Agtech - So What?

Monsanto is one of the most influential and controversial companies in the history of global agriculture. But beyond the headlines, what can its evolution teach us about how value is created and captured in ag?

As agriculture enters a new era shaped by technological advances, climate pressures, and macroeconomic uncertainty, understanding where power sits in the system and how it shifts has never been more important. Monsanto’s story offers insight into how control points are built, defended, and transformed over time.

In this episode, Sarah Nolet is joined by Tenacious Ventures co-founder Matthew Pryor and the creator of Upstream Ag Insights, Shane Thomas, to break down the business model evolution of Monsanto.

Together, they trace Monsanto’s journey from a chemical manufacturing company built on waste stream transformation, through the rise of glyphosate and innovation in crop protection, to its defining move into seeds and traits.

They dig into how Monsanto layered in strategies around licensing, branding, regulation, and distribution to build one of the most powerful positions in modern agriculture.

This episode is our second Business Model Breakdown, where we explore how agricultural systems, companies, and structures actually work and what that means for the future of agtech. This format is an experiment and we’d love your feedback!

Sarah, Matthew, and Shane discuss:

Got a business model you’d like for us to break down in a future episode? Let us know!

Useful Links:

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Companies: Monsanto, Bayer, Corteva • Topics: agtech-ecosystem, business-model, ag-data, ag-retail

Some of the most transformative innovation in agri-food is happening downstream of the farm, in the materials, products, and industries that agriculture ultimately feeds into.

In this episode, Sarah Nolet speaks with Tina Funder, founder of Alt Leather, an Australian startup developing fully bio-based alternatives to traditional leather.

Tina’s journey into agtech didn’t begin in a lab or on a farm, but in advertising, where she developed a deep understanding of customers, branding, and problem solving. Concerned that most alternative leathers were more plastic than plant, Tina has built a company which sits across multiple industries, from agriculture, biotechnology, manufacturing and fashion. 

But this complexity comes with its challenges. Is Alt Leather a materials company? A biotech platform? Or a manufacturing business? And how does that complexity impact their ability to build a team, raise capital, and commercialize?

Sarah and Tina also discuss:

The conversation also reframes one of the most widely misunderstood aspects of leather. While much of the narrative focuses on livestock emissions, Tina highlights that the majority of environmental impact comes from the tanning process (including water use, chemicals, and pollution.)

Useful Links:

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Companies: Alt Leather • Topics: innovation, alt-materials, business-model, agtech-ecosystem

While agtech often celebrates breakthrough technologies that can slash costs for farmers, what if the real value of innovation lies somewhere else entirely?

In this episode, Mark Trzaskoma joins Dr Madeline Mitchell to explore what agtech adoption actually looks like on the ground at Battunga Orchards, a 180-hectare orchard operating across three sites in Victoria.

From mechanised harvest platforms to canopy redesign and data collection tools, each decision at Battunga is guided by a “test, measure, learn” approach, focused on yield, quality, and long-term performance rather than short-term efficiency gains.

Mark also shares a cautionary insight: optimizing for cost can actually reduce productivity. His experience of hitting cost targets in pruning, only to see production decline, highlights a broader challenge in agriculture: efficiency is not the same as effectiveness.

Mark and Maddie discuss:

Useful Links:

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Companies: Battunga Orchards • Topics: crops-horticulture, ag-tech-adoption, labor, autonomy-robotics

Co-operatives have a long and sometimes colored history in agriculture, across the Western world. What role will they play in the future of agriculture?

As agriculture becomes increasingly shaped by digital technologies and artificial intelligence, the question of who owns, governs, and benefits from farm data is still unresolved. Could co-ops be the answer?

In this episode, Sarah Nolet is joined by Tenacious Ventures co-founder Matthew Pryor and the creator of Upstream Ag Insights, Shane Thomas, to explore the history of co-operatives as a means for farmers to pool resources and address market power imbalances.  They also unpack the business model behind co-ops and analyze whether the principles of co-ops could also be applied to digital infrastructure. 

This episode is the first in a series of business model “breakdown” episodes we’ll be producing this year, where we’ll dig into how agriculture systems, structures, and even specific companies work, why they matter today, and the impact of agtech in their evolution. 

This format is an experiment and we’d love your feedback!

Sarah, Matthew, and Shane discuss:

Got a business model you’d like for us to break down in a future episode? Let us know!

Useful Links:

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Companies: Regen Farmers Mutual, CBH Group • Topics: ag-retail, business-model, ag-data, cooperatives

In less than a year, NZ-based virtual fencing company Halter raised $165 million and then $220 million more, reaching a $2 billion valuation at a time when global agtech funding is down more than 70% from its peak. By any measure, that's a remarkable achievement.

But what does it actually mean?

In this episode, Halter founder and CEO Craig Piggott speaks with our producer and dairy owner Kirsten Diprose about building the company from the ground up, from training cows on his parents' farm in the Waikato to shipping a million solar-powered collars across three countries.

Craig and Kirsten discuss:

The conversation was recorded at the Australian Dairy Conference just before Halter’s Series E announcement. Host Sarah Nolet shares her own perspectives at the end, including the questions she wished she'd been able to ask Craig directly.

Useful Links:

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Companies: Halter • Topics: livestock-dairy, venture-startups, autonomy-robotics, ag-data

Seven years ago, agtech in Australia was still in its infancy. There were bold predictions, a flurry of startups, and an emerging ecosystem of programs and investors to back them. So how have things panned out?

In this live stage recording at the 2026 AgriFutures evokeAG event in Melbourne, Sarah Nolet is joined by Sam Duncan, founder of GXLab (formerly FarmLab and Ziltek) and Natalie Engel, a QLD-based cattle producer. Together, they reflect on the last seven years of the Aussie agtech ecosystem: the hype cycles, the pivots, and the very human realities behind building technology in agriculture.

Back in 2019 at the first evokeAG event, both Sam and Natalie pitched two very different ideas. Sam was an outsider to agriculture with a vision to use soil data and soil carbon to tackle climate change. While as a farmer, Natalie was reverse-pitching a problem: the frustrating reality of livestock traceability paperwork and the need for better digital tools.

Seven years later, neither could have predicted where their agtech journeys would end up.

Sarah, Sam, and Natalie discuss:

Useful Links:

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Companies: GXLab, FarmLab, Ziltek, Ceres Tag, Halter, AgriProve, Mobble, OptiWeigh • Topics: agtech-ecosystem, venture-startups, carbon-markets, ag-data

While agrifood innovation often celebrates bold founders and breakthrough technologies, what happens when the incentives of corporates, startups and investors don’t quite align?

In this live recording from evokeAG in Melbourne, Sarah Nolet is joined by Brad Fruth, Director of Innovation at Beck's Hybrids, and Frank Wooten, CEO of ArkeaBio and co-founder of Vence (acquired by Merck Animal Health).

Together, they explore the “sweet spot” of agtech innovation, i.e. the balance between what customers and corporations want, while recognizing the constraints that innovators and investors face.

Brad shares how Beck’s Hybrids, the largest family-owned retail seed company in the US, approaches innovation: rather than having a corporate venture arm, they focus on being internal problem-solvers and trusted matchmakers between startups.

Meanwhile, Frank Wooten speaks candidly about the realities of raising venture capital in agriculture; where billion-dollar exits are rare, timelines are long, and alignment with customers matters more than valuation headlines.

Sarah, Brad, and Frank discuss:

Useful Links:

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Companies: Beck's Hybrids, ArkeaBio, Vence, Merck Animal Health • Topics: corporates, venture-startups, finance-investing, business-model

While farmer distrust of AI remains a key adoption barrier, will farm businesses that are being set up for an AI future have a competitive advantage?

Paul Windemuller is a pioneering first-generation farmer and Nuffield Scholar from Coopersville, Michigan (USA). Along with his wife Brittany, 

Paul built his farm from the ground up with limited capital, relying on ingenuity, automation, and data-driven decision-making to grow Dream Winds Dairy into a highly tech-enabled operation.

In this episode, Paul shares his unconventional journey into dairy farming from digging parlor pits by hand and retrofitting sheds on a shoestring budget, to becoming an early adopter of robotics, wearable sensors, and AI-enabled tools. Paul didn’t grow up on a farm, so technology became a way to compensate for what he calls a lack of “cow sense,” helping him make faster decisions around health, breeding, and herd performance.

As AI accelerates, Paul argues that adoption is less about buying another gadget and more about building the underlying foundations: connectivity, clean data, and a culture of curiosity within farming teams.

Sarah and Paul discuss:

• How a lack of traditional farming experience became a catalyst for data-driven innovation.
• Why AI should be viewed as a utility, like electricity, rather than a single technology purchase.
• The practical steps farmers can take today to become “AI ready.” 
• Why governance models that keep value with farmers and rural communities could determine whether AI delivers long-term benefits.
• Why farmer-owned data infrastructure and interoperability may be the next big innovation in agriculture.

Useful Links:

• Leading the Herd: AI, Insight, and the Next Agricultural Revolution, (Paul’s Nuffield report)
• Getting Into the weeds: the AI data dilemma
• Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work in Agriculture
• Yield maps killed agtech software, can AI fix it? (report)

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Topics: ai, ag-data, farm-economics, ag-tech-adoption

While there is a growing recognition of the importance of indigenous knowledge in agriculture, all too-often, First Nations people are being asked to fit in with an established model. What if we flipped the script to create food systems that are led by indigenous principles?

That’s what Jacob Birch is aiming to do in reawakening a native grains industry in Australia. He’s a proud Gamilaraay man, scholar, Churchill Fellow, and entrepreneur who founded Yaamarra & Yarral, a wholesaler of ancient grains and retailer of stone milled flour.

In this episode, Jacob shares his journey into native grains, beginning with biodiversity and landscape restoration, and expanding into food, culture, and economic sovereignty. He explains why native grasses are keystone species for Australia’s ecosystems, how Indigenous Australians managed grain systems for tens of thousands of years, and why these histories, including bread-making, are still largely absent from mainstream narratives.

In his Churchill Fellowship, Jacob draws on lessons from First Nations communities in North America, exploring what Indigenous-led food systems can look like when the goal is not export-driven scale, but healthy communities, country, and self-determined economic development.

Sarah and Jacob discuss:

• The nutritional value of native grains and their role in climate resilience and food sovereignty.
• Why post–farm gate ownership is crucial for First Nations people.
• How subsidies could potentially support indigenous-led enterprises in food and agriculture.
• The realities of building a native grains industry; from land access to challenges in processing.

Useful Links:

• Jacob Birch, Churchill Fellowship report
• Grasslands Documentary 
• Jacob Birch researcher profile
• Modernising Indigenous Native Grains Processing | AgriFutures Australia
• White Earth Nation
• Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
• Native Farm Bill Coalition
• Tribal Elder Food Box - Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin
• First Nations Australians in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - DAFF
• 2030 Roadmap - National Farmers' Federation

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Topics: food-systems, indigenous-knowledge, crops-horticulture, food-consumer

We’ve hit a tipping point for autonomy in agriculture, so how far off is fully autonomous farming? In this episode, Matthew Pryor sits down with Brett McMickell, Chief Technology Officer at Kubota North America, to unpack his view on what autonomy can deliver in agriculture and why it’s closer than many people think.

Brett’s career spans spacecraft control systems and multi-vehicle autonomy. Today at Kubota, he’s helping guide autonomy strategy inside one of the world’s largest and oldest agricultural equipment manufacturers. Brett’s focus is about ensuring the technology solves on the ground problems for farmers and is driven by customer demand, rather than by the tech itself.

Matthew and Brett discuss:

• What supervised autonomy will look like in 1 - 3 years.
• Why smart implements and sensing are just as important as autonomous power systems.
• Why AI in agriculture is still under-appreciated.
• What autonomy will look like in 10 years (without human intervention).
• How autonomy could completely change farm layouts, machine sizes, and operating metrics.
• How Kubota decides whether to build, partner with, or acquire new technology.

Useful Links:

• Kubota USA Innovation
• Kubota acquires Bloomfield Robotics, so what?
• Kubota to acquire automation company AgJunction - Future Farming
• Kubota Concept Tractor | Innovation | Kubota Global Site
• Kubota launches first autonomous hydrogen-fuelled tractor - Farmers Weekly
• How can agtech startups and corporates do more together?
• Seeing into the future of farm autonomy (w/ SwarmFarm Robotics)
• Have we hit a tipping point for autonomy in ag?

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Companies: Kubota • Topics: autonomy-robotics, farm-machinery, ai, ag-tech-adoption