There's some rumors brewing in AgTech

Aug 2nd, 2023 - My 38th Edition of Easy Observations in Agriculture

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Opening Thoughts:

I come recently from a place of rumors, reality, colleagues, and new becomings from a space of Ag and Technology. That is TechHub Live in Des Moines brought to you by Meister Media. To start off, no they didn’t pay me to say that. Two, I sort of just went there on a whim along with my knowledgable and every increasingly stubborn father. Sorry Dad…then again the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

In any realm, it was not only what I first described, but also a therapy session for many of us others in a weird but good way. With that and the history and gossip many start to spew out I did find out some good ole truths and certain “maybe true” details from not only ones that were at the show, but ones that definitely were not. It shows…

So, for this splendid week in AgTech tomfoolery I decided just to write what I heard and confirmed to what I heard and let’s say heard without confirmation while not being surprised with a dash of common sense and logic getting to a strong confirmation of likely hood. Anyway, shut up Nathan and get to it finally.

Excuse me…a baking powder?

It’s a Waynes World reference for you oldies and kiddos. Translated to “Excuse me, I beg your pardon?” Yes dumb, but if you grew up in pop culture from the 90s, well you know and also it’s great. So, now on to cross the t’s and dot the…lower case j’s.

Rumor #1: Farmers Edge fired 80% of its staff and basically have left all countries besides Canada. That also means the US.

I don’t know exact details, but is anyone really surprised? Clearly it’s needed and maybe they survive somehow, but considering the lawsuits they have (look up Precision Weather Solutions and FE…OOOFFF and don’t forget the FarmMobile one) the bigger issue is they probably can’t be acquired by anyone even for little or nothing. I just can’t go deeper as I just can’t anymore. Then again Wade Barnes (former founder and CEO of FE) just started his own agronomy company….again and I’ll just say this, as long as that is what it is and doesn’t create FE 2.0 it’ll likely be just fine. While I’ve been plenty critical of him (much well deserved), he does know agronomy. I knew him well from the beginning between 05’-11’ when they used Satshot (my families company) for most of their VR data work and we have plenty of stories, weird but good. Most don’t know those stories as he failed to tell them in how it all really started, but it really worked well for awhile and a good foundation was set. Then again sometimes things change and that is what it is. As for his rehash of what he originally started as a precision based agronomy group, farmers will be the judge I suppose. As for FE, time will tell and it doesn’t look great.

Rumor #2: Speaking of FarmMobile, AGI (i.e Ag Growth International) it sounds like it has completely shut down most if not all products, solutions, and people from their acquisition of FarmMobile. Fun…

While I gather there was a decent plan initially to stay true and expand the product, the real numbers didn’t lie and it couldn’t stand up to the scrutiny of the corporate world. I’ve always gathered their PUC product could have struggles eventually as others came out with their version swamping the market. Also lately other systems have evolved to not need an PUC and that trend (along with the lawsuit) really took some steam out of it all I feel. Beyond that, other connected products of theirs just couldn’t live up to the reality with helping farmers sell their data and beyond. I hear AGI doesn’t want anyone to know that this is a thing and maybe it’s not I guess. If so (and likely), some good and smart people were/are part of that so it’s too bad. What do you do?

Rumor #3: Telus Ag is sort of a mess.

This one hits home a little as I used to work there for a bit. While much of what I knew and did there has changed dramatically I can tell you this for sure. Also, merging 15 companies in 3 years with 1500 people between groups that have very little initial cross over is freakin hard and also a little crazy. Many people are not blind either and have seen many that were there leave and/or shift to other things. I know I have. From leadership to us normals, there’s been a lot of chaos. Also, Telus Ag (and Consumer Good which they added after my time) is not on its own anymore and is under the group called TBS (Telus Business Solutions) which is a big tell. That wasn’t the original plan. It doesn’t mean the end of the world, but it does mean that a big reset is happening. Now for the positive side, TBS is a good and smart group from what I experienced while there and they are also releasing something big soon I guess. Keep watch I suppose.

Rumor #4: FBN is getting desperate

This is part perception, part common sense, and part obvious. To start, they are on like their series E funding raise or something? That’s just wild. Also, the plan to go public hasn’t really panned out and they likely can’t considering SPACs are dead and it’s not really the best time to do that anyway, though I could be wrong. They haven’t gained the Ag Retail market share like planned and are as always coming out with some new shtick all the time. Now it’s farmland values. So I get that isn’t the biggest shift from what they can do technically, but working in that space recently in my consulting world for a group that lives there I can tell you it’s a weird place for them to go and seems very desperate. I think many have seen some leadership changes and beyond plus there are some firing rumors too so who knows what they do next or where it goes. Regardless, their hype just really hasn’t lived up to reality. They done some good, but it’s hard to go up against traditional Ag Retail. A final note, they are on the hook for a lot of expensive generic glyphosate and the price now has dropped a lot so that is going to be a big money loss for them. There’s been and still is worse, but jeez something isn’t right there.

Rumor #5: What the heck would happen to Climate?

As many know, there is the rumor of Bayer splitting off Monsanto as it has been said to be one of the worst acquisitions every looking at the numbers and legal issues. Sure, but that’s not what I and others are wondering and saying. Say that did happen, one wonders what would happen to the enormous loss leader that is Climate. It’s one thing to make sense of that in a giant corp, but another one to assume nothing would happen to it if Monsanto got kicked out of Bayer. When that initially happened, like half of the employees under Climate left or got canned. It set them back. Beyond what is mentioned above there is a big elephant in the room regarding Climate. That is the up and coming software AGCO and its Precision Planting brand is building. That is a software that allows you to disregard Climate Fieldview and instead connect to Precision Planting hardware with its own software. That is like 80% of the reason people have Fieldview in my opinion and others feel similar. Get ready for a bloodbath of user changes soon.

Rumor/not Rumor #6: Planet has let go 10% of its staff which is 100% open and true. There’s more to this though.

I’ll start off by saying this… One: They are not 100% Ag. Two: Planet has messed up in the past in Ag and while there are things I don’t 100% agree with, I also know they have helped the Earth Observation (EO) in Ag a lot and in many ways just educationally. As for this layoff, nothing about it surprises me and it also isn’t linked directly to Ag. Parts likely do though as Ag has been traditionally a big part of their push, but that has waned in recent years. So it’s a part of it. The larger reason is likely the giant push (and now pushback) many EO groups pursued lately due to a crazy EO investment cycle pre and current Ukraine War timeline. There was a lot of quick money from the DOD and governments (climate, carbon, war) lately to expand and while it was good, cycles happen and trends digress. While that is its own thing, it affects the Ag aspect and the reality. The general rumor is they just aren’t selling into Ag in the way they hoped, but they are making some good changes. I could dive really deep here, but I won’t. They mean well and stuff sometimes just happens. EO is a really really tough market on all fronts I can tell you.

Rumor #7 (last one and most vague): This one sucks as there is just a bad actor in the aerial imagery game and I can’t say who, but I also don’t want to harm them or others.

I mean it when I say that. Why I bring it up though is I naturally have a giant connection to imagery in agriculture and the history of it all. It’s part of me whether I like it or not. I do like it by the way. It also has been plagued with problems over the years. Plenty of good too, but bad actors in this space are nothing new. Let’s just say this, most mean well and are trying to do their best. The failing isn’t because it doesn’t have a market or that it is bad data. The issue is it’s just a really hard business process. Most all imagery based companies and especially in Ag have had issues and bad beats. I know better than most. Back to why I mention this is I’ve seen single groups throw imagery in Ag back years because of one bad decision. I can’t deal with it anymore and want people to know this. So I say this, if you are having an issue with a particular aerial imagery group please let me know. I’m not here to destroy this group, just to keep the peace and help where I can to eliminate larger scale perception problems. The issue is that people are not getting the data and they’ve already paid for and a backup plan isn’t being addressed. That is all and I really hope it can get figured out. It can I know for sure in some realm. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just an admittance of the problem and a way to mitigate it in some way. That’s it.

In Closing:

Say what you will and I’m sure I’ll get some good reaction from this one, but sometimes rumors (and some truths between it all) need to be mentioned to the public in some realm. While some of these things are not rumors at all and are real, parts are naturally heresy and opinion. I mean, I’m pretty sure you all get how this works and why I write.

As always, this isn’t me just trying to say this to ruin that. That is never my want, need, or desire. I mention these things so people can learn from it. AgTech and Agriculture in all its good and bad has well, good and bad. We all hear the good too often and not the real things happening.

Ag sugarcoats itself around the notion of feeding the world and helping people live. Yes it’s real, but in reality it works just like many other industries, except it’s BS can be hidden so much easier behind the curtain of Food. It’s easy to hide behind the Food curtain and if that is what you have to do then I get it. I’ve been there. If you have a voice to call out and question some of the problems, issues, and bad crap out there then please do so. We all need it so Ag can be what it really needs to be. This is a beacon to human nature and collective civilization. Ag is why we are where we are from the beginning. That is powerful, yet also very delicate. So, be good not bad. It’s not that hard.

Thanks for reading Easy Observations! Please Share, Subscribe, and Comment if you would be so kind. I’d also be happy to get together and meet if you’d like to talk more in-depth about AgTech or Earth Observation in Ag. Feel free to contact me at my website. All the best!