From agtech adoption problems to high performance farming teams, with Kevin Boyle, EFI
Agtech - So What?3 Sep 2025

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

Episoder(203)

Ep 68: David Carter on becoming the world's only carbon neutral fishing company

Ep 68: David Carter on becoming the world's only carbon neutral fishing company

David Carter is the CEO of Austral Fisheries, one of Australia’s largest integrated commercial fishing companies. Austral Fisheries is notable for being the only commercial fishing company in the worl...

3 Jun 202036min

Ep 67: tips from three leading farmers using tech everyday (live from evokeAG)

Ep 67: tips from three leading farmers using tech everyday (live from evokeAG)

This episode, live from the 2020 evokeAG conference in Melbourne, features three innovative Aussie producers: Brad “Jonesy” Jones; Sue “Chilla” Middleton; and Mark “Mort” Mortimer. We also cover: the ...

20 Mai 202030min

Ep 66: Jim Chambers (Trimble) and Derek Norman (Bayer) on agtech acquisitions

Ep 66: Jim Chambers (Trimble) and Derek Norman (Bayer) on agtech acquisitions

Today’s episode is all about corporate investments and acquisitions in agtech. Two guests, Derek Norman (VP at Leaps by Bayer) and Jim Chambers (President and General Manager of the Worldwide Agricult...

6 Mai 20201h 10min

Episode 65: The Alternative Protein Debate: live from Australia's first virtual, national agtech meetup

Episode 65: The Alternative Protein Debate: live from Australia's first virtual, national agtech meetup

Coming to you live from Australia's first national, virtual AgTech Meetup, this episode explores what alternative proteins are, how big they'll become, and whether this is a pending disruption or unta...

22 Apr 202045min

Ep 64 Pete Nelson on partnering with growers to build better agtech

Ep 64 Pete Nelson on partnering with growers to build better agtech

This week Sarah is joined by a guest host, Cass Mao, Principal Advisor at AgThentic, to chat with Pete Nelson of AgLaunch about how growers and agtech companies can work together in a model that they ...

8 Apr 202040min

Ep63 Evan Fraser on 3 barriers to agtech adoption and impacts of COVID-19 on agriculture

Ep63 Evan Fraser on 3 barriers to agtech adoption and impacts of COVID-19 on agriculture

Evan Fraser is a food systems innovation expert, the Director of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph in Canada, and the Founder of Feeding9Billion.Though he didn't grow up on a farm,...

25 Mar 202028min

Ep 62 Allison Kopf on indoor ag business models and women in agtech (rebroadcast)

Ep 62 Allison Kopf on indoor ag business models and women in agtech (rebroadcast)

We hear all the time that we need to "feed the world" and that "agtech can help" But what role will indoor farming play? How do these systems work, what can they grow, and how do they make money?Today...

18 Mar 202033min

BONUS Episode: Live panel from evokeAG 2020 featuring global agrifood tech experts

BONUS Episode: Live panel from evokeAG 2020 featuring global agrifood tech experts

evokeAG, Asia Pacific's largest agrifood tech event, brought together 1300 innovators earlier in February this year in Melbourne, Australia. The jam-packed event featured international experts, innova...

11 Mar 202043min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
pengepodden-2
utbytte
pengesnakk
finansredaksjonen
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
rss-sunn-okonomi
okonomiamatorene
lederpodden
rss-markedspuls-2
rss-fa-makro
boligbobla
rss-andelige-tanker-med-camillo
lederskap-nhhs-podkast-om-ledelse