Jenette Ashtekar

Jenette Ashtekar is on a mission to use advance digital technologies to reduce and reverse the climate impact of farming. Whether debating permanence or digging in holes, Ashtekar is hands on as a triple threat: tech exec; climate activist; and soil scientist. Jenette can speak to satellite mapping, climate resilience and the impact of worm poop in the same sentence.

Jenette is an entrepreneurial scientist and agricultural technology innovator experienced in translating and delivering novel IP into real world solutions. Jenette spent 10 years as an academic soil scientist, modeler and entrepreneur developing and commercializing algorithms that predict soil properties, water dynamics and productivity from sub-field to continental scales. Her technology has been used to deliver critical soil information to at-risk agricultural communities throughout Central and South America as well as to help U.S. and Canadian farmers improve precision management through the use of high-resolution soil maps. Jenette is passionate about the translation of novel technology and academic IP into practical, real-world solutions and recognizes that the complex challenges facing agriculture today can only be solved through the collaboration and integration of many diverse stakeholders. 

Based at CIBO’s Cambridge, MA office, Jenette and her family live in Greater Boston.