In a new collaboration with one of the world's best-known conservation groups, Chicago-based ag tech startup Tillable is aiming to make it easier for farmers to embrace more planet-friendly farming practices.
On Wednesday, the company, which was once dubbed “the Airbnb of farmland,” announced a new collaboration with The Nature Conservancy to expand its commitment to environmental responsibility.
Tillable, founded in 2017, has created a farmland rental marketplace that helps both landowners rent out their farmland and farmers access more land in order to expand their own operations. The platform also helps both parties have confidence that farmland on the market is priced fairly.
“The fact is that a lot of farmland is under-rented,” Tillable CEO Corbett Kull told Built In. “A big reason for that is that landowners haven’t had the tools and the data to track the performance and health of their farms, and these factors are critical to understanding what a farm is worth. We help landowners use the available data to feel confident that their land is being fairly rented and sustainably cared for.”
Tillable also helps farmers document the stewardship activities they undertake to help protect and conserve their farmland. The company's platform also helps farmers estimate the environmental impact of their sustainable farming practices, providing access to data on carbon removal efforts that companies like Seattle-based Nori are beginning to help farmers monetize.
“We understand the importance of sustainability when it comes to farmland,” Kull said. “Tillable is really about farmland first — for farms to bring the greatest value to landowners and farmers, the land itself has to be healthy. By collaborating with TNC, we can explore and develop ways for landowners and farmers who want to use conservation-friendly farming practices – like cover crops, no-till, and crop rotation – to monitor those practices and easily assess the impact they are having on the health of their land.”
The plan is to marry Tillable’s data transparency with TNC’s knowledge of sustainable farming to help farmers and landowners more easily track their efforts and explore new ways to increase soil carbon storage to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“By working with TNC, we are looking for ways to collaboratively improve the long-term value and productivity of farmland while also ensuring the land itself is healthy and the environmental impact of farming practices can be sustainably managed,” Kull said. “The prospect of applying their expertise in conservation and our expertise in technology is extremely exciting.”
In 2019, Tillable raised $8.25 million in Series A funding to support its growth. The round was led by The Production Board, while First Round Capital also participated. As of last year, the company reported 5,000 users.
