Solving Growers’ Pain Points Through Technology

Problems are what drive innovation--and it’s what drives Grand Farm.

The Grand Farm Initiative was created to solve the biggest problems facing agriculture. From sustainable ag practices to grower profitability, Grand Farm will bring small businesses, corporations, higher education, research institutions, and government agencies together to create the farm of the future. However, at the heart of Grand Farm is the grower. If Grand Farm isn’t solving real problems that growers are facing right now, we’re wasting our time. That’s why throughout the summer, a collection of growers and industry professionals gathered at the Grand Farm Test Site to discuss pain points facing growers. From crop and soil management to data visualization to autonomous systems and the farm of the future design, dozens of pain points were identified and outlined.

Part of the future of Grand Farm is highlighting pain points growers are facing right now in hopes that the industry will work together to solve these problems.

 

Grand Farm Chapters

Here, we’ve broken the story into different Grand Farm chapters. As you read through the pain points, we’ve identified which Grand Farm chapters align with which pain points. This illustrates how small business, corporations, higher education, research institutions, and government agencies solve these problems.

Soil and Crop Management

Bringing new crops into production with new uses in agriculture. This includes the importance of land stewardship and the opportunity costs associated with changing crops.

Farm of the Future Design

This includes sustainability practices and how to approach different farm management principles. Other concepts may include farming as a service and agriculture technology as a service.

Autonomous Systems

The tools which automate tasks on the farm. This includes everything from the to the truck taking crops to the elevator to the decision making tools providing insights.

The Human Condition

The impact on humans connected to the farm. This includes everybody from the grower, their community, the workers in the agriculture supply chain and the consumer. At the end of the day, everyone is connected to agriculture in some way.

Information Flows

The collection of data, including standardization of that data across technology solutions, data privacy and cyber security and the ability to turn data into information and insights for the grower and the supply chain.

The Pain Points: