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We are at the onset, the very beginning, of a generational change.

Our country's most sacred industry has become little more than an antiquated, government subsidized banner through which multinational corporations enrich themselves.

We have, as a country, and perhaps as a civilization, grown complacent with the source of our food.

The chattering corporate class has lulled us into believing that commentary and rhetoric, without any corollary or yardstick in the physical world, is sufficient.

By the 1930s, much of our nation's productive topsoil had already been depleted through poor management, diminishing the productive capacity of American farmland and accelerating a decline in the nutritional quality of our food.

And since the end of the Second World War, crop losses attributable to insects have approximately doubled, rising from roughly seven to fourteen percent. During that same period, insecticide use increased by more than tenfold.

We have become the only species on Earth to poison the very food which it depends.

The public understands that results are what matter—not the perception of results, nor the appearance of forward progress.

A divide is emerging between those with the temerity to adopt modern ideas and those whose identities remain tethered to obsolete beliefs.

Except there exists no common understanding of what sustainable agriculture ought to be. The sector has taken the familiar path to seek the affection of the government before entering a long yet certain contraction into obscurity.

We declined to follow that path.

Our public announcement just over two years ago marked the beginning of our ascent.

It would be striking to some on the outside how we run this commune of a startup. But such a structure has cultivated in us something approaching magnanimity towards our industry.

Anything lacking a zealous focus on the value being created by a technical system, will ultimately fade and be forgotten.

The construction of a platform, one that reflects our thesis and a common objective of increasing sustainability, should be a rallying cry for an industry who profess to be aligned with our vision.

Yet many remain to dismiss technology as a enemy.

But our rise has been, and we believe will continue to be, driven by an increasingly discerning set of farms that accept the value of technology.

America has repeatedly renewed itself by rebuilding the industries upon which it once depended.

Agriculture will be no exception.

We remain at the beginning.

Institutions capable of defining centuries are rarely recognized at their inception.

We believe the institution that will define the next century of American agriculture is Todd.