Between 40 to 50% of our population is alive on this planet today thanks to fertilizers. However, fertilizers are also one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters and when managed poorly, can also contribute to the nutrient pollution of lakes, rivers and streams.  This week, we sat down with Pablo Barrera Lopez, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Communications at Yara International, a leading Norwegian agribusiness and chemical company on the forefront of the sustainable and ethical...

Angela Santiago is the co-founder and CEO of the Little Potato Company, an innovative and fast growing company focused on colorful, tasty, mini-potatoes that taste delicious. We talk with Angela about the mechanics of the potato world, the obstacles climate change is creating for the industry, and what it takes to build an agriculture business from the ground up,  This week in Agriculture Adapts Breeding for diversity and flavor Your french fries, chips, and table potatoes all come from...

This week we sit down with Stuart Woolf, the President and CEO of Los Gatos Tomatoes, one of the largest tomato processors in the world. Stuart gives us an inside view into the science, technology, and logistical genius that enabled 3x higher yields in the processing tomato industry over the last 50 years, all while reducing labor requirements to a fraction of what they once were.  We cover everything from decades of tomato seed breeding efforts to the 120 day, 24/7 harvesting...

Over the past 10 years, there has been a mass exodus of banks in the UK pulling out of short-term lending to farmers. This has made it harder and more expensive for farmers to get the capital they need to run their business and keep producing essential crops.  We sit down with Tim Coates, Co-founder and Chief Customer Officer of Oxbury Bank, the UK’s only 100% agriculture focused bank to discuss how Oxbury is revolutionizing agriculture banking and the impact this will have on farmers +...

Hey listeners, hope you all enjoyed year 1 of Agriculture Adapts as much as we did! The Ag Adapts team will be taking a short break before returning for year 2. We really appreciate everyone's support and we look forward to many exciting episodes to come! If you have any thoughts or feedback please feel free to reach out to [email protected]. See you all soon!  

Since the 2008 financial crisis, agriculture has become a hotbed for investment: food consumption withstands recessions, demand is expected to double by 2050, and agriculture has largely proven to be a low volatility investment that can serve as an inflation hedge (as inflation goes up, so do ag land values)... But not everyone supports the institutionalization of ag land ownership. We sit down with Martin Davies, President and CEO of the Westchester group, the #1 largest farmland asset...

*This is a repost of a past episode Katharine Hayhoe is one of the world's most renowned climate scientists-- she has a ted talk with over 2.5 million views, and in 2017 was named one of Fortune’s world’s greatest leaders. Katharine is a professor at Texas Tech University and has been published in over 125 peer reviewed papers, abstracts, and key reports including the National Climate Assessment. We speak with Katharine about the science, the impacts, and the psychology of climate change. ...

ClimateAi - Accelerating Resilience in Agriculture The coronavirus has highlighted the importance of resilience, not just efficiency, in the long term success of agriculture supply chains. One of the most powerful tools we have to drive resilience is agricultural biodiversity... and yes, it can be done at scale. Biodiversity is a critical sign of ecosystem health--in the rainforest or on the farm-- and has proven to be crucial for agricultural productivity, profitability, and resilience....

Agriculture is faced with the critical challenge of reducing pesticide use, improving water efficiency, and building a food system that is resilient to climate change all while delivering nutritious affordable food for the masses. In this episode we dig in with Dave Chen to talk about how Equilibrium Capital is putting their $1B+ fund behind a tried and true technology to deliver on all fronts-- high-tech greenhouses. High-tech greenhouses are extremely common across Europe. Meticulous...

Between 1982-2015, the world’s population grew from 4.5 billion to about 7.5 billion while land under agriculture remained the same. More food was produced on the same amount of land but climate change and the resultant rise in the extreme weather events pose a serious challenge to the world’s food production. Is the time now ripe for a second green revolution? Ernst Van Den Ende, a leader in dutch agriculture innovation, explains that there is no 'silver bullet' to solve the world’s...

Nowadays, grocery store items are stocked full of labels: pasture raised, cage free, non-gmo, sustainable, the list goes on. But if the health and environmental problems these labels seek to address were legitimate, why wouldn't they be made mandatory? Are they just a marketing hoax or a path to a safer, healthier, more environmentally friendly food system?  We sit down with agri-business expert Mary Shelman to deconstruct these questions and more. Mary is an internationally recognized...

After interviewing many guests, I was still left with the following questions: what are we doing to systematically mitigate our agriculture emissions, is it actually working, and how far do we have left to go? In this episode we dive in with the group that has been tackling these questions in California for the past 10 years. Renata Brillinger is the executive director at CalCAN, a California based nonprofit driving forward critical policies and programs at the intersection of climate change...

Building a startup from scratch is an art. In this episode, we sit down with Swaroop Kittu Kolluri, one of the best early stage venture capital investors, to dive into what it takes to go from an idea to a billion dollar business, with a focus on the ag-tech and climate-tech.  Kittu is the founder & managing director at Neotribe Ventures. He is a serial entrepreneur turned venture capitalist and has both run and invested in several successful startups including well known names like...

Ed brings one of the most diverse agriculture perspectives to the podcast to date. He is the former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, 2 time governor of North Dakota, and he has led a multi-national consumer products business as well as many entrepreneurial start-ups. Ed played a pivotal role in many of the biggest agriculture events and movements of the 21st century. This week in Agriculture Adapts: Tackling the 2008 world food crisis; learnings for a safe & resilient global food system...

Tatiana Schlossberg is the author of Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have and a former New York Times Science and climate reporter whose award-winning work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, Bloomberg and other publications. We chat with Tatiana about a variety of topics relating to climate change, pollution control, social inequality, agriculture, and aquaculture. “Its not about feeling individually guilty, its about feeling...

Michael J. Coren is a reporter at Quartz where he works on climate change, and the people, technology, and policies addressing it. Recently, Michael has been focusing his attention on uncovering the relationship between COVID-19 and climate change/pollution. This week we finally dive in to what the pandemic means for our planet. We also tap into Michael's experience with carbon markets and forrest carbon sequestration. This week in Agriculture Adapts: - Paying people to not cut down forests...

Dr. Ray Goldberg has served a critical role over the past half century in improving the global food system. He is considered by many to be the father of agribusiness and is actually credited with coining the term “agri-business” back in 1957.  Dr. Goldberg has been a professor at Harvard since 1955. He recently published a book called Food Citizenship: Food System Advocates in an Era of Distrust, summing up some of the most insightful interviews he held with folks that put their ideological...

Dr. Ray Goldberg has served a critical role over the past half century in improving the global food system. He is considered by many to be the father of agribusiness and is actually credited with coining the term “agri-business” in 1957.  Dr. Goldberg has been a professor of agriculture and business at Harvard since 1955. He recently published a book called Food Citizenship: Food System Advocates in an Era of Distrust. This book sums up some of the most insightful interviews he held with...

Craig is the owner/president of Sierra Orchards and the former president of California State Board of Food and Agriculture, advising multiple generations of state governors on farm related policies for the state that holds the title for 5th largest agriculture producer in the world. Craig is also the founder of the Center for Land Based Learning. This week on Agriculture Adapts: - Getting food to the people who need it: food waste, food scarcity, and "food apartheid" in the U.S. - A...

Katharine Hayhoe is one of the world's most renowned climate scientists-- she has a ted talk with over 2.5 million views, and in 2017 was named one of Fortune’s world’s greatest leaders. Katharine is a professor at Texas Tech University and has been published in over 125 peer reviewed papers, abstracts, and key reports including the National Climate Assessment. We speak with Katharine about the science, the impacts, and the psychology of climate change. This week in Agriculture Adapts: -...

Angela Santiago is the co-founder and CEO of the Little Potato Company, an innovative and fast growing company focused on colorful, tasty, mini-potatoes that taste delicious. We talk with Angela about the mechanics of the potato world, the obstacles climate change is creating for the industry, and what it takes to build an agriculture business from the ground up,  This week in Agriculture Adapts Breeding for diversity and flavor Your french fries, chips, and table potatoes all come from...

Will is a food entrepreneurship and sustainability guru. He is the Faculty Director of the Sustainable Food Initiative at the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley, a recently retired managing partner at Physic Ventures, the founding CEO of Republic of Tea, recipient of the Oslo peace award, and has been involved in leading and growing more than 30 entrepreneurial ventures over the past 30 years. This is part 2 of a 2 part series with Will. This week in Agriculture Adapts - Driving...

Will is a food entrepreneurship and sustainability guru. He is the Faculty Director of the Sustainable Food Initiative at the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley, a recently retired managing partner at Physic Ventures, the founding CEO of Republic of Tea, recipient of the Oslo peace award, and has been involved in leading and growing more than 30 entrepreneurial ventures over the past 30 years. This is part 1 of a 2 part series with Will. "Food has been optimized around convenience,...

Jason Samenow is the Washington Post's weather editor, founder of capital weather gang, and a wealth of knowledge for all things weather and climate. We chat with Jason about the inner-workings of weather forecasts, the latest in climate science, and how to accurately communicate on climate change-- what we can and can't say with certainty about the changing world around us. This week in Agriculture Adapts: - Scientists have officially discovered the footprint of climate change on our...