Future of Agriculture

Dr. Nishant Dass is an associate professor and Ph. D. Coordinator in finance at Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. His areas of expertise include major areas of financing and business management including CEO-Compensation, Corporate Governance, Mutual Funds, Trade Credit, and International Finance. He has plenty of published papers under his name with regards to financing and has extensive...

Tomaz Levak and Ziga Drev are the founders of OriginTrail , a service that developed the first purpose-built protocol blockchain-based supply chains. Their protocol aims to bring trust into the supply chain without the need for a middleman brokering trust. The OriginTrail platform was created to bring blockchain tech to supply chains in an interoperable, scalable, and decentralized manner.   In th...

In part 1 of our Blockchain series, I discussed the concept of Blockchain and how it can impact the agricultural industry. I highlighted reputable resources, possible points where Blockchain can positively change, and how it can build trust in all market participants from beginning to end. I also compared Blockchain to BitCoin, emphasizing on their similarities, and why it is the next big thing in...

Innovations in the agricultural industry come in many forms. From technological advances to improving farming practices, the world is slowly but surely guaranteeing safe and sustainable food sources for generations to come. But, what if we take that a step further? What if we have a system in place that enables traceability, security, improves food safety and gets everyone involved in making sure...

Nick Horob is the founder of Harvest Profit , a company that provides a set of management tools focused on the business side of the farm. Their aim is to allow farmers make decisions based on objective analysis and data, preventing emotionally-driven choices which in turn gives them better, long-term returns. While Nick grew up in a family of farmers, his extensive experience in risk management, r...

Tyler Mayoras is a Principal at Advantage Capital Partners , a company that invests in small businesses that are ready for growth. As a principal, his duties revolves around screening and identifying potential opportunities for investments, facilitate due diligence, and close transactions. His primary focus is on investments made by their agriculture wing, aptly called Advantage Capital Agribusine...

How does a 30,000 acre farm operate with just 9 employees? Lon Frahm shares with Tim how he has grown his row crop operation to over 30,000 acres, and how he uses economies of scale such as self-insuring and storing his own grain, to develop advantages over other farmers.  Lon has a very impressive story. He took over his family's farm upon his father's death when he was just 28 years old. He has...

Steven Brockshus is the CEO and Founder of TERVA , an online real estate marketplace dedicated to empowering farmland professionals with knowledge, insights, and data. They aim to build a marketplace not only to educate, but to also connect with people looking to buy and sell farmland. He aims to bring the agricultural real estate industry online to shift the industry and how people interact and t...

Dr. Peter Ballerstedt is a Doctor of Animal Nutrition and is an expert in forage and ruminant nutrition in agriculture. He stepped out of the agriculture industry for some time and ventured in the tech world for many years. He came back because he realized a fantastic source of health could be found through leveraging animal agriculture, specifically ruminants. A stern believer in grass-based anim...

Charles Baron is the Co-Founder of Farmers Business Network , an idea conceived by farmers for farmers. The company aims to gather unbiased and objective information with regards to agronomics and commodities. The idea is to pool available data from individual farmers, so every farmer in their network would benefit from them. The company started three years ago with just 3-4 farms, but through wor...

Mike Neal is the Co-Founder and CEO of DecisionNext , a company that utilizes and analyzes data in a way that helps companies optimize their decision making. DecisionNext’s business relies on giving clients possible market forecasts in an event of a policy change. Regarded as a serial entrepreneur, Mike is fond of starting new businesses and has focused his entire career on mathematical models and...

David Norman is the Senior Vice President of Investments Programs at Heifer International , a company that promotes a “pay it forward” approach to sustainable agriculture. Their mission is to end world hunger and poverty while also taking care of the planet by working with communities. This approach seems to be a great answer to the issue of food security and sustainability, as Heifer is driven by...

Andry Andriankaja is an agronomist that specializes in the field of plant biotechnology. Carl Andre is the research manager for the EPA-DHA Canola project at the BASF Plant Science Department who studied how plants convert simple sugars to oil as well as plant lipid metabolism.  They are working together on a big project in biotechnology that will innovate the way we eat and provide our body with...

Joe Swartz is the Vice President of Commercial Sales and Technical Support at American Hydroponic , a.k.a AmHydro. AmHydro is a small company in the United States that designs and builds innovative hydroponic systems, a soil-free way to grow plants, and have been doing so for the last 30 years. Joe Swartz himself came from a family of farmers and started researching the science of hydroponics when...

Jack Gilmore is the owner and head chef of the famous Jack Allen’s Kitchen in Austin, Texas. More than good food and service, Jack Allen’s Kitchen is known for being a pioneer in what we call the “Farm to Table.” According to Jack, at least 80% of every food on his menu is locally sourced. He first got into cooking when he was 15 and taught himself how to cook when he was working part time in a re...

Spencer Stensrude is a business analyst for Ag Ventures Alliance, a company that invests in startups aimed to support and innovate the agricultural industry. The company itself was formed by farmers in Iowa in the late 90s. One of their latest investments is a company called SwineTech and is headed by Matthew Rooda. As the name implies, SwineTech is a company focused on innovating the swine indust...

Aidan Connolly has been with Alltech for 27 years and is currently its Chief Innovation Officer (CIO). Alltech is a company that helps farmers feed the world, raise healthy animals, and protect the environment. He works with the company’s research department focused on developing nutrition-based technologies that will capitalize on insights gained through Alltech’s investment in nutrigenomics. Aid...

Do we take basic decision making for granted? Do we just assume that our practices in the past should be our practices in the future? Using data based information, there may be ways to become more efficient and productive while saving money and resources. Dr. Curt Livesay from Dynamite Ag is one of those people who questions basic assumptions. He focuses on agronomy or soil management and crop pro...

There was a time when people found a job and stayed there for most of their working lives. Those times are in the past with modern statistics saying that 67% of employees leave a first job within the first 2 years. Having a job that is a good fit is not only important for employer cost savings, but it also makes a difference in the employee’s happiness. Bob Broeckelman was interested in agribusine...

Grasslands and grazing cattle go hand in hand. Yet, grazing cattle can be a complex process with things like dynamic business practices, the ecology of the grasses, and the biology of the animal all needing to be considered. Grass-fed beef and other grass-fed agricultural products are also fueling the modern-day demand for pastures and grazing opportunities. I recently came across a business that...

What do you think about an all-expenses-paid trip around the world for six months to learn about agriculture? Does it sound too good to be true? It is too good, but it is also true. This adventure is made possible through Nuffield scholarship. Today’s guest, Mat Hocken, is a husband, father, dairy farmer from New Zealand, and a Nuffield Scholar who has travelled globally to research on his chosen...

Today’s guests allow us to look at agricultural technology and entrepreneurship from two different perspectives. Kevin Heikes is part of the IN10T , a digital agricultural company that created Farmer Trials. Farmer Trials is a platform that connects people who have new ideas and want to test them on real farms. These people get to work with real farmers who have the skill and resources to assess w...

While having guests and learning from people with different perspectives are the typical setup of this show, stopping to reflect on the things that have been discussed and talked about is an excellent way of seeing the learning, growth, and future direction of the program. With this said, today, I’m going to deviate from my normal program flow to look back and see where the journey has taken us. T...

Peter Schott grew up in a family with technologically inclined parents who used computers on their farm even from way back in 1984. Because of this, Peter's curiosity on the possibilities that technology can bring in solving agricultural problems grew. As a result, Peter and another guy from his college dorm decided to work together on offering solutions through mobile apps by establishing their o...

Today’s episode is a continuation of a two-part series on why you should teach agriculture. In the previous episode, Dr. Daniel Foster, an educator at Pennsylvania State University, shared his insights about agriculture and agricultural education on a national scale. Dr. Foster not only makes a difference in the lives of young people, but also trains teachers who want to make a difference in the a...