We tell the stories of innovators at the intersection of agriculture and technology to answer the question: what really is agtech and why should you care?
As technology makes equipment more autonomous, precise, and serviceable from anywhere, will dealers become less important? Or will they become an even more valuable technology-enabled partner to farmers?
Today, Shane Thomas (Upstream Ag Insights) joins us to unpack the underlying economics of ag equipment dealers in our latest, Business Model Breakdowns episode of AgTech So What?
As many know, dealerships are where most equipment gets sold, serviced, and supported. But the business model is more complicated than simply selling tractors and parts. And, it’s changing.
We examine dealers largely by breaking down Titan Machinery, the world’s largest CNH dealership, with around $US 2.5 billion in revenue and more than 100 locations across the US, Eastern Europe, and Australia.
The surprising part? The equipment itself isn't where most of their profits come from. While equipment sales make up the majority of dealership revenue, parts, service, and rentals generate the majority of gross margin.
In this episode, Sarah, Matthew and Shane discuss:
Got a business model in ag you’d like for us to break down in a future episode? Let us know!
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For more information and resources, visit our website.
The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
Companies: Titan Machinery • Topics: ag-retail, farm-machinery, business-model, agtech-ecosystem
What happens when you stop thinking about trees and agriculture as separate systems?
In this episode, sixth-generation Australian farmer and engineer Michael Taylor explains what decades of planting trees have taught his family about farming, resilience and innovation.
On their New England Tablelands farm, “Taylor’s Run,” the Taylors began planting trees for a practical reason: shelter. But over generations, those trees have become part of a much bigger story about agroforestry, biodiversity, natural capital, and the complex interactions at work across a farming system.
Michael discusses why farming, despite his engineering background, is one of the most complex systems to manage. He shares the lessons that have emerged over decades of tree planting, as well as the mistakes. And the unexpected benefits those experiences have revealed.The conversation also explores what happens when we try to put numbers around nature. Michael discusses how natural capital accounting and data can help demonstrate, in tangible figures, some of the things farmers already see and observe in their landscapes.
Sarah and Michael also discuss:
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For more information and resources, visit our website.
The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
Topics: agroforestry, natural-capital, biodiversity, climate-risk, agtech-ecosystem
What if crops could tell you when they were sick, before you could see the symptoms?
Gary Schaefer leads the commercial organization at InnerPlant, a company with a radically different approach to crop monitoring: engineering plants to communicate when they are under stress.
InnerPlant’s technology enables plants to emit a fluorescent signal within hours of infection by specific diseases, potentially giving farmers access to real-time information about what is happening in their crops. Their first commercial product, CropVoice, uses strategically placed “sentinel” plants to provide localized information about fungal disease risk in soybeans.
But like all things in agtech, technology is only part of the story.
In discussion with Dr Madeline Mitchell, Gary shares what InnerPlant has learned about bringing a new category of agtech to market. If plants can tell us what’s happening before we can see it, what else might that change about agriculture?
Useful Links:
For more information and resources, visit our website.
The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
Companies: InnerPlant • Topics: ag-data, ai, crops-horticulture, innovation
Agriculture often talks about telling a better story, but Jim Gall, the CEO of RB Sellars argues the real challenge is giving people something worth believing in.
RB Sellars is a workwear brand that’s well-known in regional Australia, largely for its work shirts. In this episode, Sarah speaks with Jim about why the strongest brands don't simply market themselves, rather they’re using technology, data, and transparency to earn trust. From AI-powered customer service and fiber traceability to customer insights and regional investment, Jim shares how innovation can strengthen relationships rather than replace them.
Drawing on his unique career spanning journalism, marketing, farming, and leadership, Jim explains why agriculture's future depends on businesses that understand their customers, invest in their communities, and build stories grounded in truth.
Sarah and Jim discuss:
Useful Links:
For more information and resources, visit our website.
The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
Companies: RB Sellars • Topics: marketing-brands, supply-chain, agtech-ecosystem, people-culture
How do you know when a new agtech product is actually ready for the farm?
Growing up on a family farm in Colorado over the declining Ogallala Aquifer, Chad Godsey has spent his career searching for ways to improve water and nutrient efficiency. These days he’s the Chief Agronomist for Green Evolution Technologies, which has a hydrogel technology that’s engineered to store water and nutrients in the soil.
This episode explores why adoption looks different on every farm, how growers are increasingly using their own data to assess new products, and why farmer confidence, not just evidence, is often the biggest barrier to change.
Hosted by Tenacious’ Dr. Maddie Mitchell, they discuss why Green Evolution Technologies has deliberately taken a slower path to market, the role of farmer investors, and how building a product around real farming systems (versus chasing rapid growth) can create stronger businesses in the long term.
Maddie and Chad discuss:
Useful Links:
For more information and resources, visit our website.
The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
Companies: Green Evolution Technologies • Topics: ag-tech-adoption, ag-data, soil-health, farm-economics
What if the future of food isn't about convincing people to care more about sustainability, but rather focusing on what can improve taste?
In this episode, Tenacious’ Dr. Maddie Mitchell speaks with food futurist and innovation strategist Mike Lee about the forces shaping the future of food, agriculture, and consumer behavior.
Mike has spent his career helping some of the world's largest food companies think differently about innovation. He's also the author of Mise: On the Future of Food, a speculative magazine from the future that explores what food systems could look like over the coming decades.
Together, Maddie and Mike unpack why consumers consistently say they care about sustainability but continue to buy based on taste, convenience, and price. They explore the growing interest in soil health and why one of the biggest opportunities for agtech may be proving the connection between healthy soils, flavor, and nutrient density.
They discuss:
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For more information and resources, visit our website.
The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
Companies: Chobani, Alpha Food Labs, Bionutrient Food Association, Edacious • Topics: food-consumer, soil-health, food-systems, innovation
With the surname “Kentish,” Nic carries his family’s potato growing legacy. While it's one of pride, the journey has certainly not been easy. After returning to the family farm in South Australia, he found himself confronting one of the biggest challenges many farming families face: how to build a profitable, sustainable business in an increasingly volatile industry.
In this episode, Nic Kentish unpacks his lessons learned from decades in farming, including a difficult transition into organic potato production that ultimately left the business carrying significant debt. Nic speaks candidly about the financial and emotional pressure that comes with succession, the realities of running high-risk agricultural enterprises, and why understanding your gross margins matters just as much as understanding your soils.
Now an educator with RCS’s Grazing for Profit program, Nic explains why he believes agriculture must be viewed as a connected system: where soil health, profitability, relationships, livestock management, and technology are all intertwined. The conversation explores regenerative agriculture, biological farming, and why Nic prefers to focus less on labels and more on outcomes.
Sarah and Nic discuss:
Useful Links:
For more information and resources, visit our website.
The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
Companies: RCS • Topics: soil-health, farm-economics, regen-ag, crops-horticulture
What if one of agriculture’s most controversial “waste problems” is actually its most overlooked opportunity?
Daniel Carson is an entrepreneur based in New Zealand, who wants to transform the beef industry from the ground up by directly addressing the challenge of what happens to non-replacement dairy calves.
Through his startup, Miti, Daniel is building a new model that grows these calves into “young beef” and turns them into value-added protein products. But the product itself is only part of the story. It’s also a demonstration of a new production and supply chain system that’s designed to better align with global demand for lean protein and lower emissions.
Daniel explains how this system leverages existing biological advantages from fast-growing dairy animals, built-in traceability, and shorter production cycles, to create a lower-emissions protein source. But despite strong fundamentals at the farm level, scaling the model runs into a familiar agtech barrier: the cost of infrastructure.
Processing systems, supply chains, and industry incentives are all designed around large, premium carcasses. Therefore, to truly unlock the value potential Daniel believes in, some well-established systems would need to be challenged.
Daniel and Sarah discuss:
Useful Links:
For more information and resources, visit our website.
The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
Companies: Miti • Topics: livestock-dairy, meat-protein, supply-chain, innovation
Monsanto is one of the most influential and controversial companies in the history of global agriculture. But beyond the headlines, what can its evolution teach us about how value is created and captured in ag?
As agriculture enters a new era shaped by technological advances, climate pressures, and macroeconomic uncertainty, understanding where power sits in the system and how it shifts has never been more important. Monsanto’s story offers insight into how control points are built, defended, and transformed over time.
In this episode, Sarah Nolet is joined by Tenacious Ventures co-founder Matthew Pryor and the creator of Upstream Ag Insights, Shane Thomas, to break down the business model evolution of Monsanto.
Together, they trace Monsanto’s journey from a chemical manufacturing company built on waste stream transformation, through the rise of glyphosate and innovation in crop protection, to its defining move into seeds and traits.
They dig into how Monsanto layered in strategies around licensing, branding, regulation, and distribution to build one of the most powerful positions in modern agriculture.
This episode is our second Business Model Breakdown, where we explore how agricultural systems, companies, and structures actually work and what that means for the future of agtech. This format is an experiment and we’d love your feedback!
Sarah, Matthew, and Shane discuss:
Got a business model you’d like for us to break down in a future episode? Let us know!
Useful Links:
For more information and resources, visit our website.
The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
Companies: Monsanto, Bayer, Corteva • Topics: agtech-ecosystem, business-model, ag-data, ag-retail
Some of the most transformative innovation in agri-food is happening downstream of the farm, in the materials, products, and industries that agriculture ultimately feeds into.
In this episode, Sarah Nolet speaks with Tina Funder, founder of Alt Leather, an Australian startup developing fully bio-based alternatives to traditional leather.
Tina’s journey into agtech didn’t begin in a lab or on a farm, but in advertising, where she developed a deep understanding of customers, branding, and problem solving. Concerned that most alternative leathers were more plastic than plant, Tina has built a company which sits across multiple industries, from agriculture, biotechnology, manufacturing and fashion.
But this complexity comes with its challenges. Is Alt Leather a materials company? A biotech platform? Or a manufacturing business? And how does that complexity impact their ability to build a team, raise capital, and commercialize?
Sarah and Tina also discuss:
The conversation also reframes one of the most widely misunderstood aspects of leather. While much of the narrative focuses on livestock emissions, Tina highlights that the majority of environmental impact comes from the tanning process (including water use, chemicals, and pollution.)
Useful Links:
For more information and resources, visit our website.
The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.
Companies: Alt Leather • Topics: innovation, alt-materials, business-model, agtech-ecosystem