LISTEN: Ground Truth Ag puts real-time objectivity into grain grading; here’s how it makes your food safer
October 31, 2025 | Austin Barnes
On this episode of our 12-part Plug and Play Topeka podcast series, we speak with Kyle Folk, CEO and founder of Ground Truth Ag — a next-gen ag-tech company using AI, machine vision and near-infrared spectroscopy to deliver real-time grain-quality data across the farm-to-market workflow.
Folk shares how his upbringing on a Canadian farm inspired the mission; how the company went from a folding-table garage startup to a commercial-ready solution; and why giving farmers and grain handlers instant, objective insight into quality is a game-changer for profitability, trust and transparency.
Recorded live at the Plug and Play Animal Health & AgTech Expo in Topeka, explore how the Midwest agtech corridor surprised this founder as “a lot like home.”
Listen to a teaser below or click here for the full podcast episode.
Featured Business
2025 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
KC startups graduate K-State accelerator, earning equity-free cash, greater conviction
A trio of Kansas City-built ventures — from sports apparel and mental health solutions for young athletes to tech that uses autonomous drones and 3D vision AI — were among the Kansas businesses earning funding through an eight-week accelerator at Kansas State University. The Center for Entrepreneurship Accelerator program at K-State — which provides participants…
LPOXY initiates $28M Series A financing with 5 Horizons Ventures to fund pivotal trial
PLATTE CITY, Mo. — Funding to secure the upcoming trial of a Missouri biopharmaceutical company’s solution for preventing a deadly gut infection could prove critical in the fight against a condition that claims 80 U.S. lives daily, said Dr. Larry Sutton. LPOXY Therapeutics, which is developing a novel non-antibiotic therapy to prevent Clostridioides difficile infections…
When farmers get paid faster, everyone eats; HitchPin brings fintech to ag, good to humanity, founder says
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. [divide] The fintech revolution typically overlooks agriculture, Trevor McKeeman said, noting that any move to bring tools — like a payment platform within a digital marketplace — definitely breaks ground…
Chocolate maker (and coffee roaster) earns bean-to-bar accolades from his Grandview base
Kansas City has plenty of confectioners, but it’s rare to find true bean-to-bar work, Mike King said. That distinction makes Encore Coffee and Chocolate’s process both resourceful and extraordinary. “There’s only a few of us that are making our own chocolate,” said King, founder of Grandview-built Encore Coffee and Chocolate. “I consider myself a chocolate…
