The Modern Acre Tim & Tyler Nuss

Kelly Damewood is the CEO of CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers), one of the first organic certification agencies.
Kelly has spent over a decade working towards a single goal: helping organic farmers thrive. After her own experience running a small farm, she went to law school determined to help farmers who farm in a better way. In her previous role as CCOF’s policy director, Kelly spearheaded key initiatives such as passage of state legislation to improve an outdated regulatory program for organic farmers and creating a groundbreaking project to drive organic production and consumption in California. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from Vermont Law School and a Master of Laws degree in agricultural and food law from the University of Arkansas School of Law.
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This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE.
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Links
CCOF - https://ccof.org Kelly on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellydamewood/ Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com

Zac Ellis is the Sr. Director of Agronomy at Olam and oversees thousands of acres of almond production. The Olam Group is a leading food and agri-business supplying food, ingredients, feed and fiber to 20,900 customers worldwide. Their value chain spans over 60 countries and includes farming, processing and distribution operations, as well as a sourcing network of an estimated 5.0 million farmers.
Zac spends a large portion of his time investigating and implementing agtech, while also focusing on how to farm sustainably. He joins the podcast to share more about his journey, what agtech is working for Olam, and his takes on regenerative and organic practices.
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This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE.
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Links
Olam - https://www.olamgroup.com Zac on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zac-ellis-32100727/ Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com

Dave Friedberg is CEO, Chairman, and co-founder of Ohalo Genetics ( https://ohalo.com ), which is accelerating evolution to unlock nature's potential. Dave excels at developing and deploying agricultural technologies that boost farmer productivity while reducing humanity's land, water, and energy footprint.

Dave is also CEO and founder of The Production Board (TPB), a venture foundry that builds and invests in technology businesses in food, agriculture, and life sciences. He helps set strategy, define TPB’s investment theses, and manage key TPB investments.‍ He is also a director on the boards of Lavoro (Latin America's largest ag inputs retailer) and Pattern Ag (the leading predictive agronomy company focused on soil biology).

Prior to TPB, Dave was founder and CEO of The Climate Corporation, the world’s leading digital agronomy software platform, used by farmers across 200+ million acres worldwide. Monsanto acquired The Climate Corporation in 2013, when he joined Monsanto (now Bayer) as a member of the executive leadership team.
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This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE.
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Links
Ohalo Genetics - https://ohalo.com All in Podcast - https://www.allinpodcast.co Dave on X - https://twitter.com/friedberg The Climate Corporation Episode - https://themodernacre.com/302 Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com

Help us celebrate our 350th episode by doing one (or all!) of the following:
Share a recent episode with a friend or colleague Join our membership community The Modern Acre Co-op Subscribe to our new newsletter focused on food & ag strategy —
Tim Bucher is the CEO and Founder of Agtonomy, a hybrid autonomy and tele-assist platform for agriculture vehicles. They partner with established equipment manufacturers to transform tractors and agriculture machines into autonomous and remote-controlled equipment that is accessible to local farmers.
Tim is a lifelong farmer who also spent the bulk of his career in the tech industry in Silicon Valley. He worked for a number of successful startups and founders, including Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell.
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This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE.

Jack Richardson is kicking off a new and improved version of The Modern Acre newsletter. After starting his career in venture banking, Jack has spent the last five years in AgTech, first at a food waste startup and now in precision technology at an Ag OEM. He's spent most of his career in strategy roles where he's explored ways to make business models work. Outside of his specific roles, he's written about the space more broadly – you may have come across my prior writing on LinkedIn.
In tandem with the contributing to the monthly newsletter, Jack will join us on the podcast every month to break down his latest research and dig into the strategy behind the company he's profiling. This month we dig into Mt. Joy. Check out the newsletter here.
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This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE.
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Links
Subscribe to the newsletter! Jack on Linkedin Mt. Joy Episode with Grant Jones Join our membership community

Austin is an expert on agricultural and antitrust policy. During the 2020 presidential campaign, he advised candidates Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg on agricultural policy before ultimately serving as Co-Chair of the Biden campaign’s Agriculture Antitrust Policy Committee. He is a Fellow of the Thurman Arnold Project at Yale University, an initiative that brings together faculty, students, and scholars to collaborate on research related to competition policy and antitrust enforcement. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Common Good Iowa and the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project. In 2022, The Advocate named him a "Champion of Pride.”
He recently published his debut book, Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry, which profiles a series of powerful magnates to illustrate the concentration of power in the American food system. The book has received universal acclaim. Publishers Weekly gave it a Starred Review and the host of Bloomberg's Odd Lots commended the book, remarking that “I have come away with a completely different idea of agriculture that I cannot unsee." The book has received praise from across the political spectrum, including a rave review from The American Conservative.
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This episode is presented by Pinion. Learn more HERE.
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Links
Austin's Website Join the Co-op