Future of Agriculture

Variable Rate done RIGHT with SWAT MAPS: https://swatmaps.com/Verdi Ag: https://www.verdi.ag/Arthur Chen is the CEO of Verdi, which is helping to climate-proofing agriculture with the world's first scalable platform to personalize healthcare for plants, helping the world's largest food brands radically optimize farm productivity and sustainability. In 2022, Verdi saved farmers over 7 million liters of water. Prior to Verdi, Arthur conducted precision agriculture research sponsored by Mineral at Google X. Arthur and I talk about variable rate irrigation, gaining traction as a new agtech company, and how technology like Verdi’s can make an impact on the future of agriculture. 

Michael Ott, CEO of Cquesta, a deep root trait company, discusses the unique technology behind Cquesta, challenges in the soil carbon market, and plans for collaboration within the agricultural industry. The chapter also explores the origins of Cquesta from the Salk Institute's harnessing plants initiative and highlights the importance of deeper roots in improving crop resilience and achieving long-lasting carbon storage. They also discuss their monetization plan, including forward selling the carbon and partnering with seed companies and farmers.

Variable Rate done RIGHT with SWAT MAPS: https://swatmaps.com/Agricultural Economic Insights: https://aei.ag/AEI.ag Presents Podcast: https://aei.ag/podcast/David Widmar is an agricultural economist specializing in agricultural trends and the farm economy. Through his research, he supports agribusinesses and farmers in their strategic and planning efforts. David is the Managing Partner of Agricultural Economic Insights, AEI.ag, which he co-founded with Dr. Brent Gloy in 2014. Prior to AEI, David was a researcher with the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University and served as the economist for the Kansas Department of Agriculture. I highly recommend you subscribe to AEI’s content and go check out their podcast, AEI.ag Presents. I especially recommend their season on the 1980s farm crisis.In today’s episode, David and I discuss farmland values, the impact of higher interest rates, how to think about risk, and how to manage volatility in things like markets and inflation. 

Cory Willness and Derek Massey, co-founders of Croptimistic Technology, discuss the evolution and future prospects of precision agriculture, building a profitable AgTech company, their decision to raise money, and the milestones in their technology development. They highlight the challenges of mapping soil water and topography variability, the advantage of boots-on-the-ground consultants, and the upcoming opportunities for developing better soil measurement technology.

Casey Call, agriculture technology expert, discusses the potential of technology in greenhouse farming. They explore automation in strawberry production, the advantages of greenhouse farming, and the use of technology to improve food production. They emphasize the importance of meeting consumer demands and highlight Zordi as an innovative company in farming practices.

Turn your data into actionable value with SWAT MAPS: https://swatmaps.com/Toby Kiers, PhD website: https://tobykiers.com/Toby's TED TALK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjwvaF3P_5Q&t=273sScientists are discovering incredible interactions between plants' roots and soil dwelling fungi called mycorrhizal fungi. These relationships are integral to how plants function, including of course, our crops. But despite their importance to fundamental aspects of plant development, there's still so much we have yet to learn."We know, for example, that the fungi, when it colonizes the root system, it can actually change the gene regulation of the plant, such that the plant is no longer able to access nutrients directly from its root system. It kind of creates an addiction onto the fungi that makes it so the plant is giving more carbon to get at the nutrients."That's Dr. Toby Kiers, an evolutionary biologist who studies these mycorrhizal fungi. She shares why this work is so important for biodiversity, for crop development, for soil health and for carbon sequestration. "We did some research that found that about 13 billion tons of CO2 are allocated every year from plants to mycorrhizal networks across the earth, so that that includes all kinds of mycorrhizal fungi, also associated with forests. But that's a huge number, right? That's equivalent to one third of the emissions from fossil fuels."The functions and strategies that these fungi perform in nature will blow your mind, and I can't help but wonder about the possibilities for the future of agriculture. Professor Toby Kiers is an evolutionary biologist who earned her PhD from UC Davis. She has been Professor and University Research Chair of Evolutionary Biology at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam since 2014.  Kiers is famous for uncovering ancient biological markets that take place beneath forest floors, in which different trees and fungi barter for essential resources such as phosphorus and sugar. Kiers co-founded the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN).

Put AI to work on your farm: https://farmwave.io/Prime Future Newsletter by Janette Barnard: https://primefuture.substack.com/ "Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West" by Christopher Knowlton: https://www.amazon.com/Cattle-Kingdom-Hidden-History-Cowboy/dp/1328470253/ref=sr_1_1" It was a Darwinian struggle across the open range, as it often is in a capitalist society. A struggle to survive, to outcompete, to adapt on the fly, to changing circumstances brought on by new technology, emerging monopolies, changing regulations, fluctuating markets, and fickle weather. From one angle, the story of the Great Beef Bonanza is a record of remarkable human ingenuity and technological advancement. From another, it's a case history of the calamities that befall those who ignore economic or ecological realities in a single-minded pursuit of the American dream. The open range cattle era and its role in shaping America deserve to be more broadly known if only as an instructive cautionary tale."That is a passage from "Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West" by Christopher Nolton. That is going to be the basis for today's very special history episode about an interesting and pivotal time in American history, but also in the history of industrialized agriculture. Joining me for this is the person who recommended "Cattle Kingdom" to me, and someone who has been a regular on the show, Janette Barnard.This book is both instructive about how bubbles form, but also some really pivotal beginnings to what we know today as agriculture, especially on the meat side of the business, which is what Janette covers in her wonderful weekly newsletter called Prime Future.

This podcast explores insights from various agricultural podcasts, covering topics such as the shifting global economy, farm business mindset, artificial intelligence, marketing strategy, climate-smart agriculture, and direct-to-consumer meat. It also discusses the concept of creating instead of competing in agriculture, the potential impact of controlling pollination, and the rise of ostrich meat as a direct-to-consumer product. The episode concludes with gratitude, recommendations for thought-provoking episodes, and promotions for other shows.

Marc Kermisch, Industrial Global Chief Digital and Information Officer at CNH Industrial, dives into the world of agricultural technology. He discusses how AI and advanced machinery increase farm efficiency. Topics include the shift to an open ecosystem in ag-tech and the impact of automation through robotics and drones. Kermisch also highlights the need for user-friendly technologies and the importance of strong dealer networks to stand out in a competitive market. Real farmer experiences are shared, showcasing the effectiveness of innovations like harvest vision systems.

Put AI to work on your farm: https://farmwave.io/Texas A&M Website: https://agecon.tamu.edu/people/fischer-bart/Southern Ag Today: https://southernagtoday.org/As we approach the end of 2023, one thing that many in agriculture thought would happen this year that hasn't is a new farm bill. "The farm bill attracts this outsized attention. It's carrying some baggage that probably was not envisioned, you know, 80 to a hundred years ago when this process was started."That's Dr. Bart Fisher, who spent eight years with the House Agriculture Committee, and today is a professor of ag policy at Texas A&M. The lack of a farm bill brought up a lot of questions for me about this legislation. Like what are the impacts of not having this bill in place? What causes these types of delays and are these farm bills which have been around since the 1930s even still relevant?"It's just incredibly important for the productive capacity of this country that we maintain a safety net for growers because it costs so much to produce."Bart gives me quite an education about the past, present, and future of the farm bill. We talk about some of the nuances to getting these bills passed, and what goes into these farm bills from support programs to crop insurance, to conservation and beyond, and we cover the impacts of the policies on farmers and rural economies. "Farm bills aren't written for the good times. They're written for the bad times. One of the challenges though is that even though they're written for the bad times, they're often written during the Good Times." Dr. Bart Fischer is a research assistant professor and co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center in the Department of Agricultural Economics. His applied research focuses on solving real-world policy problems for agricultural producers and on anticipating potential policy changes for Congress to consider. Before joining Texas A&M University, Fischer served for more than eight years on the House Agriculture Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was involved in every major agricultural policy development in Washington, D.C. over the past eight years, including the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills. He is the 5th generation to be raised on his family’s wheat, cotton, and cattle operation in Southwest Oklahoma and he continues to be actively involved.For those of you not real familiar with the farm bill: it’s an omnibus law that is addressed every five years to provide an opportunity for policymakers to address agricultural and food issues. We will reference a few of the titles of the farm bill by number in this episode, so just so you have it fresh on your mind, we’ll talk about title one, which is commodities. These are all of the price support and income support programs for the most widely-produced commodities that are produced. We will also talk about Title 2 which includes conservation programs and title 4 which is focused on nutrition and the SNAP program, which is formerly known as food stamps.