FoA 369: Farm Products, Performance and Perception with Randy Barker of INTENT

Find out how Calgary is leading the agribusiness revolution: www.CalgaryAgbusiness.com

INTENT: https://intent.ag/

Randy Barker is the CEO of INTENT, an Agricultural Company focused on the use of technology to accelerate new innovations in agriculture. Randy is the co-founder of the business which draws on his vast global experience in launching agricultural technologies in over 30 countries over the past 25 years. INTENT serves a wide range of customers from startups to multinationals in their quest to improve adoption using data science & digital technologies.

Long time listeners might recall hearing previous episodes with Randy and others from INTENT here on this show. They started the company around the same time this podcast started I believe, and we’ve always been really aligned in the mission to try to accelerate innovation, so it has been really cool to watch their development. Today, Randy gives an update on the company as they’ve evolved from managing farmer trials to offering a suite of digital solutions to customers and adding sustainability measurement and monitoring to their list of services. We also get a little bit into their approach to artificial intelligence, some of the continued challenges with on-farm data collection, and the importance of providing not only accurate data, but relevant context. 

Randy began his career in Canada for the largest network of ag input retailers in progressively senior roles, ultimately as Director of Crop Protection. He then joined Monsanto Canada as Vice President of Crop Protection serving agriculture, forestry and industrial businesses. Randy relocated to Monsanto’s global headquarters in St. Louis taking on various senior leadership roles with global responsibility.