The Modern Acre

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com

Derek Azevedo is the Executive Vice President of Bowles Farming Company. Prior to joining Bowles in early 2017, Derek spent 12 years working with farmers throughout the Central Valley as a business development representative for the world's largest tomato processor.

Bowles Farming Company is a family owned and operated farming operation located near Los Banos in the Central Valley of California. The farm is currently being managed by the 6th generation of the Bowles & Lawrence families. They produce primarily annual crops with a focus on tomatoes (processing and fresh), melons, Extra Long Staple cotton, alfalfa and much more.

Connect with Bowles Website | LinkedIn

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com

In April 2021, Mick Messman was named President and Chief Executive Officer of DPH Biologicals, bringing twenty-five years of experience in crop protection, seed treatment and biologicals after serving in commercial leadership roles at two leading multi-nationals and emerging agtech companies. Today, Mick is leading DPH Biologicals to deliver more value to partners and growers through collaborative relationships and access to its trusted biological platform.​

DPH Biologicals aims to become the industry's most trusted biologicals provider, based one of the industry's most trusted technologies that has delivered unmatched results to improve soil structure while increasing nutrient uptake across a wide range of crops, soil types and growing environments. For more than three decades, we have delivered value to the row and specialty crop, turf and ornamental markets. With unique applicability across broad soil types, our technology platform, TerraTrove™, built on SP-1 Classic™ formulation, has been refined across millions of acres to make it the most complete biofertility solution available. We are committed to building upon the DPH Biologicals heritage to help meet the needs of a growing population and address global concerns of climate change, food security and clean water.

Connect with DPH Website | LinkedIn | CropLife Article

Peter Martin is an Advisory Partner at Pinion and Matt Powell is a Global Innovation Leader at Pinion, CEO of Robot Accounts, and Co-Founder of AgWorld.

Pinion, formerly named KCoe Isom, is a 'U.S. Top 100' accounting firm and global leader in food and agriculture consulting. With roots dating back to 1932, the firm has expanded upon traditional accounting services to deliver increased value and growth for clients through comprehensive policy-to-plate strategies, and specialized advisory in the areas of sustainability, government affairs, farm programs, land management, financial management, succession planning, and business strategy.

Robot Accounts provides AI powered automated accounting and financial data standardization, workflow and integration.

Connect with Pinion Website | LinkedIn

This month, the Modern Acre Co-op got together to discuss all things AI in agriculture. It was a roundtable discussion that was wide-ranging and including a number of different use-cases for how people are thinking about and leveraging AI in their businesses.

Participants: Chris Bunio of Theory Mesh, Chase Dwelle, Kenny Lee of Aigen, Erik Wolfe of Sound Agriculture, Jim Cupples of All the Farms, Dustin Brunn of Dunn Dairy, and Ria Xi of CropSafe

Connect with the Co-op Details | Apply

Dr. Michael Gilbert is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Semios, the leading precision farming loT platform for tree fruits, nuts, and grapes. Michael is a natural product synthetic chemist with a PhD from University of British Columbia and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Vienna. He has 25 years of experience in agtech and biotech R&D and production. In 2009, Michael founded Semios to meet the growing demand for data-driven sustainable and traceable food production.

Michael joins us to share his story of founding the company and how the have strategically scaled through acquisitions, distribution, technology, and business model. Tune in!

Connect with Semios Website | Twitter

Kit Barron is the Head of Data Science & Analytics at Farmer's Business Network, an independent agricultural tech and commerce platform and farmer-to-farmer network that helps its members make confident decisions to ensure the economic viability of their farms and work toward a sustainable future. FBN is an advocate for family farmers and ranchers, and does whatever it takes to help farmers become more prosperous - whether it's through data science-driven agronomic insights about their fields, providing farm inputs through its e-commerce store, helping farmers sell their crop more intelligently and independently, or providing them with health or crop insurance. FBN arms farmers with the tools they need to make the best decisions for their business, their families and the planet.

Kit joins the pod to provide some updates on FBN and share more about their recent launch of Norm, their AI agronomy advisor. Tune in!

Connect with FBN Website | Norm

Jacob Muise is the Founder and CEO of Maui Nui Venison. Their venison comes from Axis deer, a non-native species to Hawaiʻi. Numerous and free-roaming, these deer are truly wild until the moment they humanely harvest them using 100% stress-free methods. Because their deer are wild instead of being raised for food, they enjoy a natural varied diet, which means their meat is higher in nutrients and noticeably more delicious.

Connect with Maui Nui Venison Website | Nutrient Density Study

This month, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "We didn't produce this much only to produce this much: A framework for understanding yield in agriculture."

Ariel Patton is the creator of Topsoil, a newsletter bringing you monthly frameworks to help make sense of agriculture, at just the right depth. Ariel has focused her career on driving digital transformation of agriculture to help farmers manage their businesses more profitably and sustainably at Monsanto, Granular, Corteva and currently, Mineral.

Connect with Ariel Topsoil Newsletter | LinkedIn

Carson Britz is the Sr. Manager of Sustainable Ag at Nutrien Ag Solutions. Nutrien Ag Solutions is a subsidiary of Nutrien Ltd., a leading global agricultural solutions provider. The company was formed in 2018 as a result of a merger between Agrium Inc. and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. Nutrien Ag Solutions is primarily focused on providing agricultural inputs and services to farmers, helping them achieve higher crop yields and better farm productivity.

Nutrien Ag Solutions operates a vast retail network, offering a wide range of products and services. With a strong presence in North America, Australia, and South America, Nutrien Ag Solutions is committed to providing innovative and sustainable solutions that help farmers meet the increasing global demand for food while minimizing the environmental impact of agricultural practices.

Connect with Nutrien Website | LinkedIn

Paul Pittman is the founder and executive chairman of Farmland Partners, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that purchases, leases, and manages high-quality farmland throughout North America.

Paul grew up in a farm family and has been buying and operating farms since the mid-1990s. Many of his farmland assets in Illinois, Nebraska, and Colorado were contributed to Farmland Partners Inc. at the time of its initial public offering in 2014. Paul has served as the company's Chairman since that time, and he remains one of its largest shareholders. He was the company's CEO until February 2023.

Before devoting full attention to his farming and farmland ownership businesses, Paul was the CFO of Jazz Technologies, a publicly traded semiconductor foundry. Prior, he started TheJobsite.com, which merged into HomeSphere, an enterprise software company where Paul served as President. Paul has worked as an investment banker in London, New York, and San Francisco, specializing in mergers and acquisitions with Merrill Lynch, Wasserstein Perella & Co, and ThinkEquity. He began his career as an attorney with Sullivan & Cromwell.

Connect with Farmland Partners Website | LinkedIn