Sentera: https://sentera.com/

Chandler Coop: https://www.chandlercoop.com/

Today’s episode is another installment in our Tech-Enabled Advisor series. The idea here is to better understand agtech through the lens of the BUYER and USER of that technology rather than just the entrepreneurs or investors behind it. I’ve received some super positive feedback about the return of this series. By talking to the buyers rather than the sellers of the tech, we got an unfiltered introduction to the technology and more importantly got to see HOW its used and the VALUE that it provides.

To do this, I partner with a company and together we invite one of their customers onto the show. The catch is that they’re not allowed to script these individuals or dictate what to say or edit it after it is recorded - it has to be real and unfiltered.

So today’s episode featuring Nick Einck of Chandler Coop is produced in partnership with Sentera.

Sentera is a leading provider of remote imagery solutions. Their industry-leading cameras are compatible with most major drone platforms and enable farmers and crop scouts to efficiently capture high-resolution data. Their capabilities and FieldAgent software tools help farmers and agronomists assess plant-level health, identify stressors, and take action. Also their customized herbicide prescription, SMARTSCRIPT™ Weeds, can be delivered to sprayers with individual nozzle control.

So drones equipped with Sentera technology fly over fields at high speeds and generate high-resolution images. The images are processed using proprietary deep learning algorithms to identify the exact location of specific weeds and generate a weed map. This map becomes a targeted prescription for how much product a farmer needs to load into their sprayer, saving money and minimizing waste. This past May, John Deere announced they were acquiring Sentera.

So I’m very excited to partner with them for this episode, which is a fantastic deep dive into how innovative technology like this combined with something like See-and-Spray really changes the game.

Some background on Nick before we dive in: Nick Einck is the Director of Agronomy at Chandler Co-op, a farmer-owned cooperative serving more than 900 customers and providing agronomic services across over 100,000 acres in southwest Minnesota. He began his career at Chandler as an intern and seed manager before spending nearly a decade with Monsanto and Bayer, gaining deep expertise in agronomy, product development, and grower engagement across the Midwest. Nick returned to Chandler in October 2024, bringing both retail and industry experience to help advance the co-op’s agronomic strategy. Today, he leads a multi-location agronomy team focused on leveraging tech-enabled tools—like SmartScript™—to help growers make faster, more informed decisions and drive greater return from every acre.

Ambrook: https://ambrook.com/

Offrange: https://ambrook.com/offrange

"Not Boring" Founder's Letter: https://www.notboring.co/p/america-the-beautiful

Mackenzie Burnett: On Agriculture and American Progress on Rhishi Pethe's "Software is Feeding the World"

Today’s episode features a pretty intriguing startup, Ambrook. I say intriguing not just because they recently announced a $26.1M series A round in this tough environment to raise capital. But they are focused on what I would consider a not very flashy part of the industry, accounting software. Not a new concept. On the surface, it doesn’t sound like one of those moonshot problems startups like to spin a narrative around like mitigating climate change or feeding the billions. But those of us who have spent time on farms or ranches know there are still plenty of opportunities for improvement in this area. And in just over 18 months of commercialization Ambrook already claims to have over 2,500 operations using their software.

Another interesting part of their business is as they were building their financial management tool, they also launched their own media venture called Ambrook Research. They have since rebranded it to Off Range, but it boasts more than 150,000 newsletter subscribers to read stories about agriculture and food.

But will all this lead to better outcomes for producers, a successful business for Ambrook and a more resilient agriculture in the future? That’s what I wanted to know from Ambrook co-founder and CEO Mackenzie Burnett. Before starting this financial management software company, Mackenzie’s prior experience was working in community nonprofits, water asset management, and open source software infrastructure. She holds an M.A. in international policy and climate security from Stanford University.

Vance Crowe: https://www.vancecrowe.com/

Legacy Interviews: https://www.legacyinterviews.com/

Vance Crowe on X: https://x.com/VanceCrowe

Vance Crowe is a communications strategist that has worked for corporations and international organizations around the world. Crowe has spoken before more than 250,000 people, answering questions about some of the most sophisticated and controversial technologies in the modern age. He has worked for organizations as varied as the World Bank, Monsanto, the U.S. Peace Corps and even as a deckhand on an ecotourism ship. Today he is the founder of Legacy Interviews, a service that privately records the life stories of individuals and couples so that future generations can know their family history. The Vance Crowe Podcast hosts guests from around the world with artists, psychologists, economists, farmers, ambassadors and heads of state.

Vance and I discuss his views on reinvention, artificial intelligence, how to develop healthy habits with technology in general, and bitcoin and why he believes it will de-monetize farmland as just one of the implications of more widespread adoption of that technology. If you’ve ever thought “I don’t think I understand bitcoin and frankly it feels to late to ask” this is probably going to be a good episode for you, because I ask some fundamental questions. I’m not saying you’ll fully understand it today, but Vance also offers some pretty practical advice for those who want to go deeper.