Tag: Frankly Speaking

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

August 27, 2021

Gates isn’t the only one to have recognized that farmland investments can lead to solid returns.

Don’t blame business for cultivated meat’s cell line shortage. Public funding is the problem

July 23, 2021

Cell lines for cultivated meat R&D are proving hard to come by. But don’t point the finger of blame at startups, as a major UK newspaper appeared to do this week.

Dishing the dirt on ag carbon credits

July 13, 2021

Carbon credits schemes involving agriculture are growing in number – but not all are necessarily equal in their impact, Dan Blaustein-Rejto writes.

BYAS Greenhouse vegetables Plant row Grow with Led Light Indoor Farm Technology

Biological innovation is key to the economic & environmental sustainability of CEA

January 6, 2021

New research from biotech startup BYAS suggests that a microalgae extract could improve the commercial viability of indoor & vertical farms.

Digital ag: Why is predicting return on investment per field so hard?

June 16, 2020

Several factors have kept farmers guessing which fields are producing the lion’s share of profit – and which are responsible for making losses, writes Dmytro Lennyi.

Why is no one talking about agriculture as a solution to climate change?

May 28, 2020

Agriculture has only recently entered into the public conversation on climate change — and mostly in a negative way. Far less attention has been paid to agriculture’s capacity to be a climate solution.

It’s time to invest in a more resilient agrifood system

May 7, 2020

We’ve kicked the can down the road for too long when it comes to investing in our food system and Covid-19 is revealing its many weaknesses. We can do better.

Now is the time to invest in foodtech

April 30, 2020

As investors seek diversity in order to weather the storms ahead, now, more than ever, FoodTech stands out for its value, its strength, its opportunities and the benefits it brings, writes PeakBridge Partners.

How Indian agritech can help address climate risks

March 17, 2020

Jeff Bezos committing $10 billion to fight climate change through his new Earth Fund could not have been timelier. Climate change is for real. Here’s a look at some Indian agritech innovations that are trying to address climate change risks.

How did that fish get on your plate? A short look at fish farms

March 5, 2020

How do you farm in the ocean? It turns out there are lots of ways, as Scott Nichols explains.

Growing cannabis legally in the UK is hard, but far from impossible

February 27, 2020

BDS Analytics has forecast that the worldwide legal cannabis industry generated revenues in the region of £11.5 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow to around £35 billion by 2024. Alongside this phenomenal rate of growth, the UK agriculture sector is embarking upon a period of unprecedented change.

Meet AgFunder’s venture partner Tom Shields

December 26, 2019

Tom Shields is a venture partner at AgFunder and works with the deal team on sourcing and leading investments. A serial entrepreneur, he has co-founded two highly successful companies, NetGravity (IPO 1998) and Yieldex (acquired by AppNexus/AT&T in 2015).

Future Food Holiday Special: AgFunder’s Rob Leclerc on the last decade in ag and foodtech

December 24, 2019

This episode is perhaps a tad awkward as I interview my boss Rob Leclerc, founding partner of AgFunder, but Rob was as insightful as ever, sharing his thoughts on working in and around the agriculture sector for the past decade.

What the fork? I tasted the menu of the future in Singapore

December 18, 2019

Agri-food tech events all too often fall victim to an extremely irritating shortcoming — the food served is bland and unimaginative. Thankfully, that stodgy fate did not await delegates at this year’s Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Week in Singapore.

What the fork? Karana wishes “Happy Jacksgiving” with alt turkey

November 28, 2019

I tried Karana’s alt turkey at the recent Asia Agri-Food Innovation Week in Singapore. Here’s what I thought.

Bayer CropScience COO: acquisition is exception to rule in startup interactions

November 14, 2019

We caught up with Brett Begemann in London recently to talk glyphosate, Bayer’s venture activities, digital ag, gene editing and smallholder farmers.

Oyster farming: a true triple bottom line win

November 14, 2019

Recent academic work has found that oyster farming can remove nitrogen, phosphate and sediment from the water column making it more than just a profitable business with growing global demand, writes Chip Terry.

We just invested in the fastest-growing agtech company and farmer network in the world

October 30, 2019

People often ask us if agtech will have a Facebook or Google and we’ve told them to look to marketplaces in emerging markets. It’s also important to us at AgFunder that startups have a clear mission and there’s no more noble mission than uplifting the fortunes of the world’s largest workforce.

From biz dev at Grubhub to Kraft Heinz’s VC arm, Steve Sanger is still selling hard

September 30, 2019

Evolv Ventures launched late last year as the venture arm of ketchup and mac-and-cheese behemoth Kraft Heinz with $100 million to invest in startups. We caught up with Steve Sanger, a partner at Evolv, to find out more about the fund’s strategy and his personal shift from startup to investor

Future Food: Klaus Kunz on how Bayer is cleaning up its act

September 24, 2019

In this episode of Future Food, AFN editor Louisa Burwood-Taylor speaks to Klaus Kunz, head of Sustainability and Business Stewardship at German agro-pharma giant Bayer.