"There is a lot of innovation occurring in the ag space," High Alpha Innovation Director Ryan Larcom said at the start of the roundtable chat at Purdue DIAL Ventures' latest Future of Agrifood innovation summit.

"It's just that we're not innovating at the same speed as everyone else."

One reason for the lack of forward-thinking transformation in AgriFood, per Ryan? The sector is hindered by "the fact that we are a physical industry."

That said, Ryan and the trio of ag experts who took part in the panel noted there is a big opportunity for industry-led innovation today and tomorrow.

The future of AgriFood: What we recently learned about the state of food and agriculture innovation

Large private capital investments have been made in recent years to upgrade existing and build new agricultural products that address key challenges and needs around the food supply chain, sustainable development, and natural resource protection.

Yet McKinsey reports that, despite "recent increases in on-farm profitability and strong investments over the last decade, there is a high openness to innovation, yet adoption is slow."

It's not that farmers aren't willing to embrace innovation today. Many are.

As the summit panel agreed, it's just a matter of agtech companies earning their trust. They must prove their new and/or enhanced offerings will have a positive impact on farmers' day-to-day operations and lead to greater cost-efficiency, productivity, and profitability.

"We still have a long way to go in terms of leveling adoption rates with the rate of groundbreaking agricultural innovations entering the market," Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research Fellow Enrique Pena Martinez recently wrote. "However, we can begin meaningful conversations with our farmers to genuinely comprehend their needs and values."

The opportunity to address farmers' needs lies with corporate leaders, like those who took the stage in Chicago at the latest edition of the DIAL-run event who, as Ryan noted, have embraced three specific types of agrifood-centric innovation:

• Buying: Kubota North America CTO Brett McMickell
• Building: Compeer Financial Innovation Strategy Consultant Bridget Deering
• Borrowing: Nutrien Ag Solutions Head of Digital and Agronomic Collaboration Aman Anand

Here's what these execs had to say at the Future of Agrifood summit about the success they've seen with their distinct innovation models — and an example of a new agtech startup co-created by High Alpha Innovation and DIAL that shows the upside of collaborative venture creation.

Kubota's ag-centric PortCos contributing to business growth

Food, water, and the environment are the three focus areas for Kubota.

An internal R&D team regularly explores expansions and updates to its core products along with other concepts to address ag-related challenges tied to the above business themes.

But Brett noted acquisition is a also a lever Kubota has frequently pulled in recent years to add new portfolio companies that can boost the effectiveness of its farm equipment.

"We participate in [corporate venturing] looking at startups," said Brett. "Particularly in areas where we might not have traditional expertise."

"Fast-changing areas like AI and ML, there's a lot going on there," Brett continued. "We don't have the expertise [in these areas], and we're not ready to make that big bet to scale out. So that's where we put the work in this startup area and place some small bets."

In terms of acquiring companies, Brett said that, once a prospective portfolio company is ready to scale and it makes sense to scale from a timing perspective (where Kubota can take advantage of an emerging market opportunity), that's when the business gets really interested in making an investment.

As long as an external startup is aligned with the strategic interests of Kubota and does its due diligence to make the business case for either folding into existing Kubota products or helping to expand its product line, Brett said they will seriously consider working with those startups.

"Regulations are changing," Brett added. "In order to [provide value to customers], there's a collaboration and partnership that has to occur. It's really that customer-centric view and making the growers the most productive they can be that's driving that innovation [in ag]."

Compeer's intrapreneurship program leading to new ideas

The rise of intrapreneurship at corporations, especially those in the AgriFood space, as a way to unlock growth and transformation shouldn't come as a surprise.

But empowering employees to pursue new business ideas and giving them R&D resources to see those ideas through — from testing proof of concepts, to developing business plans and go-to-market proposals — isn't something all C-suites do for their workforce.

Bridget noted how Compeer has embraced the intrapreneurship approach and empowered employees to innovate.

The organization gives staff members who join its Kickbox intrapreneurship program the tools and backing they need to fully evaluate and validate ideas that can potentially improve the business.

"We're really curious about how we can serve the future farmer," said Bridget. "Who is this person? Where do they live? How do they grow their crops? And what are their needs?"

And a big part of serving future farmers is allowing Compeer employees to build on their ideas in Kickbox and make it easier for growers and producers to strengthen their businesses, Bridget added.

Bridget noted one "Kickboxer" is working on an idea to improve farmers' access to equity-free capital. The concept would make it easier to get money needed to buy new machines, streamline operations, and scale their businesses.

"That's just one example of how we're thinking about building, starting with problems," said Bridget. "And that's why I think we love Purdue, DIAL Ventures, and High Alpha Innovation. Because it is truly, 'How can we love the problem from the beginning, and how we can iterate and improve from there?'"

Bridget added Compeer is a year into the Kickbox program. In that time, a strong culture of ideation and experimentation — one they learned from venture studios and builders — is now in place.

"Allowing team members [at Compeer] to work on ideas and to use proven discipline of innovation, human-centered design, we can start to scale innovation around the business," said Bridget. "Whether that means a new product ... we're really excited."

Nutrien's university partnerships aiding R&D and licensing

Without an in-house R&D arm to help augment existing products and work on other innovation initiatives, Aman noted Nutrien Ag Solutions has to turn to other avenues to explore ideas that can strengthen the business.

That's where university partners come in. Aman said they take on research validation projects requested by Nutrien (including recent ones around land grant utilization)  share insights on their o' I that the company can explore licensing to improve .

Despite outsourcing some innovation work, Aman said it's still a collaborative effort.

"Innovation does not happen in isolation," Aman explained. "Innovation is not a solo act."

With a clearly defined mission of "Feeding the Future," Aman said Nutrien is committed to working with research universities in its network to tackle Nutrien customers' biggest needs and concerns: from increasing crop yield and reducing food loss, to better protecting soil and crops.

As with Kubota, Aman said any idea brought forth by university partners based on their research — which, as of early 2024, includes analysis of remote sensing, drone, and farm/food system management opportunities — is put under the microscope to ensure it's the right fit for Nutrien.

Innovative AgTech platform launched for farmers and brands

The panel conversation was highly informative. But there were also plenty of other insights shared and news and trends discussed.

That includes the latest startup created by High Alpha Innovation and DIAL Ventures that was launched just before the summit.

Make Hay, a B2B AgTech marketing platform, provides unique benefits for today's farmers across the U.S. and brands and consumers:

• Producers and growers can share their authentic stories around how they grow nutritious foods and raise livestock by shooting videos on their phones.
• Restaurants, retailers, and manufacturers can use that content on their social media accounts to build trust and increase transparency with customers.
• Consumers can see the origins of the food production from farmers throughout the nation and better understand the quality of brands' food products.

Make Hay marks the fourth advantaged startup developed by DIAL Ventures and High Alpha Innovation, who have also brought Croft, Oaken, and Gripp to market in recent years. And we're already working on the next AgriFood-focused startup to launch later in 2024.

Ryan shared how this kind of collective AgriFood system innovation will lead to further advancements for both ag-focused companies and farmers.

"We believe the industry ought to come together to innovate," said Ryan.

"There are some potential disruptors out there. [But] we can actually do more damage if we're being more thoughtful about how we're disrupting ourselves and our business models through innovating."