About this episode

Paul Windemuller explores the concept of collective enterprises in agriculture and their significance for the future.

Why do farmers—some of the most independent people you'll ever meet—continue to build organizations they own together? In this solo episode of the AgCulture Podcast, Paul explores one of agriculture's oldest and most misunderstood business models: collective enterprises. Inspired by conversations at a recent conference in New Zealand featuring leaders from Fonterra and several of the country's largest farmer-owned organizations, Paul argues that we've spent too much time asking what a cooperative is, and not enough time asking why farmers keep creating them. The episode unpacks the economic problems that cooperatives were originally designed to solve, why marketing and supply cooperatives exist for fundamentally different reasons, and why successful farmer-owned organizations remain disciplined around a single mission. Paul also introduces a third concept—farmer-owned data infrastructure—and explains why the next generation of collective action in agriculture may not revolve around milk, grain, or fertilizer, but around data. Whether you're a member of a cooperative or simply interested in the future of agriculture, this episode offers a fresh way to think about ownership…

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• My story on the “AgTech So What”: with Sarah Nolet | Ep. 131 · July 9, 2026 · 33 min
• What George Washington Can Still Teach Farmers 250 Years Later | Ep. 130 · July 2, 2026 · 25 min
• Beyond the Bulb: with Pieter Hanssen | Ep. 129 · June 25, 2026 · 33 min
• Agriculture Doesn’t Have a Technology Problem: with Paul Windemuller | Ep. 128 · June 18, 2026 · 20 min

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