Innovator Round Tables

Gathering Ag Industry Leaders

Our goal for the Innovator Round Tables is to create networking opportunities for our clients and neighbors. We believe that learning from each other is more valuable than being spoon-fed information. We bring together speakers with unique approaches in order to provide creative thinking opportunities. These Innovator Round Tables are open to anyone and typically take place in the winter. If you have ideas you'd like to share or speakers you'd like to see, please let us know.

2012 Innovator Round Tables

Early February 2012, Advanced Ag Solutions hosted our third annual Innovator Roundtable meetings. The first group was held in Crawfordsville, IN. At the meeting, a group of high tech farmers, seed suppliers, farmland acquisition specialists and leaders in agronomy were discussing the implications of possible industry shifts over the foreseeable future and the impact . Larry Kline of BoA shared their business model for helping professional farmers integrate with institutional investors for a long term relationship that has been working over the last 5 years. He shared their outlook and plans for the future and how current deals are taking shape. Bruce Erickson, Education Director at American Society of Agronomy shared a number of statistics on adoption rates and progress for precision agriculture. His insights into the components and adoption rates of various practices were thought provoking. He went on to suggest areas of the industry that needed to change to gain more rapid adoption. This made for a nice transition as Daryl Starr, Founder and President of Advanced Ag Solutions shared the first public release of Optimizer 2.0. A site specific yield model that combines soil, seed and weather profiles that enable a farmer to better understand the development and limitations of his crop.



The second group was held in Richmond, IN. This time, Dow Agro Sciences replaced Dr. Erickson as he was on a trip to India, and they shared research on nitrogen management and provided a simple demonstration of a product that slows the movement of nitrate through a soil profile. They also interacted briefly about their development pipeline and Enlist technology anticipated in the marketplace sometime in 2013 or 2014.

Throughout each of the presentations and between each, there was a great deal of interaction. Many of the attendees return to visit with other friends, and average over an hour of travel time to arrive. Pulling from a wide geography, we got to know several new people and they were able to meet and interact with others they had not met before. Overall, Advanced Ag Solutions continues to foresee these meetings as a chance for professional farmers to interact with industry leaders and help each other discover strategic shifts in their business.

2011 Innovator Round Tables

During the AAS Innovator Round Tables, two groups of growers from across Indiana met to discuss a variety of topics with the goal being to help farmers from a wide region gain clarity about farm business decisions through networking. Speakers and topics included Scott Fervida with ProfitShot, Brian Debord and Kess Berg with Monsanto, and Daniel Kline with Trimble.



Profitshot is a field by field record keeping program that allows a user to input costs, yields and sales at various points in the business, farm or field level and shift remaining costs or prices around on balance acres or bushels. The software program was developed by Scott Fervida, a farmer from Nappanee, IN, who initially had it constructed for his personal use. The goal of the program is to provide a simple and easy to use snapshot of profitability for the farming operation.

Brian Debord, Territory Agronomist with Dekalb, and Kess Berg, Technology Development Representative for Monsanto, each introduced the on-farm research project that focuses on performance of varieties by soil type. In the last two years more than 50 plots per year have provided data that is helping them place seed based on a grower’s actual soils. Questions about production practices, nitrogen timing and planting dates were concerns expressed by the attendees.

Daniel Kline, Trimble Territory Manager for Daugherty companies shared his perception of Farmworks and Trimble’s data management solutions. ConnectedFarm and Surface were the main topics covered. Being able to wirelessly transfer data seemed nice to most attendees, but they believed the price didn’t make it realistic. As for Surface, being able to manipulate and exaggerate the elevations proved beneficial for many of the attendees who lay tile. Laying out a tile plan ahead of time and then transferring to the FMX seemed to be the most useful purpose.

For those Indiana farmers who attended, their main concern is maximizing their return and managing their risk. We believe data has to be at the foundation of these decisions, but every farmer is forced to make these decisions simply by being in the business. Networking groups like the AAS Innovator Round Tables, take social networking ideas to a serious and tangible benefit that are probably going to help keep farm profitability alive for the next generation of farmers.

2010 Innovator Round Tables

January 2010, Advanced Ag Solutions hosted several “Innovators Round Tables”. Speakers Dave Swaim, Moe Russell, Bill Haupts, Marvin Rode, and Randy Wilken shared their insights into the industry. Some hot topics about financial and strategic management included the use of ratios and working capital management during high growth times. When is it okay to have higher machinery and labor costs? And, can you have too low of costs? Dave Swaim led the group through various changes in notill and cover cropping. One particularly hot item was Precision Planting’s AirForce system and how technology advances continue to improve equipment’s adaptability to changing conditions. There was also great interest in Greenseeker’s on the go chlorophyll sensor and how Advanced Ag Solutions could provide a tool and help manage the data in a nitrogen rate trial.

We were excited to see so many fine leaders sharing ideas and learning from one another. The future of the ag industry is bright and we’re ready to influence the waves of change.