Welcome back to Vivid Machines Variety!

We're so excited to dive deep into the heart of agriculture and food tech with a very special guest, Marlise Hunter, the Director of Platform at Tall Grass Ventures, a Calgary-based Agrifood Tech Venture Firm.

Marlise brings over a decade of experience in business development, particularly focusing on supporting the growth of early-stage companies within the agri-food sector. But what truly sets her apart is her passion for bridging the urban/rural divide in agriculture innovation.

Join us as we explore Marlise's journey, from her rural roots to her pivotal role at Tall Grass Ventures. We'll dive into buzzwords like precision agriculture and clean tech, discussing their significance in today's agricultural landscape.

Marlise's Bio: Marlise is the Director of Platform at Tall Grass Ventures, where she supports early-stage companies driving agrifood sector transformation. With a background in business development and a passion for bridging the urban/rural divide, Marlise is a leading advocate for agricultural innovation in Canada. She brings a wealth of experience from her roles in agtech venture capital, economic development, and academia-industry collaboration. Currently, she serves on the Advisory Council for the Simpson School of Public Policy, contributing to evidence-based policymaking in the agrifood sector.

On this special edition episode of our show, the Vivid Machines team joins Cassie to share their best memories of 2022, and their resolutions for 2023! 

Happy Holidays everyone! 

Industry expert, Joe Dales, discusses how labour is impacted with new farming technologies. 

Does technology replace or create jobs on farms? Are labour shortages impacting how farmers invest? Tune in to find out! 

Cassie talks with Karen Davidson, from The Grower news, about the importance of supporting local farmers. They share tips on how to best shop local, and discuss a range of other agricultural trends!

Dr. Simon Somogyi discusses the problem of food waste, covering a range of topics such as climate change, imperfect produce, and supply chain development! 

Who are the leading contributors to the problem of food waste? What can individuals do to help? Tune in to find out! 

In this Quick Talk Tuesday, Cassie gives an overview of the complex field of Robotics! Covering how robots are able to do tasks such as explore a planet, or spot treat weeds on farmers fields. 

Bethany Deshpande describes her journey as the founder and CEO of SomaDetect. Tune in to learn how her company helps farmers produce the best possible milk!

Rod Farrow explains his take on agricultural technology to Cassie, while getting into a thorough discussion around the complexities of the apple industry! 

In this Quick Talk Tuesday, Cassie covers the basics of Natural Language Processing! Tune in to learn about how computers are able to understand language, and output speech themselves. 

Are science, technology, engineering, and math students the future of AgTech? Tune in to hear the thoughts of Aneesh, Vivid Machines' co-op student!