There is a lot of conversation currently around food is health. It is absolutely true that consumers who have a healthy diet with more specialty crops will improve their overall health. To push this initiative, there is a lot of activity around program funding that incentivizes the purchase and consumption of healthy foods. One recent example of a quality program was the USDA Farmers to…
The slide below is from one of the decks I reviewed this week. I see this in various forms way too often, and this is a good example. In this case, the startup has done a five-year set of projections starting with actual numbers from 2022 and half of 2023 (remainder projected) and then forecast out 2024, 2025 and 2026. See if you can spot the red flag. It's the S&M line (Sales and…
Last year’s FIRA USA event in Fresno was a great first effort. Next month, we are going to have three different demo areas in the Salinas Sports Complex, and the automation solutions will be available for demos all three days of the show. Take a look at the aerial layout that includes an orchard demonstration area along with a drone pavilion (yellow pentagon in the top left), a vineyard demo…
On a recent episode of Business of Agriculture podcast, Damian Mason, Adam Bergman and I discussed Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). I remain bearish on CEA and Adam remains bullish. As always, a bit of disagreement makes for great podcast fodder. We covered a lot of ground. Here are the highlights: 1) CEA was one of the hyped sectors of AgTech (along with alternative proteins),…
The AgTech Startup Mentor List now has 29 people (and counting!) ready, willing, and able to help you scale your startup efforts in key areas like product, strategy, fundraising and go-to market. AgTech Startup Mentor List 1) If you are looking for someone in a specific area, you can review the listings, reach out to the mentors that could be a fit and make contact to get a conversation…