September 2017 - Food & Agriculture Innovators

Dr. Rusty Rodriguez is the CEO of Adaptive Symbiotic Technologies (AST), an ag biotech company that has developed microbial solutions that enable plants to battle climate and environmental stress, increasing crop quality and yields. These stressors include drought, temperature stress and salty soils, to name a few. The company is selling to both commodity crop farmers and smallholder “monsoon” farmers in the absolute worst of drought conditions in India. These farmers have been able to increase crop yields with incredible results to date. In a world of increasing climate and environmental stress, this is a revolutionary technology. The company has raised more than $4 million in private funding, and received a number of grants including USAID’s Securing Water For Food Grand Challenge.

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In this interview, we cover:

[2:10] What in the heck is a fungal endophyte?
[2:50] The problems that AST is solving and how their products work.
[6:39] Moving from the lab to commercialization
[13:47] How a nerdy discussion in a bar led to research in Yellowstone National Park and ultimately the company AST.
[18:42] How Rusty and the team funded their research along the way, through to starting a company.
[22:41] Raising a $3.4 million Series A from Australian strategic investor and agricultural producer Twynam Group.
[24:13] Options for combatting drought, and precious water as “the most important thing of our lifetimes”.
[27:22] Selling to commodity crop farmers – corn, soy, organic certifications.
[30:54] Biological vs synthetic chemical crop inputs explained.
[33:51] AST approach versus Indigo Agriculture that’s raised over $100 million. Two pioneering companies using fungal endophytes, two different approaches going to market.
[38:48] The work AST is doing in India to bring its technology to smallholder farmers in India.
[40:55] The logistics of distributing agricultural products in India and effective communication through hand singals. Seeing 29-53% yield increases.
[46:53] Debunking the myth and perception of how it’s very difficult to bring new technology to smallholder farmers, and how the smallholder farmers came up with pricing that was mutually acceptable to the farmers and AST.

Learn more about Adaptive Symbiotic Technologies and catch Rusty’s Ted Talk:

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Phil Cruver is the Founder and CEO of Catalina Sea Ranch (CSR), which owns the first offshore aquaculture facility in U.S. federal waters. This was a fascinating conversation as Phil tells the story of how he had to essentially build a new industry in the U.S. We cover a lot of ground in this interview. And when it comes to raising funding for a startup with grand ambitions like CSR, he has some wisdom from the 6 companies he’s started on how to allocate equity in the early stages of a company.

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In this interview, we cover:

[4:05] Introduction to the state of the U.S. seafood trade and offshore aquaculture. Spoiler: The U.S. currently imports about 91% of all its seafood, producing a $14 billion seafood trade deficit.
[8:40] Why you don’t see any offshore aquaculture in the U.S., or much aquaculture at all really.
[12:50] Risks and process for testing for bacteria and biotoxins in aquaculture and shellfish.
[27:19] The birth of CSR and how Phil hit the jackpot discovering that you didn’t need to lease federal waters, only to get held up on fundraising and State and local regulatory issues.
[31:45] Fundraising Part 1: Raising capital in aquaculture
[34:26] Fundraising Part 2: Strategic round and one of the smartest decisions Phil made in getting the big distribution players involved and on the Board.
[38:19] Advice: Spread around the wealth in the early days.
[41:07] Technology Part 1: Technology used to farm in the ocean.
[44:15] Technology Part 2: Tracking everything, monitoring in real time, technology used, scientists involved.
[48:47] Technology Part 3: $1 million NOMAD buoy, Ocean Internet of Things _TM. Technology off-the-shelf vs rolling their own tech.
[51:57] R&D: Competitive research contracts with USDA and NOAA.
[58:45] Platform building, potential of genomics.
[1:02:26] The untapped potential of breeding in shellfish.
[1:04:04] Technology Part 4: Underwater drones: Blue Robotics.
[1:07:24] Where CSR is selling today, first harvest, branding.
[1:12:11] Advice for entrepreneurs.
[1:13:33] What’s surprised Phil the most building in aquaculture.

Learn more about Catalina Sea Ranch and Phil Cruver:

Aquaculture stats
The U.S. currently imports about 91% of all its seafood, half of which is from aquaculture, mostly produced in China. (source)

To share your thoughts and help out the show:

Leave an honest review or rating on iTunes or Apple Podcasts. Your ratings and reviews really help folks find the show.
Share this show with someone who might like it, or on social media.
Drop me an email at mike [at] foodaginnovators [dot] com, or leave a comment below.

Archives for September 2017

Climate Change Fighting Fungi and Empowering Smallholder Farmers – Rusty Rodriguez of Adaptive Symbiotic Technologies

Ranching in the Ocean with Phil Cruver of Catalina Sea Ranch