Aligning agtech focus with grower needs

Aligning agtech focus with grower needs

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Despite economic concerns, there is still a lot of venture capital looking to be invested in agricultural startups. Thrive Agtech founder John Hartnett says what’s holding agtech back more than anything is alignment between farmers and founders.

Hartnett… “There are a lot of entrepreneurs running around with technologies looking for problems. So it's really kind of the alignment of let's solve the problem of the farmer rather than, let's see what a technology can do. So I think that alignment is kind of one of the key things there.”

One thing that blocks this alignment is the ability for new startups to develop trust directly with farmers.

Hartnett… “Farmers have built relationships with people that they do business with not just for years, but decades and generations. And it's just really hard for a young whipper snapper startup to kind of knock on the door and build that. So I think that go-to-market is the single biggest challenge that most startups kind of get in trouble with.”

These are areas that Hartnett says Thrive helps to bridge that gap between agtech companies and ag producers.

Hartnett… “Go to where the farmers are. And that's why we work with many of the leading growers and you know, big organizations like Taylor Farms, Driscoll Berries, et cetera, who are direct relationships there. And I think that's going to be a key part of how companies will grow and scale.”

Thrive is hosting the Global Impact Summit in San Jose on November 17th.

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