Episode 1 of 6 – Why do we need AgTech?

The global food system faces serious problems – environmental, social and commercial.  This six-part podcast series seeks to unravel these complex interrelationships asking how we can better align the interests of the environment, farmers, entrepreneurs and investors, allowing new Agtech solutions to address these critical challenges.

In this episode, we explore why new technology is needed in agriculture … and when it is not.  

We ask where and how new technologies will help with some of agriculture’s biggest challenges including: longstanding labour shortages and widespread issues of poor working conditions; why and how the food system makes up 1/3rd of greenhouse gas emissions; biodiversity loss and land use change; and how poor farmer profitability exacerbates the sector’s capacity to respond to these challenges.  

Featured in this Episode 
•	Juliet Ansell, Zespri International
•	Sarah Mock, Author 
•	Brent Loken, WWF
•	Francesco Tubello, FAO
•	Ethan Cleary, Irish Farmers Association

Further Reading 
The following resources are those I found helpful or were recommended by my interviewees 
Books  - available from https://www.betterworldbooks.com
•	The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
•	Hog Wild by Lynn Waltz 
•	Farm and Other F Words by Sarah Mock
•	Freedom Farmers by LaDonna Redmond & Monica M White
•	Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
•	How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates

Online Reports 
•	Bringing it Down to Earth – Nature Risk and Agriculture https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?2660466/nature-finance-risk-and-agriculture
•	Milked by the Immigrant Dary Farmworkers in New York State 
http://www.iwj.org/resources/milked-immigrant-dairy-farmworkers-in-new-york-state

Epsiode 1 Innovating AgTech - Why Do We Need AgTech?

Episode 2 of 6 - Why do we need Entrepreneurs?

The global food system faces serious problems – environmental, social and commercial.  This six-part podcast series seeks to unravel these complex interrelationships asking how we can better align the interests of the environment, farmers, entrepreneurs and investors, allowing new Agtech solutions to address these critical challenges.

Episode 2 explores the role entrepreneurs play in achieving technological progress.

We ask what entrepreneurs can contribute that existing companies and governments might not, and investigate the networks and resources - the entrepreneurial ecosystem - that helps facilitate entrepreneurs’ success.   The Silicon Valley template of entrepreneurship and its influence is explored, including cautionary tales about how hype surrounding entrepreneurship and technological developments can lead to undesirable consequences.  Finally, we discuss the role of business accelerators and share some pioneering examples of food and agriculture focused support for start-ups. 

Featured in this Episode 
•	Rasmus Hartmann, Copenhagen Business School
•	Juliet Ansell, Zespri International
•	Adrian Percy, North Carolina State University
•	Sarah Nolet, AgThentic & Tenacious Ventures
•	Peter Herz, Food System 6 and 1st Course Capital
•	Pete Nelson, AgLaunch


Further Reading 
The following resources are those I found helpful or were recommended by my interviewees 
Books (available at https://www.betterworldbooks.com):
•	10% Entrepreneur by Patrick McInnes
•	The Third Plate by Dan Barber

Online Resources: 
•	Towards an Untrepreneurial Economy? The Entrepreneurship Industry and the Rise of the Veblenian Entrepreneur by Hartmann, Spice and Krabbe. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3479042
•	Entrepreneurial Strategy by Joshua Ganz and Scott Stern https://www.entrepreneurial-strategy.net/about
•	AgFunder AgriFood Tech Investment report 2021: https://agfunder.com/research/2021-AgFunder-agrifoodtech-investment-report/
•	How Silicon Valley Set Agtech back by a decade
https://blog.agthentic.com/how-silicon-valley-set-agtech-back-a-decade-b9d46e0acf0d
•	Technological change and economics: https://carlotaperez.org

Epsiode 2 Innovating AgTech - Why Do We Need Entrepreneurs In AgTech?

Episode 3 of 6 – The Farmer’s Experience

The global food system faces serious problems – environmental, social and commercial.  This six-part podcast series seeks to unravel these complex interrelationships asking how we can better align the interests of the environment, farmers, entrepreneurs and investors, allowing new agtech solutions to address these critical challenges.

This episode investigates how the farming and grower community is involved in the world of AgTech Entrepreneurship.

A case study that highlights what can go well and what can go wrong for farmers in Agtech trials, before exploring how farmers and growers interact with entrepreneurs and investors.  This includes identifying which agricultural challenges should be prioritised, and structuring how technologies are trialled to reflect the financial and non financial contributions made. We learn about novel ways of incorporating the farmer and grower perspective, and who else in the agrifood value chain has an incentive to invest in innovation.  

Featured in this Episode 
•	Andrew Todd – Laharna Farms
•	Craige MacKenzie – Vantage New Zealand
•	Pete Nelson - AgLaunch
•	Ethan Cleary – Irish Farmers Association
•	Sarah Nolet – AgThentic & Tenacious Ventures

Further Reading 
The following resources are those I found helpful or were recommended by my interviewees 
sBooks (available at https://www.betterworldbooks.com)
•	Dream Reaper by Craig Canine
•	Dispossession by Pete Daniel 
•	The Third Plate by Dan Barber

Online Resources: 
•	https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/entities/publication/b4549cc5-dffb-48a6-b253-cc69d750ad80
•	https://www.ispag.org

Epsiode 3 Innovating AgTech - The Farmer's Experience

Episode 4 of 6 – The Entrepreneur’s Experience
The global food system faces serious problems – environmental, social and commercial.  This six-part podcast series seeks to unravel these complex interrelationships asking how we can better align the interests of the environment, farmers, entrepreneurs and investors, allowing new agtech solutions to address these critical challenges.

This episode investigates the experience of three AgTech entrepreneurs as they navigated their companies from idea to revenue generation.  

The three entrepreneurs operate with different technologies, in different countries and in different sectors but still find common ground in their experiences.  This includes the importance of building on publicly funded research and startup incentives and the value of identifying partners and investors with aligned visions of the future.  We also hear about the high price that entrepreneurs on average pay for their pursuits, illustrating the high stakes in these endeavours.  While we tend to hear about the good sides, the implications for entrepreneurs’ financial and psychological health and relationships are serious considerations.  

Featured in this Episode 
•	Ashwin Madgavkar - Ceres Imaging
•	Bethany Deshpande – SomaDetect
•	David Smith – Ceres Tag
•	Rasmus Hartmann – Copenhagen Business School 


Further Reading 
The following resources are those I found helpful or were recommended by my interviewees 
Books (available at https://www.betterworldbooks.com)
•	Humanity at Work by Pierre Battah
•	The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato 
•	Burn Rate by Andy Dunn
•	The 10 Types of Innovation by Larry Kelly

Online Resources: 
•	https://store.hbr.org/product/founders-apply-the-scientific-method-to-your-startup/H05ZW3
•	Entrepreneurial Strategy by Joshua Ganz and Scott Stern https://www.entrepreneurial-strategy.net/about
•	AgFunder AgriFood Tech Investment report 2021: https://agfunder.com/research/2021-AgFunder-agrifoodtech-investment-report/
•	How Silicon Valley Set Agtech back by a decade
https://blog.agthentic.com/how-silicon-valley-set-agtech-back-a-decade-b9d46e0acf0d

Epsiode 4 Innovating AgTech - The Entrepreneur's Experience

Episode 5 of 6 – How Investment Models Affect AgTech.

The global food system faces serious problems – environmental, social and commercial.  This six-part podcast series seeks to unravel these complex interrelationships asking how we can better align the interests of the environment, farmers, entrepreneurs and investors, allowing new Agtech solutions to address these critical challenges.

This episode examines the way investors and how they invest affects priorities for AgTech ventures.  

The podcast begins by understanding the most prominent and influential method of investing, that of Venture Capitalism.  It explains why this model is unsuitable for many important and promising AgTech ventures, and considers other alternatives, including Angel Investing, Crowd Funding, and structured methods of converting between equity and debt.  We explore the power dynamics that comes with raising investment and investigate the idea that the status quo for how we invest in AgTech startups drives a chain of extraction that starts with the environment, but extends right through the agricultural sector and the entrepreneurial ventures themselves.  

Featured in this Episode 
•	Rasmus Hartmann, Copenhagen Business School
•	Peter Herz, Food System 6 and 1st Course Capital
•	Sarah Nolet, AgThentic and Tenacious Ventures
•	Aunnie Patton Power, Intelligent Impact and Saïd Business School
•	Wayne Gordon, UBS
•	Ben Honan, Climate KIC
•	Vicki Saunders, SheEO
Further Reading 
The following resources are those I found helpful or were recommended by my interviewees 
Books (available at https://www.betterworldbooks.com)
•	Adventure Finance, Aunnie Patton Power.  
•	The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato

Online Resources:
•	https://medium.com/@sexandstartups/zebrasfix-c467e55f9d96
•	https://energy.mit.edu/publication/venture-capital-cleantech/
•	https://impactalpha.com/10-ways-to-redesign-venture-finance-for-a-more-inclusive-post-covid-world/

Epsiode 5 Innovating AgTech - How Investment Models Affect AgTech

Episode 6 of 6 – Doing things Differently

The global food system faces serious problems – environmental, social and commercial.  This six-part podcast series seeks to unravel these complex interrelationships asking how we can better align the interests of the environment, farmers, entrepreneurs and investors, allowing new agtech solutions to address these critical challenges.

This episode examines our often-unquestioned assumptions about how the world works and how these are often the root of the problems we’re keen to address.  

We start by examining how the engineering mindset is ill suited the complexities of agriculture’s biological and economic systems, but how adding in systems thinking gives our good intentions a better chance to deliver change.  We explore the assumptions built into economic models which give us damaging blind spots, and how collaboration, trust, risk and value creation need careful balancing to make true impact.  Finally, we explore ideas for a different vision of entrepreneurship, more capable of creating sustainable interventions on the core, devilishly difficult challenges that agriculture and the food system faces.  


Featured in this Episode 
•	Peter Herz, Food System 6 and 1st Course Capital
•	Brent Loken, WWF
•	Ben Honan, Climate KIC
•	Daniel Zimmer, Climate KIC
•	Sarah Mock, Author
•	Bethany Deshpande, SomaDetect
•	Vicki Saunders, SheEO
•	Kimberley Ansell, TeHono

Further Reading 
The following resources are those I found helpful or were recommended by my interviewees 
Books (available at https://www.betterworldbooks.com)
•	The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C Mann
•	Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
•	The Value of Everything by Mariana Mazzucato
•	The Dawn of Humanity by David Wengrow and David Graber
•	Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta
•	Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
•	Dirt to Soil, Gabe Brown

Online Resources:
•	https://crowdsourcingweek.com/blog/the-important-role-of-crowdfunding-for-agriculture/
•	https://grist.org/business-technology/none-of-the-worlds-top-industries-would-be-profitable-if-they-paid-for-the-natural-capital-they-use/
•	http://naturalcapitalcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Trucost-Nat-Cap-at-Risk-Final-Report-web.pdf

Episode 6 Innovating AgTech -  Doing Things Differently.

While making the Innovating AgTech documentary I spoke to a lot of different people from all over the word about food and agriculture. 

I finished each interview with the simple question "What will agriculture look like in 100 years?".   The AgTech community is co-creating the future we imagine, so the answers are illuminating!   In this bonus episode, I share their answers. 

What do you think agriculture will look like in a hundred years? What kind of future would you like to create? 

Share your thoughts and tag me on LinkedIn or Twitter using the hashtag #InnovatingAgTech, or contact me via agtechthinking.com

Bonus Episode: What Will Agriculture Be Like 100 Years from now?

The role of technology, entrepreneurs & investment in Agriculture’s biggest problems.  

This podcast documentary by AgTech expert Hannah Senior asks what role technology plays in agriculture, how entrepreneurship influences innovation, and what it feels like to be part of the current AgTech explosion both as a farmer and as an entrepreneur.  

Exploring how the investment models we use affects the outcomes we see, Hannah  shows why systems thinking is uniquely important in the AgTech ecosystem ... and asks challenging questions about the many things we take for granted.

Easily digestible, wide ranging in scope, and highly thought provoking, Innovating AgTech examines the stories we tell ourselves about making a positive impact, and challenges us to imagine how we can do things even better.

Generously sponsored by the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust.

Innovating AgTech

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