Insights
Global agrifoodtech funding hit $16.2 billion in 2025, but here is the stat most investors miss: “Agrifoodtech rounds cost significantly less than US software at every stage. At Seed stage, it’s a 75% discount; at Series A, it’s 42%.” (AgFunder Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2026). Add a $1.96 trillion total addressable market and the pitch writes itself.
The problem is that most investors who write that check do not understand what they just bought into.
This is a follow-on to "Hard Lessons About Technology Adoption in Physical Commodity Markets"
The technology is almost never the problem. Trading platforms. Back office systems. On-field technology for operational efficiency and carbon credit monetization. The pattern I keep seeing has nothing to do with whether the product works. It has to do with trust that takes years to build in markets that still settle contracts on a handshake. Sales cycles that run two or three times longer than the financial model assumed. And a supply chain that has watched enough vendors fail to have earned its skepticism about the next arrival. I learned all of this the hard way, so you don’t have to.
White paper presented at JPMorgan Commodity Center Summit at the University of Colorado. Describes how new commodity markets are born and how they evolve.
Nearly 40 percent (353.8 million acres) of all U.S. farmland is rented or leased according to USDA data which affect the scalability of the VCM.
In 2018, I had the great honor of being recognized by the Denver Business Journal in their inaugural class of the Most Admired CEO Awards. As part of the accompanying reception, I was asked to give a succinct speech with a motivational story or inspirational message. I still stand by these tenets.
In this conversation, Julie Lerner discusses the evolution of PanXchange and its role in the carbon market, particularly focusing on the agricultural sector. She explains the significance of hemp as a carbon-friendly crop, the various types of agricultural carbon credits, and the methodologies developed to help farmers earn these credits. The discussion also covers the challenges of verification, compensation for farmers, and the transition from physical to digital commodities in the carbon market.