 |
|
|
|||||
Agricultural data is fragmented, distributed, heterogeneous, and incompatible. Thats the verdict from a major Council for Agricultural Science and Technology report published barely a year ago, and it helps explain why AI has struggled to gain traction on farms. Other data-heavy industries, like healthcare or financial services, have established data standards, but agriculture has no universal framework for translating between the dozens of systems that generate field-level information. This isnt a new observation, but its persistence is noteworthy. While consumer tech and enterprise software largely solved their interoperability challenges years ago, agriculture still generates enormous volumes of information trapped in incompatible silos. Research institutions publish trial results in inconsistent formats, product manufacturers use proprietary naming systems, farmers record observations with local terminology and retailers track sales without connecting them to agronomic outcomes. The result is an industry sitting on massive amounts of information it can barely use. Agriculture doesnt have a data problemit has an intelligence problem, notes Ron Baruchi, CEO of Agmatix, a company building domain-specific AI for the sector. The data exists. Whats missing is infrastructure that understands what it means. According to a McKinsey report, implementing data integration, and connectivity in agriculture could add $500 billion in value to global GDPa 7 to 9% improvement over current projections. But capturing that value requires solving a problem that general-purpose AI platforms have consistently struggled with. WHY HORIZONTAL AI KEEPS FAILING IN FARMS The appeal of applying large language models to agriculture is obvious: A farmer could describe whats happening in their field and get instant advice on what to do about it, without hiring a consultant or having to wait for a lab. But agricultures complexity breaks the approach. While an LLM trained on internet text might know that nitrogen helps plants grow, it cant tell you that the right amount changes depending on the growth stage, the soil and what was planted in the same field the previous year. Similarly, computer vision can identify crop stress, but without contextual knowledge of weather, soil and product applications, that insight doesnt mean much. You can ask ChatGPT about nitrogen fertilization and get an answer that sounds authoritative. But when you dig into specificstiming for your soil type, interactions with your previous crop, and product selection based on local availabilitythe recommendations fall apart. The same CAST report reinforces this point, noting that many farmers distrust AI because of its black box naturemodels making predictions without clear explanations behind them. In farming, 90% accuracy on a fungicide recommendation means 10% of the time youre telling a grower to spray the wrong product at the wrong time. BUILDING INTELLIGENCE FROM THE GROUND UP This is where a growing number of companies are taking a different approachbuilding AI systems designed specifically for agriculture rather than retrofitting general-purpose tools. For example, India-based Cropin, backed by Google, has constructed its own crop knowledge graph spanning 500 crops across 103 countries and recently developed an agriculture-specific micro-language model. Israeli-American startup Agmatix built its own agricultural intelligence system from the ground upan approach that mirrors, in concept, what Palantir did for defense and intelligence data. The core of that system is what Agmatix calls pre-trained ontologies: Frameworks that encode agricultural relationships before customer data enters the system. Agmatixs AI engine uses a neuro-symbolic architecture, combining structured knowledge graphs with machine learning. Agricultural relationshipshow specific fertilizers interact with specific soils at specific growth stagesare encoded by agronomists, validated through field trials and refined continuously. What that means, essentially, is that the AI doesnt start from scratch. Before it touches any farms data, agronomists have already taught it how agriculture workswhich fertilizers affect which soils, how a crops needs change as it grows, and why what was planted last season matters for whats planted next. According to the company, the system has structured more than 1.5 billion field trial data points, creating what data scientists call semantic interoperability: The ability to translate between different data sources because the system understands what the data means, not just what it says. But building better technology doesnt guarantee adoption. McKinsey partner Vasanth Ganesan noted in the firms 2024 Global Farmer Insights survey that farmers are demanding clearer ROI, lower cost of implementation and maintenance and easier-to-setup technologiescomplaints shaped by years of agtech tools that overpromised and underdelivered. A separate McKinsey analysis found that poor user experiences continue to hold back adoption across the sector. Baruchi says farmers have good reason to be cautious. Farmers are CEOs operating in one of the most unpredictable industries on earth, he tells Fast Company. They balance biological systems, financial risk and environmental volatility every single season. The ROI question is only hard to answer when your platform cant connect what a grower applies to what actually happens in the field. WHERE ITS WORKING The approach is already operating across several deployments. BASF has collaborated with Agmatix on digital tools for crop disease detection, including a recently announced project targeting soybean cyst nematode. The company says growers using its prediction platform have reduced fungicide costs by 15 to 20% while maintaining disease control. Its engine is also powering predictive disease-risk modeling in large-scale row-crop systems in the United States. A national agriculture ministry uses the system to model policy impacts before implementation. On the sustainability front, Agmatixs RegenIQ platform works with major food and beverage companies to assess which regenerative practices deliver measurable results in specific field conditionsclassifying, for instance, Brazils 150 coffee-growing localities into six distinct climate clusters, each requiring different approaches. Cropin, meanwhile, partnered with Walmart in March 2025 to optimize fresh produce sourcing across U.S. ad South American markets using AI-driven yield forecasting and crop health monitoring. THE HARD PART REMAINS Agmatix represents a broader shift from horizontal AI platforms toward domain-specific solutions. But it isnt the only company betting that agriculture needs its own AI. John Deeres acquisition of aerial analytics firm Sentera in May 2025 suggests the industrys biggest players have reached the same conclusion. The AI in agriculture market is projected to grow from $2.55 billion in 2025 to over $7 billion by 2030, according to Mordor Intelligence. But adoption remains uneven, with 81% of large farms showing willingness to adopt AI, while only 36% of smaller operations plan to do the same. Agricultural AI adoption is still slow by any standard, and its not hard to see why. CASTs report catalogs the major barriers that agriculture still faces today: High costs, limited rural broadband, insufficient training and unresolved questions about data ownership. These challenges intensify in an industry previously plagued by overhyped technology promises. But the tailwinds are real. Major food companies have made commitments to decarbonize supply chains that are impossible to fulfill without field-level data. Climate volatility is making predictive tools more valuable. And a decline in U.S. public agricultural R&D spending down roughly a third from its 2002 peak, according to USDA data is creating a vacuum that private-sector platforms are positioned to fill. The question isnt whether agriculture needs better data infrastructure. Its whether the companies building it can survive farmings patient adoption timelines long enough to reach critical mass and whether the benefits will extend beyond the largest farms that can already afford to invest. For an industry responsible for feeding 8 billion people, getting that balance right matters enormously.
Category:
E-Commerce
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Last weeks Modern CEO made the case that boards and recruiters should stop focusing on CEO candidates résumés and start evaluating their potential for agility. That said, one aspect of work history can serve as a good proxy for the ability to manage uncertainty and change: international experience. Leaders who have global exposure tend to develop sharper instincts for adapting in different contexts, taking in information effectively, and making business decisions based on these different inputs, says Jeff Sanders, vice chair and co-managing partner of the global CEO & Board of Directors Practice for Heidrick & Struggles. New research from the executive search firm shows that one in five Fortune 500 companiesthe largest enterprises in the U.S. by revenueappointed CEOs with cross-border experience in 2025. More than a third of external candidates named to the top job last year worked internationally. Theyve already had to respond to complexity in real timeand that kind of experience becomes increasingly valuable as global conditions continue to evolve and shift, Sanders adds. Charting new territory Ariane Gorin, CEO of Expedia Group, credits her global experience with helping to shape her leadership style. Gorin spent 23 years in Europe: 13 years in Paris and 10 years in London, where she held several senior positions at Expedia before becoming CEO of the Seattle-based travel technology company in May 2024. The biggest thing is youre out of your comfort zone, she says of working abroad. Gorin, who is fluent in French, notes that speaking a language is different than doing business with others in that language. Youre just always a little bit uncomfortable, she says, adding: It also forces you to listen more. Working abroad also fosters empathy, another quality recruiters call out as a trait they seek in future CEOs: I spent my first 11 years at Expedia in Europe [working with colleagues in America], and I will never forget what it feels like to be the only one whos on the late-night calls, Gorin recalls. Perhaps not surprising for a CEO whose company facilitates travel, Gorin also believes in the importance of geographic diversity in her leadership team. The president of Expedia Group B2B is based in Madrid, and the chief commercial officer is in London. I think if your leadership team is all in the same place, it certainly makes it easier to get things done, but you can start to have a myopic view, she says. Expanding horizons As technological and geopolitical complexities become the norm in business, leaders with international experience often have real-world experience managing disruptions to supply chains, strategy, and talent, says Heidrick & Struggless Sanders. Gorins agility is getting put to the test as the travel industry is feeling the impact of the U.S.Israel attacks on Iran launched last month, and artificial intelligence continues to transform tech companies. During Gorins time as CEO, the company has expanded its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist travelers and featured partners like hotels, airlines, and car rental companies. (It was early to embed the Expedia app into OpenAIs ChatGPT chatbot.) The Expedia Group, whose flagship brands include Expedia, Vrbo, and Hotels.com, last year posted revenue of $14.7 billion, up 8% from 2024. Regardless of whether an executive secures an international posting, Gorin believes travel to other countries is critical to understanding global business. When she stepped into her previous role running Expedias business-to-business (B2B) unit, she embarked on a two-week trip around the world, meeting clients in Japan, Korea, Australia, and the U.S.a journey that helped her appreciate the business and cultural nuances of each market. Gorin also makes a case that travel can open the mind. She says: Getting out of your day-to-day into a new environment jogs a lot of creativity. Working a world away Are you an executive who has worked internationally, and if so, how did that experience shape the way you lead and think? Did it make you more agile? How? Send your stories to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Ill publish the best examples in a future newsletter. Read more: global business Honeywell CEOs leadership style is shaped by his time in the field The Most Innovative Companies in Asia-Pacific When Starwoods CEO moved his leadership team to China
Category:
E-Commerce
A new short film premiered at SXSW over the weekend, written and directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, The Bikeriders) starring Oscar nominee Michael Shannon, Oscar-winning singer/songwriter Ryan Bingham, Hassie Harrison, and narrated by Oscar winner Sissy Spacek. Love Letter to Texas is a 12-minute story of personal reinvention, and a beautiful visual tribute to some of the Lone Star states most photogenic and iconic backdrops in film history. Its also Tecovas ad, bankrolled and produced by the Western apparel and cowboy boot brand. Founded in 2015, Tecovas is a new brand in a category steeped in heritage. It began as the Warby Parker of Boots but has since opened 56 stores around the U.S., including in New York City and Boston. In 2024 the company surpassed $250 million in revenue, and expected to pass the $300 million mark in 2025. Tecovas vice-president of brand marketing Samantha Fodrowski says Love Letter to Texas represents the brands ambition to show people it puts the same amount of care and attention to detail into its content as it does its cowboy boots. We want to be known as a brand that really is investing in craft, says Fodrowski. If that’s something that people start to recognize and associate with Tecovas, that’s a win for us. It has nothing to do with selling products. It’s about how we’re making that first introduction. If this film is any indication, itll be a helluva ride. Love Letter High profile brand entertainment has hit the mainstream, with projects like the unprecedented deal struck between AB InBev and Netflix, WhatsApp working with Modern Arts on a Netflix doc about the Mercedes F1 team, to Dicks Sporting Goods formally establishing an internal entertainment studio. But smaller brands, like Huckberry, are also making shrewd investments in longer form content. It really should come as no surprise that Tecovas is investing in longer form brand content, considering it brought on Scott Ballew as its vice-president of creative in 2024, after Ballew led Yetis film and content work for more than a decade. His first piece of work for Tecovas was True West, a brand manifesto of sorts, both visually and in its script. Directed by Ballew, narrator artist Terry Allen says, The true west has no fences. There’s an edge, but you got to find it. As artful shots of open spaces, horses, and running trains, which Ballew describes as a Texas fever dream, it ends with Allen saying, Now, we might not need more people in the West, but would it hurt to have a little more west in the people?” The spot ran in limited markets over 2025, but the brand then decided to put it on Peacock for the Super Bowl this year. Ballew says that the idea for Love Letter came about as a result of feeling they left some meat on the bone and had more to show and tell about how the brand feels about its home state. Jeff [Nichols] came up with the idea of taking some of these scenes, characters, storylines and locations, and take inspiration from this handful of films and make our own story out of it,” says Ballew. Scenes for the film were deliberately shot at locations featured in iconic Texas-shot movies like There Will Be Blood, Giant, No Country for Old Men, and Paris, Texas. While Ballews work at Yeti helped popularize brands creating character-driven documentary content, he sees an opportunity for Tecovas to zag. Now everyone has their own little documentary thing going, which makes none of them feel important or unique or original, says Ballew. So being able to cast and write a script and scout and be really specific with the style and the look and the pace, is a new way to find your own thumbprint.” Building the roots Too often an investment like this in longer form brand entertainment can be seen as self-indulgent for a brand. But CEO David Lafitte sees it as part of a much bigger picture. He says that the role of a cinematic project like Love Letter to Texas is to provide the essential “heavy lifting” of brand building that prevents a company from getting trapped in a cycle of purely transactional marketing. “If you dont do the heavy lifting of brand awareness and brand building, the lower funnel performance marketing conversion becomes a merry-go-round thats hard to get off of, says Lafitte. By focusing on what Lafitte says is a “North Star” of authentic storytelling, the brand is attracting a more engaged consumer. This ultimately boosts efficiency at the lower funnel because it builds an emotional connection that “qualified traffic” responds to more effectively than repetitive conversion ads. Fodrowski says projects like this become a shorthand for people to know who the brand is and its perspective. We’re coming into this space as a newer brand in a craft that’s been around for over a hundred years, she says. And so we have to have our own take on what that looks like. We talk a lot at Tecovas about the idea of honoring the West and crafting its future. This really speaks to that. Ballew is the first to say hes much more of a creative lens than a marketer. He knows that films like this arent for results next week, next quarter or even next year. He likens a brand to a growing tree. When a company grows quickly and starts developing a cult following, and there’s this need to grow and grow and sell and sell, the tree gets really top heavy and all these things like Instagram and TikTok ads are adding leaves, and making the tree fuller, he says. And I’ve always felt like my job is to build the roots deeper so that the tree lasts a long time. So these projects that I’m interested in are root builders to keep the foundation steady. The film will launch on Tecovas social and digital channels on April 7th, and the brand plans to hold screenings at its stores across the country. Giddyup.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||