Agtech - So What?

Sarah Nolet

We tell the stories of innovators at the intersection of agriculture and technology to answer the question: what really is agtech and why should you care?

  1. 1d ago

    Business Model Breakdowns with Shane Thomas: The Monsanto Playbook

    Monsanto is one of the most influential and controversial companies in the history of global agriculture. But beyond the headlines, what can its evolution teach us about how value is created and captured in ag? As agriculture enters a new era shaped by technological advances, climate pressures, and macroeconomic uncertainty, understanding where power sits in the system and how it shifts has never been more important. Monsanto’s story offers insight into how control points are built, defended, and transformed over time. In this episode, Sarah Nolet is joined by Tenacious Ventures co-founder Matthew Pryor and the creator of Upstream Ag Insights, Shane Thomas, to break down the business model evolution of Monsanto. Together, they trace Monsanto’s journey from a chemical manufacturing company built on waste stream transformation, through the rise of glyphosate and innovation in crop protection, to its defining move into seeds and traits. They dig into how Monsanto layered in strategies around licensing, branding, regulation, and distribution to build one of the most powerful positions in modern agriculture. This episode is our second Business Model Breakdown, where we explore how agricultural systems, companies, and structures actually work and what that means for the future of agtech. This format is an experiment and we’d love your feedback! Sarah, Matthew, and Shane discuss: How Monsanto evolved from industrial chemicals to seeds and traits Why control points like germplasm and genetic IP became central to value capture  How regulatory strategy and “knowledge environments” shaped Monsanto’s success. The role of patents, licensing, and branding in scaling adoption What Monsanto’s story suggests about future control points in agtech, including data and AI. Got a business model you’d like for us to break down in a future episode? Let us know! Useful Links: Breaking Barriers in Crop Innovation Bayer Rounds Up Monsanto Monsanto wins Pioneer appeal of patent dispute | Reuters Mapping Power in the Seed Value Chain: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why Corteva at Wolfe Research Conference: Strategic Growth and Challenges Silent Spring Lords of the Harvest: Biotech, Big Money, and the Future of Food For more information and resources, visit our website.  The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

    47 min

  2. May 13

    Can biomaterials compete on price, not just purpose? with Tina Funder

    Some of the most transformative innovation in agri-food is happening downstream of the farm, in the materials, products, and industries that agriculture ultimately feeds into. In this episode, Sarah Nolet speaks with Tina Funder, founder of Alt Leather, an Australian startup developing fully bio-based alternatives to traditional leather. Tina’s journey into agtech didn’t begin in a lab or on a farm, but in advertising, where she developed a deep understanding of customers, branding, and problem solving. Concerned that most alternative leathers were more plastic than plant, Tina has built a company which sits across multiple industries, from agriculture, biotechnology, manufacturing and fashion.  But this complexity comes with its challenges. Is Alt Leather a materials company? A biotech platform? Or a manufacturing business? And how does that complexity impact their ability to build a team, raise capital, and commercialize? Sarah and Tina also discuss: Why some of the biggest agtech opportunities sit in materials and manufacturing. The challenge of building fully bio-based materials in a plastic-dominated industry. Evolving your value proposition to focus on what matters to your customers. The realities of scaling a deep tech company, including capital, manufacturing, and commercial partnerships. Why sustainability must be paired with price and performance to win  The conversation also reframes one of the most widely misunderstood aspects of leather. While much of the narrative focuses on livestock emissions, Tina highlights that the majority of environmental impact comes from the tanning process (including water use, chemicals, and pollution.) Useful Links: Building a Ladder to Commercial Success for Deep Tech Founder Durable and Degradable: Our Compostable Bio-Based Leather Alternative SproutX: the Victorian seed fund accelerating agriculture - Forbes Australia Curing fashion’s reliance on leather with an eco-friendly plant-based alternative - CSIRO Innovera Alt-Leather in Mercedes-Benz Concept - DVN Life on Mars Goods Samsara Eco YUIMA NAKAZATO Couture GLACIER Penfolds Premium Gift with Purchase | Upstairs Yellow. For more information and resources, visit our website.  The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

    34 min

  3. Apr 29

    Better Outcomes, Not Lower Costs: rethinking agtech in horticulture, with Mark Trzaskoma

    While agtech often celebrates breakthrough technologies that can slash costs for farmers, what if the real value of innovation lies somewhere else entirely? In this episode, Mark Trzaskoma joins Dr Madeline Mitchell to explore what agtech adoption actually looks like on the ground at Battunga Orchards, a 180-hectare orchard operating across three sites in Victoria. From mechanised harvest platforms to canopy redesign and data collection tools, each decision at Battunga is guided by a “test, measure, learn” approach, focused on yield, quality, and long-term performance rather than short-term efficiency gains. Mark also shares a cautionary insight: optimizing for cost can actually reduce productivity. His experience of hitting cost targets in pruning, only to see production decline, highlights a broader challenge in agriculture: efficiency is not the same as effectiveness. Mark and Maddie discuss: Why agtech often delivers value through better outcomes, not lower costs. Why cost-cutting can undermine productivity in biological systems. The realities of working with early-stage, evolving agtech products. Labor constraints and their role in driving automation in horticulture. Bridging the growing disconnect between producers and consumers Useful Links: Battunga Orchards from the air, Warragul, Victoria, Australia Future Orchards® | Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) Food Traceability QR Codes Investment Notes: Agovor How small growers think about agtech - Tenacious Ventures  Getting agtech ready - Tenacious Ventures For more information and resources, visit our website.  The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness. [00:7:20] Agtech drives better outcomes, not just lower costs.  [00:10:30] Cost-cutting can reduce yield. [00:26:30] Why growers and consumers are disconnected.

    34 min

  4. Apr 15

    Business Model Breakdowns with Shane Thomas: Co-Ops and their future in Ag

    Co-operatives have a long and sometimes colored history in agriculture, across the Western world. What role will they play in the future of agriculture? As agriculture becomes increasingly shaped by digital technologies and artificial intelligence, the question of who owns, governs, and benefits from farm data is still unresolved. Could co-ops be the answer? In this episode, Sarah Nolet is joined by Tenacious Ventures co-founder Matthew Pryor and the creator of Upstream Ag Insights, Shane Thomas, to explore the history of co-operatives as a means for farmers to pool resources and address market power imbalances.  They also unpack the business model behind co-ops and analyze whether the principles of co-ops could also be applied to digital infrastructure.  This episode is the first in a series of business model “breakdown” episodes we’ll be producing this year, where we’ll dig into how agriculture systems, structures, and even specific companies work, why they matter today, and the impact of agtech in their evolution.  This format is an experiment and we’d love your feedback! Sarah, Matthew, and Shane discuss: Why agricultural cooperatives emerged and how they address power imbalances in agricultural markets. How the cooperative model could extend from physical infrastructure to digital infrastructure and farm data governance. Whether co-ops could serve as trusted intermediaries for training AI models using aggregated farm data. How governance tensions between different types of farmers might play out in a data-driven future. How consolidation of cooperatives and changing farm structures could shape the future of technology adoption. Got a business model you’d like for us to break down in a future episode? Let us know! Useful Links: The 3 Fears of Farm Data (and bonus episode w/ audience responses) Coming to terms with farm data usage Farm data fears - more harm than good? Rebooting AgTech Software with AI, with Rhishi Pethe Companies mentioned: Regen Farmers Mutual; CBH Group; The Rochdale Pioneers | ICA; The UFA Agricultural Community Foundation - Our Purpose; CHS Inc.; History | WinField® United Australian Grains Champion withdraws CBH proposal OpenWeedLocator (OWL): an open-source, low-cost device for fallow weed detection | Scientific Reports For more information and resources, visit our website.  The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

    38 min

  5. Apr 1

    Halter’s $2 billion question, with founder Craig Piggott

    In less than a year, NZ-based virtual fencing company Halter raised $165 million and then $220 million more, reaching a $2 billion valuation at a time when global agtech funding is down more than 70% from its peak. By any measure, that's a remarkable achievement. But what does it actually mean? In this episode, Halter founder and CEO Craig Piggott speaks with our producer and dairy owner Kirsten Diprose about building the company from the ground up, from training cows on his parents' farm in the Waikato to shipping a million solar-powered collars across three countries. Craig and Kirsten discuss: What virtual fencing is and why pasture-based farmers are adopting it The technical and behavioural challenges of building reliable hardware for animals Halter’s evolution from a tech-first experiment into a farmer-first platform What scaling from New Zealand into Australia and the US actually looks like The conversation was recorded at the Australian Dairy Conference just before Halter’s Series E announcement. Host Sarah Nolet shares her own perspectives at the end, including the questions she wished she'd been able to ask Craig directly. Useful Links: Halter raises $220M in Series E less than a year after raising $165M Series D Kiwi AI farming start-up worth $2.9b as Peter Thiel invests Halter says it’s not an agtech company on the heels of $220m Series E The Innovation Sweet Spot: Aligning Corporates, Startups and Investors, with Brad Fruth and Frank Wooten For more information and resources, visit our website.  The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

    33 min

  6. Mar 18

    The Seven Year Itch: What We Got Wrong (and Right) in Australian Agtech, with Sam Duncan and Natalie Engel

    Seven years ago, agtech in Australia was still in its infancy. There were bold predictions, a flurry of startups, and an emerging ecosystem of programs and investors to back them. So how have things panned out? In this live stage recording at the 2026 AgriFutures evokeAG event in Melbourne, Sarah Nolet is joined by Sam Duncan, founder of GXLab (formerly FarmLab and Ziltek) and Natalie Engel, a QLD-based cattle producer. Together, they reflect on the last seven years of the Aussie agtech ecosystem: the hype cycles, the pivots, and the very human realities behind building technology in agriculture. Back in 2019 at the first evokeAG event, both Sam and Natalie pitched two very different ideas. Sam was an outsider to agriculture with a vision to use soil data and soil carbon to tackle climate change. While as a farmer, Natalie was reverse-pitching a problem: the frustrating reality of livestock traceability paperwork and the need for better digital tools. Seven years later, neither could have predicted where their agtech journeys would end up. Sarah, Sam, and Natalie discuss: What the agtech ecosystem looked like in 2019 and how expectations around soil carbon, digitization, and traceability have evolved. Why building agtech startups often requires navigating both the realities of farming and the pressures of venture-backed growth. The emotional toll of entrepreneurship in agriculture. Why the next decade of agtech may be driven less by hype and more by resilience, cost pressures, and geopolitical shifts affecting agriculture. Useful Links: Agriculture’s technology future: How connectivity can yield new growth | McKinsey FarmLab’s journey to GXLab: From Startup Alley to global soil solutions - evokeAG. Seven Years On, evokeAG. Returns to Melbourne to Chart Agtech’s Next Frontier Beyond the funding winter: Australia's agtech opportunity - evokeAG. Meet Natalie Engel - Cattle farmer and agtech enthusiast | Mobble Companies mentioned: Ceres Tag, Halter, Agovor, AgriProve, Mobble, OptiWeigh, AgFrontier  For more information and resources, visit our website.  The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

    27 min

  7. Mar 4

    The Innovation Sweet Spot: Aligning Corporates, Startups and Investors, with Brad Fruth and Frank Wooten

    While agrifood innovation often celebrates bold founders and breakthrough technologies, what happens when the incentives of corporates, startups and investors don’t quite align? In this live recording from evokeAG in Melbourne, Sarah Nolet is joined by Brad Fruth, Director of Innovation at Beck's Hybrids, and Frank Wooten, CEO of ArkeaBio and co-founder of Vence (acquired by Merck Animal Health). Together, they explore the “sweet spot” of agtech innovation, i.e. the balance between what customers and corporations want, while recognizing the constraints that innovators and investors face. Brad shares how Beck’s Hybrids, the largest family-owned retail seed company in the US, approaches innovation: rather than having a corporate venture arm, they focus on being internal problem-solvers and trusted matchmakers between startups. Meanwhile, Frank Wooten speaks candidly about the realities of raising venture capital in agriculture; where billion-dollar exits are rare, timelines are long, and alignment with customers matters more than valuation headlines. Sarah, Brad, and Frank discuss: Why “free pilots” can devalue agtech products before they’ve proven themselves. How corporations can support innovation without becoming distracted by it. The risks founders face when fundraising incentives distort execution priorities. The surprising advantages of Australian agriculture, from customer density to experimentation culture. Useful Links: Expanding the tools in the innovation toolkit: how agri-food corporates can engage with startups Building a Ladder to Commercial Success for Deep Tech Founders Disrupting the AgTech Ecosystem with Ron Adner 4 Tips for How Agri Corporates Can Innovate By Working With Startups For more information and resources, visit our website.  The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

    52 min

  8. Feb 18

    AI as a Competitive Farming Advantage, Paul Windemuller

    While farmer distrust of AI remains a key adoption barrier, will farm businesses that are being set up for an AI future have a competitive advantage? Paul Windemuller is a pioneering first-generation farmer and Nuffield Scholar from Coopersville, Michigan (USA). Along with his wife Brittany,  Paul built his farm from the ground up with limited capital, relying on ingenuity, automation, and data-driven decision-making to grow Dream Winds Dairy into a highly tech-enabled operation. In this episode, Paul shares his unconventional journey into dairy farming from digging parlor pits by hand and retrofitting sheds on a shoestring budget, to becoming an early adopter of robotics, wearable sensors, and AI-enabled tools. Paul didn’t grow up on a farm, so technology became a way to compensate for what he calls a lack of “cow sense,” helping him make faster decisions around health, breeding, and herd performance. As AI accelerates, Paul argues that adoption is less about buying another gadget and more about building the underlying foundations: connectivity, clean data, and a culture of curiosity within farming teams. Sarah and Paul discuss: How a lack of traditional farming experience became a catalyst for data-driven innovation.Why AI should be viewed as a utility, like electricity, rather than a single technology purchase.The practical steps farmers can take today to become “AI ready.” Why governance models that keep value with farmers and rural communities could determine whether AI delivers long-term benefits.Why farmer-owned data infrastructure and interoperability may be the next big innovation in agriculture.Useful Links: Leading the Herd: AI, Insight, and the Next Agricultural Revolution, (Paul’s Nuffield report)Getting Into the weeds: the AI data dilemmaArtificial Intelligence and the Future of Work in AgricultureYield maps killed agtech software, can AI fix it? (report)For more information and resources, visit our website.  The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

    30 min
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4.9
out of 5
26 Ratings

About

We tell the stories of innovators at the intersection of agriculture and technology to answer the question: what really is agtech and why should you care?

Information

  • Creator
    Sarah Nolet
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    211
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023 Tenacious Ventures
  • Show Website
    Agtech - So What?

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