In Part 2 of Wade Barnes’ incredible journey, we explore how Farmer’s Edge went head-to-head with Monsanto, John Deere, and Nutrien, battling for control of farm data and precision agriculture. Wade shares how a single deal nearly destroyed the company, how VC giants like Kleiner Perkins got involved, and why farming tech became a battlefield for billion-dollar companies. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in agriculture, startups, and high-stakes business strategy. 🚀
Wade Barnes spent the early years of Farmers Edge quietly terrified of two companies. Not competitors his own size. Monsanto and John Deere.
This is Part 2 of a three part conversation. It picks up at the beginning, with a name chosen because he wanted the word Edge in it, and a field day where he walked twenty farmers through an oat crop where the strip with no nitrogen was the only part starting to lodge. The value was obvious. What was not obvious was how a Manitoba company was supposed to hold on to it.
What's Inside
- The early proof that variable rate worked, and why the farmers standing in that field could see it before the industry could
- Why he never trusted agronomic models, going back to risk advisories that arrived during stretches with no rain at all
- What changed the day Monsanto acquired Climate Corp, and the strategy he built in response: in-cab data, weather stations, and better inputs rather than more analysts
- The weather station finding that quietly explained years of variable rate complaints, once he could see three inches of rain difference inside three quarters of a mile
- A binding agreement worth more than twenty million dollars that evaporated when the counterparty was acquired, and the months of panic that followed while investors walked
- How he thought about data ownership, and the line he would not cross on selling farmer data
- Why he believes the grain trade made its money on information rather than on grain, and what the internet did to that advantage
- The partnerships that followed, and the independent dealers who told him they could not stay once he chose their largest competitor
Related Episodes
Wade Barnes Part 1: What Happens When the Data Company Loses the Farmer
Wade Barnes Part 3: the raise, the IPO, and starting over
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