logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2023
28m 11s

'The Android of agriculture': Monarch Tr...

The Verge
About this episode

We spent a lot of time here on Decoder talking about electric vehicles and the future of cars and we’re usually talking about passenger vehicles or maybe cargo vans. But there’s another huge industry that can also reap the benefits of electrified transportation: agriculture. 

I co-hosted the Code Conference this week where I had the opportunity to hangout onstage with Monarch Tractor CEO Praveen Penmetsa. Honestly, this was one of my favorite conversations of the entire event. 

We are utterly reliant on farming as a species, and farming is utterly reliant on tractors. If we don’t have tractors, we don’t have food. But electrifying farms is hard, and Praveen explained how he and Monarch are trying to tackle that challenge. The ambition is to compete in an open way with closed platforms like John Deere, and Praveen said his goal for the Monarch platform is to be the Android of agriculture. 


Links: 


Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23659941


Credits:


Decoder is a production of The Verge and is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.


Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. It was edited by Callie Wright. 


The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Oct 9
The AI industry is at a major crossroads
This is Hayden Field, senior AI reporter at The Verge and your Thursday episode guest host. It’s been a very big news week in AI, and a lot of it had to do with OpenAI, its DevDay in San Francisco this week, and the viral explosion of AI-generated video thanks to the company’s ne ... Show More
44m 2s
Oct 6
Rivian CEO on CarPlay, Lidar, and affordable EVs
I’m Joanna Stern, the senior personal tech columnist at The Wall Street Journal, and this is my final Decoder episode filling in for Nilay while he’s out on parental leave. My guest today: Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. This is RJ’s third time on the show, and it felt like the perfect f ... Show More
50m 38s
Oct 2
The good, the bad, and the future of AI agents
This is Hayden Field, senior AI reporter at The Verge and your Thursday episode guest host. Today, I’m talking with David Hershey, who leads the applied AI team at Anthropic. I wanted to have David on because earlier this week, Anthropic released a brand-new AI model called Claud ... Show More
46m 35s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2023
Agritech Special Edition
This week and to start the New Year we take a look at the use of technology in agriculture around the world. Agriculture as an industry is keen to clean up its act on emissions, so what could be better than an electric tractor. But will it be able to manage all that farming throw ... Show More
42m 38s
Aug 2022
Big Data in Agriculture: Land O’Lakes’ Teddy Bekele
You might have seen Land O’Lakes’ dairy products on store shelves without giving much thought to how they got there, but that’s something CTO Teddy Bekele thinks about every day. While the farmers and agricultural retailers of Land O’Lakes work to produce the cooperative’s produc ... Show More
21m 12s
Mar 2018
EVs, AVs and Sharing: Don't Screw Up the Transportation Revolution
There are three forces coming together in the transportation sector: vehicle autonomy, vehicle sharing, and vehicle electrification.On their own, app-based sharing and electric vehicles are powerful agents of change. Together with automation, "they're revolutionary," argues Dr. D ... Show More
58m 48s
Jul 2015
High Tech Farming
Agriculture has come a long way since the invention of the plow. Learn about how high-tech gadgets are revolutionizing agriculture! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
1h 8m
Sep 2021
Making The Most Of Your Opportunities in Agriculture | Kate McBride | Farms Advice Podcast
G'day Farmers, on this week's episode we go to the banks of the Darling River near Menindee NSW. We talk to Kate McBride who is a very busy woman working within Australian agriculture who is loving the vibes of having her hand in many pots across agriculture. Everything she does ... Show More
36m 6s
May 2023
In Machines We Trust: Harvesting the future with AI and satellites (Encore)
AI is used in farming in some ways you might not expect, like for tracking the health of crops—from space. We travel from test farms to labs in the second installment of our series on agriculture, AI, and satellites. We Meet: Joseph Liefer, senior product manager of autonomy at J ... Show More
20m 13s
Oct 2023
Roam: Electrifying Africa’s mobility
“We’re giving the opportunity for people to do a lot of technical work, that generally doesnt happen too often in Kenya”If you’ve been to East Africa you may be familiar with “boda bodas.” If not, they’re small taxi bikes, commonly used by couriers or to transport people. There a ... Show More
19m 1s
Mar 2023
#105 Teffola: Granola Guy Approved
A few years ago, Claire Smith moved back to her family farm, where they practice sustainable farming, and created Teffola. It’s granola made with an ancient Ethiopian grain called teff, which is filled with lots of protein, fiber, iron, and calcium. The only problem is… no one’s ... Show More
35m 36s
Mar 2024
What Telecom Can Teach Other Sectors About AI Adoption - with Nadeem Saeed of Verizon
Today’s guest is Nadeem Saeed, Corporate Vice President of Digital Transformation and Operational Excellence at Verizon. He joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello on this week’s podcast to discuss the biggest challenges that telecom leaders face when it comes to driving infras ... Show More
17m 25s
May 2023
572: How should we regulate tech? (with Ben Pring)
For this episode, we interviewed the coauthor of Monster: A Tough Love Letter on Taming the Machines that Rule our Jobs, Lives, and Future, Ben Pring. Who is responsible for regulating and overseeing technology and online platforms? Is it the government? The ITs and developers? O ... Show More
41m 18s