The Evolving Agtech Paradigm

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

In the early ag tech days, there was a common misconception that these innovations would solve all, if not most, of grower problems. Founder of NIQO Robotics Jaisimha Rao believes that conversation is shifting, with growers being more realistic about AI capabilities, and manufacturers being upfront about what it can and cannot do.

Rao…”There is a nice meeting point now where expectation of grower is more realistic. Like you're selling AI, you're selling smart. Can it do everything? No. Can it do one thing really nicely all the time? Maybe. We as founders, as ag-tech folks, I think we have also learned, like, you don't want to oversell AI is going to solve all your problems. So I feel like, where are we now? It seems like people are starting to talk in the same language now. Like, hey, this is what it does. This is what it doesn't do. And farmers themselves are more practical. So it seems like there's a shake hand now in generally when you hear these panels, it's like, Hey, don't tell me how the sausage is made. Just give me a machine that works. And I feel like those conversations are changing. And, I think we are at the beginning now. Let's some of us over here need to win and we need to stop talking about AI and start talking about who's servicing it, what's the downtime, like how many units are out there? I think that commercial narrative is beginning to creep in.”

Again that’s the founder of NIQO Robotics, Jaisimha Rao.