Why Agtech just isn't Sexy

If you’re involved in the tech-startup sector in any way, or just enjoy reading about the latest technology out there, chances are you’ve probably heard of Elon Musk (SpaceX/Tesla/Paypal), Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook) and Steve Jobs (no explanation necessary).

But how about David Friedberg (Climate Corp), Jorge Heraud (Blue River Tech), or Ros Harvey (The Yield)? If you have heard of those names and you’re not already in the agtech sector then well done, you can stop reading this article now and go reward yourself with a juicey grass feed steak and chips. For those still reading, you probably don't consider those to be household names.

So what is it about Agtech companies and founders like the ones listed above that makes them not particularly newsworthy? More importantly does the fact that it's not very sexy mean the Agtech startup sector is doomed?

Until we as consumers can better appreciate the provenance of our food, and the supply chain required to get it to our tables, we’re not really going to care about Agtech and the innovation it provides the farmer who produces it.

Let’s start with the first question. There are two key reasons Agtech is at the lowest rung when it comes to the public’s interest:

Firstly, out of sight, out of mind. Agriculture is still too disconnected from consumers and it’s the consumers who make Agtech newsworthy. So when an Agtech company goes out to save herbicide costs by using machine learning and robotics to detect and spray weeds, what’s in it for the consumer? One cent off their next carrot? It all comes back to that old developed world question – do you know where your food comes from? Until we as consumers can better appreciate the provenance of our food, and the supply chain required to get it to our tables, we’re not really going to care about Agtech and the innovation it provides the farmer who produces it. Of course this isn’t entirely our fault, a lot of food companies would prefer for you not to know where their ingredients come from for the sake of their marketing. In this case there are some important innovations needed in the foodtech space to improve consumer knowledge and access to information before we start to see the root of our food (pun intended, carrot lovers).

Secondly, there aren’t enough explosions. OK, this might be a bad metaphor but hear me out. Did you know there’s a company out there using spectral analysis to distinguish how healthy plants are in seconds, rather than the standard tests that can take days? This makes it easier for farmers and advisors to determine when to harvest and to use the technology they simply have to walk around and scan each plant with a hand held device. Whilst that might seem pretty cool to somebody in agriculture, to your average Josephine/Joe public it’s never going to be as cool as the successful landing of a SpaceX rocket onto a platform in the middle of the ocean (and all the explosions that it took to get it there). As a result this kind of agtech innovation in plant nutrient monitoring isn’t something that’s going to get much air time in publications like Mashable or Startup Daily. Especially when it comes up against Amazon’s announcement to deliver sausages to your home by robot dog, or Uber’s new fleet of self-driving combie vans (none of these are real by the way, but can you imagine?). I know what you’re thinking, ‘So what, Sam, let’s blow up some corn?’ Well no, but there are some pretty cool innovations occurring in the Space sector that have direct implications for Agtech, such as improved crop mapping and soil management. Perhaps a small shift in marketing strategy is required.

...what makes or breaks a tech startup isn’t really whether the general public appreciate them... success comes down to whether they can attract and keep customers and/or investors

But at the end of the day is it a problem that Agtech is the ugly duckling of the tech sector? Well, what makes or breaks a tech startup isn’t really whether the general public appreciate them (although they certainly don’t want to be hated). Success comes down to whether they can attract and keep customers and/or investors. Fortunately in Agtech investors are a plenty, and they are starting to grasp the importance of agricultural innovation when it comes to feeding the planet over the next 30 years. When it comes to customers, generally the farmers or those already in the agricultural industry are already thirsty for technology. The key issue here though is access to that tech, something I’ll cover later in a separate article.

Fortunately the public’s interest in Agtech will continue to grow as the global population grows. So whilst Agtech startup founders like Ros Harvey and Jorge Heraud might not exactly be household names today, I suspect we’ll start to see this change drastically over the next 10-20 years as Agtech transforms into a beautiful, organic grass fed swan.