Welcome to the 67th Edition of Upstream Ag Professional!
Index:
Guest Article: Agricultural Transitions for a Net Zero Economy, special feature - irrigation
Thoughts from Biostimulant World Congress
Q3 2024 Agribusiness Results Week of November 11th to 15th
New Approaches to Herbicide and Bioherbicide Discovery Highlights and Analysis
Innovation Theatre with Shane Thomas of Upstream Ag
It’s a Legacy Agriculture Company (Bayer Crop Science)—And Your Newest AI Vendor
The Sacred Cow-Volume Discount or Volume Bonus?
Why Do So Many Agtech Companies Struggle with International Scaling?
Bushel expands access to its payment network for farmers and agribusinesses
GROWMARK, Indigo Ag Form a Biologicals and Sustainability-Based Strategic Partnership
Elicit Plant Raises $48M in Series B Funding
Aggressive growth continues at FBN, evolving to meet members’ needs
Non-Ag Article from Morgan Housel
Other Ag Articles (7 this week)
1. Agricultural Transitions for a Net Zero Economy, special feature - irrigation - Upstream Ag Insights Guest Post by Dan Northrup of Galvanize Climate Solutions
This article is a guest post by Dan Northrup of Galvanize Climate Solutions, LLC.
Getting to net zero requires changes in agriculture. Like transportation where emissions result from multiple transportation modes – shipping, aviation, light duty, trucking, etc. - agriculture is comprised of many different production systems. In transportation, different technical developments are needed for each category. Similarly, it is important to consider the geographic regions, production systems, and end markets for agricultural decarbonization solutions.
In this article, I highlight the potential for irrigation management in regions of the Ogallala aquifer to extend economic productivity and achieve net zero goals. I believe that a combination of an incentive system and education can promote the adoption of technology and minimize the economic effects of water use reductions.
Check out the link for the full article from Dan Northrup.
Related: Agriculture – On the cusp of a rapid evolution - Upstream Ag Insights Guest Post by Dan Northrup of Galvanize Climate Solutions
2. Thoughts from Biostimulants World Congress
This week I attended Biostimulants World Congress in Miami.
It was great connecting with many of you and diving deeper into the world of biostimulants for the week.
I wanted to share a few thoughts from the week.
a. Soil Health is Not a Problem. At Least Not a Specific One.
I attended one panel that had individuals from distribution and ag retail talking about biostimulants and understanding farmer needs and requirements.
Nutrien Ag Solutions Senior Vice President of Retail, Rob Clayton, was a panelist and he started one of his comments out talking about the following:
“Biologicals have to be a solution for a problem.”
No argument here. It’s fundamental to the The Funnel of Specificity— understand the specific abiotic stress (aka problem) your biostimulant solves and ruthlessly lean into positioning your product for solving that stress:
For a more in depth walk through and case study, you can check out The Biostimulant Playbook, downloadable for Upstream Ag Professional members here.
What was notable to me was his comment later on:
“We are treating biologicals too much like crop protection products, there needs to be an emphasis on soil health.”
His first statement on solving a problem, which I agree with, is at odds with the latter statement.
Crop protection products are the epitome of products solving a problem, exactly what biostimulants should do:
