MCJ AMA: Anastasia Volkova - Regrow
Join us in the MCJ Community Slack for our next 24 hour MCJ Ask-Me-Anything with Dr Anastasia Volkova, CEO and Co-founder of Regrow - Fast Company's number one most innovative company in agriculture in 2023.
Let’s meet our guest…
Meet Anastasia: Dr. Anastasia Volkova is the CEO and Co-Founder of Regrow Ag, an award-winning company that empowers climate action through regenerative agriculture. She has her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Sydney in Australia and has more than 10 years of experience in academia, business, and startups. After earning her Ph.D., Dr. Volkova recognized that her knowledge is well-suited for climate action, especially in agriculture. Over the past several years she has been working to reverse climate change through sustainable farming; identifying and progressing the science and technology that leads to lasting change in the industry. Dr. Volkova has nurtured Regrow into a global company that empowers some of the world’s largest brands (Kellogg’s, Cargill, and General Mills, among others) to reduce GHG emissions across their supply chains and combat climate change through food production. She is a thought leader and innovator in regenerative agriculture and sustainable food sourcing - she is a member of the Forbes Technology Council, a TEDx Speaker, one of MIT’s “35 Under 35” Innovators (2020), one of BBC’s “Top 100 Women” (2020) and one of Top 100 Australian Innovators (2021 and 2022). Most recently Anastasia was named one of the 2022 Bloomberg New Economy Catalysts.
About Regrow: Regrow empower the world's largest brands such as Kellogg's, Cargill and General Mills to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across their supply chains. Their product began as a data and analytics offering to agronomists and farmers to help build a localized growing roadmap, identifying what crops to plant, what fertilizer and other inputs to use, how much of it to use, and an irrigation plan. By building this roadmap for growers, Regrow realized that it could then help food brands and processors have a much deeper knowledge of how the food they source is grown. Beyond expertise, Regrow's product helps companies proactively lower their supply chain emissions by incentivizing best practices across their grower network. The company raised a Series B of financing last year from Galvanized Climate Solutions among others, and is a leader in driving regenerative agriculture practice changes at scale.
→ MCJ Podcast: Listen to Anastasia’s recent episode with Cody here.
→ Want a reminder for this AMA? Add it to your calendar by registering for this event.
Our AMA with Anastasia will start on Thursday 13th July at 10am PST - 1pm EST - 6pm BST - 7pm CET and will run asynchronously in the MCJ AMA slack channel for 24 hours.
In Cody’s episode with Anastasia they cover:
[02:30]: Anastasia's personal climate journey
[04:43]: Discovering the potential of satellite imagery for agriculture during her PhD
[07:24]: Agronomists' crucial role as "crop doctors"
[13:10]: Regrow’s product evolution
[15:38]: Lack of visibility as the main challenge in understanding the agri-food supply chain
[17:08]: Deep dive into the nuances of Regrow's product
[19:30]: Regrow's business model: Brands paying farmers for emission reductions
[23:48]: The agri-food industry's significant contribution (31%) to global emissions
[26:52]: Key emissions factors on farms, including machinery and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers
[32:08]: Topsoil degradation and the regenerative agriculture movement
[39:04]: Challenges with creating a carbon credit methodology around soil organic carbon
[43:41]: Systemic challenges to scaling regenerative agriculture
[45:09]: The need for financing the transition to regenerative practices
[47:09]: Predictions for upcoming farm bills
[48:04]: What's next for Regrow
→ You can find a transcript of the full conversation here.
You can also dig into Anastasia’s work further via:
Set your reminders, and get your questions ready! You can ask Anastasia anything!
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NOTE: This event will act as a placeholder in your calendar. Only MCJ members will be able to attend. Not yet a member? Apply to join here.
