Chris Harbourt, PhD

With more than 25 years in leadership positions at the intersection of science, agriculture, engineering, and business, Chris leads Indigo Ag’s efforts to leverage science and digital technology to measure and translate the impact of farmers’ sustainability efforts into new profitability opportunities.

As the company’s Senior Vice President of Partnerships and New Ventures, Chris drives business strategy across the company, guiding Indigo Ag’s research, external affairs, and strategic partnerships to advance understanding of agriculture’s potential as a climate solution. He is charged with further developing Indigo Ag’s partnership across the ag ecosystem and incubating new business concepts.

Most recently, Chris served as Global Head of Carbon, where he oversaw Indigo Ag’s development of the industry’s first scalable, high quality, and scientifically rigorous carbon credit program for farmers. He first joined the company in 2019 as a Vice President, where he was responsible for guiding Indigo Ag’s Product and Engineering teams in the development of digital agronomic tools.

Prior to Indigo Ag, Chris served as CEO of AirScout and co-founder and CEO of Agrible. He is a Board member for Brandt, Greene, and Rantizo, an advisor to venture firms and M&A advisories, and actively invests in ag tech as the managing partner of Hatch Ag Group.

Chris holds a B.S. in Biological Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master and PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where, since 2009, he has served as adjunct faculty for the Crop Science and Ag & Bio Engineering departments helping students on paths to entrepreneurship in agriculture.