Briefly describe your work with agtech and explain what motivates you to invest your time in this work.

I’ve been in the agtech space for almost 4 years, with a focus on running an accelerator program that connects startups with mentors and business development resources. I’m motivated by bringing people together to explore new possibilities that could have meaningful impacts on the industry.

Briefly explain any commitments to sustainability that you or your organization bring to your work on agtech innovation. Be as specific as possible regarding what kinds of social and environmental impacts you aim to produce, and the relevant strategies you are pursuing.

Our commitments fall into three pillars:

• Planet
  • Goal of reducing emissions across our business by 30% by the end of 2030
  • Programs/project in various areas such as healthy soil, transportation efficiencies, plant optimization, manure management, herd health and renewable energy
• People
  • support our farmer-owners, through solutions that give them the opportunity to work the same land for generations to come.
  • healthy and safe workplace for employees
  • support DEI efforts across the cooperative
• Communities
  • support the communities in which we live and work through our DFA Cares foundation that focuses on food security,
  • disaster relief, veteran support and education

Briefly describe the way(s) in which you assess/measure social and environmental impact in your work on agtech innovation.

When assessing agtech applications for our accelerator, we evaluate if the technology is in line with our commitments.

Our research and this workshop aim to investigate tensions between the demands/imperatives of the tech-finance industry and the demands/imperatives of social-environmental problem solving. Please comment on this problem frame in general, and in relation to specific examples from your own experience.

In general, speed at which tech-finance and social/environmental demands/objectives move tend to be at a different pace.

In relation to specific examples,

• I heard a great quote at a previous conference that “tech moves at the pace of venture, but agtech moves at the pace of nature.”
• Many technologies in the agtech space need deeper studies to truly validate their impact on the social/environmental side – at times, those studies can take months, perhaps even years. The finance or venture side see a wide-range of new opportunities every day, so by the time validation is done they may have moved on to another focus area.

To investigate the tensions suggested above, we rely on the concept of “mission drift”. We understand mission drift as a tendency for social and environmental impact commitments of individuals and organizations to leak out over time due to pressures and opportunities to expand revenue, valuation and capital gains. Our project aims to investigate mission drift applied to entrepreneurial ventures as well as to organizations dedicated to supporting innovation. Please comment on this thesis in general, and in relation to specific things you have experienced where possible. To the extent you find this thesis useful, what strategies can you identify to defend against mission drift?

In general, encountered this more with entrepreneurial ventures as they are still figuring out what guides them and that can sometimes take a back seat when trying to set up a business in those early stages.

A few strategies to defend against mission drift would be to define your “why”, have a clear communication of that “why” across the business, and develop a strategic roadmap.

Please share something you would like to take away from the workshop.

How to better support the overall agtech innovation ecosystem.