Turning acres into options with Aarden AI CEO Danan Margason

About this episode

The episode discusses how AI can assist landowners in evaluating their options for land use, featuring an interview with Aarden AI CEO Danan Margason.

Agriculture, forestry, and land use together account for nearly 24 % of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet somehow land sits in a weird blind spot: ignored by climate conversations focused on energy and transport, underanalyzed by markets, and mispriced by farmers and timber investors alike. That’s the problem, and opportunity, we’re going to discuss today. I sit down with Danan Margason , founder and CEO of Aarden , to explore how AI can help land owners understand their options. Aarden sits at the center of a messy, trillion-dollar decision problem—enabling landowners and capital allocators to evaluate a single parcel across radically different paths: timber harvests vs. solar fields, carbon projects vs. housing, restoration now vs. monetizing later. We dive into the systems thinking behind land use and why this is such a massive market that’s been underserved by technology. Along the way, Danan shares his journey from crew boats in Seattle to Booking.com, through Carbon Direct’s push for high-quality removals, and into company-building back with his original crew buddy. Referenced: Aarden.ai Jobs Land use Stepchange Show Get connected: Danan - LinkedIn | danan@aarden.ai Ben…

People in this episode

Host: Ben Eidelson

Guest: Danan Margason

Topics covered

• land use
• agriculture
• climate change
• AI in agriculture
• carbon projects
• timber harvests

Keywords

• greenhouse gas emissions
• landowners
• capital allocators
• solar fields
• restoration
• monetizing land

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Aarden, Booking.com, Carbon Direct, Aarden.ai

Places: Seattle

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