The science and technology of soil is rapidly evolving, but translating it into a scalable business that can offer viable products to farmers has long been a tricky proposition. But it’s one that Adam Litle, the CEO of Sound Agriculture, has devoted much of his career to answering.

Adam was part of the executive team at Granular, the farm management software company acquired by Dupont (now Corteva) for $300M. Now, at Sound Ag, he’s leading a company that’s raised more than $95M to develop a product which activates microbes in soil to increase the uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus, thereby enabling farmers to use less fertilizer.

In this episode Adam shares his insights on:

• Striking a balance between scientific rigor, technological innovation, and investor returns
• Why the SaaS business model is challenging in agriculture
• How to build trust in a startup team of scientists and industry people, while bringing in commercial experience.
• Why soil innovations are receiving an increase in attention as farmers continue to grapple with the rising costs of fertilizer.

Useful Resources

• Biologicals: Snake oil or Science, and How Do We Know?
• Corteva
• Granular
• Connexus
• Did Silicon Valley Kill Agtech?
• Why Software is Eating the World - Marc Andreesson, Wall Street Journal
• Designing Crops to Change the Plant-Based Food Systems
• Climate
• Blue River