[SaaS Series] Revolutionizing Soil Health Using AI With Adrian Ferrero

Adrian Ferrero is the CEO and Co-founder of Biome Makers, a leading agtech firm that merges soil microbiome science with AI to redefine soil health management in agriculture worldwide. Under Adrian’s leadership, Biome Makers grew from a bold vision into a global powerhouse, building the world’s largest soil microbiome database. His work has forged partnerships with Fortune 500 companies and earned recognition from the Spanish Government, Illumina Accelerator, and MIT Technology Review. A chance tweet led him from economics in Spain to Silicon Valley, where he set out to transform soil and crop science. Today, his pioneering efforts connect soil health to better food, higher yields, and a healthier planet — putting him at the forefront of biotechnology, AI, and agriculture.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [04:23] How Adrian Ferrero and his team measure and analyze the life of soil using genetics
• [06:18] How every part in the agricultural supply chain benefits from soil microbiome data
• [11:55] Why soil is different yet functionally similar worldwide
• [20:15] How a no-risk offer helped build trust with early adopters
• [21:23] How a single tweet from Illumina led Adrian and his Co-founder to Silicon Valley
• [24:00] How Adrian transitioned from economics into launching a biotech startup
• [28:43] Exploring the “One Health” concept linking soil health, food quality, and human well-being
• [38:20] The simple three-step process for analyzing your soil

In this episode…

In a world where the health of our food, planet, and bodies matters more than ever, few pause to consider the hidden life beneath our feet. What if the key to better farming, sustainability, and nutrition lies in understanding the tiny microbes in the soil?

Adrian Ferrero started with vineyards and built the world’s largest soil microbiome database. His team’s technology goes beyond identifying microbes — it reveals how they influence plant health and crop resilience. By partnering with farmers, manufacturers, and brands, Biome Makers improves yields, quality, and sustainability worldwide. Their evolution from basic reports to detailed, map-based recommendations shows how innovation and collaboration are transforming agriculture.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Adrian Ferrero, Co-founder and CEO of Biome Makers, a leading agtech firm, to discuss the company’s journey, breakthrough soil technology, and its impact on crops from vineyards to potatoes. They explore how soil biology affects carbon emissions and food quality, and how microbiome data empowers the entire agricultural supply chain.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Adrian Ferrero on LinkedIn
• Biome Makers
• BeCrop Trials
• BeCrop Farm
• FundingBox

Special Mention(s):

• Dr. Alberto Acedo on LinkedIn
• Illumina
• Francis deSouza on LinkedIn

Related episode(s):

• “[Sweet and Snack] Why You Shouldn’t Settle For No with Gene Mealhow Owner of Tiny But Mighty Foods” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “The Barefoot Wine Story: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand With Michael Houlihan, Founder of Barefoot Wines” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “Creating a Positive Impact with Jake Kloberdanz Founder of One Hope Wine” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[SaaS Series] Tips To Thrive in the SaaS Space With Sujan Patel” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[SaaS Series] Revolutionizing Online Forms and Productivity With Aytekin Tank of Jotform” on Inspired Insider Podcast

Quotable moments:

• “We analyze and measure the life of the soil — that has been the revolutionary technology we have developed to help and serve agriculture.”
• “It’s not about who is there, but what they do or how they impact the plants.”
• “If we don’t do this, we’re going to regret it our whole life — so it’s like, let’s do it.”
• “Helping farmers is the best thing we can do, because they are the ones responsible for taking care of our land.”
• “You would risk for sure, but the potential gain is huge and the life experience is unique — so you have to make it.”

Action steps:

1. Analyze your soil’s biology: Test for microbial activity to uncover hidden factors affecting crop health and yields.
2. Leverage technology and data: Use AI-powered tools and digital platforms to interpret soil samples and guide decisions across diverse fields.
3. Adopt sustainable practices: Implement regenerative techniques that build long-term soil fertility and meet carbon and quality goals.
4. Collaborate across the supply chain: Work with advisors, suppliers, and buyers to align on sustainable, productive farming practices.
5. Experiment and adapt: Test new crops, inputs, and methods, using results and feedback to improve over time.

Episode Transcript

Intro 00:15

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 00:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, Founder of InspiredInsider.com, where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Adrian Ferrero of Biome Makers. You can check them out at BiomeMakers.com. And before I formally introduce you, Adrian, I always like to point out other episodes of the podcast people should check out. I mean, shockingly, I’ve had people who specialize in soil on the podcast who would have thought? 

I guess after doing this for 15 years, I’ve had a little bit of everything. But I had someone who’s a soil consultant, Gene, who is the owner of Tiny But Mighty Foods, and he helped increase, you know, just being a soil consultant. He helped increase the yield of some of the corn. He, you know, crops. He was, you know, the farmers he was helping with, which is huge by a lot. And then he started his own company. And I love their stuff. It’s like tiny but mighty little kernels that you can use as popcorn.

And they have other products. The other one, because I know you help a variety of companies, from potato crops to tropical crops to vineyards. And I was thinking, okay, what kind of vineyard, what kind of wine companies have I had? So I had Michael Houlihan, who started Barefoot Wines, who ended up selling it. So it was. I don’t know if one point was America’s number one wine brand based on all the sales they were making.

And then Jake, Founder of One Hope Wine, as well. And then obviously this is a SAS Biome Maker as is SAS. Right. So we’ll get into it. So there’s some cool SAS interviews. I had Mailshake, founder of Mailshake, on. They do help people do cold email. I was the founder of Jotform. They have like 25 million users. So if you want the SAS route, there’s some cool interviews there.

This episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25, we help you connect to your dream relationships and partnerships. We do that in two ways. One, we’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do the strategy, accountability, and the full execution production behind the scenes. On number two, we’re an easy button for a company’s gifting, so we make gifting and staying top of mind for your clients, partners, prospects, and even staff. Simple. Easy. Affordable.

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I’m excited to introduce Adrian Ferrero, Co-founder and CEO of Biome Makers and Biome Makers has revolutionized agtech by merging soil microbiome science with AI. Why is this important? Well, it helps transform the way not only we understand, but we manage soil health globally. And they like to say, and this is true, right? It relates to all of us. 

Because better soil, better food, better life. Right. And the stuff that we eat, you know, the stuff that our crops, you know, come from the soil. Even the stuff that the animals eat to raise the animals comes from the soil a lot of times. So this is paramount in, you know, my background is in biochemistry, and as a chiropractor. So I geek out on it, like the health effects of everything. And Biome Makers, scaled from a bold vision to a global biotech force earning partnerships with Fortune 500 companies and much more. So, Adrian, thanks for joining me.

Adrian Ferrero 04:07

A pleasure to be here today. Thank you for the invitation.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 04:10

Yeah. And so just start off with Biome Makers and what you do. And as you talk about it, for the people who are watching the video, I’m going to pull up the website so we can show you that as well.

Adrian Ferrero 04:23

That’s perfect. So well, you actually describe it very well. We analyze and measure the life of the soil. That has been revolutionary, a technology that we have developed and brought to life, and helped to help and to serve agriculture. This is, in essence, how we do it, by measuring one of the most interesting bio indicators in nature, which is the community of microbes populating the soil.

All the bacteria, all the fungal species. And what we did is first find the best way to digitize this bioindicator. And this is by using genetics. We look at the DNA of the different microbes and from there, what we do, we start inferring the different pathways, functional pathways on the different bioactivities that are important for plants, from nutritional mobilization, how the nutrients are made available for the plants to suck it through the roots to disease risk or stress, and hormone adaptators.

We also provide an overall measurement of the biological quality of the soil, how structure, how the soil is. And this is helping a lot of farmers, agronomists to really improve the way they farm, to bring better crops to our tables.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 05:43

You know, this is, I find, really important also from a sustainability perspective, because if farmers could use, you know, they’re using the same resources and they can get more yields. That just helps everyone. Right. And so talk about who’s using this. Right. I mean we’re looking at the page here. There are farmers. There are also manufacturers. There are advisors and retailers. Where did you start when you first started getting clients for this? Where did you start? 

Adrian Ferrero 06:18

Actually everyone in the agricultural supply chain is involved in this or is benefiting. And using this technology from the people who are actually farming. So the farmers, the growers worldwide, their advisors who are really helping the grower to really find out the best way to manage the field, and then the retailers selling the different inputs and also the food companies, the CPGs, because they are the ones who will actually getting the crops to bring us an amazing food into into the store. So the whole circle is benefiting from the big crop technology. That’s the name we provide to the company.

And we started well, as everything in life. We realized that nobody was doing this, and we knew a lot about genetics. We knew a lot about how to analyze the community of microbes and decided to use this knowledge and apply it to agriculture. So the first thing was, well, let’s focus on one first crop that was vineyards. We started working in vineyards, and let’s start developing the technology at the different steps, being sure everything works smoothly, and start interacting with our clients, our audience, let’s say, to really find out the best way to give them value. 

So the first reports that we deliver to actually you mentioned one of our early adopters, a one-hop, and the first reports were the list of microbes, and there were colors, depending on what the science told us was good or bad. Then what we learned was that it was not the right approach. So we started digging a little bit deeper on this understanding and realized that it’s not about who is there, but what they do or how they impact the plants. So then we start working on the ecological computing aspect of the community of microbes. 

So, measuring the relationships across the different microbes, how they correlate, and when you find one you don’t find another. Coexclusion, coexistence, all kinds of relationships. And then start inferring the potential functions that they can do. So that was a process of learning, interacting with our clients to, well, to end up in this moment where we have the largest database of soil Microbiomes Worldwide. So all the crops, all the regions in the world. 

And that helps us to really understand where we are facing a unique situation or something that is common. So you have common circumstances. So then your reaction, your planning on the farming strategies, would be different than if you face an exceptional situation for good or for bad. You know, if you have a high risk of having a disease that is just you, you probably have a problem. If the whole community is having or facing a similar risk of a disease. But probably there are already solutions. So this is the kind of value that we provide.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 09:29

And there are so many factors here. So I’m wondering because, like the first clients were the first vineyards, like when you started Biome Makers.

Adrian Ferrero: 09:41

Yeah.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 09:42

Yeah, they were.

Adrian Ferrero: 09:43

That was 2015.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 09:44

Yeah. And so I’m curious because like that’s huge, right? That’s a huge niche. And then even regionally, you could probably be busy at just vineyards in Spain, just vineyards in Italy, just vineyards in. So like regionally, where did you decide to go first?

Adrian Ferrero: 10:01

Yeah, that’s a great question because we knew we or the founding team of Biome Makers. Alberto and I were originally from Spain, but my agency is a US-based company. We partner with the largest biotech company in the genomic space. Illumina joined their corporate accelerator program, and in May 2015, we took the backpack flight to San Francisco, set up there, and started Biome Makers. 

So the international component was already there and has been part of our DNA always. But starting in vineyards in California with the background that we had. So my grandfather made wine. Alberto’s family also is into the wine business, so it was very easy to focus on one initial crop that we could tackle globally. When I say globally, from the US and Europe. So those are like the main qualitative producing areas for vineyards. 

Sorry for the rest because that’s not really true because there are other areas in the world where you find amazing growers, wine growers, and progressively, we are expanding. So we wanted to be global from the beginning. And that was a great way to start. And three years later, in 2018, when we found the values of the B crop, we started expanding to other crops.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 11:29

Yeah, because it’s so interesting, because I’m sure there’s a different kind of makeup of the soil in all different regions, even probably within California as well. So it seems like a complex thing to do. I want to get into the client evolution. So it started with vineyards. How did it evolve from there? Because I know now you help a number of different types of companies.

Adrian Ferrero: 11:55

So they were just coming back to your initial question. The soil is different when you look at it from the taxonomic point of view, but when you look at it from the functional point of view, it’s very similar. So there are similarities. The environment impacts this a lot. But think about humans. I mean we’re different. You know each one if you compare the different races; even so, we look different. But at a functional level, our body works the same. There are some similarities. So it’s easier to compare.

And a doctor can treat a patient from Africa and can treat a patient from Russia. Asia or wherever. So that’s what is important. Now, coming back to your question on clients, we started with farmers and agronomists. So those were like the segment that we were tackling at the beginning and learning a lot on well, on the soil interactions, because you mentioned that you already host a, I guess, a soil scientist or soil guy, who is a soil person.

But we are not all of us specialized in soil. So that came later or progressively, you know, because what we are, what we are, is technology enthusiasts. So we are buying makers. So we like nature, the biome, the living part of the ecosystem, and makers. This is the movement that, when you see a problem without a solution, you make it.

So that’s the reason why many of the companies that — so we’re a group of people with different skills, different talents, and different backgrounds that mix and merge all of the skills in order to serve, in this case, agriculture, and to improve the way we manage the soil. Progressively, as we learn on this dimension, we start upgrading or finding different segments on market segments like retailers. So the people selling the inputs, manufacturers, and the companies producing the inputs that are going to be used in agriculture.

And the last segment that is currently growing a lot, connected to the sustainability programs that they have, are CPGs, because they realize that it’s not just about spending money in sustainability, but actually using the money to improve the whole production system for them. And we’re a good tool for them.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 14:27

Well, CPGs then obviously, if they have kind of the full, the full chain of everything, or will the CPGs basically refer you to kind of the farmers and manufacturers side?

Adrian Ferrero 14:43

Yeah. Well, they have the scope three that is trying most of the companies right now, not just CPGs; they have the goal. And this is important to be carbon neutral, right? So when you think about the different sources of carbon emissions in a company, your providers are part of that. So for CPGs, the providers are the farmers.

So if you are going to spend some money on sustainability, not just for your internal processes, you want to help your providers to be greener. And helping farmers is the best thing we can do, because they are the ones responsible for taking care of our land and using the land to produce the food we eat. So it’s that the job is extremely important, and the help we can provide, they can receive or we can give them. It’s going to be really welcome. So on one hand, we are able to guide or help them on the agronomic practices.

What would be the best way to manage the soil or complement the different inputs, in order to ensure that the yield in their fields is going to be great, while preserving the natural fertility of the soil? That’s going to be very, very useful. At the same time, it’s not just about carbon emission because agriculture used to be a carbon-negative activity. Not anymore. So in the last 50, 40, 50 years, agriculture has become carbon positive. So probably we can evolve the way we farm, become smarter, and there is a new wave of solutions in the market that can help.

So all the biologicals, the prebiotics and probiotics for the field, for the soil that are going to be very helpful to really, you know, complement the input strategy, lower the carbon emissions. And at the end of the day, what benefits all of us and makes the soil carbon active, carbon sequestrators? This is something we need as humans. This is one value that we have. On the other hand, if they are helping their providers, they are securing the supply chains and, in certain crops, talking about coffee, cacao, and banana. This is very important.

Those kinds of commodities. Well, there is high competition. If you secure your market and the supply of the crop, then your business is safer. That’s the second dimension. And the third one. You start segmenting those providers according to their practices with a rating system. So you can reward those who are being greener or more responsible in their practices. This is like the whole value package for the CPGs.

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