Future of Agriculture

Where is Agriculture Headed in 2026 and Beyond? Insights From Seven Ag Podcasts

Podcast episodes featured:Where Will Demand Come From? | Damian Mason PodcastWill China’s cheaper tractors disrupt ag equipment? With Lachlan Monsbourgh | Agtech - So What?Reducing Weeds and Pests with Regenerative Mulching Systems with Erwin Westers | The Regenerative Agriculture PodcastField Intelligence: Elliott Grant on AI in Agriculture | Fresh Takes on TechAg's Efficiency Preoccupation Problem with Andrew Hoelscher of Farm Strategy | The PaceSetter PodcastRethinking Food and Ag Investments - The Quiet Trends Reshaping The Industry | The Modern AcreGenetic Progress Made Simple: Feed Intake, IVF, and AI Tools for Cattle | Farm4ProfitFor the third year in a row, I contacted the hosts of seven different ag podcasts to see if they would identify one of their episodes from this past year that they think is most indicative of where the agriculture industry is headed in the future.Once again, they all came through and I’m excited to share clips with you from these seven podcasters. Some of the themes are similar to last year like genetics and AI. Which I think is a good sign. If the themes changed every year it would probably be an indication that were wrong. Haha. But there are new themes that I think you will definitely find interesting. Themes we will be discussing today include the struggling farm economy, the growth of foreign agriculture equipment, the rise of systems-based thinking and regenerative approaches on farm, where artificial intelligence is making an impact in agtech, Food as health and what that means for agriculture and how genetics is changing the game in cattle and really every area of agriculture.Other Episodes Referenced:Where is Agriculture Headed in 2025 and Beyond? Insights from 7 Different Ag PodcastsFoA 395: Where is Agriculture Headed? Insights From Six Different Ag PodcastsTrade Wars and the Farm Economy With Bill RidleyHow China is Changing Global Ag Trade With Ian LahiffeTractor Wars with Rhishi PetheAI For Regenerative Agriculture With John KempfGoing All-In on Customers and AI WIth Devon Wright of LumoBetter Food For More People With Clayton Mooney of Clayton FarmsBusiness Model Innovation in Cattle Feeding With Kee Jim

AI For Regenerative Agriculture With John Kempf

FieldLark AI: https://fieldlark.ai/Advancing Eco Agriculture: https://advancingecoag.com/Regenerative Agriculture Podcast: https://advancingecoag.com/podcasts/FoA 386: Challenging Assumptions About Regenerative Agriculture With John KempfToday we’re joined by John Kempf, founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture. John first joined me on the podcast two years ago for episode 386 titled “Challenging Assumptions About Regenerative Agriculture”. That episode was widely shared and provided me with a ton of interesting feedback. So I was eager to bring John back on especially to discuss this new AI regenerative agronomist tool they’ve launched which is called FieldLark AI. As I hoped, John and I also get somewhat philosophical about technology use and ethics, and we talk about a separate but similar project he has taken on of building a digital clone of his knowledge and expertise. We talk about what that process looked like and how he’s using Digital Clone John in his daily life. And you agronomy nerds definitely will want to stick around to the end because we talk about some fascinating insights about nitrogen that John and the AEA team have been helping their customers take advantage of. First though, let me read some background here about John because I think it’s fascinating and it really informs his perspective and his focus with AEA. John Kempf is an entrepreneur, speaker, podcast host, leading crop health consultant, and designer of innovative soil and plant management systems. He founded Advancing Eco Agriculture in 2006 and serves as Chief Vision Officer and Executive Board Chairman.In the early 2000s, Amish farmer John Kempf was on a quest to save his family’s fruit and vegetable farm in Northeast Ohio. After years of intensive pesticide use, pest and disease pressure was unmanageable and unaffected by continued chemical applications. This resulted in an almost total loss three years in a row. After years of extensive agronomic research, first-hand growing experience, and close mentorship John found new crop management methods. The practices he discovered and the products he created were the beginnings of Advancing Eco Agriculture.

The Next Great Ag Equipment Brand will be Autonomy-First with Charlie Andersen of Burro

Burro website: https://burro.ai/FoA 271: Ag Robotics Roundtable: https://futureofagriculture.com/episode/foa-271-ag-robotics-roundtableI’m really excited to share today’s episode with you. Charlie Andersen is one of the most impressive and intelligent founders that I’ve had the chance to speak with. I can remember being blown away with him when he was a part of our Ag Robotics Roundtable which became episode 271 of this podcast clear back in 2021. Charlie co-founded Burro in 2017 and today they have over 600 systems running in the field, which is arguably the largest fleet of mobile robots running in an outdoor agricultural setting today. If you’ve never seen a Burro before, think about like a flat bed cart, for lack of better term. They are 5hp to 20hp autonomous vehicles that go up to 6.5 mph in speed. They can tow, haul things, mow, spray, and patrol all autonomously. They even can be used with a docking station to recharge themselves to run continuously. They are very cool, and uniquely designed to augment human labor rather than trying to fully replace it. Charlie grew up on a working fruit and vegetable farm and says he was obsessed with machinery as a kid. He went on to get an MBA at Harvard Business School and he founded Burro after working for CNH, where he reported to the head of the North American operating unit and worked on special projects across sales, marketing, manufacturing, distribution, and autonomy M&A.

[Tech-Enabled Advisor Series] Connecting Agronomy to Financial Strategy With Todd Kirwan

Today’s episode is another installment in our Tech-Enabled Advisor series. The idea here is to better understand agtech through the lens of the BUYER and USER of that technology rather than just the entrepreneurs or investors behind it. I’ve received some super positive feedback about the return of this series. By talking to the buyers rather than the sellers of the tech, we got an unfiltered introduction to the technology and more importantly got to see HOW its used and the VALUE that it provides. To do this, I partner with a company and together we invite one of their customers onto the show. The catch is that they’re not allowed to script these individuals or dictate what to say or edit it after it is recorded - it has to be real and unfiltered. So today’s episode featuring Todd Kirwan of Apex Precision Agriculture is produced in partnership with AgWorld. And I’m really excited to be partnering with them again, as they were a part of the last time I did this tech-enabled advisor series. But for anyone who might not be familiar, Agworld has been operating since 2009, developed by and for growers & agronomists, and is independently owned. The Agworld ecosystem digitally connects growers with their staff, agronomist, contactor, ag retailer and anyone else that is involved in the farming process. The tool is set up to enable collaboration in the digital farming process, so farmers can maximise financial and crop performance. With Agworld you can plan your crop, mitigate your risks, and improve your profitability. And you’re going to get a great illustration of what that looks like on the ground and in practice in today’s episode with Todd Kirwan. Todd and I discuss what types of cultural changes need to happen in a farming operation to get the most out of technology, where things go wrong in the attempts to get the most value out of farm data, why he believes the challenging farm economy makes tools like AgWorld even more critical and some of the changes he sees happening in the future of agriculture. A little background on Todd: Todd Kirwan is the founder of Apex Precision Agriculture, a consultancy focused on helping growers and agribusinesses transform their operational data into their most profitable asset.With over 25 years in large-scale production agriculture, his career has been dedicated to bridging the gap between field-level agronomy and high-level financial strategy. Over that time, he’s seen the industry from every angle, from moving pipe on the family farm to directing operations for a multi-state farming enterprise. Through his experiences in farm management, he recognized a critical need for a partner who understands not just the data, but the human dynamics of implementing change. And that led him to starting Apex Precision Agriculture. Todd grew up working in his family’s farming operation and then started his own custom applicator business. That led him into farm management and leadership for a rapidly expanding farming company called Lance Funk Farms. He then stayed on after Lance Funk sold to AgReserves, which is the agricultural company owned by the LDS church. It was that time at Lance Funk Farms, when they were hyper focused on growth that Todd really embraced how technology can improve a farming operation.

[History of Agriculture] Norman Borlaug and the Green Revolution

"The Wizard and the Prophet" by Charles C. MannRhishi Pethe's "Software is Feeding the World" Newsletter "In 1968, the year a USAID official coined the term 'Green Revolution', Norman Borlaug gave a victory lap speech at a wheat meeting in Australia. Twenty years before, he said, Mexican farmers had reaped about 760 pounds of wheat from every acre planted. Now that figure had risen to almost 2,500 pounds per acre, triple the harvest from the same land. The same thing was happening in India. He said the first green revolution wheat had been tested there just in 1964-1965 growing season. It had been so successful that the government had tested it on 7,000 acres the next year, and now it was covering almost 7 million acres. The same thing was happening in Pakistan, and this didn't even count the Green Revolution rice, also short and disease resistant, which was spreading across Asia." That is an excerpt from the book we'll be talking about here today. "The Wizard and the Prophet" by Charles C. Mann. The subtitle is "two remarkable scientists and they're dueling visions to shape tomorrow's world." One of those scientists, "the wizard", was Norman Borlaug: the father of the green revolution. Today's episode focuses on Borlaug's life and contributions to improving crop productivity in some of the most impoverished areas of the world. This episode is co-hosted by Tim Hammerich and Rhishi Pethe.