Strategies to Drive Change in Agriculture

Did you know that China has 22% of the world’s population but only 7% of its arable land? Yet, it has managed to ensure food security without relying heavily on imports. ❌Not through luck. ❌Not through endless expansion. ❌Not even through massive subsidies. China’s food security strategy is built on one thing: innovation in agriculture. Here’s how they’ve done it: ↳ Maximizing land use efficiency China has mastered the art of getting more from less. Farmers in rice-growing regions use the same paddy fields to raise fish. ↳ Carp fish thrive in flooded rice paddies, feeding on insects and algae, reducing the need for chemical pesticides. ↳ Once the fish mature, ducks are introduced to eat snails and insects, further controlling pests naturally. This integrated system increases productivity without requiring additional land. ↳ Expanding arable land China is actively converting once-barren land into productive farmland. ↳ Scientists have developed salt-resistant rice varieties that grow in coastal regions, turning previously unfarmable land into fertile ground. ↳ Desertification control projects are reclaiming vast stretches of desert and transforming them into agricultural hubs. ↳ Embracing technology Agricultural modernization is at the heart of China’s food security plan. The use of drones in farming has revolutionized food production: ↳ Lower labor costs ↳ Optimized irrigation ↳ Improved pest control Contrary to claims of forced labor in cotton fields, mechanization has taken over most tasks, making manual labor largely unnecessary. ↳ Innovative farming locations China has found ways to produce food in unconventional environments: ↳ Pigs raised in multi-story buildings and forests instead of traditional farms ↳ Sheep grazing under solar power plants, combining livestock farming with renewable energy production ↳ Deep-sea fish farming, including salmon, to increase seafood production The results? China has transformed its agricultural sector into a high-tech, high-efficiency system that sustains its massive population. Even at the household level, families make use of every available space. Instead of ornamental lawns, many urban and rural Chinese grow vegetables in their yards. I once traveled to Xian, China, and was amazed to see farmers growing corn on tiny patches of rocky terrain—where only a few square meters were available for cultivation. ↳ The key takeaway? Food security isn’t just about having more land—it’s about making the most of what you have. So, what lessons can other nations learn from China’s approach? ♻️ If this interests you, share it with your network and let’s discuss sustainable agriculture solutions! Follow Jean Claude NIYOMUGABO for more!

AgTech Ecosystem - sharing my top 6 ideas from the AgTech Roundtable event at Tulare World Ag Expo last month on how to help agriculture and AgTech continue to move forward and remain a vibrant part of California’s economy (not all of which got covered live): 1) Keep CA acreage here or it leaves and AgTech follows. What was 60,000 acres of CA asparagus in the 70s is now down to roughly 600 acres and the acreage, pack houses, and AgTech that grew and processed the asparagus moved to other regions to follow the asparagus out of CA. 2) Turn EV incentives into broader AgTech purchase incentives. We paid farmers $110 million through CARB in 2023 to buy EV tractors or trade in diesel tractors for EV tractors. Why not make that incentive available for all AgTech purchases like weeding and spraying robots? 3) Develop programs to increase regenerative agriculture practice funds. Pressure continues from governments and buyers on farmers to reduce chemical usage. The three common alternatives are biological solutions, genetic improvements, and regenerative practices. Biologicals and GMOs have some challenges - regenerative practices may be the place we can all agree should get more funding because every practice change costs money and adds risk for growers. 4) Embrace MAHA with healthy food incentives. Over 70% of Farm Bill spending (approaching 80%) goes towards SNAP for food assistance programs. How can we make sure that fruits, nuts, and vegetables are recognized as some of the healthiest alternatives and develop incentives that make those foods widely available and much more affordable? 5) Increase trade policy exports. With tariffs and trade policy being a hot topic in DC and among growers right now, it’s worth mentioning that fears about food scarcity need to be balanced with fears of scarcity of markets for products. We need to protect US and CA growers and one of the best ways to do that is with trade policies that help provide export markets for high value or value added products. Global fertility rates are slowing down everywhere and below replacement rates in many countries and the growth in domestic production globally is outpacing the need for food imports in many countries. Witness Peru – 2,180% ag export growth in 20 years to $10.6 billion while California grew by a much smaller 141%. Growers need markets. 6) Implement curriculum upgrades. I enjoyed my two hours with Cal Poly’s AG 452 class last month on a lot of the above topics, but came away with two thoughts: (1) how can we get this content out to a wider audience than the 25 hand-selected students chosen for 452 as a set of expected “Ag Communications leaders”; and (2) how do we get this kind of messaging into 100 and 200 series classes their first two years? We should all be working to get the off-field content in front of ag students early and often. AgTech Alchemy Rhishi P. Sachi Desai Rob Trice Adam Bergman Rob Dongoski Tim Nuss Tyler Nuss Vonnie Estes Carter Williams

6 ideas to scale the adoption of regenerative agriculture: 1. De-risk farmer transitions with yield-loss insurance. 2. Support farmers with the public-funded payback of existing agrochemical loans to enable new loans related to regenerative agriculture inputs and working capital. 3. Provide low-interest loans (de-risked by public institutions) for farmers transitioning to regenerative practices. 4. Investment into: Input-manufacturing (and nursery) infrastructure to increase the availability and reduce the cost of inputs. Post-harvest infrastructure in regions with regenerative farming clusters to aggregate, and guarantee the sale of premium outputs to reach diversified marketing channels. 5. Connect transitioning regenerative farmers with high quality, and ongoing capacity building services through extension services (ideally farmer to farmer). 6. Additional economic incentives via carbon credits, biodiversity credits, labor credits, etc. Anything to add to this list? Photos Courtesy of Juntos Farm

The biggest barrier to innovation in #agriculture isn’t funding, talent, or tech. It’s the gravitational pull of “how it’s always been done.” What Clay Christensen called the incumbent value network. The cost structures, pricing models, value delivery systems, and customer expectations. They’re what made the dominant players successful… and what now makes it nearly impossible for anyone else to play a different game. Most new ideas in ag don’t fail because they’re bad. They fail because they try to succeed within the very system they were meant to replace. They mimic the incumbents. - Same business model. - Same language. - Same brochure—just with a shinier logo and some added “digital” component. And in doing so, they give up the one advantage they had…the freedom to build something the old guard can’t follow. In the 1800s, Western Union was an 800 pound gorilla. They had the wires. The operators. The pricing model. If you wanted to send a message, you used their telegraph system. Then Alexander Graham Bell showed up with the telephone. It didn't seem scalable. It didn't seem powerful. It could only carry voices 250 feet. To Western Union, it looked like a toy. They passed on buying the patent. Two years later, they realized their mistake, but it was too late. The best companies don’t win by building a better mousetrap. They win by building a different system entirely. Not just product improvements, but value network shifts. A new way to create, deliver, and capture value. And that’s what changes the game. This is the strategic error we keep repeating in agriculture. Nearly every ag retailer is copying the shop down the road… Trying to be just a little more local, a little more helpful, while still playing by their rules, on their turf. Seed sellers are shouting about yield and price. Chasing tiny statistical gains that no one tells a neighbor about. #Agtech companies are piling into “data-driven insights” and “digital platforms.” A blur of sameness. Equipment manufacturers talk “more horsepower.” Lenders promise “better rates.” But many of us forget to give our customers a real reason to switch. We’re all playing the same game. On the same field. With the same rules. We even have many of the same lines in the same brochures and ads. This is the core problem in ag marketing today. - We’ve stopped making real promises. - We’ve shrunk to just making product claims. - We benchmark specs. - We pitch marginal gains. And then we wonder why no one listens. The companies that will win the next era of ag won’t play the game better. They’ll change the game entirely. Are you building a slightly better version of what already exists? Or are you building a new system the incumbents can’t follow without falling apart? Make something different. Make people care. Make fans, not followers. #agricultureandfarming #marketing