The GuidePost: April 2023
New investments in LandTrust and Local Line, Provision Analytics receives investment from the Canadian government, venture partner Beth Richtman on 'polysolutions' and more.
As our portfolio companies continue to work tirelessly to innovate and improve food and agriculture, we are too. Case in point: Trailhead Capital’s recent investments in LandTrust and Local Line. Both companies are supporting independent farmers and landowners, but in different ways. One through wildlife experiences on private lands, and the other through access to local markets.
LandTrust is building on the ideas of Aldo Leopold, one of the founding fathers of the U.S. wilderness system, who once said: “Conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.” The fact is, private lands play a pivotal role in supporting wildlife habitat, and LandTrust’s model is opening up access to more places for users to interact with wildlife while incentivizing landowners to protect and restore the natural capital on their land, through regenerative and/or conservation practices.
Local Line is building what it calls “the leading commerce platform for farms, food hubs and markets.” Its software makes it easy for independent farmers to create an online store, find new customers and generate income. This model is connecting large buyers with local suppliers, providing customers with useful data about the social and environmental attributes of the local supply options, and enabling smaller farms to reach bigger customers, supporting local environments and benefitting local economies.
Also worth noting: Chipotle’s venture arm recently invested in the company and will be sourcing product from the Local Line platform as part of its commitment to purchase at least 37.5 million pounds of local produce this year. Said Chipotle CTO Curt Garner: “Local Line exemplifies our mission to support local farmers and help grow their businesses so we can ensure the future of real food. Together we can leverage tech to unlock the potential of the U.S. farming industry and increase access to locally sourced produce.”
As the world becomes rife with interconnecting environmental and social challenges, the World Economic Forum introduced the new term “polycrisis” in their annual Global Risk Report for 2023. They posit that a “polycrisis” happens when present and future risks interact with each other to form a cluster of related global risks with compounding effects, such that the overall impact exceeds the sum of each part.
General Updates
Clean Crop Technologies
Breakthrough solutions for crop loss and food safety.
EarthSense
Building ultracompact, autonomous, teachable robots for crop breeders, scientists, and growers.
Eion Carbon
Removing atmospheric carbon permanently and verifiably, with enhanced rock weathering on soil.
FoodMaven
Better data for better decisions for food buyers at restaurants through to enterprise-level customers.
HowGood
The world’s largest product sustainability database.
HowGood is your food? Northwestern Dining implements sustainability ratings
Texas State students go all-in on new reusable to-go containers
LandTrust
The recreation access network.
Local Line
E-commerce for the local food system.
Mad Capital
Financing platform built for organic regenerative farmers.
Provision Analytics
A single platform to capture and analyze all food safety and quality data.
Trace Genomics
Whole genome sequencing of the soil microbiome.
How Trace Genomics is bringing soil analysis out of the dark with hi-definition genome sequencing
Trace Genomics Promotes Poornima Parameswaran to Chief Executive Officer
Impact Capital Managers Annual Convening 2023 - May 2-4, 2023 - Philadelphia, PA
A series of deep-dive conversations on impact investing in private capital markets, with a focus on Alpha in Impact: Value Creation During Economic Complexity. (Trailhead is a member of the ICM Network.)
2023 Food Waste Solutions Summit - May 16-18, 2023 - St. Louis, MO
Presented by ReFED, the Food Waste Solutions Summit aims to tackle the growing crisis of food waste by, “…bringing together food businesses, funders, solution providers, innovators, policymakers, nonprofits, and more to drive the adoption of food waste solutions.” Trailhead Capital is proud to be an official ambassador to ReFED’s Food Waste Funders Circle.
The Guardian: ‘A wake-up call’: total weight of wild mammals less than 10% of humanity’s
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Urgent climate action can secure a liveable future for all
World Economic Forum: Explainer: Carbon insetting vs offsetting
CBS News: Almost half of humanity is eating too much or too little, report says
Corridor Business Journal: Agriculture drones reach new heights
Forbes: A New Superfood From Hawaiʻi And The Future Of Food Security
Prime Future: 7 acres —> 1 takeaway
Rice University: Prairie Plots burning ignites new landscaping ideas at Rice
Yahoo! Canada: Stimulating the soil naturally could be key to a sustainable lawn
Discover opportunities across our network of transformational companies, including Provision, Clean Crop Technologies, Trace Genomics and more.