Headstorm: https://headstorm.com/
AGPILOT: https://headstorm.com/agpilot/
Bayer Announcement: https://www.bayer.com/media/en-us/bayer-pilots-unique-generative-ai-tool-for-agriculture/
Bayer AgPowered Services: https://www.bayer.com/media/en-us/bayer-collaboration-with-microsoft-connects-farm-data-to-address-lack-of-data-interoperability-in-agriculture/
Microsoft World Agri-Tech Reflections: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/industry/blog/sustainability/2024/04/02/world-agri-tech-2024-pioneering-agriculture-resilience-with-ai/
Claudia Roessler World Agri-Tech Reflections on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/claudia-roessler-microsoft_world-agri-tech-2024-pioneering-agriculture-activity-7180973495110057984-Bay4?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
FoA 111: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with Jeremy Williams https://futureofagriculture.com/episode/future-of-agriculture-111-artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning-with-jeremy-williams-of-monsanto
FoA 361: Meet Norm, FBN's AI-Powered Ag Advisor with Kit Barron and Charles Baron https://futureofagriculture.com/episode/foa-361-meet-norm-fbns-ai-powered-ag-advisor-with-kit-barron-and-charles-baron
FoA 266:Microsoft Wants to Democratize Data-Driven Agriculture https://futureofagriculture.com/episode/foa-266-microsoft-wants-to-democratize-data-driven-agriculture
FoA 345: Alphabet's Moonshot to Scale Sustainable Agriculture via Machine Learning with Dr. Elliott Grant of Mineral https://futureofagriculture.com/episode/foa-345-alphabets-moonshot-to-scale-sustainable-agriculture-via-machine-learning-with-elliott-grant-of-mineral
“Yield Maps Killed Agtech Software, Can AI Fix It?” https://tenacious.ventures/insights/yield-maps-killed-agtech-software-can-ai-fix-it
Bailey Stockdale LLM Benchmarking: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gbstockdale_anthropic-claude-opus-is-the-new-leader-in-activity-7173365123196112896-SkEt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
A couple weeks ago, I had the chance to attend World Agri-Tech in San Francisco. I spent the vast majority of my time there in one-on-one conversations, some recorded and some not, about the future of agriculture. It was really an embarrassment of riches to have so many interesting people in one place who work in agtech or agribusiness. ReThink Events was kind enough to provide me with a media pass for the event, and our quarterly presenting sponsor Headstorm helped to coordinate some key interviews that will be a part of today’s episode and a few other episodes that you’ll hear later this quarter. Take note that all of these recordings happened live at an event with thousands of other people, so there will be occasional background noise, but overall I was pleased with the quality of audio I was able to get considering the circumstances.
There’s a temptation at this event in particular and others like it to ask what’s new and what’s next? That begs the question of “does there always need to be something new to talk about?” because we probably have a lot of “old” things to still be working on and working through. I actually encountered what I would consider a healthy mix of innovations that aren’t new but still requiring a lot of work to make an impact. This would include a lot of topics that won’t shock you if you’ve been listening to this show for any amount of time: data, automation, biologicals, regenerative, climate change, venture capital, etc.
But if there was one topic that was new - or at least new-ish - it was the talk of the potential of generative AI to drive positive change in agtech. It’s clear several companies have been working on this or at least thinking a lot about it. And if you want a quick and oversimplified explanation of generative AI, think of it as a tool that can take raw data and create content in the way of text, like Chat-GPT, images like Midjourney, audio, like you heard last year in episode 361 when I used Descript to generate the intro to the episode in my voice from text generated from FBN’s Norm.
All of those are examples of generative AI using more mainstream applications, but all they require is a prompt by me typing or speaking what I want the tool to make for me. This what makes it generative - the tool is making the content - not me. But what does this really mean for for the future of agriculture? Are these just fun and interesting tools, or do they represent a massive step forward in technological capabilities?
That was the tone of a lot of the GenAI conversations I was a part of. One of the more intriguing panels at World Agri-Tech, at least in my opinion, was titled “The GenAI Era: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges in Agtech”. It actually included three former guests of this podcast: Ranveer Chandra at Microsoft (266), Jeremy Williams at Bayer Crop Science (111), and Elliott Grant at Mineral (345). Also sitting on the panel was Elizabeth Fastiggi at AWS and Feroz Shiekh at Syngenta.
If I had to summarize, every member of the panel was eager to say that generative AI represents a dramatic shift in the capabilities we have to actually make data valuable. Or to use the cliche term “to turn data to insights”.
But what exactly is generative AI? And what is so dramatically different about it? Is this just filling the need to have another “big new thing” that will potentially not live up to the excitement like agtech has developed a reputation for? Those are the questions I wanted to ask at World Agri-Tech, and will seek to help answer for you in this episode.
FoA 382: [History of Agriculture] Carl Bosch and the Agtech That Changed the World
FoA 381: Is There An Anti-Farming Agenda?
FoA 380: Equity Capital for Farmland with Ben Gordon and Kyle Mehmen
FoA 379: The Farm Entrepreneur Mindset with Evan Shout of Maverick Ag
FoA 378: Adventure Capitalism with Legendary Investor and Author Jim Rogers
FoA 377: Leveraging Data to Advance Cattle Genetics With Lee Leachman
FoA 376: Agroforestry on Commercial Midwest Farms with Kevin Wolz of Canopy FM
FoA 375: Soil Carbon Sequestration and Grazing Management with Paige Stanley, Ph.D.
FoA 374: The Potential for Perennial Grains with Peter Miller and Brandon Schlautman of Sustain-A-Grain
FoA 373: Soy Innovation with Meagan Kaiser of the United Soybean Board
FoA 372: [Startup Spotlight] Managing Farm Labor with Joshua Farray of FieldClock
FoA 371: Family Farms and Healthy Communities with Blake Alexandre of Alexandre Family Farm
FoA 370: [History of Agriculture] William J Morse, the Father of the US Soybean Industry
FoA 369: Farm Products, Performance and Perception with Randy Barker of INTENT
FoA 368: Corteva's Digital Transformation with Brian Lutz
FoA 367: Is Agriculture Ready to Collaborate on Data? Jeremy Wilson of AgGateway
FoA 366: Agriculture, Economics, and Data with Aaron Smith, Ph.D.
FoA 365: Sensing from Soil to Storage with Ehsan Soltan of Soiltech Wireless
FoA 364: Supporting Soil Health with Dr. Steve Rosenzweig and Dr. Abbey Wick [Soil Sense Crossover]
FoA 363: Automation Opens the Floodgates for Aquatic Plant Production with Jason Prapas of Fyto
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
NABOR® TALKS
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money