The Modern Acre

Ben Gordon is the CEO of Fractal Ag, a farmland investment platform that brings investors alongside farmers to drive impact and returns. Ben previously co-created Corteva Agriscience's carbon program while also leading Business Development. His background includes experience in agriculture technology, management consulting, and private equity due diligence. Ben previously served as an Infantry Officer in the US Army. He was raised in North Dakota where the original family homestead is still farmed by extended family. He lives in San Francisco, CA. Links: Ben on LinkedIn Fractal Ag Become a Premium Subscriber Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

Join the Co-op for full episode! Seana Day of Culterra Capital and Mark Brooks of FMC Ventures led a Zoom call with our Co-op members discussing the latest in investing in agtech. We cover: Impact of flat and reduced valuations Need for lower middle market in ag Are OEM incumbents done acquiring? Is agtech shifting away from software solutions? Exits in agfintech Robotics having a moment Emerging geographies How AI impacts investing strategy Links: Farm Tech Landscape Map Become a Premium Subscriber Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

Nic De Castro is the Founder and CEO of LandTrust. LandTrust exists to enable the enjoyment, profitability, and sustainability of America's undeveloped private lands. For farmers and ranchers who are looking for a practical way to add income to their operations, LandTrust is a website that connects landowners with respectful sportsmen looking to pay for access to their land. Unlike government programs, leases, or outfitters, LandTrust is a partner that helps build a valuable new income from sportsmen while keeping landowners in full control. Links: Nuss Farms Farm Tour on LandTrust Nic on Linkedin LandTrust Become a Premium Subscriber Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

Kevin Schwartz has been an investor in the food and agribusiness industry for more than two decades. Today he leads Paine Schwartz Partners as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner. He is further the Chairman of Paine Schwartz Partners' ESG Committee driving a truly differentiated approach to sustainable food chain investing with material emphasis on the development of positive impacts. Links: Kevin on LinkedIn Paine Schwartz Partners Become a Premium Subscriber Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

This month, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "Weeds will decide the winners - A framework for weed control in agriculture." Ariel Patton is the creator of Topsoil, a newsletter bringing you monthly frameworks to help make sense of agriculture, at just the right depth. Ariel has focused her career on driving digital transformation of agriculture to help farmers manage their businesses more profitably and sustainably at Monsanto, Granular, Corteva and currently, Mineral. Links: Join the Co-op John Kempf's Podcast Episode Subscribe to Topsoil Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

On this edition of Acre Insights, Tim and Tyler break down their takeaways from attending the RFSI Forum last month in Denver focused on the investing landscape in regenerative agriculture. They also share some sound bites from Brian Dawson, Rosario Bennett, and Jack Richardson on their biggest takeaways as well. Links: RFSI Forum Become a Premium Subscriber Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

Robby Sansom is Co-Founder & CEO at Force of Nature, a regeneratively sourced meat company based in Austin, TX. Robby's roots run deep in the natural food community. Previously, as CFO/COO at EPIC, Robby spent much of the last decade studying regenerative agriculture at ranches all over the world. Through this education, Force of Nature was co-founded with the intention to accelerate the creation of a global regenerative supply network. Force of Nature works in partnership with land stewards, ranchers and farmers committed to creating a positive return on the planet. With Force of Nature, consumers now have the ability to invest in environmental regeneration by consuming meat that is good for the planet. Born and raised in Austin, TX, he received both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from the University of Texas. When he's not building businesses aimed at saving the planet, Robby can be found on a trail, ocean, mountain or field, always making time to appreciate nature and explore his surroundings. Robby is also a land steward at ROAM Ranch where he owns regeneratively managed bison. Links: Robby on LinkedIn Force of Nature on Instagram Become a Premium Subscriber Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

Marcus Lovell Smith is the CEO of Neutral Foods, the first carbon neutral food company in the United States that debuted nationally in 2021 with organic whole and 2% milk products available in more than 2,000 grocery stores from coast to coast. An accomplished leader in sustainable agriculture, technology, and entrepreneurship, Marcus has a personal connection to the agricultural world and a passion for the urgent need to reshape its impact on the planet. Steadfast to make a difference in climate change, Marcus and his team at Neutral are partnering with farmers and ranchers to apply the latest in agricultural science, reduce their carbon footprints and boost the supply side of more sustainable dairy and beef products to meet growing demand from consumers looking to improve their carbon footprints. Marcus lives on a family farm in New Hampshire, Boggy Meadow, that produces artisanal cheese. He moved to the family farm 20 years ago and spent the first four years as a full-time dairy farmer and small business owner. Marcus has a personal understanding of farmers' challenges and an unwavering commitment to forging sustainable practices that protect the environment. Marcus remains a Special Advisor at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Previously, he was the CTO of Google Fiber, a role that helped revolutionize fiber-optic internet and television services. He also served as the CEO of Diagnostics for All, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives in the developing world. Marcus has navigated Neutral Foods through its initial funding rounds. Under his guidance, the company closed a Series A funding round, securing $12 million, with Breakthrough Energy Ventures leading the investment. Notably, investors such as LeBron James, John Legend, and Questlove recognized the transformative potential of Neutral Foods, contributing, among other investors, to earlier seed rounds totaling approximately $8 million. Marcus is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard University. He has been featured in The New York Times, CNBC.com, and on multiple live broadcasts of Cheddar News and local news stations nationwide. Links: Marcus on LinkedIn Become a Premium Subscriber Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

Peter Williams is the President of MyLand and has been with the company for three years, where he focuses on strategy, corporate finance, sales and marketing. Peter has over twenty-five years of experience with a career that spans engineering, sales and investment banking, prior to launching, running and exiting a diverse group of businesses. As an advisor, Peter has been involved in over $13 billion in private and public equity and debt financing transactions; and has advised on numerous mergers & acquisitions with an aggregate transaction value of approximately $3 billion. These transactions covered a broad range of industries including electric and gas utilities, chemicals, agriculture, fertilizer, aerospace and defense, biofuels, clean technology, and construction. Links: Peter on LinkedIn Become a Premium Subscriber Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

We are excited to share the first edition of our new podcast series focused on telling the stories of ag companies. The story of The Climate Corporation spans decades, multiple name changes, acquisitions, controversy, product pivots and more. Hear about the company that David Friedberg founded and sold to Monsanto for $930 million, plus the history and future of digital agriculture. Links: Join the Co-op! David's Letter to the Company Contributors: Rhishi Pethe, Nathan Faleide, and Mark Young Our interview with Corbett Kull Our interview with Craig Rupp Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

This month, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "Beyond the carbon buzz - A framework for environmental sustainability in agriculture." Ariel Patton is the creator of Topsoil, a newsletter bringing you monthly frameworks to help make sense of agriculture, at just the right depth. Ariel has focused her career on driving digital transformation of agriculture to help farmers manage their businesses more profitably and sustainably at Monsanto, Granular, Corteva and currently, Mineral. Links: Join the Co-op Subscribe to Topsoil Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

Episode 300 is here. Check out the new look website and Co-op. Plus, we talk about why we recently made the decision to quit organic at Nuss Farms. Links: Join the Co-op! Check out the Shop Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

Tom Ryan is a 23-year veteran of the Land O'Lakes, Inc. federated system. Tom has held multiple leadership roles in sales, agronomy, marketing and operations across Land O'Lakes. Prior to joining Truterra, Tom headed WinField United's business operations team including customer experience, business analytics and data science. Tom also led WinField United's Strategic Retail Alliance efforts executing partnerships, alliances and joint ventures across WinField United's aligned retail network. Tom currently serves as the President of Truterra, Land O'Lakes' sustainability division focused on creating new value streams by driving farmer adoption of climate-smart practices and forging customer connections between farmers, ag retailers, Food and CPG companies. Tom has a strong track record as an executive with industry-spanning experience in agronomy and ag retailer services. He is also an active partner and multi-generation farmer who practices sustainability and soil health practices on his own farm in southwest Minnesota. Links: Truterra Website Tom on LinkedIn Rate & Review the NEW Spotify Feed Sponsor: This episode is presented by MyLand. Learn more at MyLand.ag. Check out our interview with Dane.

Sarah Day Levesque is the Founder and Managing Director of RFSI – Regenerative Food Systems Investment – and has spent more than 15 years working to connect agriculture and food systems stakeholders to the information and networks they need to be successful. For the past six years, Sarah has worked closely with a community of ecological farmers in her role leading the development and execution of educational and event experiences at Acres USA. In late 2018, Sarah started Regenerative Food Systems Investment to address to address a lack of attention, awareness, and capital being given to investment opportunities in regenerative agriculture and food. Before joining Acres USA in late 2016, Sarah spent a decade in agricultural media, where she played a key role in the development of successful event and media brands, including Women in Agribusiness and Organic & Non-GMO Forum, and also served as Editor-in-Chief of Global AgInvesting Media. Sarah holds an M.S. in Agriculture and Resource Economics and an M.S. in International Agricultural Development from University of California, Davis. When she's not working, you can find her running, hiking, coaching youth basketball, or playing ball with her family. Links: RFSI Forum 2023 (Use code THEMODERNACRE at checkout for 10% off!) Sarah on LinkedIn Rate & Review the NEW Spotify Feed Join the fitness challenge on Twitter Sponsor: This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com. Check out Mick's e

Dan Schultz is an agribusiness psychotherapist that helps agtech companies design their category and commercialize products differently. Links: Dan on LinkedIn Schultz Collaborative Rate & Review the NEW Spotify Feed Join the fitness challenge on Twitter Sponsor: This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com

Cassidy Johnston grew up in a suburb of Denver but has now been ranching for over a decade. She serves in the gap between the ranch and the table to build relationships and form bold partnerships to answer the question, "Where does my food come from?" Cassidy received her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder. She was a student researcher at the Leeds School of Business Research Division, graduating early with honors. While there, she completed a thesis titled "Building a Rancher-Environmentalist Alliance to Protect Ranch Land Environments from Development," and that paper was the proverbial spur in the flank that started her journey in the ranching industry. She and her husband, Robert, have lived and worked on ranches in Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico and have three little boys. Besides being an agriculture consultant and speaker, she is a bull and semen rep, podcaster, book enthusiast, and collector of weird socks. Links: Cassidy on LinkedIn Cassidy on Instagram Cassidy's Website Rate & Review the NEW Spotify Feed Join the fitness challenge on Twitter Sponsor: This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com

Alain Goubau is the CEO of Combyne Ag, which builds farmer-centric grain marketing management software. Alain grew up on a mixed dairy and grain farm in Ontario, Canada. Prior to Combyne Ag, Alain led operations at 2 agtech and wind energy startups. He has also led various operational and strategy engagements within McKinsey & Company's agri-business team. Earlier in his career, Alain was a field engineer and project manager with Air Liquide, building chemical plants across the globe. Leveraging his background in agriculture, technology, engineering, and law, Alain is a passionate builder of teams and innovations at the intersection of agriculture, energy, and tech. Combyne Ag unifies inventory, contract, delivery, and settlement record-keeping to inform pricing and contracting risks, inventory-to-cash conversion cycles, and operational planning. By providing up-to-date crop marketing positions and informing decision making, Combyne helps farmers and their crop marketing advisors optimize the value of every bushel of grain they market. Through its Combyne Connect software integration capabilities, Combyne is designed to neutrally connect into both on-farm apps and grain buyer software systems. Using this same technology stack, Combyne also acts as a digital link between on-farm and off-farm data records, enabling biofuel, animal feed, and food supply chains to track grain quality and sustainability related attributes from farm to processing. Combyne Ag was recently acquired by Bayer Crop Science's Digital Farming Solutions and continues to operate as an independent business unit. Links: Rate & Review the NEW Spotify Feed Join the fitness challenge on Twitter Sponsor: This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com This month, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "Data: the new oil or a new byproduct? A framework for data from the field." Ariel Patton is the creator of Topsoil, a newsletter bringing you monthly frameworks to help make sense of agriculture, at just the right depth. Ariel has focused her career on driving digital transformation of agriculture to help farmers manage their businesses more profitably and sustainably at Monsanto, Granular, Corteva and currently, Mineral. Connect with Ariel Topsoil Newsletter | LinkedIn

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com Dane Hague is the CEO and co-founder of MyLand, a soil health company. MyLand's innovative and patented technology and unique Soil as a Service approach allows farmers to easily and rapidly implement regenerative agriculture practices and improve their soil health by harnessing the land's own native ecosystem, because No Two Farms are Alike. MyLand uses live, native microalgae to improve soil health more rapidly. Through their technology and service, MyLand helps tackle two of the world's biggest challenges: food security and climate disruption. Connect with MyLand Website | LinkedIn Follow our Fitness Challenge on Twitter!

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com Anthony Howcroft is the CEO of SWARM Engineering. SWARM is a Software-as-a-Service platform that uses next generation cognitive computing to tackle challenges in the agri-food supply chain to save costs, reduce waste, and deliver environmental benefits. The SWARM platform is structured around a multi-agent approach which utilizes a curated market of algorithms to optimize key processes such as load planning, inbound and outbound logistics, demand/supply planning, maximizing yield, and pricing optimization. SWARM provides an easy way for business users to define problems, and rapidly match them to advanced solutions without any software coding, knowledge of advanced AI, or machine learning. Anthony has more than 25 years' experience in technology, in a mix of corporate and startup roles that cover software engineering, sales and marketing. He was co-founder and VP Sales of DATAllegro, the data warehouse appliance vendor acquired by Microsoft for $260M in 2008. He subsequently ran Microsoft's Big Data team in EMEA for 5 years, showing triple digit growth each year. After a 3-year stint mentoring CEOs in California, he launched SWARM. He has a Creative Writing Diploma from the University of Oxford and has lectured on the use of narrative in business. His non-fiction book Questions: A User's Guide was published in October 2020, achieving Amazon bestseller status, and the research behind the book is being used to enhance the approach of the SWARM Challenge Modeler product. Connect with SWARM Website | LinkedIn Giveaway! Rate & Review the podcast and send proof to [email protected]. The first 5 entries will win Anthony's book Questions

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com Brenda Tjaden, founder of Prairie Routes, led this Co-op members call talking about how to monetize and model regenerative agriculture. This is jam packed with info and member Q&A. Subscribe to Brenda's Substack

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com Maria Cho is the CEO of Triplebar, a synthetic biology company based in California. It is a venture-backed startup with funding from The Production Board, a VC firm with a focus on sustainability, especially in the food and agriculture industries. Triplebar Bio works at the interface of biological and engineering sciences to engineer and discover microbes that produce a wide range of molecules across the food, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries. Maria is a veteran business leader with more than 15 years building industry-leading teams and a biologics expert with unique range of commercial experience, from therapeutics to cosmetics to CRO/CMO. Connect with Triplebar Website | LinkedIn

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com This month, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "Where the crops go: A framework for demand in agriculture." Ariel Patton is the creator of Topsoil, a newsletter bringing you monthly frameworks to help make sense of agriculture, at just the right depth. Ariel has focused her career on driving digital transformation of agriculture to help farmers manage their businesses more profitably and sustainably at Monsanto, Granular, Corteva and currently, Mineral. Connect with Ariel Topsoil Newsletter | LinkedIn Links Podcast with Justin Mares

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com Check out Tim's LinkedIn post on our experience at Nuss Farms with regenerative agriculture. Stephen Hohenrieder is the Founder and CEO of Grounded Capital which invests long-term private financial capital with a systems-based, holistic approach to achieve Impact across Five Areas of Focus: Places, Energy, People, Food and Nature. Stephen leads day-to-day operations and portfolio strategy for the firm, he is also focused on certain private equity and private credit holdings where he contributes his experience investing in regenerative food and agriculture over the past decade. Stephen has spent the past twenty-five years investing on behalf of family offices and their related entities, serving as the CEO and CIO of individual family offices, building a registered investment advisor to serve multiple families, as a general partner of two private equity firms, and through his work at Grounded Capital. Connect with Grounded Capital Website | LinkedIn

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com Tim and Tyler dial up the ag takes on this edition of Acre Insights, including the state of indoor farming, the latest greenwashing by CPG's, and Kiss the Ground's new film on regenerative ag. But first, Tyler shares the details of going viral on his family's vacation to Europe. Links Europe Vlogs

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com Derek Azevedo is the Executive Vice President of Bowles Farming Company. Prior to joining Bowles in early 2017, Derek spent 12 years working with farmers throughout the Central Valley as a business development representative for the world's largest tomato processor. Bowles Farming Company is a family owned and operated farming operation located near Los Banos in the Central Valley of California. The farm is currently being managed by the 6th generation of the Bowles & Lawrence families. They produce primarily annual crops with a focus on tomatoes (processing and fresh), melons, Extra Long Staple cotton, alfalfa and much more. Connect with Bowles Website | LinkedIn

This episode is presented by DPH Biologicals. Learn more at DPHBio.com In April 2021, Mick Messman was named President and Chief Executive Officer of DPH Biologicals, bringing twenty-five years of experience in crop protection, seed treatment and biologicals after serving in commercial leadership roles at two leading multi-nationals and emerging agtech companies. Today, Mick is leading DPH Biologicals to deliver more value to partners and growers through collaborative relationships and access to its trusted biological platform.​ DPH Biologicals aims to become the industry's most trusted biologicals provider, based one of the industry's most trusted technologies that has delivered unmatched results to improve soil structure while increasing nutrient uptake across a wide range of crops, soil types and growing environments. For more than three decades, we have delivered value to the row and specialty crop, turf and ornamental markets. With unique applicability across broad soil types, our technology platform, TerraTrove™, built on SP-1 Classic™ formulation, has been refined across millions of acres to make it the most complete biofertility solution available. We are committed to building upon the DPH Biologicals heritage to help meet the needs of a growing population and address global concerns of climate change, food security and clean water. Connect with DPH Website | LinkedIn | CropLife Article

Peter Martin is an Advisory Partner at Pinion and Matt Powell is a Global Innovation Leader at Pinion, CEO of Robot Accounts, and Co-Founder of AgWorld. Pinion, formerly named KCoe Isom, is a 'U.S. Top 100' accounting firm and global leader in food and agriculture consulting. With roots dating back to 1932, the firm has expanded upon traditional accounting services to deliver increased value and growth for clients through comprehensive policy-to-plate strategies, and specialized advisory in the areas of sustainability, government affairs, farm programs, land management, financial management, succession planning, and business strategy. Robot Accounts provides AI powered automated accounting and financial data standardization, workflow and integration. Connect with Pinion Website | LinkedIn

This month, the Modern Acre Co-op got together to discuss all things AI in agriculture. It was a roundtable discussion that was wide-ranging and including a number of different use-cases for how people are thinking about and leveraging AI in their businesses. Participants: Chris Bunio of Theory Mesh, Chase Dwelle, Kenny Lee of Aigen, Erik Wolfe of Sound Agriculture, Jim Cupples of All the Farms, Dustin Brunn of Dunn Dairy, and Ria Xi of CropSafe Connect with the Co-op Details | Apply

Dr. Michael Gilbert is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Semios, the leading precision farming loT platform for tree fruits, nuts, and grapes. Michael is a natural product synthetic chemist with a PhD from University of British Columbia and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Vienna. He has 25 years of experience in agtech and biotech R&D and production. In 2009, Michael founded Semios to meet the growing demand for data-driven sustainable and traceable food production. Michael joins us to share his story of founding the company and how the have strategically scaled through acquisitions, distribution, technology, and business model. Tune in! Connect with Semios Website | Twitter

Kit Barron is the Head of Data Science & Analytics at Farmer's Business Network, an independent agricultural tech and commerce platform and farmer-to-farmer network that helps its members make confident decisions to ensure the economic viability of their farms and work toward a sustainable future. FBN is an advocate for family farmers and ranchers, and does whatever it takes to help farmers become more prosperous - whether it's through data science-driven agronomic insights about their fields, providing farm inputs through its e-commerce store, helping farmers sell their crop more intelligently and independently, or providing them with health or crop insurance. FBN arms farmers with the tools they need to make the best decisions for their business, their families and the planet. Kit joins the pod to provide some updates on FBN and share more about their recent launch of Norm, their AI agronomy advisor. Tune in! Connect with FBN Website | Norm

Jacob Muise is the Founder and CEO of Maui Nui Venison. Their venison comes from Axis deer, a non-native species to Hawaiʻi. Numerous and free-roaming, these deer are truly wild until the moment they humanely harvest them using 100% stress-free methods. Because their deer are wild instead of being raised for food, they enjoy a natural varied diet, which means their meat is higher in nutrients and noticeably more delicious. Connect with Maui Nui Venison Website | Nutrient Density Study

This month, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "We didn't produce this much only to produce this much: A framework for understanding yield in agriculture." Ariel Patton is the creator of Topsoil, a newsletter bringing you monthly frameworks to help make sense of agriculture, at just the right depth. Ariel has focused her career on driving digital transformation of agriculture to help farmers manage their businesses more profitably and sustainably at Monsanto, Granular, Corteva and currently, Mineral. Connect with Ariel Topsoil Newsletter | LinkedIn

Carson Britz is the Sr. Manager of Sustainable Ag at Nutrien Ag Solutions. Nutrien Ag Solutions is a subsidiary of Nutrien Ltd., a leading global agricultural solutions provider. The company was formed in 2018 as a result of a merger between Agrium Inc. and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. Nutrien Ag Solutions is primarily focused on providing agricultural inputs and services to farmers, helping them achieve higher crop yields and better farm productivity. Nutrien Ag Solutions operates a vast retail network, offering a wide range of products and services. With a strong presence in North America, Australia, and South America, Nutrien Ag Solutions is committed to providing innovative and sustainable solutions that help farmers meet the increasing global demand for food while minimizing the environmental impact of agricultural practices. Connect with Nutrien Website | LinkedIn

Paul Pittman is the founder and executive chairman of Farmland Partners, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that purchases, leases, and manages high-quality farmland throughout North America. Paul grew up in a farm family and has been buying and operating farms since the mid-1990s. Many of his farmland assets in Illinois, Nebraska, and Colorado were contributed to Farmland Partners Inc. at the time of its initial public offering in 2014. Paul has served as the company's Chairman since that time, and he remains one of its largest shareholders. He was the company's CEO until February 2023. Before devoting full attention to his farming and farmland ownership businesses, Paul was the CFO of Jazz Technologies, a publicly traded semiconductor foundry. Prior, he started TheJobsite.com, which merged into HomeSphere, an enterprise software company where Paul served as President. Paul has worked as an investment banker in London, New York, and San Francisco, specializing in mergers and acquisitions with Merrill Lynch, Wasserstein Perella & Co, and ThinkEquity. He began his career as an attorney with Sullivan & Cromwell. Connect with Farmland Partners Website | LinkedIn

Jessie Deelo founded Deelo Consulting Services to design strategies for agricultural systems change. Building off her career as a farmer, Extension specialist and industry consultant, she integrates expertise in regenerative agriculture, corporate impact programs, food systems and strategy. Through analysis of landscape, markets, cultures and stakeholders, Jessie develops markets for place-based regenerative agriculture. In commodity markets, she executes strategic solutions for climate-smart sourcing and low-carbon ingredient supply chains. Jessie has sector expertise in North American dairy, grains and oilseeds, and organic and regenerative agriculture. She also has experiential knowledge of small- to mid-scale organic horticultural production. Her graduate school training in International Agricultural Development from the University of California-Davis shapes her approach to supply chain sustainability for global markets. Connect with Jessie Website

Niall Haughey is the Founder of Graze and writer of the Agri Fintech Newsletter covering the category globally. Niall specialized in Financial Services at Deloitte before founding an SME Payments business and performing advisory work for clients including Royal Bank of Scotland, Investec, UBS, Centrica and others. Since 2015, Niall has focused on fintech product design and development for the Food and Agriculture sector in sub-Saharan Africa, including developing Input Finance, Warehouse Receipt Finance for grains and Pay-As-You-Go Asset Finance structures. With Graze, Niall wants to utilize his combined expertise of conventional Financial Services and cutting edge Agri Fintech to design modern financial services for global food systems. Connect with Niall Website | Newsletter

Bailey Stockdale is the founder & CEO of Leaf, food and agriculture's data infrastructure company. Bailey has worked with food and agriculture technology since 2014 as a software developer, entrepreneur, and EIR at SP Ventures' AgTech fund. Bailey is passionate about empowering developers that are solving farming, health, and sustainability challenges through food and agriculture technology. With Leaf, he contributes to broadening industry access and building the tools that food and agriculture technology needs to scale. Leaf provides farm data infrastructure similar to Plaid in finance, Twilio in communications, or Stipe in payments. Connect with Leaf Website | Twitter

Craig Rupp is the CEO and Founder of Sabanto, a Farming-as-a-Service company that provides total turn-key agriculture services using our supervised autonomous equipment platform. Connect with Sabanto Website | Twitter

This month, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "Crops grow where cash flows: A framework for understanding the business of farming." Ariel Patton is the creator of Topsoil, a newsletter bringing you monthly frameworks to help make sense of agriculture, at just the right depth. Ariel has focused her career on driving digital transformation of agriculture to help farmers manage their businesses more profitably and sustainably at Monsanto, Granular, Corteva and currently, Mineral. Connect with Ariel Topsoil Newsletter | LinkedIn

Grant Jones is the Co-Founder and Chief Agricultural Officer at Mt. Joy, a fast casual restaurant on a mission to accelerate global adoption of regenerative agricultural practices. Connect with Mt. Joy Website | Instagram

Tune in this week to hear Tim and Tyler's takeaways from attending the 2023 World AgriTech Innovation Summit in SF. They hit on the state of farmers, biological innovation, the retail/advisor ecosystem, M&A and consolidation, and more!

Michael Macolino is the Managing Director for the APAC region at SVG Ventures THRIVE, as well as a serial entrepreneur and business advisor. He launched his first company at 21, which started a 15 year journey to launch four other businesses across a range of industries. His long term support of entrepreneurship and mentoring was recognised in 2020, as a winner in the InDaily 40 under 40 awards. Michael's curiosity for solving problems using technology led him to Agriculture and the food system, where he now leverages his skills, experience and network to help AgriFood Tech startups commercialise and scale their innovations to redesign the food system. Prior to joining SVG Ventures Thrive Michael led AgriFood Tech at BDO Australia for 4 years, where he was an advisor to several Investors, Start-ups, Agribusinesses and Government Departments. Michael is deeply engaged in the development of the AgriFood tech eco-system, working with various startup events and programs, as well as being the co-organiser of the South Australian AgriTech Meetup Group. Michael's thinking on redesigning the food system was featured in his TEDx talk, in which he detailed the potential of emerging technologies in agriculture to build a more sustainable and resilient food system. Connect with Michael Website | LinkedIn | SVG Ventures Thrive

Stuart Woolf is President and CEO of Woolf Farming & Processing. Woolf Farming & Processing is a family owned operation whose primary business is the production and processing of agricultural commodities. He was involved with the establishment of two related entities: Harris Woolf California Almonds and Los Gatos Tomato Products. Harris Woolf is a processor and handler of raw almonds. Los Gatos manufactures bulk tomato paste for industrial users. Connect with Woolf Farming & Processing Website

World AgriTech Discount Code (10% off): ACREFRIEND Elizabeth Fastiggi is the Head of Worldwide Agriculture at AWS. She partners with customers on transformative initiatives that align digital innovation with their business vision and is motivated by the opportunity to create solutions that create a healthier, transparent, and more inclusive food system. Prior to AWS, Elizabeth led Market Development at Indigo Agriculture and Business Development at Farmers Business Network. Previously, Elizabeth was a private equity investor with GE Capital and Ziff Brothers Investments, structuring investments in the energy and agriculture sectors. Elizabeth began her career at the Environmental Defense Fund, developing partnerships with market leading corporations to improve environmental and financial performance. Connect with Elizabeth AWS Agriculture Solutions | LinkedIn

In this new monthly series, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "Turns out, Seasons are a Thing in Agriculture: a framework for understanding seasonal activities in agriculture." Ariel Patton is the creator of Topsoil, a newsletter bringing you monthly frameworks to help make sense of agriculture, at just the right depth. Ariel has focused her career on driving digital transformation of agriculture to help farmers manage their businesses more profitably and sustainably at Monsanto, Granular, Corteva and currently, Mineral. Connect with Ariel Topsoil Newsletter | LinkedIn

Aaron Hutchinson is the President and Co-Founder of CropTrak. CropTrak brings decades of experience as the leading cloud technology solution to document, share, and analyze an entire supply chain in real-time from source through production. By digitally enabling and connecting their entire supply chain management process, customers can more seamlessly weave together the story of their product, contract, and certification – resulting in significant efficiency gains internally and improved supplier relationships. Started more than a decade ago by a team of entrepreneurial farm kids and data security experts with a background in 3D military GIS software, they set forth to help create the most efficient, effective and transparent supply chain. Connect with CropTrak Website | LinkedIn

Tim's LinkedIn post on our experience with organic farming went viral. We dig into our experience and thoughts on organic before providing some updates on The Modern Acre Co-op membership community! Links Co-op | Apply for a Pass | TopSoil Newsletter

Cole Jones is the CEO and Founder of Local Line. Local Line helps farmers, food hubs, and farmers' markets access new customers and digitize their businesses. Their e-commerce, CRM, inventory and logistics modules enable food producers of all kinds to control their own brand and grow their business on their terms. Connect with Local Line Website | LinkedIn

Ian Harley is CEO and co-founder of Traction Ag, Inc, a cloud-based farm accounting and management software company focused on helping farmers become more profitable and efficient. Ian has more than 25 years of experience in sales and management of AgTech companies, delivering accounting, operations and agronomy software. Prior to Traction Ag, Ian held roles at Granular, Trimble and Farm Works Software. Traction Ag is the only farm management solution uniquely built for the cloud, integrating actual accounting numbers with field operations, resulting in real-time financial analysis for timely, informed decision-making. Traction Ag delivers the most extensive suite of farm-specific accounting capabilities in a cloud application and allows users to automatically and easily maintain inventory balances for crops and supplies, tracks costs of production and field-level profitability; providing crucial insights and saving valuable time. The company is majority employee and farmer-owned business and leverages integrations with Climate FieldView and John Deere Operations Center to automate and ease the collection of field activities.