Data Security

Closing the Transparency Gap: Ag Data Group Updates Its Model Agreement

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 22:20:43 GMT

Technology moves fast. For example, five years ago, we were just seeing commercially available selective spraying machines in the U.S., now a handful of companies have hundreds of machines across the country.

Changes in the industry were recognized by Ag Data Transparent, an industry group founded 10 years ago with the goal of bringing greater transparency for farmers and the industry in how data is used, collected and stored.

As such, five years after ADT wrote and distributed its first Model Ag Data Use Agreement, they updated it late in 2025. It’s now available on their website for no fee.

“A lot of companies would come to us and say: ‘We want to do things right, how do we do it? What’s the best way to go about collecting data from farmers?’” says Todd Janzen, administrator for the Ag Data Transparent project. “We created this model agreement that they could use as their primary contract with farmers.”

He says in the past five years, it’s been downloaded hundreds of times.

The committee that recently worked to update it included:

a new category for sustainability data (carbon, conservation programs, and climate data)
a new category for usage data and how a farmer is using a platform
addressing artificial intelligence, adding derived data, which would be new data sets that are created based upon use of the ag data itself

“The agreement tries to be much more specific than others you see outside our industry,” Janzen says. “Also, it starts with a basic framework that a farmer owns the data.”

Reflecting on the origin of the model agreement, Janzen remembers a time with many ag startups all collecting data individually. Since then, there’s been a shift, mostly due to consolidation but also businesses closing, where there are fewer players today.

“Ag Data Transparent was created to first establish a set of core principles around what are the best practices for how data should be collected from farms,” Janzen says. “And then secondly, to do a certification or verification of which companies were adhering to those principles, by going through this voluntary certification process.”

Nevertheless, tools to help farmers ensure transparency are important, he says.

“What I understand, there still is a great deal of concern from farmers about what happens to all this data, and with advent of AI it started to reinvigorate a lot of these discussions about data and what does it mean for these AI models to use data, to train themselves,” Janzen explains.

3 Technology Leaders Talk About AI's Challenges in Ag Retail

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 16:00:00 GMT

While there are a multitude of benefits that come from introducing artificial intelligence (AI) in the ag retail space, there are going to be challenges as well.

Three leaders from Bushel, Taranis and AgVend are addressing common concerns.

Sensitive Agronomic And Business Data
Co-founder of Bushel, Ryan Raguse, says he understands the importance of managing data used in the business of agriculture, and he shares analogies to help understand security and privacy.

“Security is like the doors on the building locked and privacy is not telling everybody what’s in the building,” Raguse says. “In my perspective, you’ve got to have maximum security.”

The Inevitability of Artificial Intelligence
Chief commercial officer for Taranis, Jason Minton, encourages retailers to realize they are already using AI within their daily lives and to embrace the opportunities of what’s possible specific to ag retail.

“In the very near future, it’s going to be part of our lives and everything we do,” he says. “Specifically for you as ag retailers, I believe it’ll be part of your business, and it’ll be informing your people even more than today, and helping them do the best job to drive more yield on the acre. Farmers are going to be more happy with you and your business, because you’ll be enabled with AI to do more with less.”

Can AI Replace the Ag Retailer?

“AI cannot replace the trust and relationships between ag retailers and their customers,” says Eli Rosenberg, co-founder and chief product officer at AgVend. “At AgVend, our perspective on AI in ag retail aligns with our broader view of advanced technology’s role.

We believe AI will unlock timely and transformative recommendations; however, these recommendations will ultimately be reviewed and delivered by a trusted professional.”

Drone Wars: Agriculture Caught In The Middle Of Global Tension

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 12:00:00 GMT

If you are in agriculture and the latest high-tech drone is on your Christmas list, then you might want to ask Santa for something else before it’s too late. One of the largest consumer drone manufacturers is on the naughty list.

No, it is not Santa’s naughty list, but instead, it’s the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) naughty list.

The company in question is Chinese drone maker DJI. In 2022, the DoD added DJI to its list of Chinese military companies (CMCs). After a delisting petition from DJI in July 2023, DoD ultimately responded by redesignating the drone company as a CMC in January 2024.

This growing crackdown on Chinese technology companies stems from U.S. government agencies implementing key provisions of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress passed to help fight espionage enabled by foreign technology companies. The U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments also have DJI on their own blacklists.

The news got much worse for DJI in September as the House of Representatives passed the Countering CCP Drones Act. The legislation would essentially place a domestic ban on DJI devices by prohibiting them from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure. It is doubtful a final verdict on DJI’s fate in the U.S. will be rendered until a new Congress and administration begin work in 2025, but if passed, then it could ground all DJI drones within the U.S.

Caught in the Middle
Due to the immense market share DJI has in the U.S., the impact could be quite disruptive, especially in the short term. Several U.S. agriculture drone service companies that have been built on the backs of DJI’s technology could soon have their wings clipped if the ban becomes reality.

It has been more than a decade since commercially affordable drone technology landed on farms all across this country. The initial value proposition drones brought to the table was both intriguing and mesmerizing. Finally, you could visualize and analyze your crops, land and assets in ways that were more in-depth and instantaneous than ever before. Plus, you’ve got to admit that flying a drone around your corn field is a lot more fun than cleaning out a grain bin or bucking hay bales.

As it relates to agriculture, the drone industry has seen incredible advancements in technology and application since drones first took flight. In the early days, a modified pocket camera from Best Buy and suspect Russian imaging software were needed to make the whole process work. Today’s drones are available with all kinds of bells and whistles ranging from standard 4K resolution to thermal imaging and even lidar mapping sensors. Thousands of images from hundreds of drones are now processed in the cloud by companies such as Pix4D and DroneDeploy. Meanwhile, companies such as Rantizo and Guardian Agriculture offer specialized drone spraying services for ag retailers and producers. Progress for sure. Game-changing? Not quite.

Last Year’s Forgotten Toy
After more than a decade, it seems agricultural adoption of drone technology has hit a virtual ceiling and is stuck in a holding pattern over some corn field in Iowa. The acceptance and integration just haven’t happened at the same pace compared with how agriculture has responded to other innovations such as auto-steer, yield monitoring or variable-rate spraying.

The obvious question is: “Why aren’t drones and drone-related services further along by now?”

When answering that question, one could quickly run out of fingers to point the blame. It is easy to point first at the government, specifically the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Given its rules, you still cannot fly a drone higher than 400', it still can’t weigh more than 55 lb., and you still can’t let it out of your sight.

Foreign drone companies, especially DJI, have exploited FAA’s 55-lb. weight limit to the detriment of the industry’s advancement. By flooding the market with cheap technology, DJI was able to push out much of the manufacturing competition in this arena. In turn, and probably by design, that meant any complementary technology and software that U.S.-based companies wanted to develop had to be done with DJI setting the rules and protocols. This alone should give one pause as China isn’t afraid of simply coopting such ideas and calling them its own.

Data from Purdue University’s annual precision agriculture dealership survey lays out a damning verdict when it comes to the adoption and economic sustainability of current drone tech. The 2024 study showed only 27% of ag retailers currently offer drone services. Another 25% of retailers are “farming” this work out to other companies. Of the ag retailers that do offer such services, only 9% say the services are profitable.

Unprofitable, Impractical
The problem is this: expecting today’s class of drones to operate effectively and efficiently is like asking a 2,500-acre-farmer to go out and harvest his crop with a John Deere 45 combine from the 1950s.

The FAA needs to get out of the way and allow drones to get bigger, smarter and more capable in the field of agriculture. The agency is starting to show it can do this for other industries, such as air transportation. In October, the FAA published 880 pages of special regulations, which will allow drone transportation companies to start flying people in their “air taxis” around city skylines.

It’s time our industry recognizes drones as serious tools in the agronomic toolbox instead of just “cool” toys for farmers. And if our government is so concerned about our national security that it needs to take away our Chinese toys, then it needs to open doors to better alternatives by clearing the regulatory and economic paths to allow for bigger, faster “Made in the USA” drones and services to rule our skies and fly over our farmland.

Precision Ag Updates from John Deere

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 01:23:31 GMT

John Deere has a trio of updates to its lineup of precision ag tools– G5 Universal displays, JDLink M modem and StarFire 7000 Universal receiver.
“Our goal is to ensure every customer can benefit from the value connectivity provides. Whether it’s helping their dealer receive alerts on equipment, sharing agronomic data or monitoring logistics – connectivity makes it easier,” says Ryan Stien, marketing manager for John Deere. “The modem, along with the G5 Universal displays and StarFire 7000 Universal receiver, provide customers with a pathway to the future of precision ag.”

Key features of the new G5 Universal displays:

two configurations – G5 with a 10.1-inch display and G5Plus with a 12.8-inch display
a 35% larger viewing area
three times faster processing speed
a high-definition screen

G5Plus includes AutoTrac, Documentation, and Section Control in its base offering, simplifying the purchase experience. Farmers can select additional features including automation features such as AutoTrac Turn Automation, AutoPath, Machine Sync, and In-field Data Sharing.

Key features of the StarFire 7000 receiver:

five years plus of repeatability
73% faster pull-in times
17% more accurate when using SF-RTK when compared to previous models using SF3 signal.
Improved signal stability and reliability

Introduced last year, and now, as an aftermarket option, farmers can add a StarFire 7000 Universal receiver to their equipment for improved functionality or to replace outdated GPS receivers for better accuracy and repeatability.

JDLink M modem key features:

can be installed in as quick as 15 minutes
designed to support legacy equipment, mixed fleets and support vehicles
easily document machine and work data
easily transfer data from machines

Bayer, AgVend Collaborate, Aim To Improve Retailer Connectivity To Farmers

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 01:32:31 GMT

Climate FieldView and AgVend are collaborating to simplify data sharing between farmers and agronomic advisers. As Bayer’s flagship digital farming platform, Climate FieldView now offers an option for farmers to share those reports directly to AgVend platforms.

Leaders say the goal is to improve how ag retail teams share agronomic insights, drive strategic recommendations, and help their farmer customers with the management of their operations.

“Our customers want to maximize crop performance, realize a solid return on investment, and ensure their fields reach full potential. Alongside their trusted advisors, our mission at FieldView is to help farmers achieve these goals, " said Brandon Rinkenberger, Chief Customer Officer for Climate LLC and Digital Farming at Bayer. “Building options so farmers can permission data easily and securely makes it possible for their agronomic partners to tailor recommendations in real-time, improving the experience of our shared customers.”

This is available via a select group of AgVend retailers this harvest system to fully test sharing the FieldView reports which include: harvest summary reports − including yield, harvested area, moisture, seed performance, and productivity data.

“As trusted advisors, our goal is to provide farmers with the most precise and timely recommendations to maximize their crop potential,” said Jeff Crissinger, VP of Agronomy Sales & Marketing at NuWay-K&H Cooperative. “This new integration between FieldView and AgVend enhances our ability to do just that, allowing us to access and utilize critical field data more efficiently. With these insights at our fingertips, we can better serve our customers, helping them make informed decisions to achieve higher yields and overall success in their operations.”

Bayer and AgVend expect the offering to be more fully available to all AgVend retailer partners in 2025.

“At AgVend, we are on a mission to create a digitally connected supply chain that prioritizes both retailers and their farmer customers,” said Alexander Reichert, CEO and co-founder of AgVend. “By partnering with Bayer, we’re laying the foundation for a more efficient and tailored approach to agronomic support, ensuring that the right insights are delivered precisely when and where they’re needed to drive farmer profitability.”

Drones: American Option Emerges Amid DJI Ban Saga

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 13:46:19 GMT

Anzu Robotics, an emerging U.S.-based commercial drone manufacturer, announces its entrance into the drone market with the launch of two enterprise aerial platforms: Raptor and Raptor T.

According to reporting by TechRadar.com , in a one-time deal for its new Raptor series (not an ongoing DJI partnership) Anzu Robotics has built Raptor and Raptor T upon the popular and capable DJI Mavic 3E platform.

TechRadar also reports that Anzu is manufacturing its drones in Malaysia (with operations based in Austin, Texas), representing a new solution that potentially satisfies geopolitical and cyber security concerns.

RELATED: Feds Issue Warning on Chinese-Manufactured Drones as Farmer Adoption Soars

The software driving the drones is entirely developed in the United States through a collaboration with Aloft Technologies, Inc., a Syracuse, New York, firm well known in the commercial drone market.

Anzu itself is owned and operated by American citizens and offers US support, service, and, most importantly, hosts all data on domestic servers.

The Raptor series combines enterprise grade hardware with domestic, secure and capable software, offering commercial use across a wide range of applications. It will be particulary interesting to see if DroneDeploy and other third-party flight planning and data management software companies release integrations with Anzu.

“These platforms meet the highest standards of quality, reliability, and innovation,” said Randall Warnas, CEO of Anzu Robotics. Warnas is the former CEO of Autel Robotics.

The Raptor-series platforms boast the following imaging features, alongside a solid 45-minute flight time (per battery) and 9-mile range (well beyond a single operator’s unaided visual line of sight):

Raptor-series drones carry a high-resolution visual inspection platform with a 4/3-inch 20mp wide, and 1/2-inch 12mp CMOS cameras. Together they offer hybrid zoom capabilities up to 56x.
The Raptor T (Thermal) combines 1/2-inch 48mp and 12mp cameras with a 640 x 512 high-resolution LWIR thermal imaging payload.

Learn more at anzurobotics.com.

MORE TECH NEWS

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What’s New With Agriculture Drones?

Smart Firmer: What Is It, What Can I Do With The Data?

Can A Scouting Technology Increase Farmer Trust?

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 19:44:28 GMT

Farm Journal’s Smart Farming Week is an annual week-long emphasis on innovation in agriculture. The goal is to encourage you to explore and prioritize the technology, tools and practices that will help you farm smarter. Innovation today ensures an efficient, productive and sustainable tomorrow.

From 2020 with only a few farmers participating to covering millions of acres in 2023, Taranis says it wants to help retailers and farmers understand every decision with analytics via its AcreForward technologies. Via its multiple drone flights through the growing season, Taranis has built its product layering artificial intelligence, computer learning and agronomic knowledge.

“Our technology enables a leaf-level view that brings good advisors, high-quality suppliers, and excellent growers together to understand what’s going on on the acre in a new way,” says Mike DiPaola chief commercial officer for Taranis. “We’re in a new era where we have game tape for the acre. We understand the management practices that led to how that hybrid yielded because we’ve created a digital twin of the field.”

DiPaola credits technological advances with improved battery life and drone platforms along with an increase in people willing and interested to try the technology.

Brian Essinger, Sales Effectiveness Lead with Nutrien in northen Ohio, has worked with Taranis for two and a half years.

“This is starting to change our culture. We’ve had people– even our own folks say we scout for free–and we don’t. There’s a cost there—there’s always been. Taking the technology to our farmers showed the value in what we can provide,” Essinger says.

Nutrien markets the technology with its farmers and pairs it with their in-the-field support, branding it Nutrien Digital Scout powered by Taranis. In their first year, they had 6,000 acres participate. Now it is more than 50,000 acres, and he says it’s their goal to triple that.

“Agriculture and agronomy is really an applied art, it’s elevated above a science because of the complexities and the variables. And here a trend is we’re really focused on having ties quantify, analyze and have partners like Nutrien and the Nutrien Digital Scout provide even more value to their growers,” DiPaola says.

Taranis technology was introduced to many as a replant calculation tool. Such was the case for Jeremy Deter of Midnight Farms based near Findlay, Ohio. For his farm, they work with Essinger’s team to schedule six flights a year, and they have decided to expand the program to every acre they farm.

“If it doesn’t pay for itself on the farm, we can’t have it,” Deter says. “The digital scout has proven it can pay for itself.”
The tool is used to scout for water management issues, nutrient deficiencies, hybrid placement, fungicide efficacy, weed severity and more.

“It’s powerful to bring people together, rather than just talking about how we reorganize a value chain or move somebody out of the way,” DiPaola says. “With a mobile app, we can give you a view as if you are standing over the plant. It’s not just bringing images, it’s bringing real knowledge.”

Essinger credits the Taranis platform for elevating their scouting program.

“We thought that we scouted; we didn’t. What we were doing was making hypothesis decisions on small sample sizes. This gives us a bigger sample size,” he says. “Now, not only can I help make their decisions better, but I make the partnership more solid because I give them a practical approach to an issue.”

DiPaola highlights Taranis is continuing to work toward making decisions as instantaneous as is possible.

“We are focused on taking advisor and grower know-how evaluating this qualitatively, and moving into more quantitative elements to understand what the yield impact is. Saying you can FaceTime your farms sounds a little weird, but it’s real. You can see a leaf-level view and the value of it brings people together and we’re making better decisions.”

Growmark Takes New Step Toward Data Security

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 16:21:37 GMT

Growmark has recently accomplished a milestone toward keeping customer data safe and secure.

The company received the System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type I compliance certification, which is a set of security standards outlining how organizations should protect customer information from security incidents such as data breaches.

“This security designation is a testimony of our commitment to the data security we provide our customers. When companies do business with us, no matter their size or location around the world, we can offer them the highest standard of data security,” said Jeff Mosley, Growmark information security manager who helped lead the project.

In order to achieve SOC 2 compliance, Growmark went through an audit conducted by Johanson Group LLP to ensure they were meeting the certification requirements for storing customer data in terms of security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy.

Johanson Group, who specializes in SOC 2 audits, reviewed the company’s controls, policies and procedures and confirmed they meet the standards for wholesale and retail agriculture and energy products and services.

For Growmark to maintain this certification, the audit process will be repeated annually.

“Our current customers, from the farm field to the boardroom, can rest assured that their data is secure when they use our digital management tools,” Mosley said.

2024 AgTech Predictions: 5 Trends To Watch

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 16:51:10 GMT

In 2023 the agricultural industry faced challenges from extreme weather to supply chain issues.

Ron Baruchi, CEO of Agmatix, outlines the key trends he anticipates impacting the agricultural industry over the coming year:

#1 - Generative Artificial Intelligence in AgTech

Of all the 2024 trends in digital agriculture, the role played by Gen AI, or generative AI, is likely to be one of the most significant. The potential of Gen AI on the global economy is already being calculated in trillions of dollars. There is a historic opportunity to optimize processes, cut costs, and importantly, fuel innovations through improved modeling to fuel decision-making. Companies are already using Gen AI through Digital Crop Advisors, allowing agronomists to distill agronomic data into actionable recommendations for farmers.

These tools enhance crop management by analyzing big agronomic data, providing AI-supported insights to optimize production practices. This helps farmers understand patterns affecting the performance of crop varieties and production on their specific farms, and tracks climate trends to help farmers become more resilient to the changing climate.

#2 - Using Digital Twins to Optimize Field Trials

An interesting 2024 trend is increased integration of digital twins into field tests and field test planning. A digital twin is a digital model or a virtual representation of an actual physical product, system, or process. These allow researchers and designers to experiment as though they were handling its physical counterpart, reducing the need for expensive and time-consuming field trials.

Generating real-world data is a costly and time-consuming process, averaging more than 150 studies and over 11 years to register a new active ingredient. From 2010-14, developing a new crop protection product cost around $286 million, of which, $47 million (approximately 16%) was budgeted for field trials.

Synthetic data can enhance the performance of digital twins. Based on real-world data, synthetic data can supplement data gaps, significantly reducing the time, cost, and effort in bringing new agricultural products to market. These tools provide a competitive edge for agricultural input suppliers seeking regulatory approval, or seed companies that rely heavily on experimentation to improve their seed genetics.

#3 - Technical Innovation in Regenerative Agriculture

Greater technical innovation and research into regenerative agriculture will continue over the coming year. Essentially mimicking natural process and biodiversity on agricultural land, the ultimate aim of regenerative agriculture is to improve soil health in order to boost yield.

To address the challenges of climate change and feed a global population of over 8 billion, regenerative agriculture is vital. Digital tools use accurate, up-to-date data to create tailored regenerative agriculture solutions. These consider soil conditions, weather conditions, microclimates, and current crop growth or land use, as well as individual budgets and local regulations.

Platforms offering site specific data will likely reign supreme in 2024. A view of sustainability that extends beyond simple carbon metrics and one-size-fits-all solutions is necessary and will enable the establishment of realistic, actionable objectives for growers, promoting sustainability and formulating strategies tailored to local environments.

#4 - Managing Data with Advanced Cloud Solutions

Innovation in agriculture is often data-dependent and the cloud gives researchers the ability to collate, manage, and extrapolate information from data in a way that was previously unimaginable. Anticipated exponential growth in farm data emphasizes the transformative impact - IDC has estimated that by 2036 the amount of data collected on the farm will increase by more than 800-percent. Cloud tools enabling real-time access to field trial data reduces trial duration and cost, and the volume and scope of trials can be increased.

Cloud applications span every aspect of agriculture, optimizing crop management, soil insights, multi-season crop monitoring and analysis, and leveraging local knowledge for decision-making. Cloud-based solutions foster collaboration between researchers, agronomists, and farmers, providing R&D companies with an efficient, cost-effective and scalable solution.

#5 - Innovation Across the Agricultural Spectrum

Agriculture’s innovative history is turning towards sustainability and environmental protection, marking a transformative era. The new year will see progress in climate-resilient crop development.

At the farm level, digital technologies empower farmers to process and use the data they collect. AgTech solutions can help farmers and agronomists measure and demonstrate the return on investment of agricultural technologies. Amidst global challenges, stakeholders using AI and machine learning will drive unprecedented innovation in food production.

About the Author - Ron Baruchi, President & CEO, Agmatix

With over 20 years of experience in the technology sphere, Ron is passionate about using data to solve complex problems. He has used his expertise in technology and AI with Agmatix to improve crop yields and quality while limiting environmental impact.

Will Ag's "Technical Debt" Lead to A Southwest-Type Meltdown?

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 01:34:05 GMT

This past holiday season, Southwest Airlines tried its best to recreate the classic ’80s comedy “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” Only this time, it tried to do it without the planes!

You know how they say the sequel is never as good or as funny as the original production?

It was a “perfect storm” of cascading events that forced the airline to cancel over 15,000 flights during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. It has become known as the “Southwest Meltdown,” and even though this crisis has passed, many Monday morning quarterbacks are still adding their takes to the growing pile of criticism and analysis.
Out of the gate, Southwest’s first scapegoat was naturally the weather. Funny, those who work for airlines may be the only people who even come close to farmers for blaming Mother Nature for, well, just about everything.

Further investigation is beginning to reveal many layers to this rotten onion. Failure to invest in “technology” at all levels of the company—for years if not decades—is starting to emerge as the root cause of Southwest’s holiday disaster. This meltdown was big enough to seemingly serve as a watershed wake-up call to businesses and business leaders far beyond the airline industry.

A Wake-up Call For Agriculture?

On its public face, mainstream agriculture loves to tell its technology story. The transformation of “Old MacDonald’s Farm” into a modern wonder with tractors that drive themselves and corn plants that genetically defend themselves against pests is a reality that would make even sci-fi novelists such as Jules Verne proud. Unfortunately, when one takes off agriculture’s rose-colored glasses, the reality is much of the industry’s technology is being held together with digital duct tape and baling wire.

Such a blunt and sobering assessment is backed up by multiple studies and surveys. A McKinsey Global Institute study recently placed agriculture absolutely dead last in terms of the industry’s state of digitization. What should be more sobering to those of us in agriculture is that same study ranked the transportation industry in the middle of the pack when it comes to the same metrics. Sadly, even with all its technology problems, Southwest is probably still further ahead than most of its agriculture counterparts.

Want More Evidence?

A 2021 farmer survey by Farm Journal’s Trust in Food revealed 62% of respondents still do not use any type of farm management software system to store and manage their operations data. The majority are still “getting by” with mostly pen and paper or an updated version of Microsoft Excel, which was first introduced in 1985.

So where did Southwest fall short in terms of technology that literally paralyzed the company for more than a week? The primary finger seems to point to an antiquated software scheduling system with origins back to the 1990s. When things started spinning out of control the day before Christmas, it was as if Southwest lost all visibility into where their planes and people were. The system is so old that when a flight is cancelled or delayed, pilots and flight attendants have to manually call in to let the company know where they are. Reports indicate some employees—not customers—were on hold for as long as 17 hours. Even when the skies cleared and planes and people were both physically in the same place, Southwest still couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together.

Let That Sink In For A Moment

How is it you as a passenger can get off a plane and order an Uber ride from your GPS-enabled smartphone—plus see the car’s make and model, where it is, when it will arrive at your location and the drivers name—and Southwest cannot find a 45-ton airplane or a pilot to fly it?

Harvard Business School types would characterize Southwest as a company with a huge amount of “technical debt”—considered gaps between what the software and technology need to be and what they are today. But Southwest is not alone when it comes to such shortcomings. Southwest’s challenges were just big enough to make a difference, and combined with fate and a bored media, those shortcomings caught up with the carrier at the worst possible time.

Agriculture also carries “technical debt.” For example, the precision agriculture revolution is now more than 30 years in the rearview mirror. Many of those legacy systems are still used on farms today. Then, consider that one of the most prolific precision ag softwares used today is a PC desktop-driven software introduced at the turn of the century.

Can We Avoid Our Own Grounding?

Could the reason a majority of farmers do not utilize some form of business software stem from it simply being too hard to get data into these systems in the first place? In reality, precision ag in many cases has become a stale mishmash of data collection technology that now generates data in an expanded potluck menu of incompatible formats. Could this be why more modern software as a service, such as Granular, died on the vine? The evidence is awfully incriminating.

The Threat Is Real

To say agriculture will have a technological meltdown equal to the magnitude of Southwest’s is probably just Chicken Little talking. More likely, we may experience perpetual streams of minimeltdowns that come in forms such as ransomware attacks on meat processing plants or large agricultural cooperatives. However, the biggest threat to agriculture regarding technology will likely come from within. That’s because though consumer demands and the world have sped up, agriculture collectively is not keeping up on its treadmill of innovation.

A reactionary approach to adopting technology throughout the agriculture industry makes it impossible to deliver what the marketplace demands today. Climate-smart commodities, carbon markets and the digital transparency involved in tracking food through the supply chain are all at risk. Southwest rested on its laurels. Will agriculture do the same, or will we roll up our sleeves and get to work?

Agro-Terrorism and the Food Supply Chain: This is a Different World, Rose Says

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 23:43:03 GMT

If you want to disrupt a government, disrupt the food supply.

“Agriculture is critical infrastructure,” Andrew Rose, strategic advisor to the food and agriculture supply chain, said during Farm Journal’s Farm Country Update on Sept. 28. “Three weeks without food and agriculture, and it’s over. You don’t mess with food and ag.”

Years ago, Rose was working at a large agricultural lender and decided to run a tabletop exercise as part of a teambuilding workshop simulating a ransomware attack on the company.

“Walking away from that exercise, I began thinking, is this a blind spot in the food and agriculture supply chain? Are we aware of the threats out there and the implications they can have? Not only to us as producers and processors, but to the entire critical infrastructure, and our ability to feed our population? I kept getting more questions than I got answers,” Rose said.

Since then, Rose has dedicated himself to helping the agricultural community get more prepared and understand the threats knocking at the gate.

What is Agro-Terrorism?

Agro-terrorism, or the deliberate introduction of a disease agent against livestock or into the food chain, is typically a tactic that can be used to either generate or cause mass socio-economic disruption or as a form of direct human aggression. Rose says there are a lot of definitions out there, but from his research, for a terrorist act to occur, there needs to be violence.

He said the FBI constantly hammers home the concept of sympathy versus action. Rose points out that having strong feelings about something isn’t wrong – acting on it is.

“There’s a First Amendment right to say and feel what you want to about any given subject. You can walk outside and put posters up, you can get a bullhorn, cowbells, whatever you want. As soon as you take an action, though, that’s when things change. That’s when risk and consequence come into the equation,” Rose said.

For the agriculture community in particular, it hurts when someone stands outside of your property and waves a sign, says bad things or shows a picture of things that aren’t true, he said. But until these people take action – until they steal some pigs or commit an act of violence – it’s their right to do that.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s something that if you go to the FBI, they’ll say sympathy versus action,” Rose said. “Don’t take that action.”

How Can You Protect Yourself and Your Farm?

1. Pay attention to the threat actors.
Know who the threat actors are, including transnational terrorist groups, domestic terrorists, corporate espionage and activists. Engage with organizations like the Animal Agriculture Alliance and Protect the Harvest to keep up to date on threats and movements. Subscribe to their newsletters and learn from their experts.

2. Guard yourself on social media.
“Not only is social media a real threat, it’s an ongoing threat,” Rose said.

When he’s speaking to agricultural audiences, the first thing he tells them to do is go to Facebook, click on their privacy settings, and find out which apps and websites they are connected to with their account. Some apps can trick you into clicking “OK” allowing them to sell your information to third parties.

“There are computer programs scraping every bit of social engineering that’s publicly available on every human being and compiling it so they have those demographical profiles, whether it’s specific to you as an individual, or you as a class of individuals for certain types of messaging,” Rose said.

3. Beware of passive insider threats.
Passive insider threats are people who resist change and fall victim to social engineering. Sometimes, they’re told to do certain phishing exercises, or complete multi-factor authentication for their accounts, and they ignore it.

“They use their work devices to go to personal websites or places they probably shouldn’t go and they click on things they shouldn’t click on. Every employee of every company or organization is part of its cybersecurity defense,” Rose said. “If they’re not paying attention, if they’re not actively aware of the opportunity that threat actors are looking for, and they’re just letting them in, that’s a big insider threat.”

4. Know your FBI agent.
If something happens to your organization, whether it’s a terrorist attack or cybercriminal attack, it’s likely you will be in a high state of emotion. Rose said that’s probably the last time you want to make your first introduction to your FBI agent.

“There are 56 field offices across the United States. The FBI is there to help victims of crimes, they’re not going to go through your filing cabinets and look for other things. They want to help you. They want to figure out who did it, how they did it, and they want to go and oppose risk and consequence on your behalf,” Rose said.

That is why he suggests calling your local FBI agent or at least finding your point of contact before a problem happens.

“The world will never be the way it was – those days are gone, it is not coming back,” Rose said. “The world is as it is today, and we need to be realistic about how it’s going to be tomorrow. The ability for us in the U.S. to feed our population, that’s the North Star. Let’s make sure we do that. Be suspicious and be aware, this is a different world.”

Check out Farm Country Update and learn more from Andrew Rose about how you can protect yourself, your farm and your agricultural business.

Agroterrorism: Webinar Explores Multiple Threats to U.S. Food and Ag Supply Chain

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 16:23:05 GMT

Andrew Rose, agriculture industry consultant, will join Clinton Griffiths, host of “AgDay TV” and editor of Farm Journal magazine, to discuss the threat of agroterrorism to America’s food supply during Farm Journal’s next Farm Country Update .

The free online event is titled “Agroterrorism Remains a Significant Threat to U.S. Farms and Food Supply” and is set for Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, at 3 p.m. CDT.

“There are many threats to our food and ag supply chain including climate, geopolitics and those who seek to harm our ability to provide reliable food for our country,” said Rose. “Clinton and I will explore some known threats to the food and ag supply chains and delve into the agroterrorism aspects of perception, actions and remedies.”

The event will address all aspects of agroterrorism from property vandalism and biological weapons to cyberattacks and corporate espionage. The discussion will include how those events can impact food production, distribution and profitability of agriculture businesses as well as how U.S. farmers can protect themselves from these risks. Audience participants will be able to submit questions to the discussion.

“America’s farmers do a fantastic job focusing on producing an abundant food supply,” said Griffiths. “Unfortunately, for a host of reasons, there are bad actors hoping to stop, steal or destroy their ability to do that work. Andrew is the person to tell them what to watch for, who may be trying to impact their farm and why.”

Register now for this free online event at www.farmjournal.com/farm-country-updates /. All registered attendees will receive on-demand access to the session when available.

FBI Puts Ag on Alert: Ransomware Attack Potentially Timed to Critical Seasons

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 20:40:53 GMT

Farmers and ag cooperative employees need to be on high alert this spring. That’s according to the FBI , which is predicting cyber criminals might attack the industry during planting and harvesting seasons.

Why? Cyber criminals believe their prey could be more vulnerable and willing to pay off the extortion.

Since 2021, FBI reports multiple agricultural cooperatives have been impacted by a variety of ransomware variants:

In March 2022, a multi-state grain company suffered a Lockbit 2.0 ransomware attack. In addition to grain processing, the company provides seed, fertilizer, and logistics services, which are critical during the spring planting season.
In February 2022, a company providing feed milling and other agricultural services reported two instances in which an unauthorized actor gained access to some of its systems and may have attempted to initiate a ransomware attack. The attempts were detected and stopped before encryption occurred.
Between Sept. 15 and Oct. 6, 2021, six grain cooperatives experienced ransomware attacks. A variety of ransomware variants were used, including Conti, BlackMatter, Suncrypt, Sodinokibi, and BlackByte. Some targeted entities had to completely halt production while others lost administrative functions.
In July 2021, a business management software company found malicious activity on its network, which was later identified as HelloKitty/Five Hands ransomware. The threat actor demanded a $30 million ransom. The ransomware attack on the company led to secondary ransomware infections on a number of its clients, which included several agricultural cooperatives.

These attacks resulted in service issues, production disruptions and loss of access to administrative functions.

In a public advisory , federal officials say a major disruption of grain production would impact the entire food chain.

What You Can Do

The FBI is asking those in agriculture to take defensive measures against the potential threat. Those steps include:

Regularly back up data, air gap and passwords. Make backup copies offline. Ensure copies of critical data are not accessible for modification or deletion from the system where the data resides.
Implement a recovery plan that includes maintaining and retaining multiple copies of sensitive or proprietary data and servers in a physically separate, segmented, secure location (i.e., hard drive, storage device, the cloud).
Identify critical functions and develop an operations plan if systems go offline. Think about ways to operate manually if it becomes necessary.
Implement network segmentation.
Install updates/patch operating systems, software and firmware as soon as they are released.
Use multifactor authentication where possible.
Use strong passwords and regularly change passwords to network systems and accounts, implementing the shortest acceptable timeframe for password changes. Avoid reusing passwords for multiple accounts and use strong pass phrases where possible.
Require administrator credentials to install software.
Audit user accounts with administrative or elevated privileges and configure access controls with least privilege in mind.
Install and regularly update anti-virus and anti-malware software on all hosts.
Only use secure networks and avoid using public Wi-Fi networks. Consider installing and using a virtual private network (VPN).
Consider adding an email banner to messages coming from outside your organizations.
Disable hyperlinks in received emails.
Focus on cyber security awareness and training. Regularly provide users with training on information security principles and techniques as well as overall emerging cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities (i.e. ransomware and phishing scams).

Tools and Resources

Tips for Protecting Yourself Against Ransomware Attacks

For additional resources related to the prevention and mitigation of ransomware, visit Stopransomware.gov

CISA’s Ransomware Readiness Assessment (RRA) is a no-cost self-assessment based on a tiered set of practices to help organizations better assess how well they are equipped to defend and recover from a ransomware incident.

CISA offers a range of no-cost cyber hygiene services to help critical infrastructure organizations assess, identify, and reduce their exposure to threats, including ransomware. By requesting these services, organizations of any size could find ways to reduce their risk and mitigate attack vectors.

Watch our report on AgDay TV:

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Cyber Threats Are A Real Threat To Modern Agriculture’s Expanding Digital Infrastructure

Carbon Forces A Y In the Road For Ag Retail

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 19:27:36 GMT

According to Brett Bruggeman, president of WinField United, the opportunities around carbon markets are bringing a stratification in the ag retail business.

“We used to say it starts with seed—but it starts with soil. That’s the greater purpose. That’s the livelihood for the grower. If it doesn’t start with the soil, you’re missing a step,” Bruggeman says.

In 2021, Land O’Lakes, Inc., WinField United’s parent company, launched its first tranche of payments through the Truterra carbon program, its offering in this space, which paid farmers more than $4 million in carbon contracts.

He says the company learned four key lessons in its first year of helping its retailers and farmers participate with carbon contracts:

The importance of a green strategy. “Having a green strategy might be as important as a hiring strategy. You’re going to see us continue to focus on a green strategy at Land O’Lakes,” Bruggeman says.
Top to bottom–you have to have an understanding of the power of topsoil. “The most progressive growers are using the Truterra Sustainability Tool to keep the rates they have or get new land based on topsoil being the no.1 asset. Momentum wise, I think it’s a fuel to the engine. It’s a confidence builder,” Bruggeman says.
We’re at a tipping point for farmers engaging. “The most progressive growers have figured out if they aren’t selling, they’ll be buying credits. There are more farmers who want to know about carbon than those who don’t,” he says.
This isn’t an experiment. “We are making sure we are clear that we are shaping a market and building a market. The last time we got to do this was the fungicide market,” Bruggeman says. “We have people in this space who are treating it like an experiment or treating it selfishly to offset their credits. You build credibility a thimble at a time and lose it a wheelbarrow at a time. And farmers are giving up data without thinking who they are giving it to.”

Bruggeman says those lessons are steering his team as they launch their program for its second year and second tranche of payments.

When asked what he may have done differently if he could go back to the first year of the program, his answer boils down to “more.”

“We would have put the foot on the accelerator,” he says on reflection. “Knowing the amount of enthusiasm we had about Truterra’s carbon program with 1.0 and now 2.0, I would have moved more resources quicker. That’s how bullish we are about shaping this market.”

He sees the industry in having a finite window of time to act.

“We have 24 months–not much longer than that– as a window for the masses to jump on,” Bruggeman says. “It’s important because it establishes the size of the market and the investments needed to play in this market.”

To keep the market science based and not the “wild west” WinField United is staying rooted in its data—both field history and in-season/real-time data.

“Our position of being an aggregator of data has only gotten stronger,” he says. “You have to have the tools to be able to track and trace. Most growers won’t do the administrative work. And if you don’t have the data in a usable format, it’s not a good day. That’s where we can lead with our retailers.”

He nods to the investments in the Answer Plot program, Field Forecasting Tool, Data Silo, Truterra’s sustainability tool, and others as building blocks for the WinField United approach to its carbon offering.

“Agriculture is a 70% predictability game. If you can get your decision success at 70% or better, you’ve done a heck of a job with all of these variables. You won’t get 100%--but you’re trying to increase your probability each time,” he says.
He sees the ag retailer’s ability to participate in carbon markets as a new score card.

“Farmers can sort through how much a retailer understands about their farm. And when they talk about the soil health components, you’ll realize how much they want to help in this market opportunity,” Bruggeman says.

Cyber Threats Are A Real Threat To Modern Agriculture’s Expanding Digital Infrastructure

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 13:05:40 GMT

A malicious cyberattack in late May 2021 forced the shutdown of all of JBS’ beef plants and many of its pork and poultry plants. This attack on the world’s largest meat processor spotlighted the vulnerability of another critical American industry. This time, agriculture was the target.

According to the Harvard Business Review, the amount that companies paid to hackers grew by 300% in 2020. In the first 10 months of 2021, just six ransomware groups were responsible for breaching the cybersecurity defenses of 292 organizations. From those attacks, these criminal organizations had tallied up more than $45 million in ransom money.

Of all the cyberattacks and ransomware attacks in 2021, the breach of Colonial Pipeline in late April had the most news coverage. A ransomware group known as DarkSide with ties to Russia was responsible for the attack that shut down 5,500 miles of pipe and halted the flow of countless barrels of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast to the Eastern Seaboard. To avoid further disruption, Colonial Pipeline eventually gave in to the ransomware group’s demands and paid the group $4.4 million in bitcoin.

Agriculture Is An Easy Target

Experts warn that as an industry, agriculture has a very soft digital underbelly that’s easily breached due to very limited investment in cybersecurity to date.

For an industry that is betting the farm on becoming increasingly digitally connected and automated, this should set off alarm bells in all sectors and all levels of agriculture—from the back 40 to the halls of Congress. As more devices are hooked up to networks and more tasks are turned over to automation, the opportunity and potential reward for cyberattackers will only grow exponentially during the next several years.

According to Vantage Market Research, the size of the global agricultural robot market is expected to reach $15.93 billion by 2028. That’s up from $3.63 billion in 2020 and represents a compound annual growth rate of 20.31% during the forecast period—2021 to 2028.

A private industry notification issued by the FBI’s cyber division on Sept. 1 listed five major attacks that occurred in the food sector since November 2020. The list included everything from a bakery company to a well-known beverage company to a large farming operation. Two more attacks—on grain co-ops, Iowa’s NEW Cooperative and Minnesota’s Crystal Valley—came less than a month after the FBI’s warning.

As with many of these “events,” the aftermath involves plenty of finger-pointing. In the fallout of the JBS attack, a good deal of blame was shifted on the government for not creating cybersecurity guidelines and compliance mandates for agriculture.

Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst from Iowa recently went to the floor of the Senate to stress that more must be done related to cybersecurity within agriculture. They advocated: “Agricultural security is national security.”

It is foolish to think government alone can fix the issue or prevent future attacks. But, government can develop guidelines and performance goals. One of the first things that could be done is to adopt standards related to manufacturing automation equipment that is secure by design. IoT devices need to have additional security measures before they are deployed to the field. Because of the lack of a law, both the users and manufacturers blame each other for not adopting even minimum security measures for these pieces of equipment. This issue has become a significant cybersecurity liability.

What you can do

The rest of us must become increasingly aware and vigilant in fighting this war. Pardon the pun, but one could “lose the farm” because of an unforeseen cyberattack. Whether you are a CEO of a multilocation co-op or an individual farmer who has connected your operations and data to the “cloud,” you are a target, and this threat is not going to go away.

Senators on Cyberattacks: ‘Agricultural Security is National Security’

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 14:05:18 GMT

Schreiber Foods, an international dairy processing company in Green Bay, Wis., is the most recent to report a “cyber event” two weeks ago. It’s reported $2.5 million in ransom halted computer systems from Saturday to Monday. Speculations continue as Schreiber has yet to formally confirm or deny the allegations.

Cyberattacks and ransomware have impacted agriculture this year with JBS in June, Colonial Pipeline in July and Fort Dodge, Iowa-based New Cooperative in September, among others.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) took the floor on Monday to say these attacks hinder advanced agricultural practices: “As Iowa farmers adopt new technologies to get their crops to market, their exposure grows to similar attacks.”

Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) followed suit, saying, “The ag sector is designated as critical infrastructure but historically has not received robust cybersecurity support from the government.”

Advancing technology and fulfilling food demands while also working to improve soil and water quality “demands heavy reliance on interconnected devices and the internet, creating vulnerability,” she adds.

Agriculture supply chain criminals are rapidly working the system, says Davis Hake, co-founder and vice president of policy at Resilience Insurance, a cyber insurance solutions company. In the past two years, he says there’s been an estimated 300% increase in ransomware money taken in by the Ransomware Task Force.

“Cyber criminals will focus on people doing the attacks and then they have a market that sells those victims to folks who go through the extortions,” Hake says. “Then there’s a whole separate system for laundering that money.”

Hake, who previously served on the Obama Administration’s National Security Council writing cybersecurity legislation, says we have two avenues to address the cyberattacks:

1. Step away from large automation trends such as IT infrastructure systems that sacrifice efficiency.
2. Establish tactical policy to crush the issue.

The Biden Administrations addressed cybersecurity in a national security memorandum. Of the legislation, Ernst says, “the plan is voluntary and would severely limit its effectiveness.”

Following the memorandum, Senators Ernst, Grassley, Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Jon Tester (D-MT) have offered permanent representation on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to address cybersecurity issues.

Both Grassley and Ernst stress cybersecurity should be a primary focus for congressional leaders, as “Agricultural security is national security.”

Bushel Acquires GrainBridge, Leader Says ‘Standardization Breeds Innovation’

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 17:36:39 GMT

There’s big news in the ag data space as Bushel announces it has acquired GrainBridge, a two-year old joint venture of ADM and Cargill.

“This gives us the opportunity to continue to build out the digital infrastructure needed in U.S. agriculture,” says co-founder of Bushel Jake Joraanstad. “Having both ADM and Cargill commit to the Bushel platform allows us to coordinate better and enable this to happen in a much more realistic way.”

As Joraanstad explains, the past 100 years saw a huge level of infrastructure investment to make U.S. agriculture relevant and competitive in the global market. In his view the same level of investment needs to be made in the digital infrastructure but in the next 10 years—a much more compressed timeline.

“The digital infrastructure we have today is antiquated–at best,” he says.

Bushel has been leading a march to more digitization, and before the acquisition, Bushel had 210 customers totaling 2,000 live grain receiving locations. Earlier in 2021, Cargill had joined the Bushel network, which allowed the platform to touch 40% of the U.S. grain volume at origination. Also in 2021, the company said it reached the milestone of 50,000 farmers logging into the Bushel mobile app.

“Our vision is to create a sustainable, transparent and efficient supply chain from a digital tooling perspective so that we remain relevant to a global agricultural market,” Joraanstad says. He adds that standardization of data in this segment of agriculture is essential and “standardization breeds innovation.”

Joraanstad says this brings the company to focus on three areas for its business:

Commercial Elevators: “This is the core of what we do, and it’ll continue to be the largest area of investment and focus,” he says.
Farm Management: Since the June 2021 acquisition of Farmlogs , the company expanded into farmer-facing software. Joraanstad says up to one-third of the Bushel team will be focusing on this product and its integrations.
Digital Data Movement: “You’ll hear more about this year next year,” Joraanstad teases. “But it will build on the offer system we launched within Bushel Trade, and there’s much more to come. One of the biggest opportunities is to help move money with a lot more around the transactional elements.”

“We are a pure software company,” he says. “And we are independent. Even with the grain elevators who invested early in our company, they are minority stakeholders. And with the acquisition of GrainBridge, we are maintaining our independence.”

Bushel was founded in 2011 in Fargo, ND, and will maintain the GrainBridge offices and development team in Omaha, Neb.

“Some of the traditional GrainBridge tools will be wound down over the next 12 months, and the tools they bring to the table with data, data refinement and machine learning work will be brought to a broader set of customers via Bushel,” Joraanstad says.

ADM and Cargill will work with their respective customers on the timing of the transition.
Four years ago, Bushel was founded with a core product helping digitize grain companies’ businesses (it was launched from now 10-year-old Myriad Mobile.) And Joraanstad boasts the company has not changed its core mission.

“From the smallest co-op to the largest and everyone in between this solidifies our plan to be the leader when creating tools to make an industry more effective,” he says.

When asked about the threat of cyberattacks, Joranstad says the company has worked hard to keep data security paramount and has undergone additional security measures as it’s scaled.

Minnesota Grain Handler Targeted in Ransomware Attack

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 14:26:27 GMT

By Tom Polansek and Karl Plume

CHICAGO, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Minnesota agricultural firm Crystal Valley Cooperative said it had been targeted in a ransomware attack in recent days, making it the second Midwestern farm-services provider in a week to be forced to take systems offline due to cybersecurity incidents.

Crystal Valley, which sells supplies like fertilizer to farmers and buys their crops, said it became aware of the attack on Sunday, prompting it to take operating systems offline and to stop accepting major credit cards.

“This attack has infected the computer systems at Crystal Valley and severely interrupted the daily operations of the company,” Crystal Valley said in a statement on its website. It asked customers for understanding while the company resolves the issue.

The attack left Crystal Valley unable to mix fertilizer or fulfil orders for livestock feed, said Kevin Paap, a corn and soybean farmer in Garden City, Minnesota, on Thursday.

“With the help of some other local co-ops, they’re helping grind some feed and sharing the burden,” he said.

NEW Cooperative Inc in Iowa said on Monday its systems were offline to contain a cybersecurity incident. A Russian-speaking cybercriminal group named BlackMatter said on its website that it stole data from the farm services provider.

The disruptions are hitting the Farm Belt as growers gear up for the autumn harvest.

Crystal Valley operates eight grain elevators with the capacity to store a total of 25 million bushels in Minnesota, the third biggest U.S. soybean-producing state and fourth biggest corn producer, according to its website. Two locations load huge 110-car trains for delivery to big buyers or exporters.

Paap, president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau, said he has been able to deliver grain to Crystal Valley’s elevator in Vernon Center with minor delays as the normally automated process is offline.

“It’s old school, with hand-written tickets instead of the computer reading the card on the side of your truck as you drive in,” he said.

Cybersecurity has risen to the top of the Biden administration’s agenda after high-profile attacks that affected U.S. fuel and food supplies. (Reporting by Tom Polansek Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

Landus Launches Innovation Center To ‘Change the Script’

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 20:36:11 GMT

“We need to get innovation to the farm and get the farmer at the center of that innovation,” says Landus President and CEO Matt Carstens. “The role Landus wants to play is clear–as a cooperative owned by our farmers we must find a way to be that.”

He delivered that message during the grand opening of the new Innovation Center, which is located in Ralston, Iowa, and will serve as the center point for the cooperative’s technology and data efforts.

“We get one to two business calls a day wanting us to consider a new technology, a new data path, anything that’s new in the space of agriculture,” Carstens says. With so many new products and technologies, the cooperative wanted to develop a strategy for how to help farmers find the best solutions for their farm.

The cooperative built the Innovation Center as a way to showcase new technologies and as a testing ground with its 10-acre test plot on-site for field trials. Partners include Syngenta, Sentera, Rantizo, Sukup and more.
The team at Landus says they are approaching the innovations in two phases: a staging gate of early-stage technologies still be developed and a funnel of available technologies that could be solutions for a farm.

The work of the Innovation Center dovetails with the Landus launch of the Grow Solutions Center—the virtual connection point for Landus subject matter experts and farmers.

“I look at the way we call on our farmers and serve them, and we’ve got to increase our speed, our expertise and our ability to give them here and now information, lead with the data group, which will be the heavy push of our Grow Solutions Center,” Carstens says.

A product offered to Landus farmers is the cooperative’s data locker, which securely stores on-farm data for use as the farmer gives permission. Google Cloud will be a strategic cloud provider for the Landus farmer data platform.

“We can’t turn on the power of innovation without data,” Carstens says.

Molly Toot is the Grow Business Leader at Landus, and she adds, “we really believe that farm data will eventually become another commodity in itself for that farmer.”

Toot says this is setting up to be the new way Landus does business with farmers.

“We have a very experienced team that will work through what is needed to help a farmer collect that data, put it into our data locker where it’s safe and secure at the farmers farmer owned cooperative, and then we can start being able to monetize that and get it out for different programs,” she says.

Another spoke off the hub of the Innovation Center is the Innovation Cell—a way to bring together thought leaders in science, technology and small business to collaborate with Iowa farmers.

You can watch the grand opening here:

Bushel Acquires Farmlogs, Connects Farm Data to Supply Chain In New Ways

Fri, 25 Jun 2021 21:22:30 GMT

Two independent ag software companies are joining forces to form a new way for on-farm data to be connected through the entire supply chain.

On June 16, Bushel announced it has acquired FarmLogs.

Bushel Co-Founder and CEO Jake Joraanstad says this will provide an integrated farmer experience and a “grain passport.”

As Joraanstad explains, the grain passport will enable farmers and grain companies to connect field-level data with the grain through the supply chains, which he sees as unlocking greater efficiencies and opportunities for profitability.

“This industry has been struggling with this for at least five years,” he says. “But our two companies combined will provide data for programs such as identity preservation, crop insurance and sustainability. What has been missing for Bushel was connecting the field activities all the way to the digital scale ticket.”

Four years ago, Bushel was founded with a core product helping digitize grain companies’ businesses (it was launched from now 10-year-old Myriad Mobile.) Today, it has 200 companies and 60,000 active farmers using the tools, and the company says 40% of the grain origination in the U.S. is tracked via Bushel.

FarmLogs was co-founded 10 years ago by Jesse Vollmar, who will join the Bushel team as VP of Farm Strategy. Currently, 50,000 farms use FarmLogs farm management tools.

A key goal of the newly combined software is less manual data entry for all stakeholders.

“We’ve put forward a new solution that no one has been able to put the complete process together,” Joraanstad says. “And I’m really excited to see where we’ll take this in the next six months.”

He says it’s 100% technically feasible to track where grain started in the field and where it’s ended up in the food and feed supply chain.

Here’s a recent interview with Joraanstad on AgriTalk:

With a total team of 200, the leaders say they are eager to bring new ways farmers can connect with the businesses they sell their grain to.

“We want to make enrollment in programs easier, and we want automate the workflow. The goal is to have the most automated farm management system,” Joraanstad says. “This industry deserves the most integrated farm management tool.”

Joraanstad and Vollmar share both companies have core to their DNA principles on data privacy and data security. Also parallel for both companies is their independent standing in the industry—neither sells inputs, equipment or anything beyond just their software and its utility.

“Farmers need their information connected to who they do business with,” Vollmar says. “We are committed to making the data flow in a permission way that enables farmers to do business in a more seamless way.”

While this official announcement brings together Bushel and Farmlogs, the leaders share they will continue to work with other data platforms and feel collaboration is necessary to continue the progress in digitizing the agriculture industry.

Landus Launches Grow Solutions Center

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 18:00:02 GMT

Landus, a farmer-owned cooperative based in Iowa, has launched GROW Solutions Center , a virtual hub of specialists available to its farmer-owners and internal team. GROW Solutions Center Specialists are subject matter experts ready to provide assistance with grain, agronomy, and precision ag questions while also focused on simplifying the collection, analysis, and fulfillment of grower data. Ultimately, the service is designed to help Landus members achieve greater profitability, sustainability, and meet the market demands of the future.

“As we identify opportunities to increase the value we deliver to our farmer-owners, Landus is excited to introduce the GROW Solutions Center,” said Matt Carstens, President and CEO, Landus. “Our specialists facilitate the secure management of our farmer-owners’ data and provide expert insights benefiting their operation’s growth.”

Initial services for the GROW Solutions Center include data entry and analysis of on-farm data with our farmer-owners, as well as providing grain and agronomy expertise. The team will also support internal teams, specifically the Landus Account Managers. More services will be introduced over time.

New Research: Farmer Views on Production Data Collection and Sharing

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:41:47 GMT

Several challenges prevent farmers from collecting and sharing data on their production practices with downstream supply chain organizations, such as food companies and retailers, according to new research from Farm Journal’s Trust In Food initiative and The Sustainability Consortium (TSC).

“This research provides the entire ag value chain with direct farmer feedback on the realities of farm-level data collection and sharing,” said Mitch Rouda, President for Farm Journal’s Trust In Food. “These insights will enable organizations to more effectively engage with farmers in the scaling of conservation practices and production practice transparency.”

Farm-level production data plays a critical role in conservation and sustainability efforts for food, fuel and fiber supply chains. Despite this importance, according to previous TSC research , nearly 50% of food and beverage companies report having no visibility into the on-farm practices that produce the inputs they use.

To help close the gap between in-field practices and supply chain needs, Trust In Food and TSC surveyed American farmers on their perceptions of data collection and sharing. The resulting report, “Farmer Perspectives On Data,” highlights insights from nearly 400 farmers in more than 40 states.

Key findings include:
• 62% reported not using data collection and sharing software during the 2019 season; of those who did, only about 30% say the software meets all their needs.
• Lack of access to capital, equipment, training and reliable data networks are the biggest barriers farmers face in scaling up their on-farm data efforts.
• 71% of farmers said their primary ag adviser or consultant has never suggested increasing on-farm data collection, data sharing or both.
• 49% of farmers do not believe their customer has a right to know how they manage their farm.
• Responses to open-ended questions reveal downstream organizations enjoying greater financial benefits from farm-level data sharing than the farmers who provide that data is a major issue farmers consider when deciding to share their data.
• 74% of farmers implement conservation agriculture practices because they believe it is the right thing to do for the environment; 61% use conservation practices to ensure they pass on a profitable and viable farming operation to the next generation.

“The results of this report show growers value data collection and the environment and they implement conservation agriculture practices on their farms, but there are several surprising barriers to sharing farm data,” said Christy Slay, Director of Technical Alignment for The Sustainability Consortium. “TSC is committed to working on these issues and barriers with our partners to ensure farmers receive the value they deserve for protecting natural resources and that the sustainability story brands communicated to retailers and consumers is enabled by the farm data reported into TSC’s THESIS platform.”

Trust In Food presented its findings at The Sustainability Consortium’s Summit, April 28-30, 2020.

The report can be viewed at https://bit.ly/Farm-Data-TIF.

The Scoop Podcast: Sustainability Requires Playing Good Offense

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 20:15:26 GMT

Allison Nepveux, Director of Sustainability at Bushel, details the intersection of technology and supply chains in agriculture and how it’s opening opportunities for grain elevators and farmers in digitizing their business.

What is sustainability; what is traceability?

It’s important to note sustainability isn’t just carbon. Carbon is all the buzz right now in sustainability.

I think of it as like an entire pizza. If someone’s put a pizza in front of you, sustainability is the whole pie– its economic its social its environmental which is where we spend a lot of time.

And when it comes to your traceability I really try to think about it more as transparency. So how do we bring visibility into those sustainability practices whatever they might be. And how do we help use those quality metrics or the story about where that food is coming from, to help our facilities minimize risk, maximize opportunities. So that’s really kind of the focus of our work is thinking about that entire piece of pizza, and then what are the tools that our facilities need to start taking little nibbles wherever it makes sense for them.

What are the obstacles in connecting on-farm data and into the supply chain?

Bushel’s really well primed in this space because we are the first point of sale. So a producer drops off their grain, and we are the first kind of digital record of that grain entering the system. We can take a step backwards to the farm or forward to the next step in the supply chain. Where that becomes a challenge is that everyone enters their data in a completely different way.

We have spent a lot of time really thinking about how do we standardize that data, how do we normalize that data, how does it flow between systems. That is really our role to just be that partner to help connect the dots. But it’s easier to connect the dots when the data looks the same in all these different silos and traditionally in ag that hasn’t been the case–everything has been very, very separate and not as easy to talk to each other.

What is the role of the grain elevator in these efforts?

When we go back to that pizza–everything that is sustainability–every grain facility is starting to nibble on that pizza in a different place. They’re starting from different efforts; they’re thinking about sustainability in different ways; so their role looks very different depending on where they are in that journey. For some facilities that role is about maintaining access to overseas markets, and that’s where I spent you know a lot of time prior to coming to Bushel. So how do we build tools that, think about the mass volume approach the mass balance approach so that we can share a story without really thinking about premiums and without separating things in the system. There are a lot of facilities that are in that space.

We’re also seeing a lot of facilities that you know are responsible for maintaining access to downstream CPG companies, and that is starting to look like that focus on carbon. So how do we track the entire carbon emissions within a supply chain. And a grain facility might be responsible for thinking about you know what are my producers doing on farm, how do we connect that to what’s being delivered and then report that to whichever CPG company we sell to.

It really depends on who the grain facility is and where they’re getting the most pressure right now as to what their role looks like and how they’re responding.

Cybersecurity, data security are top topics, and how should farmers be thinking about this as they digitize their business?

It’s a huge challenge for the industry as a whole and our focus most of the time is really at that grain facility where we have oftentimes pre-Bushels and pre a lot of these technologies really archaic systems. So we have a lot of brilliant people at Bushel that focus on us every day– how do we make sure that we’re preventing we’re monitoring we’re detecting or reacting to those issues, and that we don’t have, you know, the cybersecurity threats.

Another layer of this from the farm side is, maybe less so, just in breaches and security but understanding ownership of farmer data, understanding what you’re sharing how you’re sharing. We spend a lot of time on data privacy of the farmer and I think paying attention to that on-farm is probably just as important.

What part of sustainability is often misunderstood or carries the most misconceptions?

Right now I think that it’s that misconception that sustainability is carbon and carbon is sustainability. There is a lot of buzz around that topic. And that’s great. I think that will be probably one of the first big areas that we’re able to unlock and to monetize. But sustainability is bigger than just carbon, it’s also bigger than just the environmental piece, which is why you see so much focus and attention on the economic side of things. And so I see that as an obvious misconception–people kind of equating one small slice of something to the entire thing.

What are the greatest advantages in pushing forward sustainability via the Bushel route?

We are the digital partner. The big advantage of being agnostic is that wherever a facility wants to go or wherever they want to focus, wherever their farmers want to play, we are responsible for kind of connecting those tools collaborating with other partners, and that’s our role in being agnostic. We can play with any number of people that are focused on any number of different areas and expertise and that’s how I think we have evolved as an ag tech community. There are very few of us out there that are trying to own the entire end to end something but instead specializing on what we do best and at Bushel what we do best is kind of making those connections and we can do that because we’re agnostic.

Who’s The Bigger Cyber Threat to Ag–Russia or China?

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:10:50 GMT

On this morning’s AgriTalk, guest host Clinton Griffiths interviewed Auburn University professor Robert Norton about the cyber security risks for agricultural businesses.

This is a timely topic on the heels of the investigation of Russian hacking and influence on the U.S. presidential election as well as the Chinese seed espionage case .

“It’s a very important topic,” Horton said on AgriTalk. “Russia is looking at trying to influence as much as possible around the world. And obviously there’s been a lot of controversy about what Russia is doing in the last few months and years. We’ve really never left the Cold War.”

Norton explains the Department of Homeland Security has named agriculture one of the 16 critical infrastructures in this country and could be targeted by the Russian government or its proxies to try to penetrate.

“Fortunately, to date, we haven’t had anything other than the kind of things that companies have to deal with every day where you have proprietary information stolen or identity theft. But the Russian government is really looking at something in the long term that is more serious than what we’ve seen in the past,” Norton said.

Norton advises agricultural businesses and farmers to safeguard their systems and make sure they are working with professionals capable of handling this level of threat.

One example of a vulnerability is GPS technologies.

“The Russians are looking at targeting the GPS system. If in time of war, we might lose that GPS system. So all the things in precision agriculture, all of the things in trucking, all of these operations would be dramatically affected,” Norton said.

He also provides these 10 tips:

Choosing strong passwords and changing them regularly
Rebooting home routers by turning them off for 30 seconds and then turning them back on
Installing and keeping up-to-date antivirus software
Avoiding consumer transactions or registrations on public Wi-Fi
Practicing safe browsing
Keeping all software up-to-date
Installing a firewall
Not installing freeware
Encrypting data files
Maintaining email security

Norton noted it’s not just Russia as potential threat. Other countries include China, Iran, North Korea and even other country that aren’t necessarily hostile to the U.S.

When asked what may pose a bigger threat to agriculture—Russia or China—Norton said overall, it’s China.