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 282: Open Source Weed Control with Guy Coleman and William Salter of OWL
FoA 281: Open Source Ag Technology with Brian Tischler of AgOpenGPS
FoA 280: Organic Farming Myths and Realities with Erin Silva, Ph.D.
FoA 279: Drones for Precision Spraying with Daniel McCann of Precision AI
FoA 278: Technology for Better Milk and Healthier Cows with Bethany Deshpande of SomaDetect
FoA 277: Delivering More Nutritious Food Ingredients with Matt Crisp of Benson Hill
FoA 276: Sustainability, Corporate Responsbility, and ESG with Louisa Parker-Smith of AGCO Corporation
FoA 275: Digital Infrastructure for Ag Supply Chains with Jake Joraanstad and Jesse Vollmar of Bushel
FoA 274: [Tech-Enabled Advisor Series] Precision Ag with Jonathan Zettler of Fieldwalker Agronomy
FoA 273: Designing the Seeds of the Future with Ponsi Trivisvavet of Inari
FoA 272: The Future of Food with Jack Bobo
FoA 271: Ag Robotics Roundtable
FoA 270: Produce Technology and Digitizing Taste
FoA 269: [Tech-Enabled Advisor Series] Cooperatives Embrace Digital Tools with KC Graner of Central Farm Service
FoA 268: California Water and the Future of Sustainable Irrigation
FoA 267: Tapping into the Microbiome for Animal Health with Chris Belnap of Resilient Biotics
FoA 266: Microsoft Wants to Democratize Data-Driven Agriculture
FoA 265: Climate, Land Use, and Agriculture with Richard Waite of the World Resources Institute
FoA 264: [Tech-Enabled Advisor Series] Drone Technology with Todd Vagts of Bayer Crop Science
FoA 263: Better Ingredients for Processed Foods with Joanne Zhang
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