Disruption succeeded. Agricultural technology is now officially disruptive — the global giants have noticed. Revenue streams cultivated for two centuries are irrevocably changing.
Ag tech developers and integrators will profit.
Disruption is underway. The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) soon will promulgate a fundamental change for farmers. As AOL founder Steve Case said, “You cannot ignore government.”
But that’s part two of a two-part column. First, we’ll talk about our successful disruption, which is already in the fields. Second, a week from now we’ll talk about the regulatory disruption that worries Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. (You don’t have to take my word for it.)
Darrin Polhemus has a hand in both disruptions. And he shares with us two astounding insights, one for each disruption.
I recently spoke with Polhemus, the SWRCB deputy director for financial assistance. He’s an ag economist by trade, trained at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, an institution that knows agribusiness. Polhemus started out working on farms in the San Joaquin Valley and later shifted to the Central Valley Water Board, which is the leading regulator impacting growers.
The successful disruption is chronicled under a headline from Reuters: “Digital farming could spell shake-up for crop chemicals sector.” The key takeaway:
“New businesses are springing up that promise to tell farmers how and when to till, sow, spray, fertilize and pick crops based on algorithms using data from their own fields.”
But then we knew that. Here’s the impact that Polhemus understands at the field level, and helps us understand:
“Their emphasis on reducing chemicals and minerals known as farming inputs is a further challenge for an industry already struggling with weak markets worldwide.”
Inputs are water, fertilizer and pesticide. Growers are under regulatory and consumer pressure to use less of all of the above, which also reduces costs. An ag tech trifecta!
Irrigation management is central, Polhemus said, to precisely managing and delivering inputs to the right plant in the right amount at the right time.
A knowledge of integration, inputs and farming is essential, he knows, and especially the technology to manage it all.
Polhemus offers one astounding fact that will drive you to your coding and product development:
“There are many a dozen certified irrigation managers in the whole state.”
“It’s a new market for both worlds,” he added, meaning ag tech. Your ag tech, which promises a 30 to 40 percent reduction in inputs.
It's a tremendous, urgent business need, in other words.
Because micro-irrigation systems, coupled with imaging, water, plant and soil sensors, can measure and send different inputs, he said. This is based on plant stress, time of season, soil condition and more.
This is already a successful disruption — it’s acknowledged. It's not refined, though, and there's plenty of opportunity for fast-movers.
Our second Ag Food and Tech Blog in May brings Polhemus and Ross back — on opposite sides of an unprecedented shift for farmers. Disruption is underway, and very few see it coming. You will.
