Future of Agriculture

SomaDetect: https://somadetect.com/ Prime Future Newsletter: https://primefuture.substack.com/ Our guest on today’s show Jordan Lambert actually mentioned back on episode 261. She has a technology that is easily installed in a milking parlor that collects milk data at the individual cow level. Not just on milk quality - which is one big factor, but also on cow health. It turns out, the milk can tell us a lot about how that cow is doing. This way, a dairy producer can see trends in not just their herd as a whole, but also in individual cows.  Bethany Deshpande is on the show. She is the CEO of SomaDetect, which is the company doing all that stuff I just mentioned. Bethany completed her PhD in Biology, and isn’t from a dairy background originally, but started SomaDetect when she saw an opportunity in the industry to apply some technology originally developed by her father. We’ll get more into that background later in the episode.  But she’s certainly dove headfirst into the dairy industry these past five years since starting the company. This is a great profile of what’s possible as we continue to find new ways to both collect data, but really to put it into management practices. I think there’s a lot of lessons to be learned here about the future of agriculture, whether dairy is of interest to you or not.  Here is my conversation with SomaDetect CEO Bethany Deshpande. 

Benson Hill: https://bensonhill.com/  Today’s episode features Matt Crisp, CEO and co-founder of Benson Hill. Benson Hill describes themselves as a food tech company unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants with its cutting-edge food innovation engine. Basically, they are trying to improve plant-based ingredients by attacking every aspect of the value chain from seed to processing to sales.  The “plant-based” movement so far, has been trying to mimic the flavors and nutrition of the products they are trying to replace. Matt Crisp’s vision at Benson Hill that you’ll hear today on this show, is that they have the chance to surpass those products, but they will have to do so with better ingredients - which can only come as a result of better genetics and processing.  Matt’s road into health, nutrition, and agriculture actually came from his early career in venture capital. Hearing about how those things tie together is how we’ll start today’s episode with Benson Hill CEO and co-founder, Matt Crisp.    Matt has also appeared on a couple of other agtech podcasts recently:  Agtech, So What? https://www.agtechsowhat.com/agtechsowhatepisodes/2021/8/24/designing-crops-to-change-the-plant-based-food-system The Modern Acre https://themodernacre.com/2021/08/185-plant-based-meat-ingredient-breeding-with-matt-crisp-ceo-and-co-founder-of-benson-hill/   

AGCO Corp: https://www.agcocorp.com/  Louisa Parker-Smith: https://news.agcocorp.com/news/agco-names-louisa-parker-smith-director-of-global-sustainability Email Newsletters: Upstream Ag Insights: https://upstreamaginsights.substack.com/ Software is Feeding the World: https://rpethe.substack.com/    Today’s guest is Louisa Parker-Smith, who is the Global Head of Sustainability for AGCO Corporation. Most of you listening know all about AGCO - they are a major farm machinery designer, manufacturer, and distributor, including tractors, combine harvesters, hay & forage machinery. This includes brands like Fendt, Massey Furgeson, Challenger, Valtra, Gleaner, and many others. They also have a growing grain and protein division which offers grain storage, seed processing, and protein production equipment. In Louisa’s role as head of sustainability, she sets strategy for AGCO’s sustainability programs and ESG which stands for environmental, social, and governance. It’s a very hot topic especially among publicly traded companies, which AGCO is. Sustainability roles like Louisa’s are unique, in that she is constantly engaging with all of the key stakeholders surrounding the business: customers, dealers, AGCO colleagues, and investors. It’s also a role that requires her to be thinking much further out than most others. She says she’s regularly thinking 10 years out or longer, which brings a very interesting perspective on the future of agriculture.  In today’s episode, we talk about ESG and the interest of investors to know what AGCO is doing in terms of sustainability, where AGCO is focusing their efforts particularly on reducing emissions including scope 3 emissions which includes the footprint of their customers who use their products, future innovations in farm machinery, and her time in Africa where she held multiple roles with the company including Director of Distribution Development on the continent. 

Visit Bushel online: https://bushelpowered.com/ Today’s episode takes a peak inside one of the hottest agtech companies to come along in recent years: Bushel. I’ve known about Bushel for a couple of years now, and originally just understood them to be a company that was digitizing scale tickets, which is actually how they started. Scale tickets, for those of you who don’t know, are the paper receipt that accompanies a load of an agricultural commodity that usually includes how much was delivered to where, what the grade factors were, etc. It’s really important because historically this is what is used to get paid properly, to keep effective records, and to have a paper trail for bankers, etc. Then this year they raised a $47M series B round and acquired long time farm management software company FarmLogs, and it became clear that I needed to get them on the show to explain all of these pieces and how they fit together.  Joining me is Bushel co-founder and CEO Jake Joraanstad as well as Jesse Vollmar, who was the cofounder and CEO of FarmLogs and now is the VP of Farm Strategy at Bushel after the acquisition. We discuss why a company that is focused on supply chain would get into the farm management software business, what is digital infrastructure and how it makes money, why they don’t see blockchain as the answer for this digital infrastructure, and how they might use the data they’re collecting to provide unprecedented insights back to their customers.  Bushel has some pretty impressive feathers in their cap: they’ve raised a total of around $75M now, much of it from corporate venture capital arms of large grain companies such as Cargill, Scoular, The Andersons, and Continental Grain (which I actually think is more of an investor and holding company than a grain company nowadays, but we’ll count them anyway). Even more impressive is that Bushel boasts 60,000 active users on its platform, which is used at 2,000 grain buying locations throughout the US and Canada. They reach 40% of grain origination in the US  and handle $22 billion of grain contracts each year.

Learn more about SWAT Maps: https://www.swatmaps.com/ Fieldwalker Agronomy: https://fieldwalker.ca/  Jonathan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZRAgri  Today’s episode is all about precision agriculture, so if you’re into agronomy and variable rate technology, or what our guest would prefer to call optimal rate technology, you’re in for a real treat. If these terms are new to you, at a basic level we are talking about technology that is being used to understand the variability of a field so that the precise (hence the name precision) amounts of a given seed, fertilizer, or other input can be applied in a way that maximizes the crop response, and of course, overall profitability. Plants don’t grow by the acre, they grow on an individual basis and may respond differently based on site-specific factors. For more on precision ag, find these previous FoA episodes: 256, 244, 243, 218, 211, 200, 196, 179, 175, 108, 25.  Today’s episode is part of a series I’m doing called the Tech-Enabled Advisor. These are episodes I’m releasing once per month with the intention of better understanding agtech through the lense of the buyers and users rather than just the entrepreneurs or investors. We’ve done four of these so far: 255, 259, 264, and 269, and from what I’ve been hearing the reception has been excellent.  Joining me on today’s episode to talk about precision ag is Jonathan Zettler, who is an agronomist and the founder of Fieldwalker Agronomy Limited, a private crop consultancy in Minto, Ontario. After 17 seasons in ag retail, Jonathan launched the company to provide “profitable, actionable advice” to farmer customers.  To make sure we hear from different types of guests on this Tech-Enabled Advisor series, I’ve asked various agtech companies to partner with me on these episodes. For today’s episode, I’m fortunate to be partnering with Croptmistic Technology, the creators of SWAT Maps. Some of you may remember Croptimistic from my interview with company president Cory Willness last year in episode 211, or the separate podcast I do in partnership with them called SWAT Agronomy. Jonathan at FieldWalker was the first provider to test and start offering SWAT Maps in Eastern Canada.   For a brief refresher on SWAT Maps, SWAT stands for soil, water, and topography. These maps are high resolution soil foundation maps used to execute variable rate fertilizer, seed, soil amendment, herbicide, and precision water management. Instead of just using imagery of vegetation, also known as NDVI imagery, SWAT Maps takes an integrated soil-based approach that starts with RTK or LIDAR elevation, soil color sensors, and electrical conductivity. Then they use that data to build more useful layers: topography models, water flow paths, normalized EC layers, and soil organic matter. With a patented process and proprietary software tools, layers are modeled into a single encompassing map that depicts soil properties, water influences, and topography of the field. Croptimistic Technology is the company that created SWAT Maps and they partner with companies like Jonathan’s to implement the technology and combine it with local agronomic advice. Learn more about them at SWATMaps.com.  In today’s episode, Jonathan and I discuss the evolution of precision agriculture adoption in his area of Ontario. How he is building his agronomy business using SWAT Maps as part of his foundation. His agronomy tech stack, what tool he still would like to see created, and why tech will never fully replace the agronomist. Oh, and why he prefers the term “optimal rate” over the term “variable rate”. 

Inari: https://inari.com/ "From Farms to Incubators" book: https://bookshop.org/books/from-farms-to-incubators-women-innovators-revolutionizing-how-our-food-is-grown/9781610355759  We have on the show Ponsi Trivisvavet, who is the CEO of Inari, the SEEDesign company that uses predictive design and advanced multiplex gene editing to unlock the full potential of seed to build a more sustainable future for the food system.  Ponsi joined Inari in 2018 when they were just over a year old. Since that time they have grown from a 35-person company to a 190-person company. Before Inari, she held a number of leadership roles at Syngenta, most recently as president of Syngenta Seeds North America.  Today’s episode talks about some of the potential for gene editing for the future of our most widely grown crops, the approach Inari is taking to commercialize this technology, whether or not consumers are accepting this more than they did with GMO’s, and what impact this could have on farmer profitability and overall sustainability.  This interview with Ponsi was coordinated by today's co-host, Amy Wu, who is the author of the new book “From Farms to Incubators: Women Innovators Revolutionizing How Our Food is Grown”. Ponsi is one of several women innovators featured in the book and I highly recommend you pick it up. You’ll recognize other former guests of this podcast like Pam Marrone, Fatma Kaplan, Sarah Nolet, Mariana Vasconcelos, Christine Su, and others. 

www.futurityfood.com www.linkedin.com/in/jackbobo www.twitter.com/Jack_a_Bobo TED Talk: Why we fear the food we eat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thiOicCQRWY White paper: The role of innovation in transforming the food system: https://animalagalliance.org/resource/white-paper-the-role-of-innovation-in-transforming-the-global-food-system/ I have on the show a guest whose work I’ve followed for a long time, and someone who I’ve connected with a handful of times over the years, and am really glad to finally get him on the show, Mr. Jack Bobo. Jack is a food futurist and the author of ‘Why smart people make bad food choices.’ He is also the CEO of Futurity, a food foresight company that advises companies, foundations and governments on emerging food trends and consumer attitudes and behaviors related to the future of food. Recognized by Scientific American in 2015 as one of the 100 most influential people in biotechnology, Jack is a global thought leader who has delivered more than 500 speeches in 50 countries. He previously served as the Chief Communications Officer and Senior Vice President for Global Policy and Government Affairs at Intrexon Corporation. Prior to joining Intrexon Jack worked at the U.S. Department of State for thirteen years as a senior advisor for global food policy.    The first part of our conversation today will be about Jack’s new book “Why Smart People Make Bad Food Choices”, then we’ll pivot into what these dynamics mean for agriculture, which opens up what I think is a fascinating conversation about the future of food and ag after that which weaves in points about sustainability, differentiation, and food policy. So you’ll definitely want to make sure you stick around for that. 

SWARMFarm Robotics https://www.swarmfarm.com/ Burro https://burro.ai/  Farmwise https://farmwise.io/  ZTractor https://ztractor.com/  Carbon Robotics https://carbonrobotics.com/  TerraClear https://www.terraclear.com/ Today’s episode is going to be a highlight reel from a virtual event I hosted for the FoA community. That event was an ag robotics roundtable, which featured six robotics companies to have a discussion about the challenges and opportunities of bringing more automation to agriculture. The event lasted every bit of the 90 minutes we had scheduled, and it was even more enlightening than I had anticipated.  So today, I’m going to bring you some of the highlights from that event in a condensed format, and make sure that You’re going to get a chance to hear more about:  What’s driving the robotics revolution?  Labor costs Non-chemical options Precision agriculture Tech advancements and cheaper materials (generally) How they’re setting up their business models to both lower the upfront costs, but also improve the ROI over time.  How they are handling the upfront costs to customers of autonomous equipment How these robots can become more than just replacements for machinery or labor, and truly realize their potential as the central “brains” of the farming operation.  How they’re setting up distribution, support, and supply chains to manufacture these machines A brief conversation about raising capital and how they’re thinking about exits in this robotics space.  We’re not going to get too far into the weeds about the technical aspects of each of the robots represented here, but I’ll do my best to introduce you to these six ag robotics leaders and their companies along the way. Just as a preview, you’re going to hear from (in order of appearance):  Andrew Bate, founder of SwarmFarm Robotics Charlie Andersen, CEO of Burro or you might know them as Augean Robotics Thomas Palomares, co-founder and CTO of Farmwise Bakur Kvezereli, CEO of ZTractor Paul Mikesell, CEO and co-founder of Carbon Robotics Trevor Thompson, president of TerraClear

PMA Takes on Tech: https://www.pma.com/content/podcast/takes-on-tech Aromyx: https://www.aromyx.com/ Today's two part episode starts off with a higher-level picture of the innovations in produce with Vonnie Estes, vice president of technology for the Produce Marketing Association. Then we’ll drill deeper into one aspect of food quality, arguably the most important aspect of food quality: flavor. For that we’ll talk to Josh Silverman, CEO of Aromyx, a company that is digitizing taste and smell. I was able to sit down with Vonnie Estes and capture some valuable insights about the challenges and opportunities of bringing technology to the produce industry, the role of indoor agriculture in fresh produce, alternative funding models for companies that want to serve some of these niches, and the digitization of quality and of supply chains, which will of course lead us into part two with Josh.  Vonnie Estes is the VP of Technology at the Produce Marketing Association.  She has held leadership positions at prominent companies including DuPont, Monsanto, and Syngenta along with start-ups including DNAP, Emergent Genetics, and Caribou Biosciences. Vonnie has a BS in Horticulture from New Mexico State and a Masters in Plant Pathology from UC Davis.  Also joining me is Aromyx CEO Josh Silverman. Josh has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, and is a serial entrepreneur. He has been the founder of 5 different biotech companies, including some in the new protein ingredient space. It was through these experiences of trying to bring sustainable foods and ingredients to the market that he realized flavor is most important, but was also really subjective and nearly impossible to predict. So he joined Aromyx, and the company just recently a $10 million series A round with investors that included the Rabobank Food & Agri Innovation Fund.   

This episode is brought to you by AgVend (www.AgVend.com)  Today’s installment of our Tech-Enabled Advisor series is really an insightful look at how a farmer-owned cooperative is leaning into the digital changes that are happening in our industry to remain relevant and provide value to their farmer shareholders.  KC Graner is the senior vice president of agronomy at Central Farm Service, a co-op in southern Minnesota. As an advocate of the cooperative system, KC has spent his career embedded in member-owned organizations. Prior to taking on his role at Central Farm Service, KC worked at WinField United, serving over two dozen different retail cooperatives across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.   For today’s episode, we are partnering with AgVend. You may remember AgVend from  Episode 125 back in 2018 with CEO Alexander Reichert. AgVend is the leading provider of digital tools to serve the producer of tomorrow. Their suite of products is designed to strengthen the relationship between manufacturers, retailers, and growers by providing the agricultural distribution channel with white-labeled information, engagement, and commerce portals. They make it easier to do business with ag retailers, help them unlock profitability for their growers, and make more time for high-value touchpoints.  “What we've seen is the outperformance of growers who do leverage data and do look to it first in making their decisions. Those are the ones that are outperforming the rest…. Those are the growers that are picking up acres more rapidly.” - KC Graner KC shares what offering an AgVend portal has done for Central Farm Service’s business. Central Farm Service has grown their locally-powered precision agriculture platform, which is called Central Advantage, to a 300,000 acre footprint that cooperates with two neighboring retailers. He sees their operation as a “B.S. meter” for the farmer and a way to trial and troubleshoot new technology to present the best options to producers. “When I look at the adoption rate for use in our portal, there's a high correlation to those that are selling the most revenue and the most margin for the cooperative and using the portal. It's because they already naturally are the types of people that find ways to save time so they can do more.” - KC Graner This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast: Meet KC Graner, the vice president of agronomy at Central Farm Service, a coop in southern Minnesota Explore the use of data by the coop and how it has impacted their business Discover the advantages and benefits of the AgVend platform he uses to support his producers Thanks to AgVend for sponsoring this episode. Make sure you go learn more about them at www.AgVend.com    Join the FOA Community! Be sure to join the new Future of Agriculture Membership for even more valuable information on the future of the ag industry. I’m sending out my email newsletter on a more regular basis, focusing on what I call the front lines of agtech: where product meets producer. You can sign up for that at www.FutureOfAg.com. There’s an email icon in the center of the page, just click on that and it will take you to a signup form. Do you have suggestions for topics to be explored? Tweet them to me @timhammerich or email them to tim@aggrad.com.  Find us online! Future of Agriculture Website AgGrad Website