Michael Lavin’s Post

Congratulations Jake Joraanstad, Ryan D. Raguse and the whole team at Bushel! Let's go Bushel Wallet! #agtech #fintech #payments

Awesome video by Pivot Bio, capturing the land stewardship and community spirit of farmers. Farmers live for their family and their land, something those too removed from agriculture should appreciate more and perhaps spend some time getting better acquainted with.

Bravo Nic! Nicole Buckley Biggs, VP of Sustainability at AgriWebb, shares her perspectives on how livestock management is intrinsically linked to land stewardship and the preservation of natural ecosystems. She does this in response to criticism we're all too familiar with, by the 'agri-woke' who prefer to earn popularity through shallow researched and deliberately provocative hot-takes, who fail to even define the problem correctly - let alone the solutions. If we are to leverage nature-based methods to reduce carbon and achieve sustainability goals, Agriculture is the largest land management economy and system in the world. Agriculture is where the opportunity can be seized in partnership with the producers and communities we all rely on. AgriWebb leads in this by great example. My favorite part of Nic's article is an apt reminder to always try to properly define the problem and think of the possible off-target consequences from proposed solutions -- "Greenwashing critiques can shine light on important issues, but such articles leave readers on all sides feeling angry, frustrated, and powerless. City folk fume at how little progress is being made, and wonder what environmental causes are worth supporting. Ranchers feel exasperated at why the public would rather see beautiful grasslands converted to crops and covered in suburban sprawl or solar arrays, rather than supporting the wildlife, food production and important landscapes they steward." #agriculture #livestock #ranching #agtech #sustainability

I’m deeply honored and looking forward to contributing to the future growth and sustainability of National 4-H Council as a member of the Investment Subcommittee. I’m eager to witness the impact we will make on youth through sustainable, strategic investment decisions. When considering the many organizations committed to positively impacting youth, there is perhaps none with greater scale across America and yet such a high-touch locally, serving every county and parish where it helps our youth at the individual level to discover their unique gifts and spark. Our youth are a projection into America’s future, an investment that is both paramount and its returns multigenerational. Under the leadership of President & CEO Jill Bramble and her most capable team, this future is bright and I’m grateful to be a part of supporting it. Thank you sincerely for the opportunity. Also a special thank you to my dear friend and fellow agriculturalist-investor, Trent McKnight for graciously inviting me to work with him in this Investment Subcommittee -- your passions and work throughout agriculture, investing and philanthropy are an inspiration and I'm proud to call you a friend and colleague. Also a warm welcome to our two new trustees, Janice Abraham, retired President & CEO of United Educators, and Darci Vetter, Head of Global Public Policy at PepsiCo! Their extensive experience and expertise to support Council’s mission will be invaluable. Jill Bramble, Jim Borel, Janice Abraham, Trent McKnight, Richard Maltsbarger Christine Kelleher, Stan Harrell #4H, #Opportunity4All, #Thisis4H

Congratulations Kanvas Biosciences! Very well deserved investment from some great investors. Germin8 Ventures over the past years has followed the most cutting edge science being done to elucidate the interactions of the microbiome such that it can be harnessed for human health. We're astounded by the work being done at Kanvas Biosciences and are thrilled to support the company as it drives towards a materially outsized impact on human health. It couldn't be more fitting that our Chief Scientific Officer, Ashlie L Burkart MD, CM -- a double-boarded pathologist specializing in GI and Liver -- is serving on the Board. Let's Go!!!

A moment ago, a quote by Thomas Sewell sprung to mind, "It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." Just now, the United Nations International Court of Justice issued an order to halt Israel’s Rafah offensive in Gaza. As official as this sounds, the court has no authority, no means of enforcement, no repercussions for being right or wrong. It is purely propaganda at its finest and a response to Israel releasing a horrific video of the sexual crimes committed by Hamas and Palestinians on innocent Israeli civilians on October 7th and since. The U.N., which has an often outspoken women's rights entity, has been silent on the issue, which can only be explained by antisemitism. Further, Israel just destroyed another weapons tunnel under a U.N. building in Rafah, hardly a coincidence either. Cease fire talks have failed at every turn because the enemy doesn't want peace and on a fundamental level does not believe Jews should exist. No one can negotiate with a person who doesn't believe you should exist. You can't negotiate with them, you can't help them to help themselves, and the decision makers in this case certainly don't care to help their people (another critical element missing from this equation). The truth is that the U.N. is an antisemitic organization, pays no price for the decisions it makes -- certainly not the lives lost by not eliminating Hamas or abandoning hostages. It is a propaganda machine stirring up misinformation as a means of self-preservation. Maybe the United Nations didn't start out this way, but it does have a history of rearing its ugly head, and it is acutely clear that it is a dishonorable institution poisoning society on a global stage. For anyone at all associated with the U.N., you should speak up and be ashamed of them. #UnitedNations #Misinformation #Propoganda #Antisemetism #Antizionist https://lnkd.in/gpMFp4tJ

Ashlie L Burkart MD, CM, Chief Scientific Officer of Germin8 Ventures, guest lecturing at Harvard Kennedy School's Leadership in Emerging Technology course, covering the range of technologies we're investing in to change the next 200 years of agribusiness and health, from supply chain digitization to spatial biology to fintech. Go Ashlie!!!

Yes, venture capital had a bruising year in 2023, that is compared to prior peak-cycle years. In 2024, the vital signs are much healthier as investor-founder (or buyer-seller) expectations are more aligned, public markets show positive signals for risk-taking, AgriFoodTech still has a delta of opportunity, and likewise Germin8 Ventures is finding (and often creating) attractive investments abound. See more of our perspectives in AgFunder's recent interview with me below, where I also share some of our differentiated strategy behind how we invest in frontier science and computation to compliment our AgriFoodTech theses, and how the backlog of unicorns is an important exit consideration. Thank you Elaine Watson for the opportunity to interview and for your excellent coverage of our sector! I always enjoy and learn from your work. #agrifoodtech #agtech #foodtech #VC #venturecapital #investing #synbio #AI #innovation https://lnkd.in/emh-Bkyx

This was a blast! Thank you Laurie Bauer, Chris Holly and the Cooley LLP team for hosting this panel and graciously including me in it. I always relish the opportunity to work with you, especially when it comes to our work with Magi Richani, who is such an inspiration and world-class leader building Nobell Foods into a massively impactful company. Your guidance and expertise has been invaluable.

If you love Ag and are a leader wanting to usher a FinTech revolution in the sector, then applying for the position as Chief Digital Payments Officer at Bushel is the best move you can make. Calling all executives and accomplished leaders with backgrounds in payments/FinTech, who are excited by running fast, winning and making a huge impact at a generational-defining company. #fintech #payments #csuite #agtech