I recently did a podcast on agri / agri tech with an agri entrepreneur recently. This was an episode on my channel the Svagat Show - that is highlighting Indian / Indian origin operators in Europe.

My guest Prateek Srivastava has immersed himself in agritech in Europe for the last 5 years. He founded TerraviewOS - a vineyard management platform (backed by Flipkart founders and founding team) and now leads EMEA at Cropin - one of the largest agritech startups in the world.

Some of my takeaways from the conversation:
🌾 He broadly broke Agritech businesses broadly fit into 2 categories (I am sure there's more categories): the marketplaces / trading businesses and the precision agriculture (remote sensing etc) to drive outcomes on the ground. These second kind of businesses take 10-15 years to reach any meaningful scale. Year 4 is Year 1. It was great to hear him break down the math around this.

📈 Hard for this second category of agritech businesses to follow the traditional VC model - and often might require more patient capital. And we discuss the kinds of funding that entrepreneurs should consider. We also discuss the Climate Corp acquisition by Monsanto and a how some of the big agri companies think.

💶 We dive a little into how farmers in Europe receive large subsidies that account for 30-35% of their P&L. Remove those subsidies and most farmers will end up in the red. In Europe - these subsidies act as a GTM lever for agritech startups. Founders should build their business that tie into these subsidies.

🇪🇺 Why isn't there a Pan European grocer (other than Amazon)? It's because of the way European is structured - they want most of the value to be passed onto the local farmers. Albert Heijn (Netherlands), Mercadona (Spain) and many others directly source from local growers.

➕ Forecasting is a big challenge for the major retailers - and a lot of that pressure is now falling onto large food suppliers (that aggregate produce from farmers)

We discuss a LOT more. Hope you find it useful.

Below is the full episode. I've put captions on the entire video - just incase - since a few sentences in are spoken in Hindi (Prateek's a passionate guy).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KAwWiR3P_A

Hi all, I am a budding entrepreneur setting up a shop to procure, process and export spices from India to abroad. I already have some ready buyers willing to order in bulk post-sample check. Feel free to connect with me if anyone has any leads. I appreciate any help you can provide.

Hi, I am exploring niches in UX design and was wondering what it’s like for ux designers working in this space?

My most recent background is in Agriculture (farming-horticulture) and sustainability. I love AG but farming was hard on my body so I turned to design. I love it too. I’d like to combine both passions. I’ve taken online certifications this past year for UX design and I’m about to start a UI course. However, before I begin deciding on portfolio projects I wanted to ask about this industry.

I know the general vibe of design right now is that it’s super competitive for juniors and there is the possibility of AI reducing headcount.

Do you have any advice for someone trying to break into this space?

Thanks a lot!

Hey there farming community of Reddit!

I'm with Agri-Drone, an emerging venture exploring the potential of drones in modern agriculture. We're keen on understanding the challenges and aspirations of farmers like YOU to refine our tech offerings.

We've created a quick survey and would greatly appreciate your input. Whether you're tilling acres or managing a boutique vineyard, your insights are invaluable to us.

🔗 https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JYNTQYH (You will not be contacted or asked for any mailing info based on your answers, this is for research only.)

Those who complete the survey will get an exclusive first look at our findings, offering you a glimpse into the future of farming. Join us in sowing the seeds of innovation!

Thank you and happy farming! 🌱🚜

P.S. A tip for those new to drones: They don't scare crows... yet. 😉

Would you like to receive support in caring for your garden or house plants in an uncomplicated way? Then we are very interested in your opinion on our plans to create a digital assistant.

In the following 5-minute survey, you can tell us what you think is important for such a digital assistant and which functionalities could be helpful: https://forms.gle/6apU8t5HZB71j4XSA

As a reward, we will give you the opportunity to try our product exclusively before everyone as soon as it is built.

Hello all!

Does anyone have information on seed technology for vertical farms? I am trying to learn specifically about how seeds will be engineered for VFs. For example, in

https://www.agritecture.com/blog/2020/8/12/bayer-and-temasek-launch-seed-company-for-vertical-farming

The following is mentioned

"The other route is to look at upgrading the ‘software.’ If electricity, rent, and water costs are too high, then why not change the biology of the crops themselves so that they fare better in restrictive vertical farming environments?"

What are the restrictions and what kind of changes to biology? This seems incredible and I wanted to learn more about the extent and limitations of our engineering capabilities. For example, can we engineer a coconut tree I to a shoebox?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, I'm a student at UC Berkeley doing a class project on AI and computer vision in agriculture. I'd super appreciate it if y'all could share some of your expertise with me either by answering my few questions or (even better) hoping on the phone with me for 15m to help me learn about agri-tech.I'm mainly looking to answer:

1. In what agri-tech process (sorting, harvesting processes, etc) is Computer Vision used the most?
2. How is Computer Vision used in Agriculture?
3. Do Agriculture firms build their own AI systems?
4. What are the main challenges with using Computer Vision in Agriculture?

Many thanks!

Hey there,

I want to create an app (possibly mobile too) for orchards and horticulture, but I'm unsure about the key features that would make it a profitable tool for users. Can you lend me your expertise?

Here are a few questions to get the ball rolling:

1. What essential features should my app have?
2. Which ones would provide the most value and impact?
3. How can technology make their lives easier?
4. Do you know any existing solutions for managing orchards and horticulture? What do you like or dislike about them?

I appreciate your input, personal experiences, and any advice you have to offer. Let's work together to shape an app that truly meets the needs of the orchards and horticulture community!

Thanks a bunch!

In the first 3 months of my agri commerce startup we have had very good traction. Did 25million worth of sales through my platform and on-boarded 300 odd retailers. Looking for investment. Need help from this community.

A Tale of Maize Farming in Bangladesh https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tale-maize-farming-bangladesh-agrigate-asia?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&utm_campaign=share_via

hey ya'll, so i am 10th grader (MYP-5) and i need ideas for my project related to AI in agriculture please help me i need ideas asap

Hello agtech nerd here. So some weeks ago I decided to use chatGPT for my farm, then I started to finetuning it, embedding additional data. Then I simply made it available on my agtech blog. I am currently developing agriGPT, would love to hear some feedback! It did help my farming operation already quite a bit and it’s getting better, here it is: agriGPT