Programming Notes:
There will not be a weekly analysis email next week, but there will be a “Last Month in AgriFoodTech” email on December 1, 2024
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Happy Thanksgiving, if you do celebrate!
This week’s edition includes three separate but related stories, about the right metrics to compare performance, the right data to think about unit economics, and the right business model for the context.
- What is the right metric to measure equipment performance? It draws on comments from Feroz Sheikh (CIO of Syngenta), Craig Rupp (CEO of Sabanto), and how smaller equipment can redefine productivity.
- How did Four Growers think about unit economics, and where does unit economics need to be for tomato picking robots?
- What does Jaisimha Rao (CEO of Niqo Robotics) think about different business models based on the context?
AgTech Advisory Collective
The publisher for SFTW and product & technology strategy firm, Metal Dog Labs has joined the AgTech Advisory Collective. The collective is a global network of independent deep experts in AgTech. The independent consultants have expertise operating in Australia, the US, Canada, South America, and Europe. The collective is meant to provide deep industry specific advisory services, which large consulting firms cannot. The collective members have experience across product, strategy, marketing, go-to-market, pricing, product development etc. Do check out the collective’s website, and get in touch.
A map of the AgTech Advisory Collective and its strategic partners.
Right metric to measure equipment performance
During my “SFTW Convo” with Feroz Sheikh (Nov 13, 2024), Group CIO and CDO for Syngenta Group said the following about the future of agriculture. (highlights by me).
One of the other things I think is going to happen is AI will start to make the machines more autonomous. So we will start to see a little more of autonomy at precision. And when you take away the human factor, when the machines are operating autonomously, then you can imagine a sci-fi world of a swarm of robots operating in the field 24 x 7.
Then you don't need to have a very heavy machine that goes out in the field once every four weeks and has to spray a broadcast at that time. The autonomous machines can operate in the field and take an action instantly when they see a thing. So I think some of those can possibly be the future where we'll see novel practices, novel agronomy come into practice enabled through technology.”
In edition 143. Salinas, we have a problem (Sept 25, 2003), I had talked about a swarm of autonomous equipment, how they will be managed, and how what it means to farm will change. (highlights by me)
The notion of what it means to be in agriculture will change over time. You could be a “farmer” and work in a warehouse. (You could be a farmer, and work in a network operations center.) Even in broad acre production it'll change because as autonomous equipment and automation takes over, what it means to be a farmer will change.
The operations center owns and operates a fleet of equipment, which includes autonomous planters, autonomous selective sprayers, semi to autonomous scouting and spraying drones, autonomous harvesters, which are supplied with inputs like seed & chemicals, biological products, from a regional distribution center.
Craig Rupp, CEO of autonomous equipment startup Sabanto and a man with an opinion on everything, made a similar point last week. His contention is we have peaked in horse-power and heavy machines are causing agronomic damage due to compaction.
I believe we have peaked in horsepower. As autonomous technology matures; I believe horsepower will head in the other direction.
It is difficult to measure the economic impact of compaction on soil. According to a literature review done in 2020, median of 21% crop yield reduction for the next 2 yr for land areas impacted by deep wheel-traffic compaction during the 2019 harvest, with longer-term residual effects on crop yield reductions can and do occur but tend to be less than 5% and occur during inclement weather years.