Agtech - So What?

Chris Sounness is the CEO of Birchip Cropping Group, a not-for-profit agricultural research and extension organisation led by farmers from the Wimmera and Mallee regions of Victoria. Chris has been working at the Intersection of ag and Agtech for many years, and has strong views about what is and isn’t working, as well as just how critical digitization is for Australian agriculture. In this episode chat about:

* The role of membership organizations in agricultural R&D

* Challenges for tech adoption in agriculture, and new models for tech + ag connectivity and engagement

* The importance of problem definition, trust, and investing in travel to get farmers and agtech startups in the same room

* Data ownership and usage concerns (and why farmers say “show me the money”)

Lessons from failed and successful partnerships, opportunities to partner with BCG, and new models in the works for supporting beta testing of agtech products

Trent Loos is a 6th generation rancher from Nebraska. One day 20 years ago, he got fed up with consumers not knowing where their food comes from so he started a radio program to close this gap. Now he has over 4 million radio listeners all over the world on his programs Rural Route ans Loos Tales.

In this episode we discuss:

* Rural urban divide and tips for how to close the gap (honesty is the best policy, even with potentially touchy subjects!)

* Why Trent doesn’t farm organic, and how he does farm

* The tech Trent is using on his farm and his challenges with ear tags for pigs

* Who’s getting saturated with tech options in livestock and who’s not

* Why Sarah asks all the questions and what Simon and Trent know about chicken wings and the NFL ;)

* Ag social media and the internet: what’s working and where farmers are getting information these days

* The best “small world” story I’ve ever heard (featuring a bull named Woof’s Choice)

* The importance of resilience in farming and entrepreneurship

Sam Marwood is an environmental scientist, Director of Operations at Odonata and a co-founder at Cultivate Farms a marketplace to help aspiring farmers connect with investors (and farms). Sam's mission is to rejuvenate regional communities and help answer a critical question he gets all the time, "how do I become a farmer?"

In this episode, Sam tells us:

* What it’s like to quit your job to become an entrepreneur

* The power of social media to reach your audience, even (or especially) in agriculture

* How aspiring farmers can get “investment ready” with Sam's help, and where to start

* The balance of having a for profit business with a social good, and constantly having to assure investors he's not looking for, or giving, any handouts!

Apologies in advance for a bit of background noise at the end...we caught Sam on his way to work on the train!

Zack Armen, formerly a senior associate at venture development firm Flagship Pioneering, is currently Director of Business Development at  INcredible Foods

In this episode, Zack takes us through his journey from finance, through MIT, and into Agtech.

In this episode, you'll hear from Matthew on:

* The journey from Silicon Valley entrepreneur to working with researchers and industry to launch an agtech startup in Australia that was eventually acquired

* The importance of failure in any startup's story, and why a celebrating failures is so critical

* Tips for current and aspiring agtech entrepreneurs on service models, international expansion, customer breadth vs depth, and scaling hardware operations

* Opportunities for producer-led innovation and producer + entrepreneur collaborations

The importance of adopting a global perspective on agtech, and acknowledgement that agtech, though highly related to our food and fiber production systems, is a distinct industry with billions of dollars of potential

* Acquisition myths...and what happens after an exit!

We are just about to launch BushTech season 2!

Episodes should start hitting your feeds this week