Future of Agriculture

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. 

Edward Silva, CEO of másLabor and AgWorks, discusses the challenges around the H2A process, entrepreneurship through acquisition, and the need for ag labor. He explains the process of hiring agricultural workers from Mexico through the H2A visa program and emphasizes the value of skills in agricultural labor. Silva also shares his journey of starting a search fund to find an existing agricultural business to buy and the importance of acquiring businesses for the long term.

Put AI to work on your farm: https://farmwave.io/[Founders Podcast] #324 John D. Rockefeller (38 Letters Rockefeller Wrote to His Son)[Morgan Housel Podcast] "My New Book, Same As Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes"Today’s combine harvesters are modern marvels capable of harvesting thousands of bushels per hour, including cutting, threshing, cleaning and capturing the grain. But the path from hand tools to the mechanical harvester is a fascinating one; which involved several farm shop innovations, intellectual property battles, labor challenges and pioneering business practices that are considered standard today. So buckle up for this one, because our subject for today’s episode, Cyrus Hall McCormick, was right in the middle of a lot of it all. Other Resources: [YouTube] THE ROMANCE OF THE REAPER " 1937 INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER PROMO FILM CYRUS MCCORMICK[YouTube] Alex Plaza- McCormick Reaper Documentary[Wikipedia] Obed Hussey[Richmond Times-Dispatch] “Jo Anderson” [Forbes Archives] Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time[Wikipedia] Cyrus Hall McCormick[Washington Post] Harvester: The Company That McCormick Built[PBS.ORG] Cyrus McCormick (1809 - 1884)[MIT] Cyrus McCormick: Mechanical Reaper[Investors Business Daily] Cyrus McCormick Revolutionized Farming Worldwide With The Reaper

Put AI to work on your farm: https://farmwave.io/Rhishi Pethe's Software Is Feeding The World Newsletter: https://www.rhishipethe.com/sftwVerdant Robotics: https://www.verdantrobotics.com/Verdant Robotics is offering a smart sprayer that helps farmers reduce labor and input costs. But don’t let the word “robotics” in the name fool you: their technology, although very cutting-edge, hooks right onto existing equipment like any other farm implement. “Here at Verdant we have a slogan called 'autonomy last.' So even though our co founders and early employees all were foundational in the birth of that (autonomous vehicle) industry, it's the last thing that we're going to do. The majority of the value that we're going to provide the grower is automating the machine on the back. That's actually where the value is being provided.” - Curtis GarnerAutomation doesn’t necessarily mean autonomy. That’s Curtis Garner, founder and CCO at Verdant Robotics. A lot of the team, like Chief Operating Officer Brent Shedd, came from the world of self-driving vehicles, but they are now laser focused on farmers, and building the next generation of smart tech-enabled farm equipment. “If you're a grower and you're looking at  an implement that isn't software defined, you should really rethink the way that you're evaluating the long term viability of the equipment  on your farm. Because you want implements that will only increase in value to your operation the longer that you own them.” - Brent SheddCurtis Garner and Brent Shedd from Verdant Robotics join guest host Rhishi Pethe on today’s Future of Agriculture podcast.

Put AI to work on your farm: https://farmwave.io/Eiwa: https://eiwa.ag/Today's episode features Carlos Hirsch, Chief Revenue Officer at Eiwa. Carlos is passionate about the intersection of agriculture, technology, and people. He has been in the Ag Industry for over 20 years and built an accomplished career in seed production, technology development and SaaS businesses. He has an agronomy degree from ESALQ in Piracicaba, Brazil and an Executive MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He joined Eiwa in August of 2021 and resides with his family in St. Louis, MO.Carlos and Tim talk about what makes data problems in agriculture unique versus a lot of other industries. Their solution, that they call the Eiwa Vault, combines all types of data sources like weather, machinery, satellite, drones, field notes etc. and puts them all in a place and format that makes them accessible to other tools and ultimately, actionable decisions. Their original market for this are researchers and R&D teams so they could spend more time on leveraging the data and extracting insights, but they’ve also moved into offering this to large commercial farming companies as well. This has a lot of implications for the big wave in advancements in artificial intelligence, which we seem to be experiencing right now.Stay tuned to the end of today’s episode for a detailed spotlight of Jason Diekevers and how he’s using technology like Farmwave on his farm. 

Put AI to work on your farm: https://farmwave.io/Gold Leaf Farming: https://www.goldleaf.ag/Today’s episode features the Director of Asset Management at Gold Leaf Farming, Sawyer Clark. Gold Leaf was founded in 2017 by Brandon Rebiero and Jack McCarthy. Sawyer met Jack while they were both in business school at Stanford, and soon became a part of the team. In today’s episode, Sawyer and I talk about Gold Leaf’s model for investing in farming, specializing in just a few permanent crops, how they add value after acquisition including transitioning to organic, hiring top talent, and embracing technology. We also have a lengthy discussion about the types of technology that has worked - and not worked - for their operation. Sawyer describes himself as a farm kid from Oregon's Willamette Valley, where his family continues to grow hazelnuts to this day. He spends his time at Gold Leaf Farming split between acquiring new properties and leading operational initiatives with the farm team - especially those regarding the company's sustainability practices.Before joining Gold Leaf, Sawyer served as an Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Army, bootstrapped and joined a couple startups, and completed a short stint in a family investment office. Sawyer received an MBA and MS in Environment & Resources from Stanford University.