2023 Purdue Food and Agribusiness Executive Summit Featured Case Studies and Topics

Loftus Ranches

Data in agriculture is ubiquitous, data science is not. Despite the significant amount of time, energy, and money to collect data, the promise of data driven agriculture continues to prove illusive. However, data by itself does not provide enough insight to drive the business decision-making producers desire. In 2019, Patrick Smith of Loftus Ranches in Yakima, Washington began a journey to address the mountain of data, but death of data science, on his 3000+ acre hops, apples and specialty crops operation.

Investing in talented people to redesign the operation’s data structure and, in turn, developing a series of analytical tools driven by the data resulted in surprising insights. Patrick and his key partner,

Tim Raiswell, have since expanded the scope of the data science team beyond Loftus Ranches to become Loftus Labs. A wholly owned subsidiary of Loftus Ranches, Loftus Labs offers data structure and analytics consulting to a number of agribusinesses in the Northwest. What first motivated Patrick and Loftus Ranches to make this investment? What were the driving factors that lead them to create a separate business unit? What benefits do they see in sharing the capabilities they have invested so heavily in? Where does Tim, see the future of data analytics and agribusiness and the future of Loftus Labs?

Allan Gray will be joined by Patrick and Tim to explore the first application of data science within Loftus Ranches and branching out to several other applications since the formation of Loftus Labs. Mini-cases will give first-hand knowledge of the transition from data collection to data management to data analytics, and finally, to data insights that drive decision-making.

In recent years, the business discipline of SCM exploded into popular news headlines. Some declared global supply chains “broken”, but many more fought diligently to recover from the unimaginable global disruption of shutting down and then restarting entire developed countries! Today, many companies are evaluating supply chain resilience and recovery and are working to implement supplier risk assessment and business continuity plans. These are important and good SCM activities, as “black swan” events will happen again.

Although much hype and attention are given to major supply chain disruptions, this session will explore how supply chain management is continuously tasked with meeting customer expectations in uncertain supply and demand environments. Day-in and day-out, SCM success is measured by customers, created by building supply chain capabilities aligned with business strategies and maximized when considering the complexities of uncertainty.

Managers in supply chain functions are often asked to provide outstanding customer service AND improved efficiency. Is this possible? Yes, such pareto moves are possible, but difficult. Bobby Martens and an industry guest will discuss how many supply chains designed to be efficient and low-cost struggle to provide outstanding customer service because of uncertainty. For success, complexities of uncertainty must be considered when (re)designing and managing supply chains. In food and agribusiness sectors, distinctions such as animal and plant biology and unique consumer expectations create additional constraints and opportunities.

ESG (environmental, social and governance strategies) has been growing as an important C-suite focus over the last decade, now representing a $27T market growing at 17% per year. As this significant topic gains more visibility, how will agriculture determine which strategies will add the most value to the food and agribusiness ecosystem and ultimately, the shareholders?

Dora Lutz, ESG strategist says, “While other industries are beginning to realize that managing the ecosystem’s health is the right thing to do in order to sustain their long-term business, agriculture inherently understands the importance.”

In this session, Dora will be joined by industry guests: Natasha Cox, Farm Credit Mid-America; Rob Aukerman, Phibro Animal Health; and Gregg Halverson, Black Gold Farms, for a conversation about how their organizations are addressing ESG. She will also discuss the new questions emerging as ESG pressures continue to grow. For more information around these questions and steps an organization can pursue, read Dora’s recent blog: Creating Social Impact with an Eye Towards Profitability.

Climate FieldView

Over the last couple of years, an overwhelming number of agtech organizations have been attracting investors. According to AgFunder, an estimated $15 billion investment has been made in upstream startups in 2021. Undoubtedly, there is competition, as well as collaboration, to lead the way and provide value in this space.

As a result, companies across the globe are developing digital solutions that are assisting farmers in using data to make decisions that drive efficiency, sustainability and, ultimately, profitability. Bayer’s Climate FieldView (CFV) is an example of a platform designed to help farmers take data and information to insights and recommendations, adding value to their operation.

Alexandre Pimenta, Head of Climate FieldView Latin America, Melissa Hara, Head of Marketing Climate Latin America, and Thiago Junqueira, Digital Lead North America Bayer, will join Luciano Castro and Marcos Fava Neves for a discussion exploring the challenges and opportunities for digital agriculture in the Brazilian and U.S. marketplaces. Participants will have the opportunity to share their perspective and experience in this quickly expanding world of digital business models.

Center for Food and Agricultural Business

Although the terminology of data and technology create buzz, most organizations realize that the insights and improved decision making must be what delivers on the promise. There are many examples in recent history of underutilized technology. Most of us don’t even maximize the capacities of what our cell phones can bring, as only one common example.

What will it take for organizations who adopt technology and generate data to realize the benefits it promises? What support would be needed from sellers or third parties to recognize short/long term returns that would cover the systemic costs? How should subscriptions for access be considered within these calculations? Is the promise being oversold or is machine/data capacity outpacing human capacity to adopt behaviors quickly enough to realize it? Or is it something else? In any case, how should organizations be considering this for themselves, their customers, and their suppliers?

Scott Downey will facilitate a conversation with industry guests and the audience focusing on technology breakthroughs, practices in place, barriers, challenges and ultimately the opportunities.  

More information coming soon.

Center for Food and Agricultural Business

After many intense strategic conversations, we will wrap up the summit with Allan Gray and Marcos Fava Neves leading the group through a discussion summarizing key take-aways and action steps.