A Roadmap to Better Decision Making

Barcelona-based start-up "Bioo" has developed a unique way of generating electricity from plants’ photosynthesis that doesn’t do any damage and is 100% renewable. This new biological battery will generate energy from the soil itself as it rains, or is irrigated, and nutrients and microorganisms leach from the ground. I'm told Bioo's tech will direct them into the "biological battery", where ...
Read More

Crops don't grow themselves and in the U.S., the labor needed to support the agricultural production is increasingly hard to come by. But agriculture is also an industry that is ideally suited for automation, something Igino Cafiero and Aubrey Donnellan recognized when orchard owners in California expressed interest in their company's autonomous technology. Pivoting from mining to agriculture, Bear Flag ...
Read More

There are more than 2 million farms in the United States, about 98% of which are operated by families, individuals, family partnerships, or family corporations, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. About 87% of all agricultural products in America are produced on family ranches or farms. A single farm feeds an average of 166 people per year, both in ...
Read More

When Americans talk about how the frontier was "tamed," most are talking about the revolver and repeating rifle that helped settlers secure their territory. Some argue, however, that it was the invention of barbed wire that influenced people to settle in the vast, open spaces. With few trees and other fence building materials, barbed wire is what kept the livestock ...
Read More

In its first Super Bowl ad, Chipotle goes deep into the world of agriculture. The short advertisement created by Venables Bell & Partners, begins with a young boy dining at home, burrito in hand, who poses the question, “What if this burrito could change the world?” We all need to pay very close attention as more and more companies market to ...
Read More

Soil compaction can reduce yield by up to -20% but primary tillage, the typical solution to this problem, is time-consuming and costs farmers up to $30 per acre. At the same time, excessive tillage adversely affects soil structure, harms the soil microbiome, and increases the likelihood of soil erosion that contributes to lower crop productivity and declining water quality. EarthOptics sees ...
Read More

It's that time of year when the nation waits for a giant rodent to tell us when spring will arrive. Famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil will emerge from his burrow this morning to deliver his highly anticipated forecast. But don't get too excited - he's usually wrong. February 2 of every year marks the halfway mark between the Winter Solstice and ...
Read More

 The group talks about their current and longer-term investments and outlooks. Topics discussed included the current agricultural markets, what's happening on Wall Street, investments in precious metals, cryptocurrency, real estate, energy, and more. This is a great conversation that you don't want to miss. We start talking more ag market specifics later in the conversation, so make sure to stick around! ...
Read More

Vow, a Sydney-based innovative food startup is taking cell-based protein to a new level and developing cultured versions of unconventional exotic animal meats. Unlike many other cultivated meat startups that are working on creating steak, chicken and seafood using cellular agriculture, Vow is dedicated to using the technology to grow products such as tortoise, kangaroo, zebra, and yak. Founded in 2019, cofounders George Peppou and ...
Read More

As the world continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, food inflation has risen to its highest levels in over a decade. The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) gauge of food prices for December reached a six-year high, even as global grain supplies remain at comfortable levels. For many countries experiencing sharp food inflation, the issue is exacerbated by ...
Read More