Future of Agriculture

Sound Agriculture: https://www.sound.ag/CropIn: https://www.cropin.com/Software is Feeding the World Newsletter: https://www.rhishipethe.com/newsletterToday’s episode features Krishna Kumar of CropIn. Krishna shared with me CropIn’s 12 year journey in the agtech world, which I think is in some ways representative of agtech’s journey more generally. They started by building applications for farmers and companies with a vested interest in agricultural supply chains. From scaling their digital solutions to now 500 crops and 10k varieties in 92 countries, they realized they were capturing a lot of data and built what they call the Data Hub. They also started to build artificial intelligence models which now exist for 22 commodities in 13 countries. Krishna gives some examples of the wide range of use cases for those AI models.Now, CropIn is entering the next phase of the 12-year old company. A few months ago, the company announced the launch of a cloud platform with integrated apps. Founded in 2010, Cropin’s other products are live in 92 countries, it is partnered with over 250 B2B customers and it has digitized 26 million acres of farmland. It claims the world’s largest crop knowledge graph from the data I mentioned of more than 500 crops and 10,000 crop varieties.In short, CropIn wants to help make it easier for companies to build their own AI models by providing the data and infrastructure needed, which Krishna says is roughly 80% of the work. Like many people lately, I’ve been playing with OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform lately. It has really opened my eyes to what’s coming. The chance to really pull together data sets into optimal answers in a user friendly way. I have no doubt we will see a similar trajectory in agtech, and companies like CropIn are doing interesting work to that end.One interesting aspect to this story is CropIn’s ambition to build a knowledge graph for agriculture. This is a term that I was not familiar with a year ago, but i’ve learned about knowledge graphs this past year from reading Rishi Pethe’s tremendous newsletter Software is Feeding the World. He explains the concept in his 116th edition in September. I’ll link to that in the show notes, I highly recommend it to understand this episode even better. He revisited it again in his 2022 recap edition which is 126, and I thought I’d just read his excerpt that he included in both editions. Here are Rhishi’s words: “How can knowledge graphs work in agriculture?Knowledge graphs can incorporate both structured (for example, coming from a spreadsheet, or precision agriculture equipment) and unstructured data (a twitter feed, images, YouTube video, bulletin board information, books etc.) Knowledge graphs can be successful and valuable if they can uncover new insights by automatically incorporating new data sources, understanding the context, finding new connections, and continuously evolving and learning.Building a data set of crops and varieties is a necessary and an early step to building a valuable knowledge graph in agriculture. It is an extremely hard challenge to go from data, to context, to connections, to new and surprising insights using knowledge graphs. It will take some unknown (aka long) amount of time.” - Rhishi Pethe, Software is Feeding the WorldWith that in mind, here is my conversation with Krishna Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cropin, an Agtech pioneer building the first global Intelligent Agriculture Cloud. Krishna founded Cropin in 2010, long before the terms “agritech” or “agtech” became fashionable or were widely understood. Over the last 12 years, Krishna has been pioneering the development and adoption of digital technologies and predictive intelligence to transform the agriculture ecosystem through their enterprise customers worldwide.

Visit Sound Agriculture: https://www.sound.ag/XtremeAg: https://www.xtremeag.farm/ Farmer innovators featured on this show: Kristjan Hebert Greg Bethard Mike & April Clayton Paul Greive Zack Smith Peter van Wingerden Trey Hill Claire Smith Jesse Pella Patrick Smith Kelly Garrett Mike Evans

Sound Agriculture: https://www.sound.ag/California Cotton & Climate Coalition: https://californiacottonandclimatecoalition.com/Bowles Farming Company: https://bfarm.com/FiberShed: https://fibershed.org/Today’s episode is about the work being done by the California Cotton and Climate Coalition or C4. This is an example of a group of people that aren’t interested in the hype and greenwashing that goes on in so many “sustainability” circles. They are doing the hard work of bringing the right people together, collaborating, and collecting the data to find ways to evolve the cotton industry in California. I think this is a model many other ag industries can learn from. Today you’ll hear from Cannon Michael, President and CEO of Bowles Farming Company in Los Banos, California. He is the 6th generation of his family to work in the family farming business, which has farmed in California for over 160 years. After working in commercial real estate, Cannon joined the family farm in 1998, and they have since diversified from three crops to over twenty. Cannon is an advocate for California agriculture, intelligent water policy and environmental stewardship. Joining Cannon and I is Rebecca Burgess. Executive Director of Fibershed, a 501(c)3 focused on regionalizing the textile system and supporting growers to be more economically viable while rebuilding carbon stocks in the soil and providing transparency into the supply chains of textile brands. Rebecca has two decades of experience working at the intersection of ecology, fiber systems, and regional economic development. Her work as a vocationally trained weaver and self-trained natural dyer initially led her into wondering how the industrially made clothes reflected her values of transparency, connection, land stewardship, etc. Started working in wool with using sheep for regenerative grazing then was encouraged to expand into cotton as well. 

Sound Ag: https://www.sound.ag/ Ripe Robotics: https://www.riperobotics.com/ Today’s episode features Hunter Jay, CEO and cofounder of Ripe Robotics, a startup working on autonomous harvesting of fruit. The prototype is in small scale commercial trials, and will be ready to scale up in 2023 & 2024. The company has 2 commercial trial partners and another 30 companies on its waitlist, who spend a combined $85m USD on picking annually.Most of you have probably heard about robotic apple picking startups in the past, some that are still going and others that have failed. But one thing I really appreciate about today’s episode is Ripe’s commitment to keeping costs low and iterating fast. I think this is what it’s going to take to find automation that works for specialty crops like stone fruit. Hunter is a software engineer, and has a particular focus on artificial intelligence. He previously founded a mobile game startup, and whenI asked him about that company is where i’ll drop you into today’s conversation with Hunter Jay of Ripe Robotics.

Sound Agriculture: https://www.sound.ag/Neutral Foods: https://www.eatneutral.com/Jennifer Barney's "The Business of Food" newsletter: https://jenniferbarney.substack.com/When I first read about Neutral Foods, I thought “that’s really smart branding”, but can they really back it up? And if so, how? And what’s in it for the farmer to incentivize them to make changes that benefit society, but may or may not benefit them? That’s really what today’s episode is all about. We’re about to bring on Jim Jarman, =vice president of product and commercialization at Neutral, and Ann Radil, head of carbon removal to answer these questions.Neutral Foods was founded by Matt Plitch, whose mission is to build the world’s first carbon neutral food company. He gained early investment from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Ventures and other celebrity investors like Mark Cuban and LeBron James. Matt wanted to start with milk, which has 93% household penetration. The product, Neutral Milk is organic milk that strives to reduce carbon emissions within the whole supply chain, to become carbon neutral. The way they are going about their mission is by working directly with farmers. A typical dairy they work with is ~75 - 250 head, and what they do is provide financial support and subject matter expertise on things like manure management, feed, feed production, waste water management and more. They work with the farmer’s goals, and have 3rd party monitoring and measurement that quantifies the changes being made, and verifies the emissions reductions. Neutral Foods, as a consumer facing brand is already well on their way with nationwide distribution at Spouts, Whole Foods and Target. You can find their products in the organic milk section, and their retail price is in line with the set. They are very clear on their packaging that they are working towards operational carbon neutrality but that they purchase offsets today as a starting point. 

Visit Sound Agriculture: https://www.sound.ag/Do Good Foods: https://dogoodfoods.com/Harborview Farms: https://www.harborviewfarms.net/Trey Hill Interview: https://youtu.be/FRC1Ca9klGA Future of Agriculture YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClJpE4tdH2NN6Plj1UIWNwA Justin Kamine co-founded Do Good Foods with his brother Matthew to combat climate change by fighting food waste. They’ve created a closed-loop system with state-of-the-art infrastructure designed to upcycle surplus grocery food (after community donations occur) into nutritious animal feed. Do Good Foods first product, Do Good Chicken, is raised using this healthy feed can be purchased locally, giving consumers an opportunity to make an immediate environmental impact and Do Good...for Plate & Planet.™ The Kamine brothers’ company builds on the family’s 40-year heritage of over $3.5B of infrastructure of solving macro environmental problems. And stay tuned to the last half of today’s episode where you’ll hear directly from farmer and Harvorview Farms CEO, Trey Hill who has been using Sound Agriculture's SOURCE on his 10,000 acre farm in Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland. 

Visit Sound Agriculture's website: https://www.sound.ag/ Our featured guests today are Sound Agriculture's CEO Adam Litle, as well as co-founder and CTO Travis Bayer. If you’re thinking you’ve heard all about Sound from previous episodes of this podcast, that’s great! But I will assure you there is a lot more you haven’t heard yet and this episode is well worth your time. Adam and Travis really do a great job of capturing a huge trend for the future of agriculture:  the convergence of biology and data science and other modern technologies to create innovative products that work with nature. But, their products are commercialized with the farmer customer in mind. There are some real nuggets in here that you definitely don’t want to miss.Some quick background: As CEO, Adam Litle leads the Sound Agriculture’s strategy and overall company execution. He joined Sound to help serve both producers and consumers with more sustainable, differentiated crops. Prior to Sound, Adam was on the founding team and served as Chief Revenue Officer of Granular, the leading farm management software company acquired by Corteva in 2017.Before that he was General Manager of the cellulase enzyme business at Codexis, a publicly-traded industrial biotech company serving the healthcare and agriculture industries. He began his career as an investment banker at Barclays Capital. Adam has a JD/MBA from the University of Michigan and BA from Yale University.Travis Bayer co-founded Sound Agriculture in 2013 to identify science-based solutions to today’s complex agricultural challenges. Travis’ career has focused on understanding how to harness the diversity of the earth’s natural systems to enable a more sustainable world. His approach to discovery combines a deep knowledge of molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics with an innately creative spirit. He has authored and invented more than 50 research publications and patents, and spent five years at Imperial College London and University of Oxford as a lecturer and associate professor, respectively.He received a PhD in biochemistry and biophysics from Caltech, and a B.S. in molecular biology from University of Texas at Austin.We spend the first part of today’s episode talking about the SOURCE product, its significance, and where it fits into the marketplace. Then we shift gears into talking about their approach to data and technology and what this blend of biology and software means for the future of agriculture. First though, I asked Travis how all of this got started when he co-founded Sound Agriculture with Eric Davidson back in 2013. 

Sound Agriculture: https://www.sound.ag/Farmers Risk: https://farmersrisk.ag/ Today’s episode features Dakota Hoben, co-founder and CEO of Farmers Risk. This is an interesting look at a new startup that is taking on a complicated topic: grain marketing. As many of you know, buying and selling grain is where I started my career, so I’m always curious about companies in this space, but frankly, always a little skeptical as well. Just knowing how many variables are at play in these decisions, not least of which being the farmer’s emotions. But that said, I am impressed by Dakota, and the approach they are taking, and I think he makes some really strong points in this interview. Dakota knew from a young age that the only industry he was truly passionate about was agriculture. Growing up on a grain and livestock farm in Southeast Iowa before heading to Iowa State to study Agricultural Business and International Agriculture, he watched family, neighbors, and other farmers ride the marketing roller coaster, but didn’t know he would become an integral part of the solution to this problem. Before Farmers Risk, Dakota and co-founder Eric Barnard were co-workers at Granular.

Visit Sound Agriculture: https://www.sound.ag/The Breakthrough Institute: https://thebreakthrough.org/ Alex Smith Bio & Articles: https://thebreakthrough.org/people/alex-smith"To Decarbonize Food Production, Washington Must Invest" https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-agriculture-environment/to-decarbonize-food-production-washington-must-invest "The Problem With Alice Waters and the 'Slow Food' Movement" https://jacobin.com/2021/12/organic-local-industrial-agriculture-farm-to-table/ "Fraudulent Foods" https://thebreakthrough.org/journal/no-17-summer-2022/fraudulent-foods I’m very pleased to be joined today by Alex Smith, senior food and agriculture analyst at The Breakthrough Institute, which is a global research center that identifies and promotes technological solutions to environmental and human development challenges.Today’s episode might challenge you a little bit. Before I interview guests I ask them to fill out a brief pre-interview form to help me dig into the right areas during the conversation. One way I can tell if I’m going how much I’m going to enjoy an interview is based on how they approach one question in particular. That question is: “What are the top arguments of the critics of the work you do?”. Many times that will be left blank or answered very generically, but it’s when someone gives a thoughtful answer to this question that I really get excited to dig in. Alex gave one of the most comprehensive questions I’ve ever had to this question. And I think I’ll just read this to you, as both a trigger warning for some of you, and way to intrigue most of you. Here is Alex’s answer: “I think a relatively common critique that I give real weight to is that my work (and Breakthrough's more broadly) has tunnel vision for GHG/land-use and not other enviro/ecological or animal welfare/ethics issues.Another important critique is that by supporting the technologies and practices of large-scale agricultural production, I effectively justify the expropriation of land and concentration of power into the hands of the largest agricultural corporations, landowners, and interest groups.By advocating for mass-production of food (see my and Ted Nordhaus's essay in Jacobin Magazine), I miss out on the problems of nutrition and diet-related diseases.A critique from the right is that the focus on industrial policy and even public R&D is significantly less important that getting the government out of the way of the ag sector and letting private entities be successful.Finally, in arguing for sustainable intensification and productivity growth, how do you limit the expansion of agricultural production due to rebound effects? Basically, given jevons paradox, do we need to have very strong conservation policy that will likely run counter to the interests of ag producers/businesses who want to expand production due to more productive practices?”Talk about doing an interviewer's work for him! What a great answer by Alex. With that, let’s dive into the conversation. Alex joined Breakthrough as a research analyst in the food and agriculture program in 2019 after completing a dual MA/MSc in International and World History from Columbia University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. In his masters, Alex studied and wrote about American foreign policy, French colonialism, and environmental history. Alex is interested in the entangled nature of politics, power, and geography and the central role that food and agriculture have played across time and space.

Visit our sponsor: https://www.sound.ag/EFC Systems by Ever.Ag: https://www.efcsystems.com/ CropLife, "Top 6 Questions (and Answers) Every Agribusiness Should Be Asking About Cyberattacks and Data Security": https://www.croplife.com/iron/software/top-6-questions-and-answers-every-agribusiness-should-be-asking-about-cyberattacks-and-data-security/ Farm Progress, "Protect your farm from cyberattack": https://www.farmprogress.com/management/protect-your-farm-cyberattack I’ve been wanting to do something on cybersecurity for a while, but just hadn’t really happened upon the right guest. Then last month I read an article on CropLife called “The Top 6 Questions Every Agribusiness Should Be Asking About Cyberattacks and Data Security”. As a read the six questions I thought “those are just about exactly the six questions I would want to ask a cybersecurity expert on my podcast. And the author was Mike Moore who you’re about to hear from. Mike is the Senior Vice President of the agribusiness division at Ever.Ag and has been serving as such since 1997 under the EFC Systems brand. At the start of his tenure, his initial focus was developing the technology and infrastructure services division to help guide and direct the technology needs for client partners. Although his responsibilities have broadened, he is still passionate about helping ag retailers better serve their customers in a secure and efficient way. Before we dive in, some context: the most common type of cyber attack is what’s called a ransomware attack. In this case the criminal inserts malware on your system, and is able to essentially lock it down until they are paid a ransom. The second common type of attack involves extracting data that can be sold. There’s been some notable examples in recent years including JBS, which reportedly paid hackers an $11 million ransom last year. Speaking at Husker Harvest Days last month, FBI agent Eugene Kowel said an attack on a farm in January 2021 contributed to the loss of nearly $9 million. This is a real issue that everyone in ag should be vigilant about, and it seems to be getting worse. Mike and I talk about how these attacks happen, what to watch out for, and some important tips for reducing your vulnerability.