's personal climate journey
• [04:43]: Discovering the potential of satellite imagery for agriculture during her PhD
• [07:24]: Agronomists' crucial role as "crop doctors"
• [10:05]: Regrow's initial focus on providing agronomists with data
• [10:40]: How satellite imagery fits into Regrow's software
• [13:10]: Regrow’s product evolution
• [15:38]: Lack of visibility as the main challenge in understanding the agri-food supply chain
• [17:08]: Deep dive into the nuances of Regrow's product
• [19:30] Regrow's business model: Brands paying farmers for emission reductions
• [23:48]: The agri-food industry's significant contribution (31%) to global emissions
• [26:52]: Key emissions factors on farms, including machinery and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers
• [32:08]: Topsoil degradation and the regenerative agriculture movement
• [39:04]: Challenges with creating a carbon credit methodology around soil organic carbon
• [43:41]: Systemic challenges to scaling regenerative agriculture
• [45:09]: The need for financing the transition to regenerative practices
• [47:09]: Predictions for upcoming farm bills
• [48:04]: What's next for Regrow
• [49:34]: Who Anastasia wants to hear from and career opportunities at Regrow

Resources mentioned:

• Kiss the Ground Documentary

Get connected: 
Anastasia Volkova LinkedIn
Cody Simms Twitter / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective

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Episode recorded on Jun 15, 2023 (aired Jun 28, 2023)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant