This quarter of the Future of Agriculture podcast is made possible by Case IH: https://www.caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates

Subscribe to Janette Barnard's Prime Future Newsletter: https://primefuture.substack.com/

Connect with Ian Lahiffe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-lahiffe-25165b1a/

If you had to make a shortlist of the key drivers of the global agricultural commodity trade over the past 30 years, one of the top drivers would most certainly be China.

" The Chinese livestock industry and how Chinese consumers choose their protein has a direct impact on global agriculture. China's obviously the world's largest importer of dairy, largest importer of beef, largest importer of soy, largest importer of corn." - Ian Lahiffe

Ian Lahiffe has been living and working in China for nearly 14 years. He joins Janette Barnard on today’s episode to help us better understand the Chinese market, and even more importantly, unpack some important changes that impact global agriculture. 

 "There's two trends that I think US producers should be concerned about. One is Brazil becoming increasingly close to China, and that . Brazilian product can get more easily to the port. And the second is that, Chinese producers are actively looking at nutritional solutions where they can reduce the amount of imported soy that they need. The trend looks like US producers need to look for those next markets. I think the boat is sailing on being very reliant on China." - Ian Lahiffe

Janette Barnard and Ian Lahiffe talk about some big changes happening in China on today’s Future of Agriculture podcast. 

Brought to you by Case IH:

Case IH designs, engineers and produces cutting-edge farm equipment based on a comprehensive understanding of farmers’ needs, wants and challenges, integrating these insights into their development and manufacturing.

For example, take their Model Year 25 Magnum tractor. The new Magnum is purposefully designed to answer farmers’ needs in every design and engineering choice. Improved horsepower for pulling heavier loads, faster.

Bundled, integrated and ready-to-go precision tech for greater accuracy in the field. And a transmission farmers can tweak for improved control and performance in different tasks.

That kind of design thinking is exactly where the future of ag is headed, and that’s why you’ll be hearing me talk to the folks at Case IH at different points throughout this quarter about what they do and how they’re working to push the ag forward.

This quarter of the Future of Agriculture podcast is made possible by Case IH: https://www.caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates

Today’s special episode is what I like to call a spotlight. Instead of our normal format of a 40 minute long form interview, it’s just a short peak into something interesting. The topics for these spotlights are determined in collaboration with our quarterly presenting sponsor, which this quarter is Case IH.

If you listened to our last spotlight with Dan Klein about a month ago, you already know that this quarter Case IH has given me access to some of their people to learn more about what goes into developing the tractors and equipment that farmers use every day. These spotlight segments are usually farmers, and it just so happens that’s also the case here, Chris Dempsey, like Dan Klein is not only a Case IH employee, but a farmer himself.

Today’s episode builds upon what Dan shared about how Case IH stays systematically customer-focused through their Customer Driven Product Design. Chris is going to share more about the integration of technology and iron and how that comes together in the modern Magnum Tractor.

Chris Dempsey has spent 12 years with CNH and Case IH in a variety of roles in the technology space spanning dealer technical support, quality, marketing, and product management.

Chris is currently responsible for overseeing precision technology integration across CNH’s portfolio of iron products as well as global go to market execution of technology solutions across CNH’s house of brands.

And the pride Chris and his colleagues have in Case IH and specifically in the Magnum is very evident when you hear them talk about it.

Brought to you by Case IH:

Case IH designs, engineers and produces cutting-edge farm equipment based on a comprehensive understanding of farmers’ needs, wants and challenges, integrating these insights into their development and manufacturing.

For example, take their Model Year 25 Magnum tractor. The new Magnum is purposefully designed to answer farmers’ needs in every design and engineering choice. Improved horsepower for pulling heavier loads, faster.

Bundled, integrated and ready-to-go precision tech for greater accuracy in the field. And a transmission farmers can tweak for improved control and performance in different tasks.

That kind of design thinking is exactly where the future of ag is headed, and that’s why you’ll be hearing me talk to the folks at Case IH at different points throughout this quarter about what they do and how they’re working to push the ag forward.

This quarter of the Future of Agriculture podcast is made possible by Case IH: https://www.caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates

Download the Agtech Alchemy Quarterly: https://agtechalchemy.substack.com/p/agtech-alchemy-quarterly-winter2025

GenAI Whitepaper: https://www.rhishipethe.com/genai-in-ag

Today's episode features the founding members of Agtech Alchemy. This format is a little different from our normal show. It’s a lot less formal, you’ll hear some jokes and laughter, but really it’s just four guys who all really care about agtech and its ability to improve agriculture in the future. 

If you’ve been around agtech circles for very long, especially if you’re on LinkedIn, you know all three of our guests today: Walt Duflock is the vice president of Innovation at Western Growers, which represents family farmers growing fresh produce in Arizona, California, Colorado and New Mexico. Sachi Desai is with Bayer Crop Science. He has over 20 years of experience in AI and machine learning research, development and application across multiple industries including agriculture. Rishi Pethe has guest hosted this show a number of times. He is the author and publisher of the twice weekly newsletter, Software is Feeding the World. He also just released a whitepaper today which is a practical guide to generative AI and explains how organizations can go past proof of concept phase of these new capabilities. Make sure you go download that. I’ll leave a link for that in the show notes. 

I will also leave a link in the show notes where you can read the Agtech Alchemy Quarterly, which is what we’re going to talk about in today’s episode. I knew it would be filled with insights, but it surpassed my expectations, and it’s 116 pages long, so obviously we will just barely scratch the surface in today’s episode. Make sure you go read the full digest to understand what’s happening today in agtech. 

It was really cool to read thought pieces from creators back-to-back in the same document. I started making connections that I don’t think I would have made if I read them independently. If I had to summarize an overall theme for this one, it would be an exploration of if and when technology can be a true competitive advantage. There is a lot of talk of AI, especially generative AI, but the pieces run the gamut. Some of the authors you’ve heard from on this show in the past, like Janette Barnard, Matthew Pryor, Rishi Pethe, and Dan Schultz. Others are household names in agtech thought leadership like Shane Thomas and Walt Duflock. It’s a great mix and I think you’re going to enjoy today’s conversation which serves as a bit of an overview. 

A quick disclaimer: I will admit that this episode does get a little bit wonky because all four of us like to nerd out about agtech, but but it’s also a lot of fun, so stick with it. I think there are some really important concepts discussed. Then after you listen go read the full digest. 

Brought to you by Case IH:

Case IH designs, engineers and produces cutting-edge farm equipment based on a comprehensive understanding of farmers’ needs, wants and challenges, integrating these insights into their development and manufacturing.

For example, take their Model Year 25 Magnum tractor. The new Magnum is purposefully designed to answer farmers’ needs in every design and engineering choice. Improved horsepower for pulling heavier loads, faster.

Bundled, integrated and ready-to-go precision tech for greater accuracy in the field. And a transmission farmers can tweak for improved control and performance in different tasks.

That kind of design thinking is exactly where the future of ag is headed, and that’s why you’ll be hearing me talk to the folks at Case IH at different points throughout this quarter about what they do and how they’re working to push the ag forward.

This quarter of the Future of Agriculture podcast is made possible by Case IH: https://www.caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates

J.R. Simplot: A billion the hard way by Louie Attebery

Simplot company website

“During World War II, Jack Simplot’s plants produced thirty-three million pounds of dehydrated potatoes and five million pounds of dehydrated onion to fuel America’s fighting men and women. In the 1960s, he helped McDonald’s chief Ray Kroc turn the french fry into a national staple. In the 1980s, the Idaho farm boy with the eighth grade education played a major role in making the personal computer a household word. And as a new century begins, the company and the man show little sign of resting on the laurels.”

That is from the book J.R. Simplot: A Billion the Hard Way by Louie Attebery which tells the incredible life story of J.R. Simplot, more commonly known as Jack Simplot.

Today Simplot is a household name for those of us in agribusiness. The diversified global company has business interests in farming, ranching and cattle production, food processing, food brands, phosphate mining, fertilizer manufacturing, and other enterprises related to agriculture.

But the humble beginnings it came from and the incredible evolution of the company has a lot of insights for all of us interested in the future of agriculture and is the focus of today’s history of agriculture episode.

Brought to you by Case IH:

Case IH designs,engineers and produces cutting-edge farm equipment based on a comprehensive understanding of farmers’ needs, wants and challenges, integrating these insights into their development and manufacturing.

For example, take their Model Year 25 Magnum tractor. The new Magnum is purposefully designed to answer farmers’ needs in every design and engineering choice. Improved horsepower for pulling heavier loads, faster.

Bundled, integrated and ready-to-go precision tech for greater accuracy in the field. And a transmission farmers can tweak for improved control and performance in different tasks.

That kind of design thinking is exactly where the future of ag is headed, and that’s why you’ll be hearing me talk to the folks at Case IH at different points throughout this quarter about what they do and how they’re working to push the ag forward.

This quarter of the Future of Agriculture podcast is made possible by Case IH: https://www.caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates

Ocean Mist Farms: https://www.oceanmist.com/

Today’s episode features Mark Munger of Ocean Mist Farms in Castroville, California in the Salinas Valley. Mark shares a story that I think is very relevant to a lot of agriculture production today, all over the world. Although they’ve grown a great business to produce consistent, high quality, affordable, safe, nutritious commodities, they still face challenges. Rising costs, regulations, competition, and consumers whose expectations for convenience have gone up dramatically. These headwinds have propelled the company in the direction of innovation, and Mark is going to share that with us today. 

For background, Mark Munger is the director of marketing at Ocean Mist Farms, where he has been for the last 2 ½ years. But Mark is definitely not new to the industry - he has worked in fresh produce for almost 40 years, including positions at the Produce Marketing Association, Driscoll’s, 4Earth Farms, and others. 

Brought to you by Case IH:

Case IH designs,engineers and produces cutting-edge farm equipment based on a comprehensive understanding of farmers’ needs, wants and challenges, integrating these insights into their development and manufacturing.

For example, take their Model Year 25 Magnum tractor. The new Magnum is purposefully designed to answer farmers’ needs in every design and engineering choice. Improved horsepower for pulling heavier loads, faster.

Bundled, integrated and ready-to-go precision tech for greater accuracy in the field. And a transmission farmers can tweak for improved control and performance in different tasks.

That kind of design thinking is exactly where the future of ag is headed, and that’s why you’ll be hearing me talk to the folks at Case IH at different points throughout this quarter about what they do and how they’re working to push the ag forward.

This quarter of the Future of Agriculture podcast is made possible by Case IH: https://www.caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates

Hello fellow ag nerds. Today’s special episode is what I like to call a spotlight. Instead of our normal format of a 40 minute long form interview, it’s just a short peak into something interesting. The topics for these spotlights are determined in collaboration with our quarterly presenting sponsor, which this quarter is Case IH. 

Dan Klein is the Customer Insights Lead at Case IH and CNH. Dan grew up on a farm in Southwest Wisconsin, where he stays actively involved, working with his brother on the family farm. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s in Engineering Management, which have supported his 17-year career at CNH. 

What I wanted to know from Dan is how a company of their size is incorporating feedback from customers into the design of their machinery. They have a “built by farmers” promise, but how are they actually executing on that? 

Brought to you by Case IH:

Case IH designs,engineers and produces cutting-edge farm equipment based on a comprehensive understanding of farmers’ needs, wants and challenges, integrating these insights into their development and manufacturing.

For example, take their Model Year 25 Magnum tractor. The new Magnum is purposefully designed to answer farmers’ needs in every design and engineering choice. Improved horsepower for pulling heavier loads, faster.

Bundled, integrated and ready-to-go precision tech for greater accuracy in the field. And a transmission farmers can tweak for improved control and performance in different tasks.

That kind of design thinking is exactly where the future of ag is headed, and that’s why you’ll be hearing me talk to the folks at Case IH at different points throughout this quarter about what they do and how they’re working to push the ag forward.

This quarter of the Future of Agriculture podcast is made possible by Case IH: https://www.caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates

Agricultural Economic Insights: https://aei.ag/

Today's episode features David Widmar of Agricultural Economic Insights.

David first appeared on the show a year ago on episode 399, which ended up being one of my most listened-to episodes of the year. Today, we discuss the current state of the ag economy, the margin squeeze that farmers are facing and where that places us on the economic cycle that commodities tend to follow. We also talk about some key ideas and mental models that David has written about for how to manage risk during this challenging time for the industry. 

As background, David Widmar is an agricultural economist specializing in ag trends and the farm economy. Through his research, he supports agribusinesses and farmers in their strategic and planning efforts. David’s current work can be found at Agricultural Economic Insights, aei.ag, which he co-founded with Dr. Brent Gloy in 2014. Prior to Agricultural Economic Insights, Mr. Widmar was a researcher with the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, and served as the economist for the Kansas Department of Agriculture. 

Brought to you by Case IH:

Case IH designs,engineers and produces cutting-edge farm equipment based on a comprehensive understanding of farmers’ needs, wants and challenges, integrating these insights into their development and manufacturing.

For example, take their Model Year 25 Magnum tractor. The new Magnum is purposefully designed to answer farmers’ needs in every design and engineering choice. Improved horsepower for pulling heavier loads, faster.

Bundled, integrated and ready-to-go precision tech for greater accuracy in the field. And a transmission farmers can tweak for improved control and performance in different tasks.

That kind of design thinking is exactly where the future of ag is headed, and that’s why you’ll be hearing me talk to the folks at Case IH at different points throughout this quarter about what they do and how they’re working to push the ag forward.

This quarter of the Future of Agriculture podcast is made possible by Case IH: https://www.caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates

Mach: https://www.mach.io/

Today’s episode features Colin Hurd who is the CEO of Mach. Colin first appeared on this show back on episode 180 in November of 2019. At that time he had just sold his previous company, Smart Ag, to Raven Industries. Colin continued working for Raven Industries until 2022, when he left and eventually helped to bring together a partnership merger to form Mach. Mach works with Original Equipment Manufacturers (otherwise known as OEMs). These are all of the companies that manufacture equipment, in our context farm equipment. Mach helps these OEMs that want to incorporate autonomy into their products. 

This again is part of an insight I had at the FIRA USA show, which is that there is a whole emerging industry of companies that exist to service the robotics and automation companies so that they can bring their solutions to farmers. Mach is one of those companies. 

Also, I’m delighted to have Colin back on the show because he offers such a rich perspective as a technologist with a really deep understanding of agriculture and an accomplished entrepreneur. Colin discusses the current landscape of ag equipment manufacturers, some of the tailwinds and headwinds in bringing more autonomous solutions to the farm, a cool case study of how Mach works with another former podcast guest GUSS Automation, whether or not he thinks Mach can be a big company, and Colin’s predictions for what the future holds for this part of the industry. 

Brought to you by Case IH:

Case IH designs,engineers and produces cutting-edge farm equipment based on a comprehensive understanding of farmers’ needs, wants and challenges, integrating these insights into their development and manufacturing.

For example, take their Model Year 25 Magnum tractor. The new Magnum is purposefully designed to answer farmers’ needs in every design and engineering choice. Improved horsepower for pulling heavier loads, faster.

Bundled, integrated and ready-to-go precision tech for greater accuracy in the field. And a transmission farmers can tweak for improved control and performance in different tasks.

That kind of design thinking is exactly where the future of ag is headed, and that’s why you’ll be hearing me talk to the folks at Case IH at different points throughout this quarter about what they do and how they’re working to push the ag forward.

This quarter of the Future of Agriculture podcast is made possible by Case IH: https://www.caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates

Janette Barnard's Prime Future Newsletter: https://primefuture.substack.com/

Future of Agriculture YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FutureOfAg

Dr. G. Kee Jim is the founding partner of Feedlot Health Management Services Ltd. (FHMS). Dr. Jim’s cattle feeding companies (G.K. Jim Farms, Cattlinc Inc, Silverado Cattle Inc, Taweel Cattle Company Ltd, Korova Feeders Ltd, Diamond Feeders, Quality Beef Producers LP, CanTex Feeders LP, Tierra Blanca Cattle Feeders LP, and Ordway Cattle Feeders LP) are major players in the Canadian and United States cattle industries through ownership of cows, backgrounding cattle, grass cattle, feedlot cattle, and feedlots. In addition, Kee has served on the board of directors of several beef industry groups and as an Adjunct Professor in the Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and VERO at Texas A&M University.

Brought to you by Case IH:

Case IH designs,engineers and produces cutting-edge farm equipment based on a comprehensive understanding of farmers’ needs, wants and challenges, integrating these insights into their development and manufacturing.

For example, take their Model Year 25 Magnum tractor. The new Magnum is purposefully designed to answer farmers’ needs in every design and engineering choice. Improved horsepower for pulling heavier loads, faster.

Bundled, integrated and ready-to-go precision tech for greater accuracy in the field. And a transmission farmers can tweak for improved control and performance in different tasks.

That kind of design thinking is exactly where the future of ag is headed, and that’s why you’ll be hearing me talk to the folks at Case IH at different points throughout this quarter about what they do and how they’re working to push the ag forward.

This quarter of the Future of Agriculture podcast is made possible by Case IH: https://www.caseih.com/en-us/unitedstates

So much of what we talk about on this show comes together in the cab of a tractor to leverage technology and make the best possible decisions for the farm. And I really haven’t spent enough time exploring the innovations surrounding the tractor itself. We take it for granted a little bit, but it really is the hub of a modern farming operation. The Magnum Tractor has been a flagship of the Case IH brand since it debuted in 1987, and Joe does a great job of talking about the work that goes into making this essential piece of equipment the best it can be. 

Some background on Joe Miller:

He grew up on a farm in Rochester, Indiana and has always enjoyed working with equipment from a young age. This led to his current career with CNH which has included  business management, new equipment sales, and parts and service sales. Joe has an MBA from the Indiana Kelley School of Business and a masters in ag economics from Purdue. 

Brought to you by Case IH:

Case IH designs,engineers and produces cutting-edge farm equipment based on a comprehensive understanding of farmers’ needs, wants and challenges, integrating these insights into their development and manufacturing.

For example, take their Model Year 25 Magnum tractor. The new Magnum is purposefully designed to answer farmers’ needs in every design and engineering choice. Improved horsepower for pulling heavier loads, faster.

Bundled, integrated and ready-to-go precision tech for greater accuracy in the field. And a transmission farmers can tweak for improved control and performance in different tasks.

That kind of design thinking is exactly where the future of ag is headed, and that’s why you’ll be hearing me talk to the folks at Case IH at different points throughout this quarter about what they do and how they’re working to push the ag forward.