From agtech adoption problems to high performance farming teams, with Kevin Boyle, EFI

From agtech adoption problems to high performance farming teams, with Kevin Boyle, EFI

When the agtech is not working in the field, we can be quick to search for answers in the product itself. But sometimes, the solution is not there. That’s because it’s not a technical problem, but rather a social systems challenge.

Kevin Boyle is the Director of Organizational and Workforce Development at the Equitable Food Initiative (EFI). He argues that a key component of the farming and food system is often overlooked; and that’s the people who work on the ground. Farm workers can be seen as low-skilled, with little more to offer than the set tasks they perform. However, Kevin is seeking to change this approach, to better recognize the knowledge these workers have, and to create recognizable career paths for them.

Kevin also believes that focusing on the workforce will ultimately benefit the development and adoption of agtech. He spent much of his career in telecommunication tech, where he helped integrate the new digital technologies of the 1990s into the system, including the workers.

Sarah and Kevin discuss:

· Kevin’s unique career background, from growing up on a farm, to working in telecommunications tech, and consulting across Europe and the United States.

· How the perception of farm workers as ‘tools’ rather than humans with skills, knowledge, and desires has hindered tech adoption.

· How to better recognize the skills and knowledge of farm workers, to build high performance farming businesses

· How applied university research can be used to test a product in the broader system before it goes to market.

Useful links:

· Can robotics solve the farm labor problem? With Connie Bowen and Sophie Thorel

· How policy hamstrings agtech in California - Walt Duflock

Jaksot(203)

The Future of Fertilizer - Nitrogen, with Jupiter Ionics and Kula Bio

The Future of Fertilizer - Nitrogen, with Jupiter Ionics and Kula Bio

This is the first episode in our series on the future of fertilizer, starting with Nitrogen - the N in NPK.Russia’s war in Ukraine has collided with natural gas supply chain disruptions and sent the p...

19 Loka 202234min

On-Farm Climate Risks and the Future of Ag Finance with Clay Govier

On-Farm Climate Risks and the Future of Ag Finance with Clay Govier

For a year that has already seen so much downside for US farmers in the form of extreme weather - from droughts to soaring temperatures - there’s another risk looming: rising interest rates. Adapting ...

12 Loka 202230min

Legacy Finance Eyes Agtech, with Wells Fargo

Legacy Finance Eyes Agtech, with Wells Fargo

While early-stage agtech tends to play in the venture world, it pays to check in with how folks sitting in banking think about their role as partners to startups. Traditional lenders can draw on the b...

5 Loka 202228min

Systems Thinking and the Legacy of Big Food, with Dr Nigel Hughes, Kellogg

Systems Thinking and the Legacy of Big Food, with Dr Nigel Hughes, Kellogg

The decisions by major food companies impact consumers, farmers, and the environment at every stage of the agrifood value chain. But the status quo strategies of ‘Big Food’ don’t always acknowledge th...

21 Syys 202232min

Changing the Risk Profile of Agriculture: a farmer's perspective on parametric insurance

Changing the Risk Profile of Agriculture: a farmer's perspective on parametric insurance

We recently launched a three-episode deep dive into the future of risk and insurance in agriculture. Over the course of the series, we heard from one listener who offered to share his experience using...

7 Syys 202233min

What Commodity Agriculture Can Learn from Organic Farming, with Amy Bruch, Cyclone Farms

What Commodity Agriculture Can Learn from Organic Farming, with Amy Bruch, Cyclone Farms

While the term “organic” tends to be associated with small-scale production and a preference for manual tools over the latest technology, organic farming advocates claim their methods can reduce the...

24 Elo 202233min

Defining the Future of Ag Advocacy, with Emma Germano, Victorian Farmers Federation

Defining the Future of Ag Advocacy, with Emma Germano, Victorian Farmers Federation

Agriculture is exposed to a complex tangle of laws, trade agreements, and competing visions of the future. For farmers, adjustments by legislators at any level of government can have an impact. So whi...

10 Elo 202228min

Bonus Ep: Audience Responses to "The Three Fears of Farm Data"

Bonus Ep: Audience Responses to "The Three Fears of Farm Data"

Back in May, we published an experimental bonus episode called “The Three Fears of Farm Data”. The conversation centered around the legitimacy of fears held by farmers about sharing their farm data, a...

3 Elo 202234min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
psykopodiaa-podcast
mimmit-sijoittaa
rss-rahapodi
rss-rahamania
rss-lahtijat
ostan-asuntoja-podcast
rahapuhetta
rss-neuvottelija-sami-miettinen
rss-h-asselmoilanen
rss-laakispodi
inderespodi
rss-porssipuhetta
rss-startup-ministerio
rss-bisnesta-bebeja
sijoituspodi
rss-strategian-seurassa
asuntoasiaa-paivakirjat
rss-merja-mahkan-rahat
rss-paasipodi