Geco Strategic Weed Management: https://geco-ag.com/

Today’s episode features a new tool in the toolbox for farmers fighting weed pressure. As I’ve had conversations with farmers throughout the country, there is no doubt that the costs of weed control is a major pain point. This takes a lot of different forms, from the hand labor crews in California’s vegetable crops, to herbicide-resistant kochia in the middle of US and Canada to just the sheer cost of chemistry that’s impacting the bottom line of farmers everywhere, it’s certainly an area ripe for solutions. 

For the past few years, Dr. Greg Stewart has been working on a very interesting solution to use data to predict weed pressure. This is interesting because it’s addressing a major problem in weed control, but it’s also interesting because it embodies what where we all hope this “ag data revolution” is going: towards predicting problems before we experience them. This opens the door up for more proactive weed management solutions, in some cases before the crop is even planted. 

Greg is a listener to the show and he’s heard my requests over the years to not just feature founders of new technology, but also the farmers that are trying the solutions, so he offered to connect me to Rob Stone. Rob was nice enough to join me for a short interview while in the cab of a tractor, so you’ll get his perspective as well. Rob is a customer of Geco and not compensated by them in any way. He was invited on to openly share his experiences. 

Let’s dive into things here starting with an introduction to Greg. I’ll introduce rob when we cut to him mid-episode. 

Dr. Greg Stewart is the founder and CEO of Geco Strategic Weed Management, who use AI and agronomic modeling for targeted and predictive control of weeds in farm fields. It requires no new equipment or new practices, and the turnaround time for a new farm can happen within a day. Geco is now serving over 60 farms across Western Canada.

Greg’s PhD is in the control of spatially distributed systems. He has worked with a range of industries. His data products reside on farm fields in Canada, US, and South America, in over 12 commercial greenhouses, 350 paper machines, 35,000 production diesel vehicles, and are creating more than $40M/year in value in manufacturing. He holds over 50 patents and 60 technical publications, and is a certified judge for competitive barbecue.

FIRA USA: https://fira-usa.com/

SwarmFarm Robotics: https://www.swarmfarm.com/

Robotics Plus: https://www.roboticsplus.co.nz/

Bluewhite: https://www.bluewhite.ai/

Agtonomy: https://www.agtonomy.com/

Western Growers' Financial Case Studies: https://www.wga.com/innovation/case-studies/

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to attend FIRA USA, which is the gathering for ag robotics and autonomous equipment in agriculture. And autonomy has been on my mind a lot lately. You’ve seen an uptick in autonomy related episodes this past year or so, featuring companies like Verdant Robotics, Carbon Robotics and Sabanto all on different episodes. The reason for this is I’m definitely getting the sense that many of these solutions are starting to reach a tipping point from “wouldn’t it be cool if” to “this is actually being purchased and used on farms”. 

And that’s exciting. So while I was at the event I recorded about a dozen conversations and asked some of the questions I have about what I’m choosing to call the “ag robotics revolution”. What you’ll hear today are clips from four founders who were at FIRA USA to feature their technology. 

Andrew Bate of SwarmFarm Robotics

Steve Saunders of Robotics Plus

Ben Alfi of BlueWhite Robotics

Tim Bucher of AgTonomy

I should mention that Tim’s interview didn’t actually happened at FIRA, it happened earlier this year for a series of radio reports, but it really fit the episode and he was at the event I just missed him, so I wanted to include him. That said, I chose these four to feature on this episode for a number of reasons: 

• They all have some sort of focus on fully automating the power unit of the farm - aka the tractor - although this isn’t their exclusive focus as you’ll hear - but they all are taking different approaches
• They are all originally from different countries, which I think really shows the global effort of this industry and the different perspectives that come with that. Andrew at SwarmFarm from Australia, Steve at Robotics Plus from New Zealand, Ben at BlueWhite from Israel, and Tim at Agtonomy from California. 
• They represent the type of people leading this effort in that these are not young (no offense guys) silicon valley types. These are accomplished entrepreneurs and businessmen in their own right who don’t seem to be doing it because they need the money or they want to become billionaires. They really seem to just have a passion for the technology and the change it can bring to the future of agriculture. This to me is at the core of what made the people I interviewed at this event different from other agtech events I’ve been to. That, and the field demonstrations equipped with everything from fake orchards and vineyards to vegetable beds to a field crops area just big enough to showcase John Deere’s see&spray ultimate and its 120 ft carbon fiber boom was what separates this events from other agtech events.  

I’ll tell you more about each of the guests as we go and share some of my thoughts about robotics and the event, but overall through these four interviews, we had the chance to cover seven of the big questions I have about farm robotics, and i’ll outline those questions here: 

1. Has the ag robotics revolution *really* arrived? 
2. What’s driving the push toward these solutions? 
3. Does this technology really solve much-talked-about “ag labor problem”? 
4. Will farmers actually adopt this? 
5. What’s next for ag robotics? 

Previous episodes featuring robotics and automation:

Tractor Driver is Now a Remote Opportunity With Craig Rupp of Sabanto

Laser Weeding And Growing A Robotics Company Toward An IPO With Paul Mikesell of Carbon Robotics

The Path To Superhuman Farming with Curtis Garner and Brent Shedd of Verdant Robotics

Robotic Harvesting and Beyond with Kyle Cobb of advanced.farm

Autonomous Sprayers with Gary Thompson of GUSS

Ag Robotics Roundtable  

NuCicer: https://www.nucicer.com/

Growing Pulse Crops Podcast: https://growingpulsecrops.com/

If we were to re-think the food system and start with human nutrition as the goal, we would likely want food ingredients that are affordable, delicious, high in protein and high in fiber. Chickpeas fit the bill. 

Kathryn Cook and the team at NuCicer are developing genetics for chickpeas with more protein to make them more functional and appealing to food companies. But can they pass enough of that value back to the growers to scale?

There’s a lot to this story and NuCicer is taking a really interesting approach to creating the rotational crop of the future that is nutritious, delicious, affordable and profitable for farmers.

Today’s episode has a lot of fascinating aspects to it, all of which I think give us some interesting threads to pull on when thinking about where agriculture is headed. 

On the surface, NuCicer is crop genetics company working with chickpea, or what some of you might know as garbanzo bean, or others might know just as humus, arguably it’s most popular processed form. The company has been able to take the protein content from 20-22% up to 30-35%, which has major ramifications for its use as a food ingredient. One of those ramifications is the obvious - more protein - but it’s also a tastier source of protein and one that is rich in fiber and has fewer low value co-products, which is an interesting part of the story that we will get into. 

If you think this is just another meat alternative story - guess again! This is really about adding protein and fiber to foods that are currently composed of other grains or oilseeds or peas. You’ll hear us use the word “fortify” which is referring to the ability to make a processed food healthier without sacrificing the eating experience. 

But while a big part of the story here is using science to make better foods for people, we can’t lose site of the need for this to also work for farmers. Kathryn has a really interesting take on this that you’ll definitely want to hear because it’s a bit of a different approach from a lot of other genetics companies. 

Speaking of Kathryn Cook, she is a materials scientist and engineer by training, spending the first part of her career with Boeing and Meta. But she is also the daughter of Dr. Douglas Cook, a professor of plant pathology at UC Davis. 

Doug Cook had been working a lot with chickpeas in his research at Davis. The way Kathryn explained it to me is that when the chickpea was domesticated thousands of years ago, only a small number of seeds were brought forward in that process, so today 95% of the genetic diversity remains in the wild species. Doug Cook has been working to identify those species that are compatible with modern chickpea varieties and systematically cross pollinating to bring back some of that genetic diversity. The result is a novel library from which they can now launch new traits in the market. Part of that work started to include protein when they found dramatic difference in protein content in some of these wild species. 

This work caught Kathryn’s attention at a time when she was considering leaving her job in materials science to pursue a startup in food and ag. The two ultimately co-founded NuCicer together to commercialize some of this research Doug was doing through a tech transfer agreement with the university. And they soon were awarded a $1M non-dilutive grant from the  Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research to get started. 

ChrysaLabs: https://www.chrysalabs.com/

Today’s episode features Sam Fournier, CEO and co-founder of ChyrsaLabs. I had the chance to briefly meet Sam at World AgriTech. Thank you to Sachi Desai and the Bayer team for the intro. And when I heard what they were doing, I immediately asked if he’d ever be willing to come on the podcast. This idea of providing real time soil information on nutrients has been tried before and as far as I know the tech just hasn’t worked. But ChrysaLabs has been at this since 2018 and have a track record of reliably providing this information, which is something that I think is super exciting for the future of agriculture. I wanted to ask more though about how the tech works, how affordable it could be for farmers and agronomists, what impact this could have on management decisions, and where Sam wants to take the company from here. 

For some background: Prior to founding ChrysaLabs in 2018, Sam held strategic positions in the development of smart cities implementation projects, electric recreational vehicles manufacturing and electric vehicle sustainable power plant solutions. He holds a B.A. in political Science from Sherbrooke University and an MBA from Laval University, and is driven by his vision for a more sustainable agriculture ecosystem. 

I’ve never been to space, but it has been said that from outer space there are three man-made technologies visible: the Great Wall of China and electric illumination of the world’s largest cities are the first two. The third are the green crop circles created by center pivot irrigation. 

It has been said that the center pivot irrigation system is “perhaps the most significant mechanical innovation in agriculture since the replacement of draft animals by the tractor”. Today, over 50% of the irrigated field acres in North America are using the center pivot concept. And other modern agricultural countries are catching up, such as Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. 

It’s no coincidence that this agricultural technology was invented by someone who farmed on top of the largest aquifer in the western hemisphere: the Ogallala Aquifer which is sometimes called the High Plains Aquifer. 

Geologists estimate the aquifer was formed about 5 million years ago by ancient erosion from the Rocky Mountains carried eastward by rivers, along with the additional accumulation of countless rains and snows. It now stretches beneath 174,000 square miles, underlying parts of eight states: South Dakota, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico, which makes up most of what we call the great plains. 

This area has been the setting for numerous big ag stories over the years, from the great cattle drives of the 1800s that we covered in our Cattle Kingdom episode, to the land grab of the Homestead Act to the dirty thirties of the dust bowl. But there is no doubt that the center pivot was a major game changer, and it allowed the tough settlers of this rough country to turn this desert land into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. 

I’ve had the chance to live in two different agricultural areas made possible by the Ogallala aquifer: in the panhandle of Texas where I lived and worked in Amarillo and Dumas, Texas. Then years later I lived in Northwest Kansas where I commuted up to my job in Benkelman, Nebraska. So I’ve been able to see firsthand what this incredible resource can do for farming and for rural economics when combined with the revolutionary ag technology we’ll discuss today: the center-pivot invented by Frank Zybach. 

Frank definitely fits my criteria for these history episodes as an ag innovator that I wish I could interview if they were still alive. It highlights the impact innovation can have on the ag economy and carries valuable lessons for all of us aspiring ag innovators out there. But it also is a case study about agricultural sustainability. The aquifer is a limited resource, built from snowmelt coming off the rocky mountains over thousands of years. In the 72 years since Frank Zybach patented his invention, water levels in many parts of the Ogallala Aquifer have dropped drastically, many times larger than what could possibly be replenished.

Resources:

“How Center Pivot Irrigation Brought the Dust Bowl Back to Life” - Smithsonian Magazine

“The Boys from Valley - Frank Zybach” - McCook Gazette

“A History of Irrigation Technology Used to Exploit the Ogallala Aquifer” by Stephen White and David Kromm

Frank Zybach: A man who revolutionized agriculture - INEDA

“The Ogallala Aquifer: Saving a Vital US Water Source” - Scientific American

“Ogallala Timeline” - OgallalaWater.org

Pumped Dry: A race to the bottom of the Ogallala in Kansas - YouTube

National Inventors Hall of Fame: Frank Zybach

“Frank Zybach - Inventor of Center-Pivot Irrigation Machine” - NE State Historical Society

“Frank Zybach and the Center Pivot System” - Now You Know NE YouTube

1982 Frank Zybach - NE Hall of Agricultural Achievement

“Drilling Down, Pumping Up: A History of Center-Pivot Irrigation and Hydraulic Fracturing in Kansas” - Brandon Leudtke, University of Kansas

Everything About Irrigation Pivots - SmarterEveryDay YouTube

“A Vanishing Aquifer” - National Geographic

Ogallala / High Plains Aquifer: America's Quiet Disaster - YouTube

Ogallala Aquifer - Wikipedia

What is the Ogallala Aquifer? - Ogallala Commons

Voyage Foods: https://voyagefoods.com/

Jennifer Barney's Business of Food Newsletter: https://jenniferbarney.substack.com/

I continue to be interested in pursuing episodes that are more on the food side of the industry. I think at first glance some of these stories might make you question whether it really belongs on an agricultural podcast. But I really believe consumer interest and food trends will drive the future of agriculture just as much if not more than any ag technology will. So it’s really important for all of us in agriculture to keep a close watch on these trends and connect the dots about what impact this could have on our industry. 

Guest hosting today’s episode is Jennifer Barney. Jennifer has been very generous with her time to bring us several episodes over the years, all focused on food companies. In the past she has featured companies like: Teffola, WonderCow, Alexandre Family Farm, Bibamba, Ugly Fruit Company, Neutral Foods and Seal the Seasons. 

She is a successful food entrepreneur, having founded, grown and sold an almond butter company called Barney Butter. Today she works with consumer packaged goods company as a consultant and writes the weekly email newsletter “The Business of Food”.

Jennifer is going to be interviewing Voyage Foods founder Adam Maxwell. 

A native of Boston, Adam Maxwell, was drawn to a food career from an early age, pursuing his first professional experience as a 14 year-old pastry apprentice at James Beard award-winning restaurant, Clio. He continued working in fine dining while studying food science at McGill University. But before graduation, Adam left school to work at Chew Innovation Labs. It was there that he met one of his co-founders for Voyage Foods, Kelsey Tenney. After his time at Chew, eh went to work for Endless West, the worlds’ first and only molecular wine and spirits company. His belief that everyone deserves to enjoy their favorite foods without compromising on tastes, the risk of future access or sacrificing dietary needs led him to launch Voyage Foods in 2021.

00:00 Intro

00:31 Meet Adam Maxwell of Voyage Foods

01:20 Introducing Guest Host Jennifer Barney

02:23 Jennifer Barney Interviews Adam Maxwell

03:04 Adam Maxwell's Background and Voyage Foods' Mission

06:49 Innovative Food Processing Techniques

09:55 Sourcing Sustainable Ingredients

13:29 Challenges and Opportunities in Food Tech

17:34 Scaling Up Voyage Foods and Future Plans

33:01 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Dr. Trey Malone Profile: https://ag.purdue.edu/directory/tjmalone#:~:text=Trey%20Malone%20is%20an%20agri,on%20agri%2Dfood%20supply%20chains.

Trey's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/treymalone

MS-MBA Joint Degree: https://agribusiness.purdue.edu/degrees/ms-mba/

Dr. Trey Malone is an agri-food economist and the Boehlje Chair in Managerial Economics for Agribusiness in the department of agricultural economics at Purdue University. His work focuses generally on strategic marketing and strategic decision making especially as it relates to what universities can do for industry. He has published over 60 research articles in outlets including Food Policy, Journal of Business Venturing Insights, and the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 

Before Purdue, he worked as an ag economist with the University of Arkansas, and before that at Michigan State University. His insights have been featured in popular press outlets, including the New York Times, TIME Magazine, CNBC, CNN, USA Today, Fast Company, and Popular Science. And now the Future of Agriculture podcast.

This episode has been a long time in the making. I’ve known Trey, at least from a distance for years. He almost came on the show earlier this year, but then was offered his dream job to move from Arkansas to Purdue so we put it on hold until now. In addition to being an ag nerd, I’ve always had an interest in economics, specifically what drives markets and what drives behavior. I read Freakonomics years ago and am a listener to podcasts like Planet Money. So why it took me so long to realize that what i”m trying to do here with the Future of Agriculture is bring together my science and tech nerdiness with my business nerdiness is beyond me. When I say that this show is really at the core about ag economics, a lot of you long time listeners are probably saying “DUH!”, but to be honest I never consciously thought of it that way. 

I share all this with you because I’m hoping this episode is just the start of featuring many other economists. No, i”m not going to stop covering agtech or sustainability or science or the other topics we we cover here on the show. But I do want to make a concerted effort to highlight the interesting work our countries 2,000+ ag economists are doing. And this episode with Trey is a great place to start. 

Farmland LP:

Back on the show today is Craig Wichner of Farmland LP. I had been reading in the news some of the big moves Craig and his team were making to acquire and add value to more farmland. And I thought, wow, this must be a tough environment just based on the prices of some of these specialty crops and the jump in interest rates. But what Craig shared surprised me, and I’m excited to share it with you today. 

If you need a little refresher from Craig’s first appearance on episode 298 back in February 2022, here is some background: 

Craig founded Farmland LP in 2009 with a simple yet powerful idea: to combine regenerative agriculture with proven real estate management practices from the commercial property sector.  Thanks to that approach, Farmland LP is the largest fund manager focused on organic farmland in the U.S., delivering strong financial returns alongside demonstrable environmental and social benefits. Craig is responsible for day-to-day management, business strategy, and all investment activity at the firm.  

Craig is an outspoken advocate for verifiable, data-driven standards for sustainable farmland investing so investors and consumers can look beyond misleading labels and support beneficial farming practices. 

Gallagher: https://am.gallagher.com/en-US

I’m pleased to welcome Gallagher Animal Management Chief Executive Lisbeth Jacobs onto the show today. There is nothing like the battle-tested point of view from a company that has been an innovator and market leader for a long time. In Gallagher’s case, it’s in technology for animal management. A quick description from their website: Founded in 1938, Gallagher is now known and respected in over 100 countries as a family-owned business built on customer-led innovation. From the electric fence to the cloud, Gallagher’s connected and customisable ecosystem of solutions empower our customers to work responsibly, productively, and profitably to protect what matters most.

So their customers are ranchers and livestock raisers, particularly those who raise livestock on pastures. And I love the juxtaposition of this pastoral customer grazing livestock like has been done for thousands of years, using the latest technology like virtual fencing which they sell under the brand e-shepherd. Lisbeth and I will talk about e-shepherd specifically, as well as Farmote, which is a joint venture between Gallagher and Barenburg to commercialize technology for automated pasture monitoring.  

Lisbeth Jacobs joined Gallagher as Chief Executive - Animal Management in April 2021 and thrives on providing strategic leadership across the global footprint of the Animal Management operations.   

Prior to this Lisbeth held senior leadership roles at the leading edge of applied innovation and sustainability with Fletcher Building, Uniservices, The Icehouse, and global steelcord & steelwire company Bekaert where she worked and lived across Europe, China, the Middle East, and North America.   Lisbeth holds a PhD of Engineering from the University of Auckland. And her background in both business leadership and engineering both shine through in today’s episode. 

Full Harvest: https://www.fullharvest.com/

Software is Feeding The World Newsletter: https://www.rhishipethe.com/sftw

Metal Dog Labs: https://www.metaldoglabs.ai/

I’m really excited to share today’s episode with Christine Moseley. This problem of food waste is one I’ve been interested in since starting this podcast. The first episode I dedicated to the issue was episode 040 clear back in early 2017 with Jonathan Bloom of Wasted Food. Then we’ve had other episodes with people like Olympia Yarger of GOTERRA, Abi Ramanan of Impact Vision, Larry Clarke of Nanoguard and Justin Kamine of Do Good Foods all talking about food waste. And if I’m being honest, I don’t think the needle has moved in how much food gets wasted every year. But I applaud the efforts of all of these people and Christine to take on such a massive and complex problem. 

But I won’t be asking the questions today. I’m very pleased to welcome Rhishi Pethe back onto the show to host what I believe is his fifth episode. For anyone who doesn’t know, Rhishi has has extensive experience in artificial intelligence, supply chain & logistics, product, data & technology strategy, robotics & computer vision, sustainability, and data interoperability. He has held leadership roles at Mineral (an Alphabet company), The Climate Corporation (Bayer), Amazon, and other technology companies. He has led two startups through exits, and one through a spin out. 

Rhishi is also the creator of the free weekly newsletter “Software is Feeding the World”, which I highly recommend and I will leave a link in the show notes where you can subscribe for free. It is always a please to pass the mic over to Rhishi and I appreciate him hosting Christine today. 

And speaking of Christine….Christine Moseley, Full Harvest Founder + CEO, is a passionate serial entrepreneur. At age 17, she started a music education non-profit, Musical Empowerment, which is still growing nationally 16 years later. Currently, at Full Harvest, she is solving the food waste problem at the farm level with technology. Full Harvest is the first B2B platform for surplus and imperfect produce, connecting large farms directly to food & beverage companies.

Christine has over 15 years of experience in the logistics and food industries at both Fortune 100 companies (Maersk, P&G) as well as high-growth food start-ups. In her last corporate role, she assisted Organic Avenue, an NYC healthy food + juice start-up, double in size as Head of Strategic Projects and Business Development. 

Christine holds an MBA from Wharton Business School. 

Two really smart people talking about one of the greatest challenges our food system currently faces. Enjoy this conversation between Rhishi Pethe and Christine Moseley. 

Ag Done Different Newsletter: https://agtechmarketinginsights.substack.com/

"Reclaim Your Market Power: The Agribusiness Blueprint for Strategic Influence" : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aO__6x2ze9QSe_e7jyWvCKJzh-4-I7yW/view?usp=drivesdk

Schultz Collaborative: https://www.schultzcollaborative.com/

As lead category designer at Schultz Collaborative, Dan Schultz helps agtech companies around the world design their category and think differently about how they commercialize their products.

Dan is vehemently opposed to telling boring stories, sales pitches thoughtlessly read off spec sheets, oversold technobabble, undersold innovation, and venture money wasted on vanity marketing metrics. Dan helps companies stop droning on about incremental improvement and start building movements.

He is the author of the weekly newsletter Ag Done Different. You can read his full weekly newsletter at agtechmarketinginsights.substack.com