Agtech - So What?

Farmers Business Network is one of the most well-funded startups in agtech. Just recently, they announced a $300M Series G round, bringing their total funds raised to $870M and their valuation to nearly $4 billion.

So, where did it all begin?

In this episode, FBN co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Charles Baron, explains how his Silicon Valley upbringing unexpectedly collided with rural Nebraska, resulting in an idea for a new kind of agribusiness- one that would connect farmers and increase their bargaining power for chemicals and seeds.

In the eight years since the startup began, FBN has frequently encountered opposition from incumbents due to its push for competition and transparency for input pricing. In this episode, the last in our three-part series, Charles talks about several key factors in the company's success, including:

•Questioning Silicon Valley's 'founder obsession' to instead create a 'farmer-centric' ideology

•The importance of telling your company's story through your own channels (rather than relying on others).

•How FBN makes decisions about which strategies to pursue, including their Gradable platform and recently announced partnership with ADM

This is the third episode in our "Later-Stage Agtech Startup Lessons" series. Listen to episode 1) Michael Gilbert of Semios and episode 2) Paul Lightfoot of BrightFarms. For more resources visit our website.

"When you say, 'can I have your money?' Then, people speak the truth."

Paul Lightfoot is a serial entrepreneur who has learned several lessons the hard way, from raising money to communicating purpose to hiring (and firing). After spending much of his career as a software CEO, Paul wanted to follow his "calling" to enter the world of sustainability and foodtech.

But this meant moving from a familiar career trajectory to an industry that, 10 years ago when Paul was entering it, barely even existed. In 2011, Paul founded BrightFarms, which uses hydroponic greenhouses to produce locally sourced packaged salads in the US. Along the way, he has made several critical decisions for his startup's success. This includes an incredibly rare and difficult decision for any founder to make- Paul voluntarily stepped back from the role of CEO and hired someone he believed could do a better job.

Now, BrightFarms has 300 employees, five greenhouses, and in 2021, it was acquired by Cox Enterprises. In this episode, Paul talks about:

•How to distinguish between what your ego is telling you and what's best for your company.

•How he raised capital in the early days, as well as more recent strategic partnerships to support the growth of BrightFarms.

•Why establishing core values and purpose is not simply human resources 'fluff', but rather integral to success throughout every phase of a startup.

For more information on this episode, visit our website. This is the second episode in our "Later-Stage Agtech Startup Lessons" series. Listen to the first episode with Michael Gilbert of Semios.

In this 3-part series, we'll share the lessons from agtech startup founders who have grown their agtech companies from idea to at least 100 employees. We'll be examining what's worked (and hasn't), differences between agtech and other industries, and what the founders have learned along the way about the industry and themselves.

This episode, the first in the series, features Michael Gilbert, CEO and founder of Semios, a crop management platform initially focused on tree fruit, nuts and vines, based in Canada. Michael has a PhD in chemistry and started his career in pharmaceuticals and biotech, before realizing his knowledge could be applied to agricultural inputs. This initial idea has led him on a journey from biologicals, to creating a company with more than 300 employees and over $225 million in external capital raised to date.

Michael discusses:

•The importance of iterating your idea, technology, and business based on customer input

•Hiring tips and challenges as you expand from needing generalists to specialists

•How to create a culture that rewards failure (and why this is hard in an agricultural context)

For more information and links to the resources mentioned in this podcast, visit our website.

Venture investment into technology companies that have the potential to scale regenerative agriculture is accelerating. However, it is a relatively new domain for venture capital, and it comes with its own unique set of challenges.

So what role can VCs play in the regen ag landscape? And what technologies and trends are VCs looking at to guide their investments?

This bonus episode features a discussion from a live panel conversation at the Regenerative Food Systems Investment Forum (RFSIF), in California, with:

•Renee Vassilos - Director of Agriculture Innovation at The Nature Conservancy.

•Mark Lewis - Managing Partner at Trailhead Capital, and owner at Lewis Family Farm.

•Sarah Nolet - co-founder of Tenacious Ventures and the Agthentic Group.

•Paul Lightfoot (moderator), President of BrightFarms and author, Negative Foods Newsletter

Thank you to RFSI for the recording- this episode is a lightly edited version of the live event. For more information and resources from this episode visit our website. You might also like to catch up on our regen ag series.

Does the average citizen actually need to care about how their food is produced? This is the central question Australian author and journalist, Gabrielle Chan, set out to answer. Her latest book, "Why you should give a f*ck about farming" details her firm conclusion that, yes, if you eat food, you should in fact care about agriculture.

While the old days of agriculture as the top contributor to GDP are over for most Western countries, Gabrielle argues the future of food and farming is becoming increasingly important for a raft of other reasons such as climate change and food security.

In this episode, she talks about:

•Her own introduction to farming, including what shocked her when she first moved from the city to marry a farmer.

•The emergence of 'food tribes', where people view what they eat as part of their identity.

•How politics is failing agriculture by not having a "backyard plan," a strategy to value natural capital and make considered decisions about land use.

•The role of agtech in bringing outsiders into agriculture, reinvigorating rural communities, and re-establishing connections between consumers and farmers.

For more information and resources, visit our website

The divide between farmers and startups can seem like a chasm. Tech culture and agriculture have evolved from completely different backgrounds, and even seem to have their own languages. So how can agtech bring together two very different groups?

In this episode, you'll hear practical tips from farmers and agtech experts on how to build mutually beneficial relationships. For startups, this includes approaching farmers as partners, rather than 'customers,' and understanding 'grower economics'. And for farmers, it's about finding opportunities to access and help shape new products as the startup iterates. This might look like an equity partnership, an advisory relationship, or even becoming a co-founder.

On the panel:

•Walt Duflock - Vice President of Innovation, Western Growers

•Emma Weston - CEO & Co-Founder, AgriDigital

•Pete Nelson - President & Executive Director, AgLaunch

This episode is an edited version of an AusAgritech Meetup, sponsored by Foodbytes! by Rabobank. For more information and resources, visit our website.

Dr. Ken Henry became well-known in Australia for his bold economic reforms as the Treasury Secretary throughout the 2000s. His approach to conservation and agriculture is equally as bold, advocating for the natural environment to be valued, and even predicting "an explosion" in financial instruments to measure soil carbon, vegetation, biodiversity and other aspects of nature.

As an economist, former Chair of the National Australia Bank, and current board director of Accounting for Nature, he brings a unique perspective to agtech and agriculture.

In this bonus episode, Ken talks with Agthentic co-founder, Matthew Pryor, about:

•How his father's career as a timber worker sparked an interest in measuring natural capital

•Why economic incentives are needed to further encourage landowners to protect the environmental condition of farms (and what these incentives should look like).

•How Australia (or any Western nation) can market itself as having quality, "climate adaptive" produce to capitalize on the growing middle classes in China and India.

•Why we can expect farm bank managers to be increasingly interested in how a farm's environmental condition is managed.For more information, you can visit our website.

For our 100th episode (hooray!), we've brought back some of our most popular guests to check in on what's changed in their businesses and in agtech since we spoke, and the new technologies and opportunities we can all be looking out for.

These guests were popular for a reason:

•Mark Wootton - dubbed the 'carbon neutral farmer,' Mark is a pioneer in measuring natural capital... yet, he's also highly skeptical of the regenerative agriculture movement.

•Stu Austin - manager of Wilmot Cattle Co, which recently secured a landmark deal to sell $500,000 worth of soil carbon credits to Microsoft.

•Sarah Mock - sometimes controversial, but always well-researched in her views, Sarah is an agricultural journalist and author, who just released a book examining what makes a 'good farm'

•Derek Norman - VP of venture investment at Leaps by Bayer, Derek shares the latest on emerging technologies in agtech, including in fertilizer and soil carbon.

This podcast also features insights on the future of agtech from YOU, our listeners! Thank you to all who sent in voice messages. For more information, visit our website.

Loran Steinlage has been labeled a 'regenerative' farmer and branded a conservationist, yet as a farmer in Iowa, in many ways he's far from the stereotypical image of either. He lives in the heart of the Iowa corn belt, but says he now doesn't care whether he grows corn or not.

In this episode, Loran shares how his drive for innovation has come from a series of difficult and life-changing events in his personal life. This, coupled with his love of tinkering with machines has helped him unlock new ways of farming, such as cover cropping, interseeding and relay cropping, that have not only won him awards and improved profitability, but also caught the attention of machinery manufacturers and helped him spend more time with his family.

While other farmers in the area are focused on growing row crops at scale, Loran is focused on increased crop diversity, reducing the costs of production, and ultimately getting off the commodities treadmill.

In this podcast, Loran talks about:

•How he's able to grow a crop 365 days a year, even under snow.

•How modifying equipment has allowed him to reduce inputs and run a low cost production system.

•Why he hopes sharing his innovations will help other farmers consider alternative farming practices and different markets.

For more information, visit our website.

Also, we want to hear from YOU! We're planning our 100th episode and are looking for stories about how you have used any of the agtech or food innovation ideas discussed on this podcast in your business or workplace. Did it work? Or did it fail?

You can record a short voice message by following the link on our website here, and you might just end up on the show!

Benson Hill is designing crops and ingredients for some of the world's most popular plant-based food brands. But the company has no intention of becoming a brand itself. Instead, it's focused on revolutionizing the entire food system, from how plants are grown, to what they taste like, to the range of crop varieties on offer.

Founder and CEO, Matt Crisp, started Benson Hill nearly a decade ago as a plant biology company, using analytics and machine learning to increase yields. Now it has grown to become a technology platform as well as a vertically integrated food and ingredients business, designing high protein soybeans and yellow peas to fuel the growing plant-based protein industry.

In this episode, Matt shares:

•His journey from venture capital in the life sciences industry, to becoming an agtech startup founder.

•How the business model of Benson Hill has evolved and why it's betting on the growth of the plant-based protein industry.

•How to involve farmers in testing crops and products on a commercial scale so growers benefit, as much as the company.

•Benson Hill's recent SPAC deal and upcoming public listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

For more information and resources, visit our website.

Also, we want to hear from YOU! We're planning our 100th episode and are looking for your stories about how you have used any of the agtech or food innovation ideas discussed on this podcast in your business or workplace. Did it work? Or did it fail?

You can record a short voice message by following the link on our website here, and you might just end up on the show!