How Mechanization is Helping with Vineyard Labor Shortages — The idea of wine country usually conjures images of idyllic rolling hills of peaceful vineyards. Most of us, even the most avid wine consumers, don’t realize the amount of technology that goes into growing grapes. Richard Hoff is the Director of Viticulture for Mercer Ranches, a vineyard in Washington state…

I like understanding the perspectives of investors. Analyzing the big picture, investors stake their money and their livelihood on on their convictions. Success usually means manifesting a future that today only exists in their ideas. This is an ideal vantage point for the “Future of Agriculture” podcast and blog. I believe in the adage of “follow the…

The term “sustainable agriculture” often leads to images of smaller and more local farming systems. While I believe these serve as one piece of a sustainable food system, these systems are a very small part of the puzzle. Opposite sides of the spectrum in terms of size and distance does…

Innovation continues to accelerate. Why, in an environment of seemingly limitless solutions, do we still have so many problems? There are many different explanations as to why this might be the case. One that has stuck out to me lately is that innovation often causes new pain points. In other…

Part nine of our “Accelerating AgTech” series that profiles exciting ag startups and the accelerators that help them to be successful. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8. — Dr Mike Diprose spent a career at Sheffield University researching electrical weed control. No, I don’t mean managing weeds around electrical lines. His research focused on using electrical energy to kill weeds, an approach some now refer to as an “electricide”.

Part eight of our “Accelerating AgTech” series that profiles exciting ag startups and the accelerators that help them to be successful. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7. — How do two computer science majors end up starting a company in the aquaculture industry? For Tony Chen, Co-Founder of Manolin, it all started with learning about oyster farming in the Chesapeake Bay. …

Part of a mini-series about tools for the modern farm business sponsored by Granular — “It’s great to sell a product, but you have to have the people and systems in place to make it work…I think that’s a challenge in the ag industry.” — Jeff Sims, 4th Generation Farmer The modern farm is a large, complex, leveraged, and demanding business that requires capable leadership…

Part of a mini-series about tools for the modern farm business sponsored by Granular — I am not a farmer, but I do get to see a lot of new ag technologies coming to the market. Speaking with farmers, there is definitely a fatigue associated with the promise of a new tool that will “revolutionize” (in quotes because almost always hyperbole) the way they do…

Part of a mini-series about tools for the modern farm business sponsored by Granular The boom in agtech in recent years has provided an array of new tools for farmers. Many of these tools include new ways to collect data. But is more data always the answer? “Farmers have data…