I learned tons about biochar from Henrietta Moon, CEO and cofounder of Carbo Culture, a company which makes high quality biocarbons from waste, and puts this biochar to use in soils, agriculture and urban environments. We discussed how biochar is created and why it is such a stable form of carbon, what the process of verifying carbon sequestration is like, how biochar intersects with regenerative agriculture, how large corporates are starting to think about offsets, the importance of “containers” to help people find their place in climate work, how scouting and sailing drove her love of the environment, starting a company in Finland and much more!
Learnt so much about aeroponics speaking with Lucas Moreira, CEO of CBA Sementes, a Brazilian startup that grows potatoes in air! We discussed how aeroponics differs from hydroponics, why seed potatoes are such a great use case for aeroponics, the importance of sensors, the pros of building a startup with your family, the Brazilian tech scene and more!
Two great guests on the podcast this week in Ryan Slabaugh and Sarah Day Levesque of Acres USA, North America’s oldest publisher on production-scale organic and sustainable farming. We discussed how to better communicate the importance of soil health for sustainable farming, the lessons regenerative agriculture can learn from organic farming, soil carbon sequestration markets, how to better engage conventional farmers on sustainability, the agtech landscape and more!
Great to chat with Alexander Gillett, CEO and co-founder of HowGood, a company with the world’s largest food product sustainability database. We discussed what it took to build such a unique dataset (14 years!), the importance of decision making to actionable sustainability, the challenges for sustainability across the developed versus developing world, their go-to-market strategy, why trust is so important for early startup teams and more!
Very enjoyable chat with Patrick Henry CEO of GroGuru, a company using soil sensors to give farmers AI-based recommendations for crop irrigation. We discussed why their soil sensor is a massive leap over existing solutions, how agtech companies can incorporate sustainability into their products, why strong distribution channels are essential to agtech companies, their approach to building an amazing team, why listening is one of the most important founder skills and more!
Great to chat to Philip Briscoe, COO at Rezatec, a remote sensing company which helps companies manage critical infrastructure at scale. We discussed their start in forestry carbon credits, the important role satellite imagery can play in managing risk (including climate risk), the boom in the space industry, why their HQ is perfectly located, the importance of being a mission driven company and more!
Great podcast with Derin Alemli, COO of New Age Meats, a startup combining plant-based ingredients with cultured animal meat. We discussed why combining plant based and celular meat is such a massive opportunity, the benefits of building a strong brand, how they think about the competitive space, the importance of sustainability to their approach, the value of cross functional skillsets to cutting edge startups and more!
Really interesting to get into compostable plastics with Tony Bova, CEO and founder of Mobius, a startup developing compostable plastics. We discussed how plastic use goes up with regenerative farming which makes compostable plastics an essential part of a sustainable food system, how plastics fit into circular economy, the careful consideration they gave the plastics value chain when deciding their go to market strategy, what universities can do to encourage more startups, how he balanced starting a startup with finishing a PHD and more!
Inspiring chat with Marcia Woods, founder and CEO of FreshSpoke, a marketplace that makes it easy to source local food by sustainability tapping into excess logistics capacity. We discussed why “local” is the future of food, the importance of logistics data to sustainable supply chains, how they managed multiple company pivots and what that meant for the types of investors who were most interested, how to balance supply and demand when the marketplace has more than 2 sides how to build an amazing founding team, where her passion for sustainability and entrepreneurship came from and more!