Anyone who is involved in farming knew this start up was a pie in the sky project. One thing about farming and especially farming in Europe is how regulated it

Anyone who is involved in farming knew this start up was a pie in the sky project. One thing about farming and especially farming in Europe is how regulated it is. For example, you are not permitted to spread cow manure at certain times of the year due to risk of run-off or you get fined. That is one small example amongst dozens or hundreds (for beef farming). A cow is better tracked in Europe than a person is and I am not exaggerating. It can tracked its entire life from farm to farm and its entire health history is tracked. There are genomics testing, various other iniatives to ensure standards are adhered to. If you sell produce (milk/beef) that has antibiotics or too much bacteria in it, you can forbidden to sell that produce. You cannot negotiate the price if selling to an abattoir or a creamery. The same exists for vegatables. There is no negotiation. On the Continent food prices change once a month. In the UK it is once a year. The farmer gets assessed for quality of his produce and receives a pre-determined price. No wiggle room no negotiation. Farming mostly runs at an abject loss and the idea is you have a sliver of profit that is buffetted by a subsidies. It caps at 300k. The objective of this subsidy is also to protect small farms from being crushed by bad seasons and give economic stability to far flung regions and isolated villages. Europe is also protected by immense tariffs and barriers to entry that made it difficult for crops that are washed with pesticides (ie Ukranian wheat prior the war) to get into the market. These tarriffs are reciprocated by other nations. It is functionally impossible for a US farmer to export beef or chicken to the EU due to rules on the presence of hormone, antibiotics for beef and chlorine washed carcasses for chicken. The historical objective of the farm subsidies was to: 1. protect farmers from what national governments thought of as unfair competition 2. Avoid a repeat of the 'hungry 30's' (especially in Germany). Which destroyed the support for democracy and fuelled the rise of the extremist parties. 3. Give protection to massive peasant populations and stop them from supportng Communist parties post WWII. (France and Italy most especially). In return other countries got expanded market accessses. The biggest innovation in Europe specifically in crop growing since the 90s was the greenhouse produced vegatables created mostly in the Netherlands or Andalucia in Spain. However the crops are extremely sensitive to diseasea and blights and any kind of contamination can rapidly spoil a crop. Agriculture is as highly regulated as pharmaceuticals or aviation, it is more politically rife and riven with competing lobby groups who still have immense sway in many national governments. Also the European Union as a whole has some really odd views on specific technologies. The eurocrats are very skeptical and horrified by GMO food and effectively ban any usage in this area. This would be crucial for this particular start up for the aforementioned pollution and disease control. Even pesticide you have to register your name with the local supplier and it is cross checked and verified and you can be subject to an inspection by a Agricultural officer to check if its stored correctly. My point is this industry is so complex and regulated any disruption should be viewed with heavy skeptism if it isnt coming from either a biotechnology lab or a University with a heavy bankground in Agri-science. (ie Wageningen University in the Netherlands is one of the best in the world). If you any commenter wants a decent picture of European farming have a look at 'Clarkson Farm' produced by Jeremy Clarkson.