Future of Agriculture

Put AI to work on your farm: https://farmwave.io/Follow Farmwave and Craig on TwitterFoA 237: Use Cases for Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture with Craig Ganssle of Farmwave: https://futureofagriculture.com/episode/foa-237-use-cases-for-artificial-intelligence-in-agriculture-with-craig-ganssle-of-farmwaveToday's episode features Farmwave's harvest loss system, some broader perspective on artificial intelligence in agriculture, and how to build an agtech company that adds real value to farmer customers. Farmwave founder and CEO Craig Ganssle is my guest today. Craig first appeared on the show back in episode 237 in late 2020, where we talked a lot about Craig’s military and technology background and how he has applied it in agriculture. Today, we focus on creating real value for farmer customers, the role of artificial intelligence, and the journey of a successful agtech entrepreneur. If you’re still a little fuzzy on what Farmwave does, the most succinct way to sum it up is to say that they’ve built an autonomous harvest loss system that uses cameras and vision based AI to detect harvest loss in real time and deliver those results in the cab in real time without ever having to stop. Craig first discovered artificial intelligence while serving in the United States Marine Corps as an intelligence communications operator with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He was later honorably discharged in 2001 for medical reasons. Craig then spent 15 years as a senior engineer with Verizon Wireless prior to founding Farmwave.Craig is so open about his journey and the lessons he has learned along the way, so all of you who are trying to build or operate a business in agriculture will be able to pull something valuable from this episode.

Soy Checkoff: https://www.unitedsoybean.org/"The Alchemy of Air" by Thomas HagerFoA 325: Electrified and Distributed Fertilizer Production with Nico Pinkowski of NitricityFoA 337: Synthetic biology for nature-based and data-driven farming with Travis Bayer and Adam Litle of Sound AgricultureFoA 348: Investing in the Future of Fertilizer with Sarah Nolet of Tenacious VenturesFoA 370: [History of Agriculture] William J Morse, the Father of the US Soybean IndustryWe learned in elementary school that soil, water and sunlight were what plants needed to survive. But for us to produce not just plants, but also food; food for billions of people, many of which live far away from the farm….we need fertilizer. Especially nitrogen. Lots and lots of nitrogen. Crops need other nutrients as well, but none are more essential than nitrogen. Before the 1900s, that nitrogen mostly came from manure or compost, or the very slow process of microbes that are able to fix small quantities of nitrogen from the air. And that last point, the fact that nitrogen is all around us in the air, was the basis for what is likely the greatest agricultural technology in history: the Haber-Bosch process, which involved the discovery and commercialization of how to convert atmospheric nitrogen in the air into the building block of modern agriculture: fixed nitrogen. The Haber-Bosch process, commercialized in the early 1900s is still where we get our nitrogen fertilizer today, for the most part. It’s estimated that without this process, 2-3 billion of the world’s population, about 40% would starve to death. If that doesn’t hit home hard enough, it’s also estimated that about half of the nitrogen in your body derived from a Haber-Bosch facility. Listen to this short excerpt from Alchemy of Air by Thomas Hager, which is the book that much of today’s episode is based on. Hager says: “While the population nearly quadrupled during the 20th century, food production, thanks first to HB, second to improved genetic strains of rice and wheat, increased nearly seven fold. That is the simple math behind today’s era of plenty”

Soy Checkoff: https://www.unitedsoybean.org/Claire Taylor: https://www.nuffieldscholar.org/scholars/2023/claire-taylorClaire Taylor grew up on a small beef farm on the west coast of Scotland and went on to study Politics and International Relations at Edinburgh University. She is a passionate storyteller and writer, with almost a decade of experience working with the BBC and the Scottish Farmer – first as a reporter and later as political editor.Claire and I discuss her current pursuit: to travel the world in order to understand what she calls the anti-farming agenda, and learn what it means to have productive and honest conversations about the future of farming. Be sure to stick around to the end of today’s episode for a spotlight segment with Ohio farmer and United Soybean Board vice chair Steve Reinhard. What do you think? Do you think there really is an anti-farming agenda out there? And if so, what needs to be done to turn the tide on that? I’m always glad to hear from you either on Twitter or the contact form on the website.

Soy Checkoff: https://www.unitedsoybean.org/Fractal Agriculture: https://fractal.ag/Ben Gordon is the founder and CEO of Fractal Agriculture, a passive farmland investment partner that invests alongside farmers rather than competing against them for land. After serving as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army, Ben worked in ag tech, management consulting, and private equity due diligence before his most recent role leading Corteva Agriscience’s carbon program. Kyle Mehmen is a partner at MBS Family Farms, a successful family-owned, family-operated corn and soybean operation in Plainfield, Iowa. Kyle and his family are ardent stewards of their land, leaning into sustainability balanced with profitability.I’ve had the opportunity to interact with both Ben and Kyle in different capacities throughout the years. I worked with Ben’s team at Corteva to host some webinars last year on soil health, and Kyle was featured on this show as part of our Farm Data series with INTENT back on episode 226. So it was fun to reconnect with both of them. This is a fascinating concept though, so whether you’re a farmer, investor, or someone just generally curious about the future of agriculture, I think you’re really going to find this one interesting. We’ll kick things off by getting right the point about what Fractal is doing, having Ben explain the thought process behind the business, then having Kyle share why he’s excited about the potential here for his farming operation. 

Soy Checkoff: https://www.unitedsoybean.org/Soy Innovation Challenge: https://www.thesoychallengelive.com/Farmer Coach: https://farmercoach.ca/Maverick Ag: https://maverickag.com/Hebert Grain Ventures: https://hebertgrainventures.com/FoA 302: Farm Business Strategy with Kristjan HebertFoA 303: Implementing a Farm Operating System with Kristjan HebertEvan Shout is the president and co-founder of Maverick Ag, a business consulting and risk management firm in Western Canada. He also sits as president, co-founder, and lead coach at Farmer Coach, an education and coaching program for primary producers in both Canada and the US. These organizations fall under the Hebert Group of Companies, which also includes Hebert Grain Ventures, a 30,000-acre grain and oilseed operation in southeast Saskatchewan, where Evan sits as Chief Financial Officer.I had the privilege of hosting Evan’s business partner, Kristjan Hebert on the show last year back in episodes 302 & 303. Those were very popular episodes about farm strategy and farm operating systems. We follow that up with today’s episode with Evan Shout about the entrepreneurial mindset and how apply that mindset to running a modern farm business. Spotlight Segment: Mac Marshall is the vice president of market intelligence for the United Soybean Board, where his job as part of the strategy team is to best position farmer leaders and directors to have the best information for making strategic decisions that are going to determine the fate of the soybean industry for years to come. He studied economics as an undergrad, and started his career with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics where he covered livestock, meat, cotton and consumer packaged goods. This background in economics and commodities analysis led to a job with Monsanto in corporate strategy then government relations before he joined the soybean board in 2020. He says strategic decisions from the farmer-led board have had major impacts on soybean farmers for decades, and shares some of the actions they are taking today to make sure the commodity continues to enjoy its demand and distribution for years to come. One example, he says, is the use of soy in renewable diesel. 

Soy Checkoff: https://www.unitedsoybean.org/More About Jim Rogers: https://www.jimrogers.com/Today’s episode features Jim Rogers. I will first admit that this episode is pretty selfish. I found Jim’s books, particularly “Investment Biker” “Adventure Capitalist” and “Hot Commodities” in college when I was trying to figure out where my interests were and where I might like to start my career. I already had an interest in agriculture, international travel, and investing, so they had a huge impact on me. In fact, I decided to start my career in commodities in no small part because of his writing. So, when I had the chance to interview him on his thoughts about the world generally, I jumped at it. This one might be a bit different from our normal content because Jim is looking at broader economic and geopolitical drivers from an investor perspective and not so much as a “ag person” but I think his perspective is extremely valuable. The other reason this one might be a little bit different is I couldn’t help but become starstruck by him. He really had that big of an impact on me at a formative age. If you weren’t a wannabe investment geek in college like I was, let me give you some biographical background. Jim Rogers, a native of Demopolis, Alabama, is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. After attending Yale and Oxford University, Rogers co-founded the Quantum Fund, a global-investment partnership. During the next 10 years, the portfolio gained 4200%, while the S&P rose less than 50%. Rogers then decided to retire – at age 37. Continuing to manage his own portfolio, Rogers kept busy serving as a full professor of finance at Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and, in 1989 and 1990, as the moderator of WCBS’s ‘The Dreyfus Roundtable’ and FNN’s ‘The Profit Motive with Jim Rogers’.From 1990-92, Jim Rogers fulfilled his lifelong dream: motorcycling 100,000 miles across six continents, a feat that landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records. As a private investor, he constantly analysed the countries through which he travelled for investment ideas. He chronicled his one-of-a-kind journey in “Investment Biker: On the Road with Jim Rogers”. Rogers also embarked on a Millennium Adventure in 1999. He travelled for 3 years on his round-the-world, Guinness World Record journey. It was his 3rd Guinness Record. Passing through 116 countries, he covered more than 245,000 kilometres, which he recounted in his book “Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip”. His book, “Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably In The World’s Best Market”, was published in 2004. Another of his books “A Bull in China” describes his experiences in China as well as the changes and opportunities there.

Soy Checkoff: https://www.unitedsoybean.org/Prime Future Newsletter: https://primefuture.substack.com/Leachman Cattle of Colorado: https://leachman.com/URUS: https://www.urus.org/In agriculture, we have exponentially more examples of people collecting data than we do of people using data to unlock real value supported by real dollars. Cattle genetics company Leachman Cattle is one of those few who demonstrated the ability to do just that. "You know, we kinda had set our own course to analyze our own data, to gather our own data to store it. And that's just been part of our model. It certainly wouldn't have been the cheapest route to go. But if you go the cheapest route, which is you put your data in a breed association, then we wouldn't have had any proprietary data or indexes. And I think it is that information and the way we use that information that. That led to the opportunity that we had to do business with URUS."That’s Lee Leachman, and Uris, who he mentioned there at the end, just agreed to acquire a majority stake in Leachman Cattle to take these proven proprietary genetics and build programs around them that optimize the entire value chain. "We want to build systems that capture value for dairy farmers and beef cattle ranchers that bring more money back to the farm. And to do that, we've gotta optimize these animals from conception to consumption, and we've gotta have enough structure to pass the value back."Lee Leachman chats with Janette Barnard on today’s Future of Agriculture podcast. Lee’s going to share more about his background and his company during the conversation, but I actually wasn’t a part of this one. This interview was conducted by my good friend and occasional co-host on this show, Janette Barnard. Long time listeners know Janette from previous episodes that she has co-hosted with me, and I hope you all are subscribers to her email newsletter, which is called Prime Future, which you can signup for at primefuture.substack.com.

Soy Checkoff: https://www.unitedsoybean.org/Canopy Farm Management: https://canopyfm.com/Savanna Institute: https://www.savannainstitute.org/Kevin Wolz and I talk about the fundamentals of agroforestry, their potential in the midwest, what these systems look like, and the barriers and opportunities to agroforestry becoming a bigger part of the future of agriculture, especially in the midwest where Kevin is focused. In 2013, Kevin co-founded the Savanna Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and promoting perennial and tree-based regenerative agriculture systems. Under Kevin’s leadership, the Institute quickly gained recognition for its transformative research, education, outreach, and breeding efforts.Kevin is also the CEO of Canopy Farm Management. He is leading that company to drive innovation in tree establishment and management via a mobile fleet of state-of-the-art farm equipment, appropriate automation, and holistic strategies for tree-crop integration. Make sure you stay tuned to the end of today’s episode for a spotlight segment featuring Michigan farmer Laurie Isley. She shares some of the cool conservation practices they are adopting and some of the initiatives she’s a part of as a director for the United Soybean Board. Thanks so much to the soy checkoff for supporting the Future of Agriculture podcast.

Dr. Paige Stanley, an interdisciplinary scientist, discusses the potential of regenerative grazing for increasing soil carbon sequestration. Topics include challenges in measuring soil organic carbon, carbon fractions and soil microbes, the role of culture and motivations in ranching, and a research project on soil carbon sequestration and grazing management.

Soy Checkoff: https://www.unitedsoybean.org/Sustain-A-Grain: https://www.sustainagrain.com/The Land Institute: https://landinstitute.org/Today’s episode features Peter Miller and Brandon Schlautman, Ph.D. of Sustain-A-Grain. Sustain-A-Grain has a two-part mission: to introduce consumers to Kernza® perennial grain and to support family farms in growing Kernza®. The team has been growing Kernza® themselves for nearly 5 years in close collaboration with The Land Institute—where Kernza® was first developed. They are certified seed dealers, handlers, and growers, and they work with dozens of farmers across the Great Plains to grow and market their grain. They also work with food companies, restaurants, breweries, and distilleries to source high-quality Kernza®. This is an interesting episode about the potential for perennial grains, and what it takes to commercialize a brand new crop. The problems are different that what you would expect. For example, Kernza® has received a ton of press and excitement from some pretty big end users, which sounds like a great thing, and ultimately it is. But Peter and Brandon have to find ways to build the supply chain in a way that buyers remain happy, farmers remain profitable, and supply and demand can grow together at a sustainable pace. No easy task. We’ll talk about the research and breeding efforts that continue to go into the crop and what this means for farmers, food companies, and the future of agriculture. Peter Miller, CEO & Co-founder, has global agribusiness experience and previously worked in three early-stage startups, including helping to launch FarmLead’s online grain marketplace. Peter has over 10 years of operations and private equity experience in the ag industry. He holds an MBA from University of Illinois.Dr. Brandon Schlautman, Chief Science Officer & Co-founder, is a crop scientist who previously led cranberry breeding and domestication efforts at University of Wisconsin and perennialization of edible legumes at The Land Institute. Brandon serves as the Research Director for a $10M National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant for perennial cover crops and holds a Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin.We begin the conversation with Brandon talking about where this all started, the place where Kernza® has been developed over the past 20 years: at The Land Institute.