![Plenty Vertical Farm CEO Matt Barnard: “We Have a Lot of Work to Do” [podcast]](https://i1.wp.com/agfundernews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Matt-Barnard.jpg?resize=672%2C372&ssl=1)
In today's episode, we speak to Matt Barnard, CEO of indoor vertical farming company Plenty about his record-breaking $200 funding round and his plans for growing a global farming business with highly localized customers.
![How Are Food Companies Interacting with Startup Innovation? Are We Headed for Margarine 2.0? [podcast]](https://i1.wp.com/agfundernews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/shutterstock_285473378.jpg?resize=672%2C372&ssl=1)
In today's episode, I speak to Nick Fereday, senior analyst of consumer foods at Rabobank, the Dutch food and agribusiness bank.
![How an Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Startup Got Acquired by John Deere [podcast]](https://i1.wp.com/agfundernews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/shutterstock_685356082.jpg?resize=672%2C372&ssl=1)
In this episode, I speak to Jorge Heraud, the cofounder and CEO of Blue River Technology, a Silicon Valley startup bringing robotics to the farm. Blue River was recently acquired by John Deere, the world's largest tractor company, for $305 million.
While agtech startup activity tends to concentrate on the two coasts of the US, there are a growing number of rural agtech startups. We speak to three to find out what it's like building a startup outside of San Francisco and New York.
Two weeks ago I headed to Stockholm, Sweden to speak at and attend the Sweden Food Tech “Big Meet” conference and I was impressed by the small but growing level of activity in the country.
We speak to Sam Kass about his transition from a chef to a policy advisor to a venture capital investor, Obama's interest in the sector, and which technologies he thinks will be transformative to the food system, nutritionally and environmentally.
Smallholder farmers have limited cash flow to be able to purchase new agtech, so SunCulture, and other agtech startups operating in the African region, have had to get creative in how they sell their wares.
Feeling reflective as we approach the holiday season and the end of 2016? In this week’s podcast, we talk to two food and agtech experts about the trends they’ve noticed in ag and foodtech in 2016.
Two key features of the conference this year were a panel discussion about gene editing and the issue of public acceptance and innovating around food waste.
The idea for this week's podcast came from Sanjeev Krishnan, founding partner at S2G Ventures, the Chicago-based food and agtech venture capital firm.
![[Podcast] Moore & Warner’s Kolb Talks Agtech Adoption, Farmer Mentality, and How to Disrupt Ag](https://i2.wp.com/agfundernews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/DJI_0024-e1466704675389.jpg?resize=672%2C372&ssl=1)
Kolb discusses agtech adoption challenges, how different types of agtech are being adopted, and the importance of farmer mentality when building agtech startups.
![[Podcast] How to Build an Agtech Portfolio in India by Omnivore Partners’ Mark Kahn](https://i1.wp.com/agfundernews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/IMG_4897_rot.jpg?resize=672%2C372&ssl=1)
Listen to Kahn, a regular on the US agtech scene, talk about why he ended up in India, how the firm built its first agtech portfolio and the rapidly changing dynamics of the industry at large.
![[Podcast] Using Machine Learning to Discover Crop Traits and Launching Benson Hill Biosystems](https://i2.wp.com/agfundernews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/grasp-1280437_1280.jpg?resize=672%2C372&ssl=1)
Last week, Benson Hill Biosystems announced the launch of CropOS, its data analytics platform, which uses machine learning and cloud biology to tackle agriculture’s biggest challenges.
