Headstorm: https://headstorm.com/
AGPILOT: https://headstorm.com/agpilot/
ELO Life: https://elolife.com/
Pairwise: https://www.pairwise.com/home
New Leaf Symbiotics: https://www.newleafsym.com/
Harpe Bio: https://harpebio.com/
"Biologicals are ‘economically unfeasible’ According to Report: The Shortcomings and Opportunities" by Upstream Ag Insights: https://www.upstream.ag/p/biologicals-are-economically-unfeasible
I considered a title for this episode that was something like “The Biological Revolution Coming to Agriculture”.
I decided against it, and not just because it’s over-dramatic and the word ‘revolution’ is tossed around way too much, but because it would give many listeners the wrong idea of what this episode is about.
This is not an episode about biologicals, which has become a catch-all term for things like biostimulants, biopesticides, biofungicides, and bioherbicides. I’m not a fan of trying to categorize things as “biologicals” for the following reasons:
With all of that said I do believe that advancements in biotechnology will have the single biggest impact of any technology on the future of agriculture. And that’s what I want to talk about here in this episode and highlight four companies that are doing some fascinating work driven by biology, that I had the chance to sit down with at World Agri-Tech this year.
So that intro might sound like I’m both criticizing biologicals and calling them the future of agriculture. Let me clarify: my point is that we need to stop lumping everything into this biologicals category and making judgments about a vague category and instead look at how companies and products can stand on their own merits and the value they offer to farmers and consumers.
In today’s episode, I’ll feature two companies in ELO Life and Pairwise that are using biotechnology, specifically gene editing, to change the game on certain agricultural products and ingredients. What they can do it mind-blowing - they are like the Willy Wonka’s of agriculture.
Then we’ll dive deeper into a New Life Symbiotics, which is more of a biological company in the classic sense of the word in that they sell microbes used as biostimulants and biopesticides. This is will give you a great look into some of the challenges and opportunities of these types of products.
Finally we’ll take a peak into what Harpe Bio is doing with their natural chemistry made from plant extracts to provide a new suite of herbicide products.
All of these examples are enabled by advancements in our understanding of biology combined with the data science and other tools that I think will accelerate innovation in agriculture faster than just about anything else out there today.
But let’s not evaluate these stories on how the products were developed, but what problems they solve what value they can offer.
FoA 381: Is There An Anti-Farming Agenda?
FoA 380: Equity Capital for Farmland with Ben Gordon and Kyle Mehmen
FoA 379: The Farm Entrepreneur Mindset with Evan Shout of Maverick Ag
FoA 378: Adventure Capitalism with Legendary Investor and Author Jim Rogers
FoA 377: Leveraging Data to Advance Cattle Genetics With Lee Leachman
FoA 376: Agroforestry on Commercial Midwest Farms with Kevin Wolz of Canopy FM
FoA 375: Soil Carbon Sequestration and Grazing Management with Paige Stanley, Ph.D.
FoA 374: The Potential for Perennial Grains with Peter Miller and Brandon Schlautman of Sustain-A-Grain
FoA 373: Soy Innovation with Meagan Kaiser of the United Soybean Board
FoA 372: [Startup Spotlight] Managing Farm Labor with Joshua Farray of FieldClock
FoA 371: Family Farms and Healthy Communities with Blake Alexandre of Alexandre Family Farm
FoA 370: [History of Agriculture] William J Morse, the Father of the US Soybean Industry
FoA 369: Farm Products, Performance and Perception with Randy Barker of INTENT
FoA 368: Corteva's Digital Transformation with Brian Lutz
FoA 367: Is Agriculture Ready to Collaborate on Data? Jeremy Wilson of AgGateway
FoA 366: Agriculture, Economics, and Data with Aaron Smith, Ph.D.
FoA 365: Sensing from Soil to Storage with Ehsan Soltan of Soiltech Wireless
FoA 364: Supporting Soil Health with Dr. Steve Rosenzweig and Dr. Abbey Wick [Soil Sense Crossover]
FoA 363: Automation Opens the Floodgates for Aquatic Plant Production with Jason Prapas of Fyto
FoA 362: Value Chain Data with Dr. Tye Perrett of Feedlot Health by TELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods
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