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 362: Value Chain Data with Dr. Tye Perrett of Feedlot Health by TELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods
FoA 361: Meet Norm, FBN's AI-Powered Ag Advisor with Kit Barron and Charles Baron
FoA 360: Connecting Communities Through Chocolate with Patrick and Mara Tcheunou of Bibamba
FoA 359: The Economics of Indoor Ag with Jeff McKinnon of TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture
FoA 358: Buy Then Build a Local Ag Company with Elliott and Rebecca Miller of Edgar's Feed and Seed
FoA 357: Buying an Established Ag Retail Business with Trent Kubik of Elevate Agronomics
FoA 356: Seven Business Ideas for Ag Entrepreneurs
FoA 355: Tule Technologies Acquired by CropX with Tom Shapland and John Gates
FoA 354: The Gap Between Information and Implementation with Robert Saik of AGvisorPRO
FoA 353: Connecting Tech Entrepreneurs to the Produce Industry with Vonnie Estes
FoA 352: Autonomous Electric Crop Dusters with Michael Norcia of Pyka
FoA 351: Agritourism and Adding Value on the Farm with Allan Robinette
FoA 350: How to Get the Word Out in Ag with Sarah Mock and Travis Martin
FoA 349: Robotic Harvesting and Beyond with Kyle Cobb of advanced.farm
FoA 348: Investing in the Future of Fertilizer with Sarah Nolet of Tenacious Ventures [Agtech - So What? Crossover]
FoA 347: Upcycled Fruit with Ben Moore of The Ugly Company
FoA 346: Comparing 13 Different Carbon Programs with Dr. Alejandro Plastina
FoA 345: Alphabet's Moonshot to Scale Sustainable Agriculture via Machine Learning with Dr. Elliott Grant of Mineral
FoA 344: Farmland Data with Dr. Aaron Shew of Acres by AcreTrader
FoA 343: Artficial Intelligence, Knowledge Graphs, and a Cloud for Agriculture with Krishna Kumar of CropIn
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