Future of Agriculture

Visit our sponsor: https://www.sound.ag/April Clayton Twitter: https://twitter.com/AppleApril111April the Apple Gal YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2DOJG_0BOYGv00KAw-CuxQ/videosApril on “Real Food, Real People”: https://realfoodrealpeople.org/april-clayton-002/April on “The Farm Traveler”: https://thefarmtraveler.com/2020/04/22/podcast-episode-53/April on “What The Farm”: https://farmercitygirl.libsyn.com/144-april-clayton-organic-orchardist I’ve been following April Clayton on Twitter for a while, she is @AppleApril111, and she puts out some great content about their life and work at Red Apple Orchard, where they grow organic apples and conventional cherries. She also has a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from my alma mater UC Davis, so she’s actually Dr. April Clayton farm. Her and her husband are the second generation on their Washington fruit orchard. A recent exchange on Twitter with April prompted me to reach out to her for this interview. She shared a video of a block of organic apples that she said they were considering not harvesting, due, in part to the labor situation. I wondered, just how expensive does labor have to be to make it not worth it to harvest certified organic fruit? Or was it that the labor was simply non-existent? Or were there other factors at play here I wasn’t aware of? I also wondered if this meant the futuristic looking robotic apple pickers that I always see demo videos of might just be close to being an option for farmers like the Claytons. These are the types of questions you’re going to get some answers on today. I really enjoyed this conversation with April and Mike. These are the types of conversations that really help to provide the depth and nuance and complexity of an issue like farm labor.

Visit our sponsor: https://www.sound.ag/LandScan: https://landscan.ai/Today’s episode with LandScan founder and CEO, Dan Rooney. We could spend the entire episode going through Dan’s background and expertise in this field, but I wanted to get right to the interesting work he’s doing at LandScan, a company they’ve been working on quietly since 2019. They’ve developed what they call “the most advanced and practical site characterization and analysis technology. These multiple layers are a series of digitally synchronized tools and techniques that create a unique understanding of the relationship between crop performance and the growing environment”. Dan will tell us all about this in today’s episode and makes a compelling case for why this is a critical missing piece in digital agriculture. Just a little bit on Dan’s impressive background: He is a scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur who has a PhD in Environmental Monitoring with an emphasis on remote sensing and spatial information analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s in Soil Physics from Texas A&M. Following his master’s Dan’s early career with with a geotechnical firm where he built sensors for deep subsurface characterization. He was drawn to apply his discoveries from that field to near-surface applications which of course led him to agriculture. After his PhD, he dove right into entrepreneurship. And that is where today's episode begins.

Visit our sponsor: https://www.sound.ag/Seal the Seasons: https://sealtheseasons.com/The Business of Food Newsletter: https://jenniferbarney.substack.com/Today’s episode features Alex Piasecki, co-founder and COO of Seal the Seasons, a retail consumer brand of packaged frozen fruit and vegetables. Seal The Seasons is aptly named as its mission is to bring locally grown produce to your grocery store 12 months a year. They do this by sourcing high quality fruit and vegetable varieties from local growers and leveraging grower hubs for processing, packaging and distribution within the local region. It’s a different model than the bigger frozen companies where some of the competition is sourcing from outside the US.The business idea started at the Farmers Market in North Carolina where as a college student Alex’s partner and Seal the Seasons founder Patrick Mateer, was working for a non-profit that donated unsold produce to the local community. When there would be excess produce either because of a rainstorm or by not selling out, the vendors would be stuck with all this produce so the idea of freezing for distribution year around came about.So, these college students got together to form a business case, and won an entrepreneurship award at UNC and then launched the business in 2016. Since then a lot has happened.Today, Seal the Seasons operates in 6 regional markets across the country and offers a way for local growers to diversify their customer base. We get into what types of produce Seal the Seasons sources, what they look for in grower-partners they work with, and the goal behind the operation which is to rebuild connections among American consumers and the growers that feed them.This story was put together by my guest co-host for today’s episode, Jennifer Barney. Jennifer is back after she first co-hosted with me for the episode we did in August where she featured Teffola. To refresh your memory, Jennifer is a consumer-packaged goods (CPG) expert. She lives in the Central Valley of California and got her start in the food industry 16 years ago when she founded the almond butter brand Barney Butter. She successfully grew the brand to nationwide retail distribution and then sold the company. After exiting Barney Butter, Jennifer has since become an advisor and consultant to startups and ag leaders who want to get closer to the consumer with their own brands and innovations. She writes an email newsletter that I recommend called The Business of Food where she shares food industry knowledge including business modeling, growth tips, and what to focus on at the early stages of business. You can subscribe to that for free at jenniferbarney.substack.com.

Visit our sponsor: http://www.CalgaryAgbusiness.comOver the past couple of weeks, two former guests of this podcast, Vence and TeleSense, have announced that they have been acquired. This prompted a random idea in my head to do an episode called 10 former guests that have been acquired. But I first wondered: have there even been ten yet? A quick scan of previous episodes and a little bit of Googling revealed that there have been at least 10 that have been acquired in some form or fashion.  So I spent a day going back through and re-listening to each of their episodes, researching when they were acquired and by whom, and trying to pull out insights that might indicate what about these companies allowed them to get to the finish line so to speak. That’s what I have to share with you today. Vence, acquired by Merck Animal HealthFoA 246: Unlocking Grazing Potential with Virtual Fencing https://open.spotify.com/episode/0NT9F695WJRmUAcUCEleKT?si=dJ2uquAERvujkUWWa7qa0A FoA 308 (Startup Spotlight features Vence at the end of the episode) https://open.spotify.com/episode/3yHmD4onWH7DZb7wKWSi44?si=VG4HzoD1SxmYvdUrkgMYkQ Merck Animal Health to Acquire Vence https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220922005501/en/Merck-Animal-Health-to-Acquire-Vence TeleSense, acquired by UPL (Decco Post Harvest)FoA 239: Sensors for Predicting Grain Quality with Naeem Zafar of TeleSense https://open.spotify.com/episode/6JxVEuUQq9NjufgLXrOlZR?si=3K3UWVLFQvqbHzf_oH99tg UPL’s Post-Harvest Solutions Subsidiary, Decco Post Harvest, Acquires TeleSense to Strengthen Offering to Combat Food Waste  https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/upls-post-harvest-solutions-subsidiary-decco-post-harvest-acquires-telesense-to-strengthen-offering-to-combat-food-waste-301626128.html SWARM Technologies, acquired by SpaceXFoA 228: Solving the Rural Connectivity Problem with Dr. Sara Spangelo of SWARM Technologies https://open.spotify.com/episode/4aiIkwElCMh2wyJjs46vaA?si=U14f6XkgTQqHRwmNskdehw SpaceX to acquire SWARM https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/09/spacex-to-acquire-satellite-connectivity-startup-swarm-technologies/ SWARM continues to aim skyward one year after SpaceX deal https://www.fierceelectronics.com/iot-wireless/swarm-continues-aim-skyward-one-year-after-spacex-deal Harvest Profit, acquired by John DeereFoA 080: Bootstrapping a Farm Management Software Company with Nick Horob of Harvest Profit https://open.spotify.com/episode/0rj3IUMkpgLaugMeZdeRHr?si=6CohmDmOTPWdVCTLepN8AQ John Deere has acquired Harvest Profit, provider of farm profitability software https://www.deere.com/en/news/all-news/2020nov12-harvest-profit-acquisition/ PastureMap, acquired by Soilworks Natural CapitalFoA 064: Technology for Grazing Management with Byron Palmer and Christine Su of PastureMap https://open.spotify.com/episode/3xM2A3U9dFrHXaEMZgHEFq?si=UmsJcyH_QHCpplP1aHq2HQNew regen ag-focused fund Soilworks makes its debut with PastureMap acquisition https://agfundernews.com/breaking-new-regen-ag-focused-fund-soilworks-makes-its-debut-with-pasturemap-acquisition A New Chapter for PastureMap https://blog.pasturemap.com/a-new-chapter-for-pasturemap SoilWorks Capital https://soil.works/ FarmlandFinder, acquired by EasyKnock and Growers EdgeFoA 78: The Zillow of Farmland with Terva CEO Steven Brockshus https://open.spotify.com/episode/2yeMqpsqb8vvla2m6OtbyD?si=gaQKJnvmSEqkpT3IBLIuqA FoA 156: From Law to Corporate to Investor to Startup Strategist with Dan Cosgrove https://open.spotify.com/episode/64mAqdHLAQ0kxe32hD9yY1?si=xvcVSEhSQmuFrU79Xk-FYQ FoA 238: 5 Barriers Limiting Agtech (and the companies breaking through them) https://open.spotify.com/episode/07JwrBGszh55MR6frwiqe9?si=xct9WJJtSkOCNiX27CQtVA Here’s why a residential real estate platform acquired FarmlandFinder https://agfundernews.com/heres-why-a-residential-real-estate-company-just-acquired-farmlandfinder Growers Edge Acquires FarmlandFinder Software Assets https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/growers-edge-acquires-farmlandfinder CropMetrics, acquired by CropXFoA 165: Irrigating Confidently with Lee Addams of CropMetrics https://open.spotify.com/episode/348u835gb2mVmxm2gqwW4S?si=-IBQMZrmS66rYDB9TQMxPA CropX Acquires CropMetrics to Expand Market Presence https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cropx-acquires-cropmetrics-to-expand-us-market-presence-300985649.htmlCoverCress, acquired by Bayer FoA 213: CoverCress is Reinventing the Cover Crop https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DyAhSnDng406YeFEidVNx?si=iE4kwAniT1GUGDXrDfBobg Bayer expands existing investment to acquire majority share in sustainable lower carbon oilseed producer CoverCress Inc. https://www.bayer.com/media/en-us/bayer-expands-existing-investment-to-acquire-majority-share-in-sustainable-lower-carbon-oilseed-producer-covercress-inc/Brief: Exit for CoverCress as Bayer buys majority stake in gene-edited cover crop startup https://agfundernews.com/covercress-exit-bayer-buys-majority-stake-in-gene-edited-cover-crop-startup Joyn Bio, acquired by Gingko BioworksFoA 160: Moonshot Ag Innovations via Corporate Joint Venture with Mike Miille of Joyn Bio https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Q7AlEwKdv6XFirL2wFn5K?si=QICinQg_TgeVJHrwpRlPcg Ginkgo Bioworks to Expand Platform Capabilities in Agricultural Biologicals and Launch Flagship Partnership with Bayer https://investors.ginkgobioworks.com/news/news-details/2022/Ginkgo-Bioworks-to-Expand-Platform-Capabilities-in-Agricultural-Biologicals-and-Launch-Flagship-Partnership-with-Bayer/default.aspx Bayer to Create Ag Biologicals Powerhouse Partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks, Advancing Joyn Bio Technology Platforms https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220422005009/en/Bayer-to-Create-Ag-Biologicals-Powerhouse-Partnership-with-Ginkgo-Bioworks-Advancing-Joyn-Bio-Technology-Platforms Cainthus, acquired by Ever.AgFoA 151: Computer Vision for Herd Management and the 2-1-4-3 Approach with Aidan Connolly https://open.spotify.com/episode/4sjY8aGXzKPoiRyNmMMZtK?si=vk2eEOYUTyeoiepUm6VOmw FoA 312: Digital Supply Chains with Scott Sexton of Ever.Ag and Dairy.com https://open.spotify.com/episode/22n8IwwKtcTdk47uRqzcma?si=0ioKto9qTUeHrg6kWsfjcgEver.Ag Accelerates Growth, Broadens On-Farm Dairy Solutions with Acquisition of Cainthus https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/everag-accelerates-growth-broadens-on-farm-dairy-solutions-with-acquisition-of-cainthus-301572176.html Insights I pulled from this episode after the obvious of have a great team, a big market, and the tailwinds of trends in your favor:Be hyper focused on customer successFind a model that includes immediate ROI or a quick winFind strategic investors or partners or both as early as possibleBe obsessed with getting the product rightCreate a model for rapid learning and iterationAcknowledge the challenges that lie ahead and be open about themUnderstand the emotions behind the customer. It’s a business decision, sure, but it’s also a personal decisionTry to find models that open up new revenue streams for customers instead of just trying to pitch them on small cost reductions or yield bumpsGetting it right takes time - find patient capital and partnersYou don’t need to disrupt everything, start with a manageable focus where you can really add valueMarketing and PR aren’t hacks for lack of traction, focus on the customer and product/market fit. That’s my list, what’s your’s? I want to know your takeaways from these 10 companies.  Tag me on Twitter or LinkedIn with your perspectives, or you can always email me at tim@aggrad.com.

Visit our sponsor: http://www.CalgaryAgbusiness.comPattern Ag: https://www.pattern.ag/FoA 170: Genetic Testing for Soil with Dr. Poornima Parameswaran: https://aggrad.libsyn.com/foa-170-genetic-testing-for-soil-with-dr-poornima-parameswaran-of-trace-genomics Today’s episode features a conversation with Mike Tweedy, VP of sales for Pattern Ag. Pattern Ag is a predictive analytics company that uses DNA sequencing of the soil to see the actual biology in farmers’ fields that they claim has never been available until now.  They take the unknown such as very specific pathogens that rob top end yield - like soybean sudden death syndrome and corn rootworm which we’ll talk a lot about today - as well as beneficial microbes and make them known. They are based in California but focused exclusively on corn and soybeans at this time. Mike is the vice president of sales and leads the midwest commercial team. He’s a sales guy, but he’s also an ag guy with a long pedigree in the industry. He spent his early career with large agribusinesses like American Cyanamid, BASF and Syngenta. Then pivoted his career into startups in 2010. Before Pattern Ag, he was the Vice President of Crop Protection Sales at Indigo. We nerd out a little bit on soil and agronomy in this episode, but I think this also sheds some light on how much room there still is for innovation in this area of soil biology. Especially when you put it in the context of the recent episode we had about plant breeding. The combination of advancements in these two fields of plant breeding and soil biology are really critical for the future of ag in my opinion. 

Visit our presenting sponsor: http://www.CalgaryAgbusiness.comHEMPALTA: https://www.hempalta.com/Phyto Organix: https://phytoorganixfoods.com/ We often get excited about the future of agriculture being more diverse and distributed and differentiated, but this is not going to happen by just planting new crops. Entire value chains need to be created to facilitate rich and diverse crop rotations and food choices. A critical piece of this is processing. These are the entrepreneurs that tap directly into the demand, innovate on the operations side, and develop relationships with farmer suppliers. I’m excited to feature two of these entrepreneurs on today’s show. First you’re going to hear from Darren Bondar, president and CEO of Hempalta, which is an agricultural technology company focused on innovative hemp processing and product creation. It is one of the only commercial-scale hemp processors in North America able to manufacture high-value hemp products.After Darren, you’ll hear from Chris Theal, founder, president and CEO of Phyto Organix Foods, which is an independent Alberta-based innovator, processor, developer and distributor of conventional and organic plant-based protein for the food and beverage industry. Our project will source yellow peas to produce high purity, protein isolate from our wet fractionation facility in Strathmore Alberta.I really enjoyed both of these conversations, and here are the three reasons these stories have my attention: For all of the people talking about regenerative agriculture and sustainable practices, very few are actually creating real markets that can make those changes work for the average farmer. In my humble opinion, it’s more likely to be processors like these that facilitate change than it is the headline-grabbing carbon markets. These companies want to buy directly from growers. They are bringing real opportunities to farmers rather than just the vague promises of future benefits that a lot of new ideas to agriculture seem to have. This is not your typical silicon valley type capital I innovation. These are the real nuts and bolts advancements that I think agriculture needs. What do you think about the future of value added processing? How do you like this narrative format compared to more of an interview format?

Visit our quarterly presenting sponsor: https://www.CalgaryAgbusiness.com Bruins Seed Consultancy: https://www.bruinsseedconsultancy.com/"20 Most Famous Plant Breeders": https://european-seed.com/2022/07/20-most-famous-plant-breeders-1-5/Dr. Marcel Bruins studied Plant Breeding at Wageningen University in The Netherlands, followed by a PhD award on Fusarium resistance in wheat. He worked for 10 years with a vegetable seed company as Manager Plant Variety Protection. He then served for 7 years as Secretary-General of the International Seed Federation (ISF), lead the Secretariat of the International Grain Trade Coalition (IGTC) through a phase of transition and continued working as their Scientific Advisor. Besides being the Editorial Director of the ‘European Seed’ magazine, he also operates as an independent consultant, helping out companies and non-profit organizations with their questions on seed, grain, trade facilitation, intellectual property and international outreach.I came across his work from a series of article he recently published in European Seed called “20 Most Famous Plant Breeders”. I really enjoyed that series and we talk a little bit about it towards the end of today’s episode. I’ll of course link to those in the show notes. Beyond that, Marcel and I also talk about what has changed about plant breeders, how they balance grower demands (like pest management) with consumer demands (like flavor and nutrition), how the field of plant breeding will need to adjust to big challenges like climate change, and how new technologies will change the game.

Visit our presenting sponsor: www.CalgaryAgbusiness.com California Ag Solutions: https://www.calagsolutions.com/Livestock Water Recycling: https://www.livestockwaterrecycling.com/ Joining us on today's episode is Silas Rossow, president of California Ag Solutions, which is a crop consulting company that helps growers leverage technologies and production practices that meet the needs of the crop and the goals of the farmer. Silas says they're known for their in depth understanding of the ecological environments where their growers operate, and their ability to use biomimicry and other nature based approaches that we will talk about. Silas received his college education at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and grew up around agriculture his whole life. Driving tractors, irrigating fields, and figuring out how crops grow was a valuable education. He started at CA Ag Solutions in 2008 and in 2014, he began managing the day-to-day operations. He says his drive to seek out the very best practices for California farmers comes from his love of agriculture and technology. In today’s episode we discuss regenerative practices in specialty crops, especially tree crops, although Silas works in plenty of other crops as well, we discuss how water becomes a factor in decisions to implement these practices, and the toughest transition of all, which is the mindset shift that this approach requires.Also, stay tuned for a bonus segment at the end of today's episode featuring Livestock Water Recycling CEO Karen Schuett.

Visit our presenting sponsor: www.CalgaryAgbusiness.comNitricity: https://www.nitricity.co/Today’s episode features Nico Pinkowski, co-founder and CEO of Nitricity, which is a company electrifying and distributing the production of fertilizer. As it is done today, fertilizer emits as much as  5-7%/yr of total global GHG emissions. The company can trace its beginnings back to Stanford University where Nico received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Nitricity and Nico have been awarded numerous awards and grants from Stanford, MIT, Caltech, ASU,  Forbes 30 under 30, NSF, USDA, and ARPA-e SBIR, and a recent $20M venture finance round. We’ll start off with a fascinating history of fertilizer production, then talk more about Nitricity’s solution, how they’ve developed it, and how they’re bringing it to market with farmers and retailers.

Visit our presenting sponsor: www.CalgaryAgbusiness.comPosterity Ciderworks: https://posterityciderworks.com/Brendan Barnard Twitter: https://twitter.com/IntractableLionPosterity Ciderworks Twitter: https://twitter.com/posteritycider Kris Barnard Twitter: https://twitter.com/KrisMBarnard FoA 318: The Budding American (Hard) Cider Industry with Greg Peck, Ph.D. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/49237ec9-117d-4d16-9569-0672b5e9aecaToday’s episode features Brendan Barnard of Posterity Ciderworks. To set some context here, a lot of the episodes on this show are focused on efforts to scale solutions: venture capital, commodity crops, hardware and software. And those are incredibly important to continue to find ways to improve our global food system. But I think too often there’s a tendency in agriculture to think something has to have the potential to reach some sort of global scale and FEED THE WORLD in order to matter. If you’ve listened to many of these episodes, you already know that I believe innovation and progress can many different forms. Some will look like solutions that can improve the way millions or billions of people eat. Others, which I equally enjoy, are stories of craft, of skill, of care, of community. Stories that are delightfully unscalable, but no less important. Many times, these are the stories that can teach us the most about agriculture and the most about ourselves. I think we have a story like that for you today. It also helps that it ties together a few passions of mine: cider, nature, and value-added agriculture. Today’s episode speaks to several of the seven consumer values we talked about in episode 300, especially the need for a connection to an authentic source. Brendan and his wife Kris were living in the bay area working in tech. They had some fruit trees in their backyard and seven years ago Brendan dove headfirst into cider making. Eventually they bought property in Calaveras County, about 140 miles away with a long term plan of eventually starting an orchard-based cidery. Today, that is alive and well as Posterity Ciderworks. Some changes in the timeline led them to start sourcing apples from what he calls feral orchards, which have somehow survived and even thrived for decades with no care. These feral orchards have also spawned wild trees which Brendan and Kris also forage from for their low intervention, fine ciders that really reflect the place they are grown. They make these ciders with no sulfites, no added sugars, no preservatives and no artificial flavorings or colors. All of this while raising a family and starting and expanding their own dry-farmed, non-conventional  silvopastured orchard. We’ll talk all about that, but first just a couple of cider terms to be aware of. We will mention abv, which is alcohol by volume. Yes, this is hard cider, not apple juice. The ABV goes up with higher sugar content which is fermented into alcohol. Those sugars are measured in fruit via a system called brix, which is another term you will hear mentioned. Finally, Brenan will talk about racking, which is just moving the fermenting cider from one container to another, which is usually done to get it off the lees, which is the dead yeast and other particles that settle at the bottom of the container. Or to move it to a barrel, bottle, or other secondary fermentation container.