Agtech Action | Week of 07.27.24 - 08.02.24
Agtech Action is a weekly newsletter highlighting and commenting on current events in the world of agtech
Two-thirds of US dairy farms vanished in a generation, Instacart & Albertsons launch delivery service, and Deere speaks publicly amidst layoffs. Climate change and crop insurance, the boar wars, and 108 feet wheat mural in Kansas goes viral.
There is a time for transparency, and there is a time for optics. Being clear is a good baseline, but it pays to be artful. Optics are necessary in agtech. I’ll explain when in this week’s newsletter.
Food and the World:
Imports critical for U.S. asparagus supply
Two of every three U.S. dairy farms vanished in a generation, but milk production rose by a third
McDonald’s earnings, revenue miss estimates as consumer pullback worsens
Analyst: Oversold, but is it time to buy?
U.S. wheat yields up significantly over 2023
Consumer packs gain traction for onions
Increasing pessimism about 2024 and 2025 corn and soybean returns
Worried about bird flu mutation, feds seek livestock worker vaccinations
USDA proposes limits on salmonella bacteria in raw poultry products
2023 and 2024 Will Go Down As the Two Largest Declines in Net Farm Income Ever
Michigan wheat harvest on rapid pace with touch of dry weather
Federal government pays $2 billion for farmer discrimination
Multiyear run of low corn and soybean prices looms
Agtech in the News:
Yeast-powered RNAi is the future of precision pest management, says Renaissance Bioscience
Colorado farmers tell FTC head federal right-to-repair policy needed
HabiTerre Collaborates with Tyson Foods in LGS Sustain Program
Treating beef like coal would make a big dent in greenhouse-gas emissions
ICL Continues Expanding Its Specialty Plant Nutrition Footprint in North America
Instacart and Albertsons Cos. launch pickup services and convenience delivery
CNH Industrial reports 38% total net income reduction year-over-year, ag sales down 20%
Fun:
Vermont dairy farmer to compete in second Olympics
Massive Paris Farm Auction Vaults to Gold
A Work of Art: The 108 Feet Tall Wheat Harvest Mural in Kansas That's Going Viral
How The Deep State Tried, And Failed, To Crush An American Farmer
Three Iowa Farm Wives Escape “the Grind” By Grinding Beans And Selling Coffee
Helpful Resources:
Three Uncomfortable (but Vital) Leadership Truths for Entrepreneurs
Q3 2024 PitchBook Analyst Note: Infrastructure Investors Capitalize on the Digital Revolution
Q3 2024 PitchBook Analyst Note: Currency Crossroads: A Cross-Border Payments Deep Dive
Q2 2024 Information Security Report
Corporate buyers make preemptive bids to snag PE assets
July 2024 Global Markets Snapshot
Interesting Reads:
John Deere Speaks Publicly for the First Time About Layoffs, New Challenges in the Ag Economy
Harnessing the Power of Mushrooms to Clean Up Our Soil
Upcycling Apple Waste Could Give Chickens a Gut Health Boost
A California court just granted an ag giant a win. It could jeopardize new farm union law
He says he invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. He didn’t, said Frito-Lay. Now he’s suing
Montana Has More Cows Than People. Why Are Locals Eating Beef from Brazil?
Malaysia: Promising destination for U.S. pork
How big is the U.S. cattle herd?
Start-up investments in Africa in 2024 have now crossed the $1 billion mark
US Farmers Want to Adapt to Climate Change, But Crop Insurance Won’t Let Them
Animal Cruelty Charges After 14 Cattle Killed with Cross Bow at Oklahoma Monastery
Ohio State University building new dairy facility
Animal Cruelty Charges After 14 Cattle Killed with Cross Bow at Oklahoma Monastery
NIFA Invests $8.7M in Inter-Disciplinary Engagement in Animal Systems
Staging Soybeans for Fungicide at the R3 Growth Stage
Black and Other Minority Farmers Receive $2 Billion from USDA
Meat Madness: How American Farmers Almost Became Hippo Ranchers
How One Entrepreneur is Disrupting Venture Capital
Biden administration invests up to $400M to address water conservation
There Are No Good Options Left With Bird Flu
Laid end to end, the world’s fences would reach the sun. What are they doing to wildlife?
Finance:
NovoNutrients Raises US$18M Series A led by Woodside Energy and co-led by CM Venture Capital
NATO Innovation Fund invests in Berlin-based early-stage VC firm Join Capital: Know more
H1 agtech and forestry fundraising climbs to highest level in three years
Paine Schwartz considers portfolio-wide decarbonization drive
IFC commits $50M to BTG’s reforestation fund
Bill Gates’ climate VC raises $839M toward new fund, sector’s largest this year
NSW biodiversity reforms seek to boost investor confidence
LandFund Partners’ open-end fund grows to $165M
Agtech Startup Applied Carbon Secures $21.5M in Series A Round for Biochar Tech
Minimally processed alt meat startup Millow nets $2.6m EIC grant, plans new facility
Cultivated meat is down but not out, says meat industry veteran and new CEO at Meatable
Water tech company Xylem expands CVC investment by $50M
Five European start-ups using food tech to reimagine fats
Theme of the Agtech Week: Optics
As a rule of thumb, it is best to be transparent. Be upfront about your tech, your business, your financials, your team, your market and I could go on. I discussed this in a past newsletter and it demands a reminder. But sometimes you need to tell a story. Sometimes you need to embellish a bit. Sometimes you need to be clever. That is called optics. Agtech needs more of that.
Optics entails:
Disclosing just enough about your tech and its capabilities, especially to the market.
Marketing and branding your tech as everywhere or that everyone is using it.
Selling your product, and your organization (people), as the ‘next big thing!’
Those are just a few optical tactics that I have seen deployed (there are many more, and please don’t be shy to share). Why do these things? Well,
Strategy. You want to show the market what your tech can do, or give them enough to arrive at their own conclusions. But you do not want to give up too much because your competition, or eventual acquirer, is listening.
Ecosystem. Does everyone remember when Facebook started as just a college website thing? Then it became THE place to connect online. If you market your tech as something that everyone is using and you can’t miss, then more people will use it! It’s called network effects.
Business model. So you want people to buy your product? Well you have to sell it to them first, and you have to believe in it! Sales is a combination of precision, patience and artfulness. Tactics like ‘the next big thing’ are one of many tools a salesman has in his arsenal. And the best sale is the one you don’t have to make!
Agtech must do a better job of telling a story. Optics is about crafting a story that the market wants to hear and needs to hear. It’s about compelling the market to pay attention, make a purchase decision, and then delivering. Optics helps agtech get there, and once you do, YOU HAVE TO DELIVER. Agtech does not have a execution problem, it has a ‘getting to the execution’ problem. We’ll get there!
Thanks for reading.
BD
Brandon Day is the Chief Operating Officer of The Yield Lab Institute, the global agtech think-tank, ecosystem builder, non-profit arm of The Yield Lab global network of venture capital funds. The views, opinions and commentary expressed are solely those of Brandon Day.