Future of Agriculture

Today’s episode is the deepest dive I’ve done to date into the world of regenerative agriculture. You’ll probably be able to hear it in my voice in the interview, but this one had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. In fact I think the conversation just gets more and more interesting the deeper we get into it.  If you’re new to the concept of regenerative agriculture, some previous episodes in which we discuss the concepts are episodes 44, 64, 109, 135, 182, and 199.  My viewpoint on regenerative agriculture since I first was introduced to the concept a few years ago is somewhere in between “cautious optimism” and maybe skepticism. I’m certainly not skeptical about the importance of soil health. I think you’ve heard that from me a lot on this show, and certainly you have if you listen to Soil Sense, one of the other podcasts that I host.  But some of the - what I’ll call hype associated with regenerative ag have left me asking a lot of questions. Many of those, we get into on today’s episode. Questions like:  Where is the line between what is regenerative and what is not?  What is really motivating regenerative farmers and ranchers to pursue these ideals? Because it’s not really what you might see in the media or from many advocates.  Also we get into some scientific questions like what is technically happening when carbon is sequestered?  And, once it is sequestered, how do we know it’s staying there and for how long?  I couldn’t be more impressed with our guest we have on the show today to talk about these issues. Paige Stanley is a finishing PhD candidate at UC Berkeley, who works at the intersection of rangeland ecology and soil science.  Born in Detroit, she grew up in rural Georgia. While as an undergraduate at a liberal arts college, she took a course on the ethics of food production, which drove her to want to talk to more farmers and ranchers and ultimately pursue a master’s in animal science. She did so at Michigan State University studying under Jason Roundtree.  This master’s program furthered her interest in soil carbon sequestration in grazing lands; how it might reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide ecosystem services, improving animal welfare, and improving rural livelihoods. That led her to her work today at UC Berkeley. I’m going to let her describe it to you, but first a quick definition: you’ll hear regenerative grazing called AMP grazing in this episode. That stands for adaptive multi-paddock grazing, you may have heard of it as mob grazing. Essentially this is controlled and intensive grazing that is rotated across sections or paddocks of a field. For more on that  go way back to episodes 44 or 64. 

“Quinoa is very unique. One, it is gluten free but it also contains high amounts of protein and a greater balance of essential amino acids than cereals.” - Angela Ichwan   This week we are exploring the emerging market of American grown quinoa. The financial, environmental and supply chain consequences of a few farmers from the San Luis Valley in Colorado that started developing this product are shared today. Paul New is a 3rd generation farmer that was initially introduced to quinoa production by a graduate student that rented some ground from his operation. Sheldon Rockey farms in Center, Colorado and joined Paul in the quinoa venture. The two have expanded from an initial 500 acres of quinoa production to 3000. And finally, Angela Ichwan, who leads the technical team of the specialty crop business unit of Ardent Mills joins us to explain the quinoa market and how Ardent Mills has contributed to its success.   “We were watching him grow the quinoa and it was kind of an exciting plant because it didn’t seem to use very much water, grew pretty well here in the San Luis Valley and as we learned more about the nutritional value and the versatility of it, we got pretty excited about it.... We thought it was going to be a crop of the future.” - Paul New   That excitement led to adding quinoa to their potato rotation. The product was “fairly easy to market” and initially the main obstacle was ironing out the production. They have now developed a new seed and adjusted their crop management system to overcome some of these challenges. The quinoa reduced the amount of inputs needed for their potato crop as there is less overlap between disease and pests. They also saw a significant reduction in water consumption needed for the quinoa crop in comparison to the common barley and alfalfa crops.    “We were still working on the production and Ardent (Mills) was positioned to really be able to step in and help us with the marketing and giving us the volume so that we could go out and really work with the neighbors and the other producers in the valley.” - Paul New   Ardent Mills also brings expertise and support in progressive genetics and to further develop EPA labels for inputs. Quinoa saw a surge in global acceptance when it was named the grain of the year in 2013 and also with increased consumer demands due to widespread gluten-free trends. Ardent Mills had an interest in producing ancient grains and was attracted by the nutritional profile and water conservation opportunities for quinoa. This led to an exclusive relationship and successful collaboration with quinoa producers in the San Luis Valley.    This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast: Meet Paul New and Sheldon Rockey, Colorado quinoa farmers Discover their introduction to the “psuedograin” quinoa Learn the benefits this crop has added to their operations Explore the collaboration these producers have created with Ardent Mills and the advantages this has provided Meet Angela Ichwan who explains how Ardent Mills is using this relationship to grow a market for American grown quinoa  

Today’s episode has some really important perspective, especially for those of us who do not see the effects of persistent hunger and poverty on a daily basis. I have on the show Paul Winters, who is the Associate Vice-President of the Strategy and Knowledge Department of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).  IFAD is part of the United Nations and is the only UN agency or international financial institution that works exclusively in rural areas. They work in around 100 countries with the aim to eradicate rural poverty and hunger through agricultural development.  Paul is an Agricultural Economist by training and holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.  The first half of our conversation focuses on what agricultural development looks like in practice, and Paul shares examples from several different countries.  The second half of our conversation focuses on some of the major challenges to global food security, including the fact that global poverty was improving until about 2015. Since that time it’s actually been getting worse. We also talk about the catastrophic effects the Coronavirus pandemic and climate change can have on global food security in the future.  For starters though, I’ll drop you into the conversation where Paul is talking about some of the challenges of trying to solve these complex problems.

The idea for today’s show happened as I was working on another podcast I produce for NDSU Extension Soil Health called “Soil Sense”. I was interviewing a farmer named Mark Olson about strip tillage. It was a fascinating topic, but what really piqued my interest was the way he spoke about the company behind his strip tillage equipment. He kept talking about his SoilWarrior guy that had been so helpful. I believe he said something to the effect of “I just can’t say enough good things about SoilWarrior.”  So naturally, I wanted to learn more about this SoilWarrior company. It turns out that SoilWarrior is the product and the company is called Environmental Tillage Systems based in Minnesota. Today’s episode is about this SoilWarrior equipment, but also about strip tillage in general, and what it takes to become a farmer’s favorite company.  Brian Ryberg, who is a farmer in Minnesota and a SoilWarrior Evangelist - one of over 500, I have since found out. And Brent Brueland, VP of Sales & Marketing at Environmental Tillage Systems - which again, is the company that makes SoilWarrior.  If you’re new to the idea of strip-tillage, I’ll start with an oversimplified explanation: it’s a process where instead of a farmer tilling an entire field, he/she only tills a strip wide enough to plant into. That way, most of the ground is undisturbed which has benefits for erosion, compaction, trafficability, and overall soil health. However, the tilled strips provide benefits such as warming up faster in the spring and placing nutrients right in the root zone. There are many other benefits that Brian and Brent will discuss.  Even if soil conservation doesn’t interest you - which it should - I still think this is a worthwhile episode for you to learn more about a farmer’s throught process and what it takes to be the type of company that creates evangelists. 

Many of you know that I am endlessly interested in water and water-related topics. Today’s episode is another installment in my exploration to better understand realistic solutions to our water problems.    We have on the show Dr. Wim Bastiaanssen who is the Founder of IrriWatch. The company is very new, I think less than two years old, but it’s the culmination of decades of Wim’s research and consulting on water, irrigation, and remote sensing.   Now if you think irrigating a crop is just like irrigating your lawn - sort of set it and forget it - you are WAY oversimplifying. There are a lot of variables at play, such as: changing moisture availability in the root zone, changing evapotranspiration rates, changing crop needs with the type of crop and its stage of development, then taking into consideration the forecast, and how likely all of the above factors will be different in the coming days best on weather. And these are just a FEW factors.    There are many companies trying to help with this complexity. Wim’s approach with IrriWatch is to use satellite remote sensing to basically let each plant signal its water availability. If that sounds far-fetched, hear him out. He’s got the data to back up his claims.    Wim Bastiaanssen grew up on a farm in The Netherlands, which is the country he still calls home. Growing up 5M below sea level (the land was reclaimed by the sea), he was always around ditches, canals, and levees - which developed an interest in water and irrigation from an early age.    https://www.irriwatch.com/en/  

We are back with another Fulcrum Global Capital portfolio company this week. The company MicroGen Biotech has produced a microbe that can help encapsulate and precipitate heavy metals in the soil. This process results in a gradual cleaning of soil pollution and reduces the amount of heavy metal uptake by the plant which in turn will reduce the amount of heavy metals consumed by the public. MicroGen recently won the award for the agtech category at Samsung’s Extreme Tech Challenge. Founder Dr. Xuemei Germaine was also recognized as the top female founder of the year.    Heavy metal toxicity in the food chain is a concern being recognized around the world. Forbes published a report from the USDA that described “95% of all baby foods consumed in the United States have heavy metal content levels that are harmful to the development of organs and brains in infants and children, et cetera.”    “We are probably just a couple of years away from not potentially being able to export some of our food ag products to Europe because of that. I think the United States frankly is lagging a bit in this….Food companies are going to have to begin to demand and expect solutions to the products that are going into the foods that they are selling to the consumer.” - Dwayne Cantrell, Fulcrum Global Capital Venture Partner   Dr. Germaine explains how naturally occurring minerals and chronic use of fertilizers and pesticides all contribute to increased levels of heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic and lead in soils. The crops that are grown in these areas will have increased levels of these metals which are then introduced into the food chain. This is especially a problem for individuals eating a plant based diet and children that are more susceptible to heavy metal toxicities.    “It’s all about how do you block (heavy metals) to make the food safer and also at the same time improve the soil health and that will be environmentally sustainable, economically sustainable, is good for farmers, good for the government and is good for every consumer. It will impact every one of us.” - Dr. Xuemei Germaine   As an added benefit, reducing the heavy metal absorption by the plant will not only benefit the consumer of the plant but also the plant itself. The microbe has been shown to increase the crop yield and has been specifically selected to also serve as a natural bio-fertilizer to the crop. Increased yield and being able to charge a premium will entice farmers to use this product with little risk to their profitability.  This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast: Meet Dr. Xuemei Germaine the founder of MicroGen Biotech Explore the risks posed by elevated heavy metal content in our food chain Learn about the effects these values can have on its consumers Discover what the microbe produced by MicroGen Biotech can offer to farmers by way of cleaning the soil and creating a crop with reduced levels of the harmful minerals Share the Ag-Love!  Thanks for joining us on the Future of Agriculture Podcast – your spot for valuable information, content, and interviews with industry leaders throughout the agricultural space! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave your honest feedback. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social media spots! And be sure to join the new Future of Agriculture Membership for even more valuable information on the future of ag. Learn more about AgGrad by visiting:  Future of Agriculture Website AgGrad Website AgGrad on Twitter  AgGrad on Facebook  AgGrad on LinkedIn  AgGrad on Instagram 

What does a more distributed regionalized or even localized food system look like at scale? How can producers capture more of the value of that type of food system? What is the right type of investor to help fuel that sort of system? Stephen Hohenrieder spent his early career in capital markets and has an agricultural background. Stephen now works for family offices. These are investment entities that invest on behalf of a single-family. In this episode, we talk about investing in regenerative agriculture, what a distributed food system looks like and how the family office investor can be a great fit for making these ambitions a reality. Stephen began by combining different food source experiences in Hawaii to support his regenerative agriculture goals through investment.   “The goal was to develop a perspective on each of these different areas of food and then use my background in investing to deploy capital in ways that would support a regenerative food system that I hope to be a part of.” - Stephen Hohenrieder   The investment profile of a family office and the amount of risk they are willing to undertake varies between each family office. His mission is to “figure out how we could steward the vision of that operation into the future and bring in aligned capital that had a very long term perspective.”   “As I explored this thesis for how I believe our food system is evolving and really increasingly being redefined by fragmentation after a period of consolidation and centralization, I have focused on four pillars that are really authenticity, connection, traceability and transparency.” - Stephen Hohenrieder   In many of Stephen’s investments he looks to not only add value to the food chain process but also the farm itself. Stephen believes people are “reconnecting with the source of their food” leading to a consumer driven cultural shift for producers. Consumers are now more interested in connecting with a set of values than a third party certification and producers are needing to communicate these inherent values to gain consumer loyalty.   This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast: Meet Stephen Hohenrieder, an investor supporting regenerative agriculture Explore how he views the cultural shifts in the supply chain Learn about where he sees the future of the agriculture industry heading Share the Ag-Love! Thanks for joining us on the Future of Agriculture Podcast – your spot for valuable information, content, and interviews with industry leaders throughout the agricultural space! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave your honest feedback. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social media spots! And be sure to join the new Future of Agriculture Membership for even more valuable information on the future of ag. Learn more about AgGrad by visiting: Future of Agriculture Website AgGrad Website AgGrad on Twitter AgGrad on Facebook AgGrad on LinkedIn AgGrad on Instagram

What are the barriers to customer acquisition for agribusiness and agri tech companies? In10nt is a company that attempts to answer that question and bridge the gap between company and farmer. They focus on being able to create trials at the farm level to introduce a product and allow farmers to find the best fit for their operations. Dan Poston is the Director of Agronomy for Pivot Bio. Sean Blomgren is a fourth-generation family farmer from Iowa and is the owner of Blomgren Seed. Both Dan and Sean join us to discuss the complicated process of developing, establishing, and managing an on-farm trial that will demonstrate the potential of a certain product's performance.   “We’re constantly thinking about how you test those products, where you test those products, and how close to the customer you get from a testing perspective…..We really want to have that footprint and that experience on a farmer field before we feel comfortable delivering to the customer.” - Dan Poston   Statistical analysis results in a specific number of trials in a specific size that will be needed to create confident data in regards to the product. Developing the plan is only step one. The logistics of shipping can be a very complicated process. The product needs to arrive at farmers in prime condition and be able to be maintained by them in order to develop the most valuable results. Farmers are then responsible for using the new product in an appropriate manner. A lot of thought is put into a protocol that is most “meaningful” in order to optimize for the most success. Sampling can also create variation in results and is therefore orchestrated. All of these facets have to come together to give the trial the best chance at being successful.   “I promise you there’ve been some great products that have gone through our farm that hasn't tested well because we didn’t build a proper test…. That should be products we’re using today but because we didn’t test them in the right way, we didn’t have the ability to understand what we should or shouldn’t do with them.” - Sean Blomgren   “It’s amazing how when it’s done right, the information is so valuable and how hard it is to get to that” shares Sean. “I think that is the great gap you have to get across with biological products, is just seeing them vetted out over a large enough area” shares Dan. A third party like In10nt allows companies to work with farmers to create the best planned and managed trial to find the best success. In10nts execution gives you the best opportunity for customer acquisition.   This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast: Meet Dan Poston a Director of Agronomy for Pivot Bio that understands the value of a farm-based trial Also meet Sean Blomgren, a producer who has benefited from well-executed trials Explore the difficulty in introducing these products to new producers Discover how In10nt manages that process to better serve their clients Share the Ag-Love! Thanks for joining us on the Future of Agriculture Podcast – your spot for valuable information, content, and interviews with industry leaders throughout the agricultural space! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave your honest feedback. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social media spots! And be sure to join the new Future of Agriculture Membership for even more valuable information on the future of ag. Learn more about AgGrad by visiting: Future of Agriculture Website AgGrad Website AgGrad on Twitter AgGrad on Facebook AgGrad on LinkedIn AgGrad on Instagram

Danette Amstein and Michael Uetz are the Principles and Co-Founders of Midan Marketing. Their focus is on being a full-service marketing firm for the meat industry. Both Danette and Michael grew up in agriculture and worked in the National Cattlemen's Beef Association prior to founding Midan Marketing.. Michael specifically worked on identifying “what is the consumer looking for and how do we be responsive to their needs.” They joined forces to create Midan Marketing and further pursue closing the gap between producer and consumer.  “We are working to help our clients rise above all of the clutter that’s in the marketplace, above all the noise so that they can match their products with the consumers out there that are interested in it.” - Danette Amstein Both Danette and Michael credit a lot of their success to having created and curated a good team of people. The team of Midan Marketing is made up of not only marketing specialists but also a staff that are actively farming and therefore better able to relate to their clients.The indicators they focus on is to “hire humble, hungry and smart.” This has developed into the best system they have found to support the culture they want to foster within the company.  “Our hiring process is long. It isn’t a one and done interview. It’s multiple interviews with multiple people…..so we’re investing heavily in a team member before they’re able to be productive.” - Danette Amstein They encourage their clients to find their niche and specialization in order to target a specific segment of consumers to grow trust and lead to loyalty. Midan Marketing acknowledges the dynamic evolution of the consumers and their buying habits. They have performed and evaluated studies to go beyond basic metrics for a consumer in order to better identify the best way to communicate and connect with them.  “We not only look at them from a demographics perspective, but we ask them about their attitudes, their perceptions, their behaviors and ultimately what drives them to purchase.” - Michael Uetz In the time of Covid-19, their models and strategies have had to be adjusted to better facilitate communication with consumers in an uncertain environment.They have observed “almost chaos with (the) consumer base” leading to changes in behavior and buying habits. They encourage producers at any point in the food supply chain to pay attention to consumer research. “We all have to pay attention to the consumer and their crazy whims as they have them because that’s ultimately where the paycheck comes from.” Danette Amstein This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast: Meet Midan Marketing Co-Founders Danette Amstein and Michael Uetz Explore the value of understanding consumer buying products at every level of meat production Learn about the impact Covid-19 has had on the agriculture marketing industry Founder Spotlight: Jordan Phasey of Phinite Phinite prevents water pollution and provides another revenue source for farmers in the place of persistent expense regarding manure management Currently, most farmers spend money to manage their manure disposal, especially on hog farms due to long drying processes and an ever increasing supply Through a natural process generated by the creation of a controlled wetland, the manure is dried and converted into a marketable concentrated fertilizer “We’ve been able to reduce the cost of drying pig manure by more than 90%. Operation of the system is simple. The farmer pumps waste out of the lagoon and into the wetland. The wetland itself has no moving parts and instead plants in the system grow their roots out through the material and dry it out naturally…..the final material is suitable for marketing directly as fertilizer” Share the Ag-Love!  Thanks for joining us on the Future of Agriculture Podcast – your spot for valuable information, content, and interviews with industry leaders throughout the agricultural space! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave your honest feedback. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social media spots! And be sure to join the new Future of Agriculture Membership for even more valuable information on the future of ag. Learn more about AgGrad by visiting:  Future of Agriculture Website AgGrad Website AgGrad on Twitter  AgGrad on Facebook  AgGrad on LinkedIn  AgGrad on Instagram 

The Story of CoverCress isn’t just as straightforward as bringing a new crop to the market. Their ambitions also represent a new feed, a new cover crop, genetic engineering, a low carbon intensity feedstock and a new revenue source for farmers among others. Fulcrum Global Capital saw the potential in CoverCress and return to the show this week to share the excitement surrounding this company. If you missed episode 208 where we first introduced Fulcrum Global be sure to go listen to it. The CoverCress new crop will not compete with current midwestern crops and should provide farmers with a new marketable product.   “They’re going to create this new revenue source for the midwestern farmer. It’s going to go in on the corn soy rotation and you’re going to get the traditional cover crop benefits of which there are numerous but you’re going to get increased profitability.” - John Peryam, Venture Partner and General Counsel for Fulcrum Global   Fulcrum Managing Partner, Duane Cantrell, shares that this new product will “change the economic dynamic” for the farmer. “There are multiple pathways of product lines there” including oil for cooking and bio-based fuels and a seed crop that can be used as a high protein meal for feed additives.   “We have built this business off of I’ll call it the chassis of the native plant, pennycress. But because we have used genome editing to improve the quality, both with oil and the meal, it's a little different crop when we’re done. That's what we call CoverCress. - Jerry Steiner, CEO of CoverCress   CoverCress has the advantage of having a better grain than the agronomy and quality of its pennycress counterpart. The CoverCress “business plan is based on having really a partnership on both ends. One end with the farmer and another end with the end user” according to Jerry Steiner. CoverCress will provide the seed to the farmer creating a low barrier to entry in planting the crop. The company will then gain its revenue when the final grain product is delivered and also when it is processed into oil.   Jerry Steiner highlights the fact that CoverCress is taking a plant that is currently considered a weed and is converting it into a profitable crop with added cover crop benefits. CoverCress is considered a product of gene editing using natural occurring genes which in the United States differentiates this crop from GMOs. CoverCress is still in the research phase. The company is really “focused on getting a product that is well-tested before” it is released. This includes a well-tested process for the farmer and process for creating the end product.They expect to have their first commercial planting in the fall of 2021.   “We’re trying to use land the farmer already owns or operates, just use it at the time of year when they’re not trying to use it. And we want to have the farmer use equipment, whether its planting or harvesting, that they already have. We want to partner with people who already have existing grain handling and crushing assets for other oils seeds…..so it's kind of taking existing assets and just getting more out of them.” - Jerry Steiner, CEO of CoverCress This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast: Learn about CoverCress, a new crop being developed to create a new revenue source for midwestern farmers Discover the research and benefit to using CoverCress without it competing with any existing crops Meet Jerry Steiner, CEO of CoverCress, and hear about the unique opportunity CoverCress can offer farmers using existing equipment and available planting times Share the Ag-Love! Thanks for joining us on the Future of Agriculture Podcast – your spot for valuable information, content, and interviews with industry leaders throughout the agricultural space! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave your honest feedback. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social media spots! And be sure to join the new Future of Agriculture Membership for even more valuable information on the future of ag. Learn more about AgGrad by visiting: Future of Agriculture Website AgGrad Website AgGrad on Twitter AgGrad on Facebook AgGrad on LinkedIn AgGrad on Instagram