The Two Faces of Global ESG in Ag with Catherine Marriott

When it comes to designing carbon programs in agriculture, there is a very real tension between the science and the commercial realities of drawing down carbon at scale. Particularly, the question of how to incentivize on-farm practice changes is one that many companies in ag carbon have failed to answer.Working at the intersection of these tensions is our guest this week, Emma Fuller, Carbon and Ecosystem Services Portfolio Leader at Corteva Agriscience. An accomplished data scientist and ecologist, Emma began her career in agrifood systems publishing research on West Coast fisheries in the US, before jumping into the world of startups at Granular. After their $300M acquisition by what is now Corteva Agriscience, today Emma designs programs that credit farmers for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or sequestering carbon in their soils.In this episode, Emma talks about:How it felt to move from academia into industry, and how Emma realized that the barriers to scaling carbon programs had little to do with scienceWhy Corteva decided to partner with carbon marketplaces, and how this strategy is unlocking more scale and delivering value to both partiesConflicts of interest in carbon markets, and whether one company can both measure an intangible commodity and sell itFor more information and resources, visit our website.

13 Juli 202237min

This week we're bringing you the final episode in our three-part series on the future of ag insurance.Our journey started with learning the ins and outs of how the sector currently operates (check out the ag insurance 101 episode here) and then talking to key players about new products and technologies entering the industry (check out Damon Johnson on parametric insurance here).Today, Sarah is joined by Matthew Pryor to talk through their learnings in a live attempt to develop an investment thesis for ag insurance. They cover:Technologies and business models shifting the CAC/LTV equation in ag insuranceHow insurance is likely to change as agriculture faces more and more extreme weather eventsWhat entrepreneurs disrupting ag insurance need to be excellent atPossible areas for venture investment in ag insurance, from new products to enabling infrastructure and digitally-native business modelsWe hope you enjoy this peek behind the curtain of how we think and work, but if you didn't, or you think we missed or got something wrong, we'd love to hear from you! Shout out at @agtechsowhat or via our website.

29 Juni 202236min

For a traditionally low innovation industry, things are starting to heat up in agricultural insurance.While it remains something of a black box for many people in agriculture, the forces of climate change and technological innovation are creating the right mix of incentives that could change how the whole industry approaches risk.This second episode of our exploration of ag insurance (check out the first, a 101 on ag insurance, here!) considers a digitally-native product in the hands of farmers today. Reimagining insurance like this will be the difference between farmers spending hours, days, and weeks dealing with brokers and getting payouts, compared to almost instant quotes, claims, and reimbursements.In this episode, our guest Damon Johnson, Director of Strategic Projects at Global Ag Risk Solutions, speaks about:What incentives are changing to increase the use of more data in agricultural insuranceHow parametric insurance works as an alternative to traditional agricultural productsWhat’s involved in developing a parametric product to create new value for customers as well as vendorsWhere digitally-native insurance products might emerge as a value-add for sustainable farming systems and inputsFor more information and resources, visit our website.

15 Juni 202234min

Climate change will mean more frequent, extreme weather and more risk exposure for farmers around the world. This increased risk should be a driver for the business of agricultural insurers. But, it’s not easy to predict how climate change and digital-disruption might transform one of the world’s oldest industries.Actually, we’ve come to realize it isn’t easy to understand how agricultural insurance works at all.So, in the spirit of learning out loud, we’re releasing TWO episodes this week. This first one dives into the mysterious world of ag insurance with a 101-style conversation with Matt Coutts, Chief Investment Officer of Coutts Capita, and Tenacious Ventures General Partner Matthew Pryor.We talk about:How farmers think about risk and forms of insuranceWhat ag insurance products actually do, how they work, who is involved, and what the dynamics are between different players from brokers to master agentsWhy ag insurance, as it is structured today, is a zero-sum game played out between insurers and farmersWhat the different forces are that will shape the industry into the futureFor more information and resources, visit our website.

14 Juni 202228min

Recently the whole team here at Tenacious Ventures had the chance to get out of town and on to the farm. And not just any farm – we visited Jigsaw Farms, home to sheep farmer and long-time friend of the show Mark Wooton and his wife Eve. While out at Jigsaw, Mark and Eve gave us an update on their vision for “sustainable intensification” and their ethos for farm management.In that spirit we wanted to revisit our original conversation with Mark that was published nearly two years ago. After the recent visit to Jigsaw, it’s clear there are insights from this first discussion that are still valuable and relevant today, as Mark talks about:Balancing the social imperative to farm ethically with production methods that can keep businesses profitable,Keeping an eye on emerging trends like ecosystem services markets, and being open to the possibility of accessing premiums where they might emergeThe growing regenerative agriculture movement, and the need for farmers to think critically about guidelines and principles that are often put forward as dogmaThe primacy of data in every decision that gets made on the farmFor more information and resources, visit our website.

1 Juni 202239min

It isn’t surprising that most farmers have to be expert planners and investors. But getting an inside view into how a farmer plans for the future of their business is a rare opportunity.In this episode, you’ll hear firsthand how Hallie Shoffner, a sixth-generation row crop farmer in the Mississippi Delta, makes decisions for her farm and company, SFR Seed. While Hallie is an enthusiastic adopter of new farming innovations, this conversation shows that every decision must be well supported by reliable data and the right incentives.Listen in to hear Hallie speak about:Investing in conservation practices as a tactic to mitigate financial and environmental riskWhat farmers like Hallie want to see from potential partners and vendors in agtechHow COVID-19 impacted a large project to electrify operations on the farmWhy many farmers are skeptical of participating in carbon programs and marketsFor more information and resources, visit our website.

18 Maj 202235min

Our latest bonus podcast episode is an experiment.Rather than organize the contributions that usually make up an episode, we decided to hit record on one of the conversations that are always happening internally at Tenacious Ventures.It’s a snapshot into how we think, form and test our assumptions, and decide on what might be next.It also captured the team taking on a pretty hot topic on the mind of everyone in agtech battling with adoption and scaling digitally-native solutions:Have we in agtech completely f*****d farmers by making them afraid of sharing their data?Listen in to Matthew Pryor and Sarah Nolet from Tenacious Ventures, and Shane Thomas, agronomist and author at Upstream Ag Insights, work through an emerging theory that uncertainty and fear about farm data is a largely unfounded barrier to adoption.Throughout this recorded conversation, the team explores questions like:Which barriers to adoption are actually grounded in reality when it comes to farmers and farm data?How did the agtech industry create such fear around farm data, and who has the greatest leverage to change the conversation?Why could improvements in data migration unlock greater adoption of digitally-native solutions by farmers?For more information and resources, visit our website.

11 Maj 202229min

There are many different views about the future of autonomous farming. One is that, out of the emerging autonomous equipment providers and established blue chip suppliers, there will be clear winners and losers in the battle for on-farm dominance. Another is that farming in the future will involve all kinds of autonomous solutions. This second possibility presents tons of opportunities to add value for farmers.Our guest on this week’s episode is Iftach Birger, Co-Founder and COO at FieldIn, a farm data and autonomous equipment startup founded in Israel. Rather than wade into the fray playing out between new autonomous equipment players and established corporations, FieldIn is attempting to create a platform that allows a mixed fleet of equipment to interact seamlessly.Iftach joins us to speak about:Lessons for the agtech world from being born and raised on a high-value crop farm in IsraelWhat’s more important for a scaling agtech startup - building what customers say they want, what they actually need, and what is even possible within the present day constraintsThe intricacies of the farm labor debate as it relates to on-farm autonomyHow to provide the service alongside the software in an industry that values (but might not pay for) boots-on-the-ground partners in the futureFor more information and resources, visit our website.

4 Maj 202234min