After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communications from Sacramento State University, Dan moved to Kerman, CA to work on a ranch for his now father-in-law. Working on his father-in-law’s ranch, Dan learned quickly about the farming industry and realized his heart’s desire was working with primarily almond, pistachio, grapes, and cotton. He also gravitated toward research, development, and applications primarily on nutrition programs, irrigation, water treatment, and regulations that come with the agricultural industry. In 2010, Dan took what he learned in the field and went to work for an irrigation company and began working with water treatment products and drip irrigation systems. It was there that he learned the importance of maintaining irrigation systems. Shortly after, Dan was intrigued and wanted to be part of the fast-growing company in Meras. In 2012, Dan went to work for Meras and quickly realized the relationship between water treatment management and service, and its effect on crop yield and crop health. Dan has helped Meras build a team of like-minded individuals with similar mindsets in doing what is right for the grower.

Dan’s “hands- on “experience allows him to continue to grow and learn about what is new in the industry. Water quality, irrigation systems, water related challenges are always changing. Dan is constantly keeping up with not only new rules and regulations, but also research and development on new products and equipment to properly treat the ever evolving water related issues. Dan is licensed by the Department of Agriculture as a Qualified Applicator in Aquatics. Additionally, he continues his education and licensing in irrigation maintenance, pumps, food safety, chlorine dioxide training, and water treatment chemistries.

Dan started out installing equipment, servicing irrigation systems, and remediation micro irrigation systems. He has worked his way through the Meras org chart to involve service, sales, managing the sales team, President of Meras Water Solutions, and now CEO. His passion for creating a good customer experience continues to be his main goal in developing and improving water treatment programs.

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This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE. Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE.

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Links

• Meras - https://meras.com
• Dan on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-lindberg-43927b89/
• Buy Nuss Farms Watermelon - https://pickedtoporch.com/products/watermelons?variant=43732339916853
• Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com

Devon Wright is the Founder and CEO of Lumo, a hardware and software smart valve agtech startup. Lumo's mission is to massively improve fresh water efficiency and food security. They do this helping farmers optimize irrigation so they can continue to meet our growing food demand with an increasingly volatile water supply.

Prior to this, Devon co-founded Turnstyle Solutions and grew it to one of the largest local marketing platforms of its kind before being acquired by Yelp in 2017. He helped build and run the Yelp Restaurants division with an incredible team of leaders until 2022.

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This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE. Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE.

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Links

• Lumo - https://lumo.ag
• Devon on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wrightdevon/
• Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com

This month, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "After 40 harvests - A framework for succession planning 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 Mineral.

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This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE. Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE.

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Links

• Topsoil - https://topsoil.substack.com
• Ariel on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arielpatton/
• Kevin Bearley on the Pod - https://themodernacre.com/344
• Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com
• Subscribe to the Newsletter - https://themodernacre.substack.com

In 2000, Steve Brazeel founded SunTerra Produce, which has grown from a one-person produce brokerage firm into an industry-leading, full-service platform handling sales, marketing, farming, food safety, harvesting, storage, and distribution activities for specialty crop producers on over 5,000 acres throughout the US and Mexico.

Born out of SunTerra‘s participation in the USDA’s ground-breaking Farmers to Families Food Box program, Project FoodBox was launched in 2020. Since the program’s inception, the SunTerra/Project FoodBox teams have delivered over 55 Million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to families in need through its network of food banks and other non-profits.

Steve is also the Founder and CEO of Elevated Foods. Elevated Foods was founded with a vision to invigorate great brands and position them for sustainable long-term growth. In an industry facing increasing disruption, we see the opportunity to build a fresh produce company for a new age, one that brings together differentiated yet complementary brands and aims to make them stronger than they would be on their own. We’ve identified a common thread between our farms –the capacity to Elevate our food system. From land stewardship and nutritional quality to career development and community well-being, Elevated aims to increase the health of our planet and its people. In 2022, Elevated was awarded a $20,000,000 grant as part of USDA’s Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities program.

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This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE. Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE.

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Links

• SunTerra - https://sunterraproduce.com
• Project Food Box - https://projectfoodbox.org
• Elevated Foods - https://www.elevatedfoods.com
• Steve on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevebrazeel/
• Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com
• Subscribe to the Newsletter - https://themodernacre.substack.com

Scott Nelson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Make Hay. Launched in partnership with Purdue University and High Alpha Innovation, Make Hay is a SaaS marketing platform that enables brands to produce authentic and trusted agricultural-related content at scale, all while amplifying and empowering the voices of America's Agriculture Industry.

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This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE. Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE.

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Links

• Make Hay - https://www.gomakehay.com 
• Scott on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-nelson-aa8800a/ 
• Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com
• Subscribe to the Newsletter - https://themodernacre.substack.com

Jack Richardson is kicking off a new and improved version of The Modern Acre newsletter. After starting his career in venture banking, Jack has spent the last five years in AgTech, first at a food waste startup and now in precision technology at an Ag OEM. He's spent most of his career in strategy roles where he's explored ways to make business models work. Outside of his specific roles, he's written about the space more broadly – you may have come across his prior writing on LinkedIn.

In tandem with the contributing to the monthly newsletter, Jack will join us on the podcast every month to break down his latest research and dig into the strategy behind the company he's profiling. This month we dig into Thrive Market. Check out the newsletter here.

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This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE. Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE.

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Links

• Thrive Market - https://thrivemarket.com
• Jack on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-richardson-18527684/
• Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com
• Subscribe to the Newsletter - https://themodernacre.substack.com

Grant Mulligan is a Director of the Investment Group at AlTi Tiedemann Global, a global wealth and alternatives manager. Grant focuses on the firm’s climate sustainability impact investments, specifically nature-based solutions and decarbonization technology. Prior to joining AlTi, Grant was a Project Director at NatureVest, the in-house impact investing team of The Nature Conservancy. He advised institutional-scale timber and agriculture/water funds on how to deliver durable conservation outcomes alongside financial returns. Grant began his career as a wildlife biologist.

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This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE. Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE.

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Links

• ALTi - https://alti-global.com
• Grant on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantmulligan/
• Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com
• Subscribe to the Newsletter - https://themodernacre.substack.com

Matt Aronson is the Chief Revenue Officer of Verdant Technologies. Verdant is committed to reducing global waste and enhancing sustainability through their proprietary technology, HarvestHold, which extends the usable life of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Tune in to hear more about their approach to food waste and how Matt and the team are focused on scaling profitably.

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This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE. Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE.

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Links

• Verdant - https://verdant-tech.com
• HarvestHold - https://harvesthold.com
• Matt on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewaronson/
• Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com

Luiz Beling is the new CEO of Apeel Sciences, a leading company in supply chain innovation for the fresh produce industry. With over two decades of agriculture industry experience, Beling brings a wealth of knowledge and skills in driving innovation and fostering strategic partnerships. Beling most recently held leadership roles at Farmer's Business Network and Bayer Crop Science, where he led large teams across multiple geographies that accelerated business growth and increased customer satisfaction.

Luiz joins the pod this week to share more about why he joined Apeel, how they are evolving the business, and their plan for growth.

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This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE.

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Links

• Apeel - https://www.apeel.com
• Luiz on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/luizbeling/
• Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com

Kelly Damewood is the CEO of CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers), one of the first organic certification agencies.

Kelly has spent over a decade working towards a single goal: helping organic farmers thrive. After her own experience running a small farm, she went to law school determined to help farmers who farm in a better way. In her previous role as CCOF’s policy director, Kelly spearheaded key initiatives such as passage of state legislation to improve an outdated regulatory program for organic farmers and creating a groundbreaking project to drive organic production and consumption in California. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from Vermont Law School and a Master of Laws degree in agricultural and food law from the University of Arkansas School of Law.

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This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE.

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Links

• CCOF - https://ccof.org
• Kelly on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellydamewood/
• Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com