By Paul Schickler, Board Advisor, ZeaKal
Agriculture plays one of the most critical roles in the health and well-being of our people and planet. Throughout history, humanity has continuously fought against issues of poverty and, with it, the challenges of famine and malnutrition. Each time, agricultural innovation faced these trials and lifted the human condition. In fact, many of the technologies we enjoy today would not be possible without advancements in agriculture freeing up human capital. One could argue that agricultural innovation is the root of human technological progress. Here, I reflect on where agricultural innovation needs to go and where it will originate from.
Ag innovation: a brief history
During my eighteen-year tenure as President of DuPont Pioneer and Head of International Operations, I witnessed incredible scientific advancements to help farmers increase the productivity of each acre. During much of the 1900s, yields increased by more than 1.5% annually in corn through genetics, mechanization and agronomic practices. More recently, improvements in productivity accelerated as we further optimized genetics, invented new traits, developed trait stacks and added dual trait modes of action.
The combination of these innovations improved yields, increased stress resistance and introduced different herbicide tolerance and insect control products. The solutions addressed critical pain points faced by farmers around the world. Combined, these technologies helped farmers deliver the volume of food and feed the world needed. Farm operations expanded across North America and Brazil, and farmers in Asia and Africa adopted modern practices and gained greater access to new technologies. This innovation renaissance over the past three decades could be attributed to the leadership of a few companies including DuPont Pioneer (now Corteva), Monsanto (now Bayer) and others.
However, around 2014 things started to change. Supplies of commodities grew. Global regulatory systems became unpredictable. Environmental pressures intensified. Consumer preferences shifted. The science required to meet changing demands became not only more complex and lengthier, but also much more expensive. While I don’t believe that any of these headwinds will be the death knell of commodity agribusinesses, it changes what the market asks for from innovation. Instead of just yield, there is now demand for value in the form of better nutrition and even functionality. Farmers want new safer chemistries or biological solutions to fill a shrinking toolbox of crop protection products. Furthermore, farmers want greater choices in crop alternatives supported by toolsets available for major row crops like corn and soybeans.
“Instead of just yield, there is now demand for value in the form of better nutrition and even functionality.”
The role of start-ups in the future of agricultural innovation
As we enter this decade, I am convinced that the type of innovation the market is demanding will increasingly be served by the start-up community. While overall research spending across the large agricultural companies has remained relatively stable, it is now more focused and narrower among the majors due to complexity, unpredictability and increasing costs. To create the type of disruptive technologies that the world needs, innovation needs to be nimbler, more diverse, less constrained and responsive to changing trends. I see the emphasis on “Open Innovation” from the large companies as further validation that they also believe that the next generation of innovation will come externally from start-ups.
In the past eight years, the agtech sector has quickly grown, and venture capitalists, agribusinesses and farmers alike have taken notice. According to Finistere Ventures, since 2012 a record $25 billion has been invested into the agrifood sector, with upstream startups achieving a nearly 18% year-over-year increase in investment in 2019. Within this pool of investment, most science and research around “output traits”, greener chemistry, better nutrition and improved sustainability resided within the start-up community. These entrepreneurs are tackling incredibly complex challenges like improving grain composition and nutrition, providing alternatives to synthetic chemistry and responding to environmental concerns, to name a few. They are also from the outset telling a story that seeks to engage the consumer – something that our industry has been woefully lacking.
“To create the type of disruptive technologies that the world needs, innovation needs to be nimbler, more diverse, less constrained and responsive to changing trends.”
Despite all this innovation, more must be done as an industry to ensure that these technologies translate into in-market products that will benefit the world. During the previous era of innovate-and-deliver – the two decades of the 1990s and 2000s – the industry’s farmer-focused solutions did not adequately involve the supply chain and consumers. Our business model did not fully reflect or understand their needs. The result was an economy driven by volume and not value. The disconnect with consumers also further distanced the farm from the fork, which created a vacuum that allowed misinformation to seep in.
For this next generation of technology to succeed, we must not only commit to science innovation but also innovate the way technology engages with the supply chain and consumers. We must focus on how we can capture and share value creation from what the market is dictating at the dinner table back to the farmers who are growing it in the field. We must boldly encourage, support and invest in the entrepreneurs driving the future of agtech innovation. As I personally transition from leading one of the world’s top plant genetics companies to now mentoring breakthrough startups such as ZeaKal, I look forward to remaining at the cutting edge of agtech innovation and seeing how it will shape the world in the years to come.
