AFN’s top 5 guest articles of 2022

We regularly publish guest articles at AFN in order to provide the most holistic coverage of agrifoodtech possible, and let the experts speak for themselves.

Throughout the year, our readers get a steady stream of these posts, which range from brief analyses of certain trends to full-on market maps of entire industries. 

Sometimes, these posts say in blunt terms what no one else has yet been willing to say. Such is the case with this year’s top guest post, which is all about the “branding catastrophe” plant-based protein has become. 

Below, we’ve rounded up that and the other most-read guests posts from the last 12 months. These articles are ordered by unique pageviews published on AFN this year.

1. After billions in investment, plant-based meat is a branding catastrophe

Adam Hanft, brand strategist & AgFunder advisor [disclosure: AgFunder is AFN’s parent company]

Plant-based proteins stoped being novel long ago. As sales slump and “me too” products proliferate, the whole industry is in danger of becoming one big marketing disaster.

2. He says it’s not about climate. So why is Bill Gates investing in farmland?

Rebecca Bauer, FarmTogether

This post holds the number two spot for a second year in a row. In it, FarmTogether’s head of public relations Rebecca Bauer outlines the reasons the Gates’ have been buying up loads of farmland for the last decade.

3. Ag Carbon Market Map: Meet the 75 companies helping to harness the benefits of regen ag

Matthew Guinness, Hummingbird Technologies

With ag carbon market companies popping up left and right these days, keeping track is a daunting prospect. VP of sustainability Matthew Guinness was up to the challenge this year, laying out the major players in the ag carbon landscape in one handy market map.

4. The economics of local vertical & greenhouse farming are getting competitive

Peter Tasgal, agriculture consultant

Nowadays, greenhouses and vertical farms — or a combination of the two — are adept at meeting consumers’ needs and wants for produce. Tasgal explores two such companies to determine how indoor farms can efficiently deploy capital and get even closer to meeting customers’ demands.

5. Vertical farming is headed for the ‘trough of disillusionment.’ Here’s why that’s a good thing

Henry Gordon-Smith, Agritecture

Readers in 2022 continued to land on this post, which was 2021’s top guest article. In it, Henry Gordon-Smith unpacks the realities vertical farming faces as it travels the Gartner Hype Cycle.