Upstream Ag Professional - June 29th 2025

Essential news and analysis for agribusiness leaders.

Welcome to the 99th Edition of Upstream Ag Professional

Index:

  1. Mindware: 33 Mental Models for the Modern Agribusiness Leader

  2. 2025 Crop Biostimulant Landscape

  3. Stratus Ag Research Biostimulant Survey 2024: Insights from American Growers

  4. The Nuance of Biostimulants

  5. AgroSpheres and Wilbur-Ellis Launch FUN-THYME™, a Powerful Broad-Spectrum Biofungicide Built on Novel AgriCell® Technology

  6. GDM Announces Agreement to Acquire AgReliant

  7. Trends in agricultural technology: a review of US patents

  8. The whys and wherefores of agtech exits: the empirical evidence

  9. Zero to 100+ Ranches: 10 Agtech Marketing Lessons From My First Year at Lumo

  10. Agoro Carbon Secures Flagship 12-Year Agreement to Deliver 2.6 Million Soil Carbon Removal Credits to Microsoft

  11. Start With the Problem: A Reality Check on Product-Market Fit in AgTech

  12. Locus of Control

  13. Other Interesting Ag Articles (13 this week)

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This week I wrote an article that is also in the process of being published into a guidebook available as a PDF— an aggregate of mental models and frameworks I find the most valuable to use in looking at agribusiness strategy. The full digital version will be made available to all Upstream Ag Professional members as part of your membership in July.

Since joining the industry, one thing has stood out to me whether I have interacted with a senior executives, a marketing manager, or an agronomist— what separates the best from the rest is how they think.

Just like a carpenter has a belt full of tools, or a golfer has fourteen clubs to use depending on shot demands; high-performing agribusiness professionals need a collection of mental tools ready to be deployed for any situation they encounter.

I think of that toolset as Mindware.

This new guidebook curates 33 strategic, cognitive, and descriptive frameworks that help agribusiness professionals navigate ambiguity, anticipate second-order effects, and make sharper decisions. These concepts are grounded in real-world agricultural dynamics, and can be readily applied to precision ag or crop input strategy or when thinking about founding a business.

The linked article provides practical applications of models like the Red Queen Effect, Playing to Win, Innovation Adoption, Jobs to Be Done, Friction Reduction, Jevons Paradox, and many more— each including an overview, an illustration (where applicable), an example and practical application to agribusiness and a key takeaway for agribusiness professionals.

Whether you lead a team, are founding a business, shape strategy, or sell on the front lines, the guide is designed to strengthen your “mindware”— the internal capabilities that drive how you think and operate. In agribusiness, how you think is your competitive advantage.

Each model includes:

  1. an overview

  2. an application to agriculture

  3. a key take away for agribusiness professionals

  4. an image where applicable

Check out the full list in the link above.

Chris Taylor and The Mixing Bowl continue to do a fantastic job of building landscape maps for various agtech segments— this week releasing the 2025 Crop Biostimulant landscape that includes more than 350 companies:

Their landscape maps are a fantastic resource for anyone working in the ag industry.

Key Takeaways from the Stratus Ag Research Report and Analysis

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