Finding the right solution often starts with finding many, many wrong solutions. When it comes to some of agtech's most beguiling challenges, like real-time, granular soil testing, many startups have found the wrong solution– either ones that simply don’t work, don’t work at the right price, or don’t work in a way that makes them useful enough. 

But just because a problem hasn’t been solved yet doesn’t mean it’s unsolvable! And with the recent leaps made in artificial intelligence, a new startup – Soil Action – is taking another crack at this problem, hoping that a novel approach will help align the stars of effectiveness, usefulness, and affordability. 

The co-founders at Soil Action, Jack Oslan and Nate Storey, also know a thing or two about tackling big challenges in agtech. They both were also co-founders at vertical farming startup Plenty, and this week, in addition to hearing about Soil Action, we’ll also hear about lessons learned from that journey. We discuss: 

• Lessons and learnings from Plenty, which recently entered bankruptcy after raising over $940m USD on about a $2b valuation, and how they’re applying them to Soil Action
• How Soil Action is tackling the challenge of granular soil sampling differently than other current and past efforts
• Why the alliances in agtech supply chains are likely shifting, and what that means for future-proofing new startup entrants

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Useful Links:

• Catch up on past AgTech… So What? Discussion with Is Vertical Farming Dead? Not so fast… 
• Phyllome Investment Notes from Tenacious Ventures
• Nate Storey at Bright AgroTech
• Indoor Agtech Interview with Nate Storey
• Jack Oslan - Diamond Age: Vertical Farming, Construction Automation, Innovative Disruption, and More
• Plenty (Urban Vine)

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The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe the information is correct, we provide no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.