Tomorrow's Bites with Andrés and Sjacco The Part Listeners Didn´t Skip: What AgTech Startups Get Wrong About Regenerative Agriculture - from our conversation with regenerative farmer Thomas Gent
Oct 29, 2025
Thomas Gent, a regenerative farmer and founder of Gentle Farming, shares his insights on the intersection of agriculture and technology. He highlights the disconnect between fast-paced tech innovations and the slower rhythms of nature. Gent discusses how many agtech solutions fail to resonate on the ground due to seasonal limits and the need for practical, low-tech practices like cover cropping and organic inputs. He emphasizes that building trust with farmers is essential for meaningful advancements in regenerative agriculture.
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Tech Hype Versus Farming Pace
- Many agritech ideas look exciting but fail because they aren't practical or usable on real farms.
- VC growth expectations clash with farming's slow, seasonal pace, creating a funding mismatch.
Working With Diverse Agritech Startups
- Thomas describes working with startups like a carbon quantifier, robotics, insect farming and AI camera sprayers on his farm.
- He says he gets approached constantly but most solutions struggle to be practical or funded appropriately.
Seasonal Limits Crush Fast ROI Expectations
- Agriculture cannot deliver rapid year-on-year growth like many VC-backed tech companies require.
- Farming offers limited seasonal trials, so iterative testing and expected returns differ from software norms.