Upstream Ag Professional - October 8th 2023

Essentials news and analysis for agribusiness leaders

Welcome to the 12th edition of Upstream Ag Professional!

Index for the week:

1. Artificial Intelligence and the Supply Chain in a World of Converging Agribusiness Software

2. Exploring Incumbent Innovation in Agriculture

3. Nutrien Investing $300 Million Over the Past 5 Years in Digital Solutions

4. Hit the Bullseye with Customer-Centric Marketing

5. Fundamentals of Technology and Keys to Implementation

6. Discipline in What You Offer

7. In Case You Missed It:

   a. Rantizo Raises More than $6 Million to Scale Automation Orchestration

   b.Highlights and Analysis of AGCO's Acquisition of Trimble Ag Assets and Joint Venture

   c. Predictably Irrational: The Dilemma of AgTech Adoption

   Thank you for your continued support!

---

1. Artificial Intelligence and the Supply Chain in a World of Converging Agribusiness Software - Upstream Ag Professional

Key Takeaways

• Large Language Models such as Chatbots are poor tools for supply chain-based AI. Alerts are a better approach.

• Supply chain based AI integrated into upstream agribusiness software will be a further battleground in the future, with potential implications on profit pools in the upstream input portion of the value chain, such as on input distributors.

• The convergence of software functionality is just beginning, and we are likely to see consolidation in this area of the agtech world.

---

This week, I read news from Agriculture Dive on an AI chatbot that can help predict farm supply chain disruptions.

It caught my eye, specifically if we extrapolate the functionality more upstream in the agriculture value chain:

Helios on Thursday launched Cersi, a chatbot that harnesses billions of climate, economic and political signals to forecast potential supply chain risk down to the farm level. The virtual assistant is part of Helios’ larger risk management platform, which was launched in December, and is meant to help large food companies get a better handle over their agriculture supply chains.

Helios focuses more on the downstream supply chain for CPG companies securing grain supply from farms.

I think this presents a valuable example of two things directly related to upstream portions of the value chain:

1. Opportunity for product evolution in upstream supply chains.

2. An example of where a Large Language Model ChatBot interface isn’t the best default approach.

I also believe this functionality will become a future feature contributing to digital battlegrounds in the agribusiness software.

Opportunity for software evolution in upstream supply chains.