Farm-Tested, Farm-First: The Next Wave of Agri Ventures, and Where to Invest
Most agritech gets built elsewhere and then ‘fitted’ to the farm - designed far from the field, road-tested only after it's already for sale. Following a high rate of failure with unit economics not hitting the mark, this session makes the case for a better pipeline: ventures road-tested on farm from day one, whether that’s turning what farms currently treat as residue into investable, scalable value or simply having the customer help truly define the problem they need solving.
For startups, this is a look at how to de-risk product-market fit before it ever becomes a pitch deck:
- Building alongside farmers rather than selling to them after the fact
- Validation that works like a trusted peer recommendation, not a cold sales pitch
- Longer pre-revenue runways spent getting the product genuinely right on farm
For investors, it's a look at an underexplored deal flow:
- Ventures shaped by the people closest to the raw material
- Operational proximity that outside capital typically can't buy
- Paired with the outside perspective needed to see where the real returns sit
What we'll unpack:
- What separates farm-first ventures from the rest
- Founder-farmer relationships built on trust, not transactions
- The economics that make or break this category - returns on capital, and cost-of-production pressures, that few other sectors face
Key question: How do we make the farmer the value creator in this ecosystem, not simply the waste supplier, and what does that mean for the next wave of startups and capital entering the space?
Hosted by:
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=logo}
)
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=logo}
)