crop-nutrition
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Karsten Temme and the case for a smaller fertilizer factory
Before he worked on feeding crops, Karsten Temme connected rural Iowa to the internet. At Pivot Bio, the bioengineer has spent years solving another delivery problem: getting nitrogen to the place a plant can use it.
The Fertilizer Was There. The Plants Couldn’t Reach It.
Sound Agriculture's wager is that some of the cheapest crop nutrition is already underfoot. Its chemistry, fungi, and new seed treatment try to make that buried inventory useful - and its guarantees ask growers to judge the idea by the harvest.
Chris Abbott
Chris Abbott is the Chief Executive Officer of Pivot Bio, a Berkeley-based agricultural biotechnology company pioneering microbial nitrogen solutions that replace synthetic fertilizers. A Minnesota native and University of Minnesota graduate, Abbott built his career at the intersection of agriculture finance and agtech investing - from Wall Street sell-side research at Piper Jaffray to co-leading Continental Grain's Conti Ventures. He joined Pivot Bio's board in 2018, and in August 2023 stepped up as CEO, guiding the company past $100 million in annual revenue while scaling its gene-edited microbes to over 5 million acres. Under his leadership, Pivot Bio achieved 60% year-over-year revenue growth and has helped farmers reduce synthetic nitrogen use by over 129,000 metric tons.