Croptastic the InnerPlant Podcast: Recent Episodes
InnerPlant
Croptastic explores the global future of agriculture and food with guests from the technology, agricultural, and food supply chain industries. The podcast hosted by InnerPlant CEO and co-founder Shely Aronov.
InnerPlant’s Reza Bloomer, Director of Business Development, and SciMax Team Lead for NEW Cooperative, Peter Bixel, join the show to discuss how the 2026 soybean season is shaping up and what role data plays in critical management decisions that impact yield.
Join InnerPlant’s Gary Schaefer, Chief Commercial Officer, and Ariel Patton, Director of Product, as they talk about what to expect from the 2026 CropVoice season and give a sneak peek behind the scenes of the only plant-powered disease detection tool.
2025 case study examining the world’s first detection of an active fungal infection in real time in Northeastern Nebraska. https://youtu.be/Qu7fQXx_DP4
In August of 2025, InnerPlant hosted a technology demonstration field day in Perry, IA, that took guests through the 2030 growing season with a walking tour featuring demonstrations representing a different day in the future season. Each stop on the tour showcased a specific aspect of how InnerPlant's technology will shape the future of agriculture.
This special Croptastic series of episodes is designed to tell the story of that day and share the demonstrations with a wider audience.
This episode features Brandon Rasmussen, InnerPlant’s Remote Sensing Engineer, demonstrating recent detections of the InnerPlant signal from satellite and its implications for informing crop management decisions at scale.
This series of episodes from our Field Day 2030 is best in video form, as there are multiple visual elements that support the presentations. Please check out our YouTube channel to give this and our other episodes a watch.
In August of 2025, InnerPlant hosted a technology demonstration field day in Perry, IA, that took guests through the 2030 growing season with a walking tour featuring demonstrations representing a different day in the future season. Each stop on the tour showcased a specific aspect of how InnerPlant's technology will shape the future of agriculture.
This special Croptastic series of episodes is designed to tell the story of that day and share the demonstrations with a wider audience.
This episode features InnerPlant’s Chief Commercial Officer, Gary Schaefer, explaining the CropVoice product and how InnerPlant’s technology is delivering value to farmers today.
This series of episodes from our Field Day 2030 is best in video form, as there are multiple visual elements that support the presentations. Please check out our YouTube channel to give this and our other episodes a watch.
In August of 2025, InnerPlant hosted a technology demonstration field day in Perry, IA, that took guests through the 2030 growing season with a walking tour featuring demonstrations representing a different day in the future season. Each stop on the tour showcased a specific aspect of how InnerPlant's technology will shape the future of agriculture.
This special Croptastic series of episodes is designed to tell the story of that day and share the demonstrations with a wider audience.
This episode features InnerPlant’s CEO and co-founder, Shely Aronov, setting the stage for the day’s demonstrations.
This series of episodes from our Field Day 2030 is best in video form, as there are multiple visual elements that support the presentations. Please check out our YouTube channel to give this and our other episodes a watch.
InnerPlant is planning three field days to show off our CropVoice product that's currently deployed across the Midwest. The events will take place in three sites this summer, July 28 in Stewardson, IL, July 30 in Perry, IA, and Aug. 1, in York, NE. We’re also planning another field day on Aug. 5, in Perry, IA. For that event, we’ll give guests a tour through the growing season in the year 2030 and show them how InnerPlant’s technology will evolve into the future alongside our current commercial CropVoice deployment. This episode brings you along with us on our road trip for a behind-the-scenes peek at our 2025 field day planning effort.
Don't forget that this season of Croptastic features video. Head over to our YouTube channel to give this and our other episodes a watch.
Shely is joined in this episode by New York Times bestselling author, Michael Grunwald, whose new book "We Are Eating the Earth" publishes on July 1, 2025. Michael shares the idea behind his book and chats with Shely about finding a pragmatic balance between climate and real-world human behavior as it relates to agriculture and food.
"We Are Eating the Earth" is available for pre-order now:
https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Eating-Earth-Climate/dp/1982160071
This is the second of two special episodes featuring Virginia farmer and "King of Corn," who broke the 600-bushel corn barrier, David Hula. He joins the conversation about a conceptual framework examining the value of agricultural inputs using the examples of how wine and diamonds are valued and sold. The idea was introduced in Part I by Dan Northrup, a veteran agricultural research scientist with experience at companies including Booz Allen Hamilton and Benson Hill. His current role is Principal, Science and Technology, at Galvanize Climate Solutions.
This is the first of two special episodes discussing a conceptual framework examining the value of agricultural inputs using the examples of how wine and diamonds are valued and sold. The idea was brought to the team by Dan Northrup, a veteran agricultural research scientist with experience at companies including Booz Allen Hamilton and Benson Hill. His current role is Principal, Science and Technology, at Galvanize Climate Solutions. InnerPlant's Director of Product and creator of the "Topsoil" newsletter, Ariel Patton, joins the discussion. The second part of the discussion will test the framework with David Hula, the farmer who broke the 600-bushel corn barrier.
Shely is joined in this episode by Ron Adner, the Nathaniel D'1906 and Martha E. Leverone Memorial Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and author of "The Wide Lens," and "Winning the Right Game." Ron chats with Shely about the complexities of bringing innovation to market and how it might impact the future of agriculture.
"The Wide Lens" is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wide-Lens-New-Strategy-Innovation/dp/1591844606
"Winning the Right Game" is also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Right-Game-Changing-Management/dp/026204546X
Croptastic's fifth season continues with Bruce Sherrick, Professor, Director of the TIAA Center for Farmland Research, and the Fruin Professor in Land Economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, joining Shely to discuss how the economics of crop insurance and tariffs will impact the future of agriculture.
Croptastic kicks off our fifth season with a special episode from the second Croptastic on Stage conference held at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta in January!
Get a glimpse of what attendees enjoyed during the one-day event that gathered members of InnerPlant's InnerCircle farmer feedback community along with partners and industry experts to learn more about the company's technology and exchange ideas about building a new system for agriculture.
This episode we chat with Piyush Pandey and Brandon Rasmussen from our Detection team about the work they do detecting stress signals from InnerPlant's groundbreaking plants.
Don't forget that this season of Croptastic features video. Head over to our YouTube channel to give this and our other episodes a watch.
This episode we chat with Ryan Mitchell and Ian Lemersal from our Molecular Biology team about the work they do manipulating molecules including plant DNA to help create InnerPlant's plant sensors.
Don't forget that this season of Croptastic features video. Head over to our YouTube channel to give this and our other episodes a watch.
This episode pulls the curtain back on our Plant Genetics Transformation Team. Ramtin Ravanfar and Sharon Radke give us a look at the transformation process and what makes the InnerPlant team so successful.
Don't forget that this season of Croptastic features video. Head over to our YouTube channel to give this and our other episodes a watch.
This episode features Michael Doane, Global Managing Director of Food & Freshwater Systems at The Nature Conservancy. Michael joins Shely to talk about The Nature Conservancy's work and how sustainability might fit into the future of agriculture.
Don't forget that this season of Croptastic features video. Head over to our YouTube channel to give this and our other episodes a watch.
This episode features Trey Malone, the Purdue University College of Agriculture Department of Agricultural Economics' Boehlije Chair in Managerial Economics for Agribusiness. Trey chats with Shely about the work he does to better understand the business of agriculture and shares his thoughts on innovation in the industry.
Below are links to the studies that Trey references during the episode.
Don't forget that this season of Croptastic features video. Head over to our YouTube channel to give this and our other episodes a watch.
Farm Foundation Report
The supply chain regulations papers.
Staples, A.J., D. Chambers, & T. Malone. 2022. "How Many Regulations Does It Take to Get a Beer? The Geography of Beer Regulations." Regulation & Governance. 16(4): 1197-1210.
Staples, A.J., D. Chambers, R.T. Melstrom & T. Malone. 2022. "Regulatory Restrictions Across U.S. Protein Supply Chains." Journal of Agricultural & Applied Economics. 54(1): 1-27.
The paper that includes the ICPC Framework:
Malone, T., J. Monahan, K. Nicpon, K.A. Schaefer, & M. Cary. 2022. "On the Creation of Fast-Responding Extension and Teaching Content in a New Media Environment." Applied Economics & Teaching Resources. 4(2): 1-13.
InnerPlant recently held its first Field Day in partnership with GROWMARK FS and hosted at the West Central FS Innovation Campus in Galesburg, IL.
The day featured live demonstrations of InnerSoy plants signaling in the field, as well as panel discussions about how InnerPlant's technology is helping companies like John Deere and Syngenta build the future of agriculture.
This episode features a quick look at the Field Day activities along with the full keynote panel.
Don't forget that this season of Croptastic features video. Head over to our YouTube channel to give this and our other episodes a watch.
Croptastic returns for its third season with video! Join the InnerPlant team for exclusive peaks behind the scenes and special guests who join us to discuss the future of agriculture. You can find the video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel @Inner_Plant
This episode features Jon Entime, founder and Executive Director of the Genetic Literacy Project, who joins Shely to talk about genetically engineered crops and how the public perceives them. Access the video version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/Zcauf39mkpQ
Croptastic returns for its third season with video! Join the InnerPlant team for exclusive peaks behind the scenes and special guests who join us to discuss the future of agriculture. You can find the video versions of the podcast on our YouTube channel @Inner_Plant
This episode features Tim Keller, InnerPlant's Detection Engineer, who shares a bit about his role and some of the projects he takes on to help develop and deploy our technology. If you'd like to experience the video version of this episode, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/f2BLYkDb3nk
This is a particularly exciting episode as we’re joined by Charles C. Mann, the New York Times bestselling author of “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus,” and “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.” Charles shares insights with us about his more recent book, “The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World,” and chats with Shely about the lessons the story of Norman Borlaug and William Vogt have for the future of agriculture.
In this episode, we’re joined by Laura Wood, an environmental and agricultural lobbyist who works on behalf of clients like IPSA, the Independent Professional Seed Association. Laura previously led federal affairs for Syngenta and Indigo Ag. She shares with Shely some of the ins and outs of lobbying, as well as tips for how startups can engage in the process and help shape the future of agriculture.
On this very special space episode, we’re joined by guest co-host Reza Bloomer, InnerPlant’s Director of Business Development, and Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft, Associate Research Professor at the University of Maryland, founding Director of the Harvest Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture Initiative, founding Director of NASA Acres, and immediate past co-founding Director of NASA Harvest. Harvest and Acres are, respectively, NASA's global and US-focused food security and agriculture programs. Our guests join us today to talk about the state of satellite-based earth observation and where the technology fits in the future of agriculture. Our guests join us today to talk about the state of satellite-based earth observation and where the technology fits in the future of agriculture.
First-generation Kansas farmer Matt Turecek of DY Farms joins the podcast this episode. Matt shares his story with Shely and gives his take on farming, agtech, and the future of agriculture.
Bryan Thompson, a sixth-generation farmer in Central Ohio, joins the podcast today to talk with Shely about the changes on the farm over the last few decades and what we might see in the future.
This episode we’re joined by Dr. Pamela Ronald, a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis and a member of the Innovative Genomics Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Ronald recently received the VinFuture Prize Award - for her breakthroughs in high-yield stress-tolerant rice varieties. She is also the author of, “Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food.” Dr. Ronald joins Shely to talk about her work using genetics to help feed the world and the potential that genetic engineering has for the future of agriculture.
On this very special episode, we’re joined by the dynamic duo of Shane Thomas, agronomist, industry analyst, and creator of the Upstream Ag Insights newsletter, and Matt Coutts, a farmer and agricultural investor. Shane and Matt bring their unique insights to the show to talk with Shely about how they evaluate technologies and companies and what industry trends they see building into 2023.
Our guest this episode is Adam Wolf, founder and CEO of carbon sequestration company Eion. Prior to Eion, Adam founded and led the crop intelligence company Arable. Adam joins the show to chat with Shely about carbon sequestration, entrepreneurship, and how to build improved sustainability into the future of agriculture.
This is a special episode as we’re joined by two guests from John Deere - Than Hartsock, Director of Corn & Soybean Production Systems, and Jorge Heraud, Vice President of Automation & Autonomy. Than and Jorge join Shely to talk about where plant-by-plant management fits in the future of agriculture.
We’re joined this episode by Jeremy Jack, a family farmer who produces cotton, corn, soybeans, rice, peanuts, and wheat on 12,000 acres in the Mississippi delta. Shely and Jeremy discuss the operations and risk management approaches that are unique to the warmer, year-round production of the southern climate.
This episode we’re joined by Daniel Northrup, a biochemist and geneticist, who is the science and technology principal at Galvanize Climate Solutions. Shely chats with Daniel about the convergence of climate and agriculture including soil health, carbon credits, and corporate ESG efforts.
Those interested in the reports mentioned during the episode can find the links below:
1) The paper Dan wrote with colleagues on agricultural stewardship
2) The USDA report on Policies that incentivize investment
We’re joined this episode by Ben Alfi, a former Israeli Air Force pilot and CEO and founder of Blue White Robotics. Ben and Shely talk about rising labor scarcity on the farm and how autonomous equipment fits into the future of agriculture.
Welcome to Croptastic the InnerPlant Podcast where your host Shely Aronov explores the global future of agriculture and food. In this episode, we’re joined by Tom Adams, CEO and co-founder of Pairwise. Tom has over 25 years of biotechnology leadership experience and chats with Shely about how that experience continues to influence his work using biotech to create healthier food at Pairwise.
We’re joined this episode by Todd Martin, CEO of the Independent Professional Seed Association, who chats with Shely about seed genetics, traits, and letters to the USDA.
In this episode, we’re joined by Rachel Lee, a 15-year-old wunderkind and co-creator of the TechnoGypsie podcast. Rachel chats with Shely about her path to developing her own gene-editing project.
Welcome to Croptastic the InnerPlant Podcast where your host Shely Aronov explores the global future of agriculture and food. David Wallerstein, Chief eXploration Officer and Senior Executive Vice President of Chinese Internet titan Tencent joins the show this episode to talk about the need for big solutions to the planet’s biggest problems. His water-focused documentary, “Day Zero” is available on Amazon Prime.
Joining the show this episode is Dr. Rattan Lal, Distinguished Professor of Soil Science and Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at The Ohio State University. Professor Lal won the Japan Prize in 2019 in recognition of his work toward sustainable soil management for global food security and mitigation of climate change. He also won the World Food Prize - the Nobel Prize of food and agriculture - in 2020.
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, May-June Issue, “Sustaining soil for advancing peace: World is one family” https://www.jswconline.org/content/77/3/43A
This episode’s guest is Gonzalo Fuenzalida the CEO and co-founder of Andes Ag. Gonzalo joins the show to chat about agricultural biologicals and where they and other technologies fit in the future of agriculture.
We’re joined this episode by Kater Hake, Vice President of Agricultural and Environmental Research at Cotton Incorporated. Today Kater and Shely chat about the state of cotton farming and some of the challenges that cotton and other crops face in the future.
In this episode, we’re joined by Kasey Bamberger and Mark Bryant, the father-daughter team behind Ohio’s Bryant Agricultural Enterprise. They chat with Shely about how they integrate new processes and technologies into their farming operation and what they see in store for the future of farming.
This is a special super-sized episode featuring Bart Elmore, Associate Professor of Environmental and Business History at The Ohio State University and author of a fascinating new book called, “Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future.” Bart joins the show to talk about his book and to give us a peek into the impact of Monsanto’s agricultural legacy.
David Lee, the president of AppHarvest and former CFO of Impossible Foods, joins the show this week to talk about the potential benefits of moving crops closer to consumers through controlled-environment agriculture.
This episode gets into the weeds with James Westwood a professor at Virginia Tech whose research focuses on parasitic plants, plant communication, and weed evolution. He’s also the lead author of “Weed Management in 2050: Perspectives on the Future of Weed Science.”
This episode we’re joined by Rachel Konrad, former Chief Communications Officer at Impossible Foods, who chats with Shely about the challenges facing today’s food system and what consumers really want from their food.
Dana Worth, senior vice president of commercial for vertical farming company Plenty and former Impossible Foods VP, joins this episode to talk about indoor farming and connecting consumers to the future of agriculture.
In this episode, Shely talks about regenerative farming, soil health, and agtech with Mitchell Hora a 7th generation Iowa farmer and founder/CEO of soil health data company Continuum Ag.
In this episode, Shely talks about how the agribusiness landscape will shape the development of agtech with Shane Thomas, the agronomist and agribusiness analyst behind UpStream Ag Insights.
In this episode, we discuss the state of agtech and the challenges of being agtech founder with Adam Litle CEO of Sound Agriculture, an agtech company working to increase the pace of consumer and environmental change by unleashing the natural power of plants.
Matt Carstens, President and CEO of Landus Cooperative, Iowa’s largest farmer-owned cooperative focusing on soy and corn, joins the show this week to talk about innovation in agriculture and putting farmers at the center of agtech development.
Benjamin Riensche, a sixth-generation Iowa farmer and chair of the strategic advisory board of Indigo Research Partners, joins Croptastic to talk about agtech, regenerative farming, and his recent trip to the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, IL.
This special two-episode edition takes a deep dive into the science behind InnerPlant with co-founder and chief science officer Rod Kumimoto and head of detection technologies, Ari Kornfeld. Episode 1 focuses on the plant biology behind the fluorescent signals that InnerPlant’s crops give off when they’re under stress from pathogens or a lack of water or nutrients. Episode 2 focuses on the science involved in detecting InnerPlant’s optical signals in daylight from as far away as space.
This special two-episode edition takes a deep dive into the science behind InnerPlant with co-founder and chief science officer Rod Kumimoto and head of detection technologies, Ari Kornfeld. Episode 1 focuses on the plant biology behind the fluorescent signals that InnerPlant’s crops give off when they’re under stress from pathogens or a lack of water or nutrients. Episode 2 focuses on the science involved in detecting InnerPlant’s optical signals in daylight from as far away as space.
Yacov Salomon joins this episode to talk about the role that big data, AI, and machine learning have to play in the future of agriculture. Yacov is an artificial intelligence lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley and co-founder of Ketch. Yacov also serves as adviser to a number of firms lending his expertise as a data scientist and AI/machine learning expert.
Brandon Hunnicutt, a 5th-generation Nebraskan farmer, joins the show to give a farmer’s perspective on the role that technology plays in the future of agriculture. Brandon serves as vice-chair of the Nebraska Corn Board, a board member of the National Corn Growers Association, and chairman of the board of Field to Market: the Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.
Pam Marrone joins the show to talk about how biologicals and other technologies will change agriculture and what it’s like to be one of less than two dozen women in history to lead an IPO. Pam is a pioneering agtech entrepreneur who founded and led Marrone Bio to a successful IPO as its CEO and shares her unparalleled knowledge of agtech with us on this episode.
Ben Chostner joins the show to talk about the past, present, and future of agriculture and food. Ben is an early agtech pioneer and Vice President of Blue River Technology, which was acquired by John Deere in 2017. He was Blue River’s second employee and led the development of the company’s See & Spray precision weed-targeting system.
Carl Peterson, owner of Peterson Farms Seed network and third-generation farmer, joins the show to give a farmer-centric view of the future of agriculture and food.
Patrick Vizzone joins Shely to talk about China's role in the global future of agriculture and food. Patrick is one of InnerPlant's newest investors/advisors and is International Head of Food Beverage and Agribusiness and Hong Kong Head of Corporate Banking for the Australia New Zealand Banking Group. Patrick also spent more than a decade on the board of China Agri Industries, which was the key listed subsidiary of the COFCO Group, China’s largest food and agriculture company.
Nate Salpeter, entrepreneur and founder from Sweet Farm and Sno.llc, joins Shely to talk about how agtech can transform the future of agriculture and food to help feed the world's growing population while reducing the impacts of industrialized farming on animals and plants.
Nick Koshnick, pioneering agtech founder and founder of Ponder, joins Shely to talk about the genesis of agtech and how reducing the use of chemical fertilizers is critical to the future of agriculture and food.
Nick Halla, SVP International at Impossible Foods and the company's first employee, joins Shely to talk about Impossible's mission and how it's charting a path toward the future of agriculture and food.
Ridge Evers, regenerative farmer + 6X tech CEO who led Intuit's creation of QuickBooks, joins the show to talk about how to shift agriculture away from current extractive methods.