farmers

From the vault: Mark Ferguson on science, sheep, and the tech-enabled future of genetics

From the vault: Mark Ferguson on science, sheep, and the tech-enabled future of genetics

Mark “Ferg” Ferguson is a sheep geneticist who’s paying attention to how both consumer demands and emerging technologies are impacting growers. Drawing on his experience with dozens of clients around Australia and New Zealand, Ferg shares:

  • insights for agtech companies, like the importance of personas and how to build relationships in a digital world;

  • what the future of extension and consulting in livestock looks like;

  • the role of cutting edge technologies in the sheep industry; and

  • a vision for the future where consumers expectations are met and growers are profitable.

Why You Should Give a F*ck About Farming

Why You Should Give a F*ck About Farming

Does the average citizen actually need to care about how their food is produced? This is the central question Australian author and journalist, Gabrielle Chan, set out to answer. Her latest book, “Why you should give a f*ck about farming” details her firm conclusion, that yes, if you eat food, you should in fact care about agriculture.

While the old days of agriculture as the top contributor to GDP is over for most Western countries, Gabrielle argues the future of food and farming is becoming increasingly important for a raft of other reasons such as climate change and food security.


Farmers and Startups: Tips for Collaboration

Farmers and Startups: Tips for Collaboration

The divide between farmers and startups can seem like a chasm. Tech culture and agriculture have evolved from completely different backgrounds, and even seem to have their own languages. So how can agtech bring together two very different groups?

In this episode, you’ll hear practical tips from farmers and agtech experts on how to build mutually beneficial relationships. For startups, this includes approaching farmers as partners, rather than ‘customers,’ and understanding ‘grower economics’. And for farmers, it’s about finding opportunities to access and help shape new products as the startup iterates.

Ep 64 Pete Nelson on partnering with growers to build better agtech

Ep 64 Pete Nelson on partnering with growers to build better agtech

This week Sarah is joined by a guest host, Cass Mao, Principal Advisor at AgThentic, to chat with Pete Nelson of AgLaunch about how growers and agtech companies can work together in a model that they call "farmer-centric innovation"

Pete Nelson, originally a farmer and an English major at University, has been actively involved in building the support ecosystem for new agricultural enterprises for over 15 years. He has worked with a variety of public and private sector partners and helped to launch multiple startup companies. More recently, as President of AgLaunch, Pete has been working on sector-specific initiatives to fund, incubate, and accelerate agricultural companies with high growth potential by working with farmers.

In this episode, Pete explains what “farmer-centric innovation” means, how AgLaunch is driving it, and how having growers at the table fundamentally changes outcomes for startups and regional communities.

Ep 59: Mic Fels on startup buzzwords and where the real value is in agtech

Ep 59: Mic Fels on startup buzzwords and where the real value is in agtech

Mic Fels and his wife Marnie crop about 11,000 hectares in Esperance, Western Australia. But Mic is not your average farmer. He's an early adopter of technologies and farming systems (e.g., Controlled Traffic), and an innovator, building and commercializing a range of software products and machinery through his company, iPaddock.

On this episode, Mic shares where he is- and isn't- getting value in agtech, and what he's learned about both startups and farming from his journey as an entrepreneur.