369: Manulife's COO of Farmland Services on Regen Ag, the Farm Economy, and Centralized Services
Release Date: 09/17/2024
The Modern Acre
Danny Bernstein is the Managing Partner of Reservoir Ventures and the CEO of the Reservoir, an ecosystem of nonprofit and for-profit ventures tackling California’s most urgent challenges and opportunities. Before founding the Reservoir, Danny spent 20 years in Silicon Valley leading business development, partnerships, and developer programs at Google and Microsoft. At Google, he worked across products like Search, Chrome, Firebase, and Google Identity after the acquisition of Meebo, a Web 2.0 startup that was sold to Google 2012. At Microsoft, he led critical product lines for Microsoft...
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Paul Mikesell is the founder and CEO of Carbon Robotics. Paul has deep experience founding and building successful technology startups. Paul co-founded Isilon Systems, a distributed storage company, in 2001. Isilon went public in 2006 and was acquired by EMC for $2.5 billion in 2010. In 2006, Paul co-founded Clustrix, a distributed database startup that was acquired by MariaDB in 2018. Prior to Carbon, Paul served as Director of Infrastructure Engineering at Uber, where he grew the team and opened the company’s engineering office in Seattle, later focusing on deep learning and computer...
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info_outline The 2024 Acre Awards - Part 1The Modern Acre
Tune in for our end of year award, recap, and predictions show! Part 1: Favorite Episode of the Year Business We'd Invest $10,000 In Ag Person of the Year Favorite Business Person Craziest Person We're Following Favorite Content — This episode is presented by Corteva Agriscience. Learn more . — Links Join the Co-op - Zac Ellis Episode - David Friedberg Episode - Ohalo - Polaris Energy Services - Travis Potter Episode - FlavCity / Bobby Parrish - Peter Levels - Bryson DeChambeau - Craig Fuller on MFM - The Psychology of Money - Subscribe to the Newsletter -
info_outline 382: California Ag Outlook - Trade, AgTech, Labor, Water & Energy with Walt DuflockThe Modern Acre
Walt Duflock is a 5th generation California farmer (cattle, wine grapes, leafy greens), 30-year Silicon Valley startup veteran (eBay and 3 other acquisitions), and 7 years as an AgTech Innovation leader at SVG-THRIVE and Western Growers (where he’s focused on solutions for labor, water, and food safety) — This episode is presented by Corteva Agriscience. Learn more . — Links Western Growers - Walt on Linkedin - CA Ag Labor Deck - Join the Co-op - Subscribe to the Newsletter -
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Cody Agee is the Owner & CEO at Sierra Dairy Laboratory. After getting his degree in finance and a career in investment banking at J.P. Morgan, Cody decided to search for a business to buy. He ended up acquiring Sierra Dairy Laboratory and joins the podcast to tell the whole story. — This episode is presented by Corteva Agriscience. Learn more . — Links Sierra Dairy Laboratory - Cody on Linkedin - Join the Co-op - Subscribe to the Newsletter -
info_outline 379: Understanding Math in Agriculture - Topsoil Series with Ariel PattonThe Modern Acre
This month, Tim and Tyler talk with Ariel about her latest Topsoil edition - "How to do better napkin math - A framework for units and measures in agriculture." is the creator of , a newsletter bringing you monthly frameworks to help make sense of agriculture, at just the right depth. Ariel has focused her career on driving digital transformation of agriculture to help farmers manage their businesses more profitably and sustainably at Monsanto, Granular, Corteva, Mineral, and now, Innerplant. — This episode is presented by Corteva Agriscience. Learn more . — Links Topsoil - Ariel on...
info_outline 378: Founder of Tractor Beverage Travis Potter on His New VentureThe Modern Acre
Travis Potter is the founder of Tractor Beverage, an innovative beverage company that offered the first and only Certified Organic, Non-GMO beverage solution for foodservice. Travis is now working on his next project - bringing Green Lightning to market. Green Lightning has developed on farm technology that produces liquid fertilizer from only air and water. — This episode is presented by Corteva Agriscience. Learn more . — Links Green Lightning - Join the Co-op - Modern Acre Newsletter -
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Tracey Wiedmeyer is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gripp. From independent growers to national co-ops, Gripp is focused on providing the ultimate platform for connecting operations teams, keeping tabs on their equipment whereabouts, interactions, and bringing organization to their unique collection of operational knowledge & routines. — This episode is presented by Corteva Agriscience. Learn more . — Links Gripp - Tracey on Linkedin - Polaris Energy Services - Join the Co-op - Modern Acre Newsletter -
info_outlineKevin Wright is the COO of Farmland Services at Manulife. Manulife Investment Management manages a diversified global portfolio of timberland and agriculture with forests covering 5.5 million acres across the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, and New Zealand, and farms covering nearly 400,000 acres of prime farmland across the United States, Australia, Canada, and Chile
Kevin leads the teams responsible for operations, management, and support of the North American row crop portfolio. In this capacity, Kevin oversees the teams that manage, operate and support clients’ row crop properties in the United States and Canada. In his expanded role as Interim North American Regional Operation Lead (“NARO”) and Chief Operation Officer (“COO”) of the Western U.S. Permanent Crops, Kevin will be responsible for leadership of the MAS leadership team and the commercial enterprise, as well as overseeing the manufacturing of the returns in our tree nut and tree fruit platforms. Prior to joining the firm in 2020, Kevin was president of E. Ritter Agribusiness, Inc., a fifth-generation family owned vertically integrated agricultural business, where he led the management of the family’s agricultural land and business portfolio.
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This episode is presented by American AgCredit. Learn more HERE. Check out Matt Woolf's episode on the California ag market HERE.
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Links
- Manulife - https://www.manulifeim.com/timberland-agriculture/global/en
- Kevin on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-wright-087b6b31/
- Join the Co-op - https://themodernacre.supercast.com
- Modern Acre Newsletter - https://themodernacre.substack.com
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Disclosures
- The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers, are subject to change as market and other conditions warrant, and do not constitute investment advice or a recommendation regarding any specific product or security. There is no guarantee that the investment strategy discussed will be successful or achieve any particular level of results. Any economic or market performance information is historical and is not indicative of future results, and no forecasts are guaranteed. Investing involves risks, including the potential loss of principal.
- Financial markets are volatile and can fluctuate significantly in response to company, industry, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments. The information provided does not take into account the suitability, investment objectives, financial situation, or particular needs of any specific person.
- All overviews and commentary are intended to be general in nature and for current interest. While helpful, these overviews are no substitute for professional tax, investment or legal advice. Clients and prospects should seek professional advice for their particular situation. Neither Manulife Investment Management, nor any of its affiliates or representatives (collectively “Manulife Investment Management”) is providing tax, investment or legal advice.