Food & Agriculture
How Ag Companies are Impacting Carbon Capture Efforts
As more and more efforts are directed towards challenging climate change worldwide, companies at home in the U.S. are doing their part to direct the power of entrepreneurial farmers towards the problem. Companies like Indigo Ag are investing millions of dollars to develop...
What the Food System Needs Now? A Real Connection Between Capital and the Farm
The trick with technology is less about technology and more about adoption. When I was a young engineer at McDonnell Douglas, we developed the first bunker buster bomb in 30 days, taking a cannon barrel, turning it down and building this new design...
Where iSelect Invests, and Where We Don’t Invest
Innovation as a concept is defined as the introduction of a “new idea, method or device,” effectively creating something new that has not existed before.
It is also a key economic force, but one that is often overlooked. Done right, innovation...
The Mississippi River is Drying up, and That Should Concern Us All
I love rivers. I grew up in Louisiana on the Mississippi River. Our cotton fields bordered the levee. When I was working in those fields I would always eat my lunch on the levee so I could watch the massive river rolling by...
A Look Inside the Future of Carbon MRV in Agriculture
As the world around us continues to strive for net-zero carbon emissions as a global society, the agriculture industry has been marked as a key sector for improvement. All of the decisions that we make as a culture about our food choices and...
We Solved Y2K, We’ll Solve #FoodIsHealth
The turn of the millennium in 2000 was supposed to be an exciting event. Instead, for the IT and internet communities, it was a looming disaster. Thanks to a widespread computer programming shortcut from the early days of the technology, many programs only...
87,000 New IRS Agents Aren’t Going to Solve America’s Real Problems, but Innovation Will
The IRS is about to hire as many as 87,000 new agents thanks to $80 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. It’s an attempt to correct years of underfunding at the agency.
“There are a bunch of problems. They...
What the Inflation Reduction Act Could Mean for Food & Health
On August 7, 2022 the United States Senate approved the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It is anticipated to pass the House of Representatives and be signed into law in the near-term future.
The IRA allocates more than $369 billion for climate...
The World is Facing a New Food Crisis. Innovators Can Help
Today the world is facing the prospect of widespread food insecurity and starvation unlike any food crisis we have experienced in our lifetimes. According to the United Nations World Food program (WFP), “illions of people across the world are at risk of being driven...
Crusonia Forum Brings Together the Changemakers Driving the Future of Food
“We are here to showcase a new wave of companies that are effectively applying technology to improve, disrupt, and transform agriculture, food and health for the better. We have no idea if a future Amazon is in our midst today, but looking back...
Specialty Crops: A Look at the Technology Innovators Moving the Industry Forward
From fruits and vegetables, to tree nuts and flowers, specialty crops represent a unique class of crops that require extra care, investment and attention to be profitable and sustainable. That’s in part because the products produced by this segment of the agriculture industry...
What’s Next for Plant-Based Protein? You’ll Be Surprised
Seemingly overnight, plant-based protein in everywhere. Impossible burgers are on the menu at restaurants across the country, Taco Bell is testing a taco made with synthetic chicken and plant-based milk producer Oatly just completed an IPO that valued the company at $13B.
The specialty crops industry makes up a significant proportion of U.S.’s total agricultural output by value. However, producing specialty crops has its own set of unique challenges that call for similarly unique solutions. This panel focused on the specialty crop industry’s challenges, dynamics,... Intuitively we all know innovation is deflationary. Today, you probably wouldn’t spend more than $100 on a terabyte of digital storage. Not that long ago, some companies were fitting entire floors of office buildings and spending a million dollars or more to get that same... “Food is Health” has driven the iSelect investment process since our start in 2014. Americans spend more than $1.5T each year on food and almost $2T on diet-related illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes.1 Healthy soil is literally the foundation for a healthy food system and is a leading indicator for many key metrics around sustainability and ecological health. As a result, soil health is inextricably linked to plant, animal, human and global health. Almost three years ago, iSelect strategically refocused its investment thesis on identifying the synergies between food and healthcare. At the time, food and healthcare were two completely independent, siloed verticals. But, the fact is, the more that we understand about disease and the better that... As a company dedicated to regenerative agroforestry solutions, Propagate Ventures works with farmers and land managers to design and install tree-crop systems that work in tandem with existing farm operations. Its fruit, nut, and timber tree systems complement... As a sailor, I learned a long time ago, it is always darkest before the dawn. Borden is bankrupt. And the dawn is coming. We're here to talk about food system innovation. When we first started this conference, we talked about agtech, and as investors we also focus on healthcare and the convergence of healthcare and agriculture. Innovation is now being discussed as food system innovation. And, so we've... Innovation is what drives prices down. That's why we have TVs and computers that are both incredibly powerful and affordable, and why we have healthcare that is incredibly unaffordable. If food prices had risen at the same rate over the last 20 years that... iSelect hosts a Deep Dive webinar on a novel innovation topic on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 9 a.m. central. Our most recent session focused on bioavailability. By improving the bioavailability of the food we eat and our bodies'... What if the waste products we throw away every day could do more for us? What if it were possible to take organic waste, such as food scraps, and recycle it into fuel and fertilizer? We recently sat down... When it comes to sustainability in agriculture, there’s more to chicken waste than you might think. We recently sat down with Michael Lynch, CEO of Chonex, a nutrient recycling company focused on poultry manure, to talk about the technology his company is developing and how... Induction Food Systems helps food and beverage manufacturers improve efficiency and expand production with on-demand precision heating equipment. The company has harnessed electromagnetic energy to create the first scalable, precise, and efficient in-line heating solution for a wide range of... iSelect managing director Mark McCall recently participated in a panel discussion at the Family Office Impact Summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Hosted by Gitterman Wealth Management, Family Office Insights and 5th Element Group, the event was a private gathering of 250... iSelect hosts a Deep Dive webinar on a novel innovation topic on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 9 a.m. central. Our most recent session focused on how many food producers are now using digital technology to stay ahead of the curve... AgroSpheres is an agriculture technology startup in Virginia that is revolutionizing crop protection through environmentally friendly delivery platforms. The modern world has a serious problem with sugar. The average American consumes more than 129 pounds of the stuff each year, according to the USDA, more than double what we ate two generations ago. And, unlike in previous decades when most sweeteners came... Once your big idea has come to life as a successful start-up, what’s next? How do you achieve a steady ascent that makes your small company and your investors happy? Getting the exit right can mean everything for a start-up— but what does that look... Specialty Crops: Industry Dynamics, Challenges and Opportunities
Why the Fly-Over States are Worth More than a Downward Glance
Food is Health: How to Access Uncorrelated Growth in 2020
We’re Focused on Companies Solving This Problem...
Where Does Health Start? In the Ground
Investing at the Nexus of Food and Health
Propagate Ventures: Planting New Revenue Streams for Farmers
What the Borden Bankruptcy Tells Us About the Future of Food
System C: The Convergence of Food and Health
Creating a Food System That Works (for Everyone)
Why Bioavailability is Becoming the Next Buzzword in Agriculture
Is Nutrient Reuse the Future of Sanitation?
Recycling Nutrients for More Sustainable Agriculture and Animal Production
Induction Food Systems: Industrial Heating That’s Precise, Efficient and On-Demand
Nutritious, Natural Sugars: A Conversation with Bonumose Founder Ed Rogers
How Digital Product Development is Reshaping the Food We Eat
AgroSpheres: A New Approach to Pesticide Application that is Controlled, Targeted and Optimized
What’s the Future of Nutrition? Addiction
It’s 2019, Where’s the Exit?
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