Ep. 034 - Inside Ag Research with Colson Steber: Trust and Tech in Farming
Co-CEO Qlarity Access & Ag Access
In this episode of Bites and Bytes Podcast, Kristin sits down with Colson Steber, co-CEO of Qlarity Access, Ag Access, CEO of Vet Access, and a voice for intentional, human-centered innovation in agriculture. With nearly two decades of experience conducting market research for some of the biggest names in agriculture, Colson shares why understanding farmers is essential before offering them another piece of tech.
Together, they discuss how agriculture has evolved, particularly with the rise of precision technology, the aging workforce, and the pressure on first-generation farmers to do more with less. From the hidden costs of AgTech adoption to the overlooked value of legacy knowledge, Colson breaks down why empathy, trust, and real feedback matter more than ever.
This episode touches on everything from the future of food traceability and sustainability to what farmers are actually thinking when you pitch them the “next big thing.”
Whether you're in AgTech, food production, or just curious about how our food systems are shaped by research and technology, you’ll walk away with a richer understanding of what it really takes to serve the people who feed us.
📘 Sign up for early updates, exclusive previews, and launch news of Kristin’s book, “Securing What Feeds Us” (working title) here.
📖 Kristin will also be sharing updates, behind-the-scenes chaos, and the occasional existential crisis over on her personal Substack
🎤 Book Kristin Demoranville to speak at your conference, corporate event, or workshop.
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Episode Key Highlights
00:11:30 – Why market research in ag is misunderstood
00:20:12 – Farmers aren't your user, they're your customer
00:25:50 – The burden of legacy vs. innovation in ag
00:33:04 – How tech fatigue is reshaping adoption
00:36:22 – Colson’s take on trust as a technology
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🛡️ About AnzenSage & AnzenOT
AnzenSage is a women-owned cybersecurity advisory firm specializing in security resilience for the food, agriculture, zoo, and aquarium industries. AnzenSage offers practical, strategic guidance to help organizations anticipate risks and build resilience. Their services include:
Security Resilience Advisory
Security Resilience Assessments
Security Awareness & Training
Exercise, Drill & Scenario Workshops
Learn more about their offerings at anzensage.com.
AnzenOT
Industrial Cyber Risk — Simple. Smart. Swift.
AnzenOT is the SaaS risk management platform built to bring clarity and control to Operational Technology (OT) cybersecurity. Designed for critical infrastructure sectors, AnzenOT translates technical risk into clear, actionable insight for decision-makers.
Key features include:
AI-powered analytics
Quantified risk scoring & impact zones
Compliance & regulatory alignment
ESG integration for sector-specific reporting
Explore the platform at anzenot.com
For demo requests or inquiries, email stuart@anzenot.com or kristin@anzenot.com
Listen to full episode :
Episode Guide:
00:00:00 – Intro + Welcome
00:01:48 – Who is Colson Steber?
00:05:45 – Colson’s background in ag research
00:11:30 – Misconceptions about market research in ag
00:15:05 – Building relationships through listening
00:20:12 – Farmers as customers, not users
00:25:50 – Tech tension: innovation vs. legacy systems
00:30:18 – What feedback loops miss in agtech
00:33:04 – Tech fatigue and why it matters
00:36:22 – Trust as a core part of innovation
00:39:00 – Final thoughts + what agtech should prioritize
00:41:25 – Outro + Where to find Colson
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00:00:00 Colson Steber
But like we need farmers to be the influence because they're the ones one that will have to do it, but they're also, they're the ones that put the resilience into the system because they're the ones that when the problems arise, they don't take no for an answer, they solve it.
00:00:27 Kristin Demoranville
Everyone and welcome back to another episode of the podcast where we talk about food, agriculture and tech shaping both without getting too much worthy about it. I am your host, Kristin Demoranville. Today's guest is Colson. Steamer O, CEO of Qlarity access.
00:00:43 Kristin Demoranville
Egg access brings nearly two decades of real world experience in market research, helping some of the biggest names in AG figure out what farmers actually want before throwing more tech out.
00:00:54 Kristin Demoranville
We talk about precision farming, the shifting identity of the modern farmer by trust matters more than pitch tax and how sustainability means something totally different depending on who you're asking. Though, settle in this is a good one. Welcome to this episode.
00:01:09 Kristin Demoranville
Welcome, everybody, back to the Mission Bites podcast. I've got an amazing guest today who's going to talk to us about some market research and some.
00:01:16 Kristin Demoranville
Fun things. But before all of that, let's jump into what's your favorite food and your?
00:01:20 Kristin Demoranville
Favorite food memory.
00:01:21 Colson Steber
Favorite food by far is pizza. Always grew up loving. It worked, making pizza all through college. I was the guy in the corner window tossing hundreds of pieces while people would take videos of it.
00:01:36 Colson Steber
I've perfected my own homemade pizza recipe for the last 15 years and so memory would be a couple of years ago, last minute in New York City. My wife and I landed dinner at 11.
00:01:49 Colson Steber
11 which is at 11 course plant based meal that I mean front of house service was the most incredible experience I've ever had at a restaurant and the food was amazing, something that has a dish called celebration of tomatoes is.
00:02:11 Colson Steber
I mean and then four of the dishes they actually.
00:02:15 Colson Steber
Like prepped at the table as an interactive experience so it wins both most expensive and greatest memory, but it was well worth the once in the lifetime chance to get.
00:02:28 Kristin Demoranville
To do that's amazing. I I knew it immediately when you said it. I was like, oh, I'm so jealous. But that's good to hear that it was worth the hype, right?
00:02:35 Kristin Demoranville
Well, that's awesome. So what kind of pizza toppings?
00:02:35 Colson Steber
It is amazing.
00:02:38 Colson Steber
Well, I I'm often times like a pepperoni, banana pepper person.
00:02:44
OK.
00:02:44 Kristin Demoranville
That I can do a lot of variation. The pizza place I worked at was known for cutting its own toppings, extra thick and layering them on, so that's definitely how I like it. That's awesome. I had a guest who also said pizza was his favorite food and he's a pizza connoisseur. So he took, like, this pizza history of Pizza Tour.
00:03:05 Kristin Demoranville
New York City. I'll have to send it to you later, but it's like, super cool to get into the science of temperature.
00:03:09 Colson Steber
I've worked for a true like owned by Jersey Guy like Jersey Style Pizza shop and learn how to make pizza right? That pizza was actually better than the pizza that I spent, yeah.
00:03:20
Making.
00:03:21 Kristin Demoranville
Wow. But it was. It was very cool to learn from master. That's amazing. I I love that when people have, like, this is what I did. And then I've perfected it for my own life. Now. That's awesome. I like to say that I had some type of experience when I was in food service for five years packing when I.
00:03:37 Kristin Demoranville
Was in my early.
00:03:38 Kristin Demoranville
20s, But no, I don't eat any of that food that I served.
00:03:41 Kristin Demoranville
Probably I wouldn't even go near it.
00:03:43 Kristin Demoranville
Now.
00:03:44 Colson Steber
Probably a good.
00:03:45 Kristin Demoranville
Idea. Yeah. I mean, it was. It was a pizza chain. But also I worked at a steakhouse and I just. I mean, I like steak. I like pizza, but I don't want it anywhere. Like it was there, like. No, thank you all set. I think my palette is refined over the years. Sounds like yours did too.
00:04:01 Kristin Demoranville
Yes, well, that's great.
00:04:02 Kristin Demoranville
Go ahead and introduce yourself to everyone.
00:04:04 Colson Steber
Colson Seiber, founder and Co CEO of Clarity, Access, and AG access because about half of our business is in the agriculture sector and we're market research insights consultancy. So we're helping the biggest companies make the best and most important decision based off of getting the input.
00:04:24 Colson Steber
From their customers I am but my own personal mantra is relentless potential action and over the course of the nine years that are 5 different acquisitions of companies to get to who we are today.
00:04:40 Colson Steber
Very much worked to figure out like what is my who am I and what is my sense of purpose. And because I believe that like we achieve at the level of what I become as an entrepreneur, and that's absolutely absolutely been true. And it's amazing to see the transformation within the business within our team.
00:04:59 Colson Steber
And what we created for our customers?
00:05:00 Kristin Demoranville
Definitely I you guys have definitely expanded from the beginning as well. I mean you have AG access you have. Is it that access, there's all kinds of different avenues that you've run which is awesome. Like I don't, I love when people are eclectic and they have a lot of offering rather than just.
00:05:19 Kristin Demoranville
One straight niche. You're wrong. Obviously Avanish talk apps, but like it's it's still important that like expand beyond that because we live in an interconnected world, not just because of the digital technology that runs through us, but everything's interconnected. And if you have a system sticking line set on it, so that's great.
00:05:34 Colson Steber
Yeah, I built those systems for us to add unique value where like we have one proven process, right and it's simply that it's best executed on when it's very targeted to the audiences you serve and the problems you solve and therefore the industry that.
00:05:52 Colson Steber
Rent and so agriculture and veterinary animal health work is nearly 2/3 of what our company does, and we've built up a lot of knowledge around it over the last, you know, over decades.
00:06:06 Kristin Demoranville
That's so cool. Like, I don't know. I just. I'm such a research geek. Like, I really. I'm one of those people that would grab, like, research papers and highlighter and be really happy. So I really appreciate what people are doing.
00:06:17
So.
00:06:17 Kristin Demoranville
For the audience, because I know people get confused about what this is. Can you explain what market research is within this ad space so people understand like what we're going to discuss so.
00:06:26 Colson Steber
Yeah. So if you're a major input provider seed manufacturer like equipment company and you're going to actually bring a product to market like imagine you know, see an H John Deere is going to launch a new tractor.
00:06:45 Colson Steber
That is a multi $100 million capital investment to bring to market and across the course of that life cycle of research and development and go to market, you're going to want to be sure to ask questions for feedback to your engineers, to your marketing, to your product teams of the farmers that you ultimately.
00:07:04 Colson Steber
Not to utilize what it is you're going to put out there and we act as that.
00:07:10 Colson Steber
Independent third party researchers that goes to the farmer and what works through really deeply understand what it is their needs are and how would the solution that's being provided will actually meet the needs and how will it get communicated to them in a way that makes that works and empower confident decisions.
00:07:30 Colson Steber
This that manufacture so that when they there there's a degree of certainty and confidence gained through the process that what they're investing in is going to be worth.
00:07:40 Colson Steber
Good.
00:07:41 Kristin Demoranville
Great. Thank you for explaining that. Oh, let's just talk about the farmers for a minute. Do you, have you seen a trend over the time frame of doing what this research of what farmers care about now versus what they cared about before? I think to answer your question, I'll provide a specific example of one that I have a point of view.
00:08:01 Colson Steber
Run around like ad tech adoption and things because perfect. That's something that's representative over the past.
00:08:09 Colson Steber
15 years of my doing this where you saw. I mean, we've all seen hundreds of technology solutions both from industry insiders and other people deciding that they are going to bestow farmers with the greatest thing that's going to solve their issue. They didn't want to solve or.
00:08:29 Colson Steber
Didn't actually have come into the market and investment.
00:08:34 Colson Steber
Is makes sense because it is where the kind of the next opportunity lied, right? If you if you take out, if you went down the track of the DM's and getting close to isolating everything of, you know, 30 plus years ago, you're now in this stage where like technology is the answer but the actual.
00:08:47
MHM.
00:08:54 Colson Steber
Efficacy of the treatment is not going to it was not where it had to be in order for the farmer to know that it definitively.
00:09:04 Colson Steber
Serves them, but if you see the where now where the technology is, where I'm going to see, be prescriptive and apply new fertilizers and crop protection chemicals at the most granular level down to the plant.
00:09:22 Colson Steber
And you realize the incredible efficiency that that creates and the efficacy of it.
00:09:29 Colson Steber
Actually working as it's supposed to, that has really the lines been crossed just inside of recent years where now there and there's the reality of the durability of that of those systems being able to work in the field and be relied upon like that has now led to.
00:09:50 Colson Steber
Huge shift in like where how production happens, how it gets done and even the farmers view of technology. One of the things we sometimes talk about.
00:10:00 Colson Steber
Because I mean, most the majority of farms are still family owned, but these are now extremely valuable pieces of property and businesses that have these massive capital investment side up and then it's only like we sometimes see this kind of skip a generation where like the farmer that is still.
00:10:20 Colson Steber
Warming right now that's in their late 70s, early 80s, like they're having to work very much. So with like their.
00:10:27 Colson Steber
Brand song to actually understand and bring that up. And it's it's just not that has evolved dramatically over the.
00:10:34 Colson Steber
Last 10 to 15 years.
00:10:36 Kristin Demoranville
Yeah, well, that was a actually a really great answer completely here. All that technology, or agtech specifically, is really exploded over the last X amount of years. Here. I think people don't realize how much of the food.
00:10:48 Kristin Demoranville
System is run by technology or has a technology component to it. As consumers, we have no idea because we don't have any. We don't need to know just our food gets to us right so.
00:10:57 Kristin Demoranville
It's not a big deal for us. What I think is.
00:10:59 Kristin Demoranville
Interesting is the big push for and I'm sure you've seen it as well for more first generation farmers to come into the market space or it to come into farming and it's been really hard because people don't want to do that. However, I do think the technology will make it fun and and cool and nerdy in a way for people to come into farming.
00:11:07 Colson Steber
Mm-hmm.
00:11:19 Kristin Demoranville
The first Gen. farmer because they they see it as a little bit less manual labor and more technology focused. Are you seeing that kind of trend running around as well? And again this is just me being really super.
00:11:32 Colson Steber
I'm curious. I hope it's a trend I I have observed what you're talking about. I mean, it is critically important, right? The farmer has always been defined by that work ethic of the farmer that you are. Your identity is as a farmer and you quite literally like. It's not a matter of if you're going to wait.
00:11:36 Kristin Demoranville
Me too.
00:11:53 Colson Steber
Before dawn and finish after dusk, it's like that is life, and that's just more broadly not how our.
00:12:03 Colson Steber
Current generations coming into the workforce actually view their relationship to their work at all. And yet with the technology that their reality is is that there are like the definition of what a farmer is, is changing and will continue to. And there's no doubt that the next like we're we're essentially diminishing.
00:12:23 Colson Steber
In terms of the number of people that are involved in within the agriculture sector and we're already, like, ever increasing in the average age, I think it's now over 60.
00:12:34 Colson Steber
Yes. And that's invariably like marching us towards like redefining how agriculture work, roles work and the honestly the ability to continue to perform is dependent upon there being people with the skills to utilize the tech to actually see what we what has to happen.
00:12:55 Colson Steber
Actually.
00:12:55 Kristin Demoranville
Yeah, it scares me too, because we tend to with technology, we tend to run before we crawl or even walk or any of that. We tend to throw tech at problems and not think about the privacy implications or the the stabber security implications of putting this tech into various.
00:13:11 Kristin Demoranville
Places and then something happens and it's sort of like a rollback moment of, oh, we probably should have done this ahead of time.
00:13:17 Kristin Demoranville
And thought about.
00:13:18 Kristin Demoranville
All this and this is what scares me, is the cyber security professional is farmers are not equipped to handle cybersecurity incidents, they're they're equipped to farm regardless of what their age is. That's what they do with that lifestyle, as you mentioned. And the more tech.
00:13:31 Kristin Demoranville
Toss the more I get worried about our farmers going to have to be technology professionals as well as farming professionals in the future. And to me the answer is.
00:13:40 Kristin Demoranville
Yes, they'll have to do both. That doesn't mean they necessarily will troubleshoot their tech, but maybe they will because farmers had to become mechanics right for their tractors and they still are or any other functionality. It's such a a multi hat type role. People don't realize that that they really do at all. You know birth animals and.
00:14:01 Kristin Demoranville
Care for crops and deal with water and pests and invasive species and predators and all these other things. I mean the creativity of being a farmer.
00:14:09 Kristin Demoranville
Think isn't, isn't celebrate or acknowledged enough and that I'm sure has come out in some of the research you've done and and your company has done. And seeing that there's so many different avenues of just farming and agriculture in itself because agriculture extends beyond just the land and includes fleets of ships and all kinds of other things like that and how we do.
00:14:25 Colson Steber
Mm-hmm.
00:14:30 Kristin Demoranville
Precision farming, like you mentioned already, or how vertical farming in greenhouses and all these other things that are super technology driven and interesting and I don't think we're going to be able to feed the world if we don't start doing more of that.
00:14:49 Kristin Demoranville
Hey there. Thanks for hanging out with us on the Mike Smith podcast. I just wanted to take a moment to say, wow, we hit 10,000 downloads for the show. That is totally wild, whether you've been here since the first episode like, oh Gee.
00:15:04 Kristin Demoranville
Or it's your first time listening. Thank you so much for being here. Truly. Thank you. This show keeps growing because of curious, thoughtful listeners like you. And I'm so grateful to keep learning alongside you, exploring Food and Agriculture through the lens of technology risk and all the weird, wonderful connections in.
00:15:23 Kristin Demoranville
If you're enjoying the show, don't forget to like, comment and share it with your friends, coworkers, or anybody else you think needs to hear this. It helps more than you know. Also, little side know kind of a big deal. I am writing a book. It's called securing what feeds us. Well, that's the working title for now and it will be published in.
00:15:42 Kristin Demoranville
Bottom of 2026 by Wiley Publishing, I know that sounds really far off, but trust me, I need every bit of that time. If you want to be the first to hear about the cover, launch events, giveaways and behind the scenes chaos, you can sign up for updates on the link in the show now.
00:15:58 Kristin Demoranville
And if you want more extended thoughts and a sneak peek behind the curtain leading my existential crisis of writing a book, you could find me on sub stack. That link is also in the show notes. Now back to the episode.
00:16:17 Kristin Demoranville
What are you seeing as like a challenge moving forward? Like what is the, what are the challenges and we're seeing with various different types of Ag tech and agriculture in general. I mean, you've already listed a couple Colson, you've you know, mentioned the age gap that issue we need more first.
00:16:32 Kristin Demoranville
Farmers. But is there anything else that's kind of human seeping through? It's a bit of a this is a challenge. I wouldn't know. We're going to.
00:16:39 Kristin Demoranville
Do with this yet?
00:16:39 Colson Steber
One of the biggest challenges that I see is.
00:16:42 Colson Steber
The that that.
00:16:43 Colson Steber
We're faced with constantly because so much of the research that we're looking to do is to understand what the farmer's perspective will be about, how they're measuring value, and whether they'll actually make a purchase decision based upon it and.
00:16:59 Colson Steber
Where where? We're asked to ask the farmer over and over and over again, across every single category of.
00:17:07 Colson Steber
That they have essentially to get kind of a.
00:17:11 Colson Steber
Shared wallet of.
00:17:13 Colson Steber
Like at the end of the day, there's.
00:17:13
OK.
00:17:14 Colson Steber
Just yield and the price.
00:17:16 Colson Steber
That I'm going to get and the.
00:17:17 Colson Steber
Economics are on being a farmer are like brutally hard because there's so much outside of there's not basic.
00:17:27 Colson Steber
Economic supply and demand as props, the things there's now so much going on in commodity markets and in global competition.
00:17:36 Colson Steber
That there's not a lot to be done to affect price. Even the most the biggest farms that have financial managers, they're hedging and doing. These are immensely challenged with how are we going to make sure that we get the dollar out of the yield that.
00:17:50 Colson Steber
We do produce.
00:17:51 Colson Steber
And the economics of like if you were to say, I'm going to go start up a farm today, right? Like depending on where you were, are there could be a 40 to $100,000 plus like per acre price for the acreage you legitimately need somewhere around 3 to $5 million of equipment.
00:18:11 Colson Steber
The.
00:18:12 Colson Steber
A decent size farm, you really cannot economically run. Certainly important selling operation with under 1000 acres and think that you're going to like sustain a business. Everything's been financed to the hilt and the and there's immense financial pressure like financing.
00:18:32 Colson Steber
Pressure associated with the interest rates you're paying and stuff farmers are in this incredibly protective state where they essentially do not want to do anything outside of what.
00:18:42 Colson Steber
Is protected by.
00:18:43 Colson Steber
Farm Bill because they're in such a vulnerable place and we see over and over and over again, right somewhere in the country there's some sort of major weather event or new tests that comes in and it creates like that downward cycle that there's really no reprieve to recover from.
00:19:03 Colson Steber
Outside of it, it's I think that's the thing.
00:19:06 Colson Steber
Right. Is like where we have technology we.
00:19:09 Colson Steber
Get a lot.
00:19:10 Colson Steber
Of AG tech.
00:19:11 Colson Steber
Company customers that are from outside of the industry and they're just like, oh, but it'll just be so easy because we'll just tell them that, like, they'll get more yield when they and they use this. And it's just like there's no time and headspace in a farmer's hand.
00:19:27 Colson Steber
To deal with one more application or one more thing to to weave into the 17 that they're already used.
00:19:34 Kristin Demoranville
It's a really good point and you were making me think about the dairy industry, about how in order to keep the price of milk to a place that's profitable for them, they can't actually use all the milk that's produced. So they dump a lot of milk. I don't want people to freak out that they're dumping milk. The cows have to be milked several times a day. There's a lot of milk. And if you put a lot of milk into the market, it will decrease the value.
00:19:54 Kristin Demoranville
Of milk. And that's the problem. You don't want to just be like milking cows and making you know $0.50 on a dollar kind of vibe. You actually want to make money to be able to continue your operation. It's really complex.
00:20:06 Kristin Demoranville
Added there's a lot of if the grain isn't grown right that year, it won't be for pasta. Let's say right? And that's like really high-priced grain for pasta it will end up being for chicken feed, which is low grain and that will that will be low cost and think there's so much pressure to to make something make a really good crop.
00:20:27 Kristin Demoranville
Make a really good yield that year.
00:20:29 Kristin Demoranville
The the premium of it is the the complication part of it, and you have to deal with weather and extreme activism and all these other things like tariffs and other government regulations and all this other stuff and market trends and what and maybe you're taking a risk and you're growing something for the vegan population that year instead of, you know, weight.
00:20:50 Kristin Demoranville
Or something like that. And then you're gonna have to try that route. And what if that fails? And there's all these, like, I can't imagine it's. It's feels like Jenga with your farm field sometimes I think and that's that's terrifying because if you pull the wrong piece, it's over and you're mortgaging your house and you're mortgaging all your.
00:21:06 Kristin Demoranville
Equipment and then you know, an agtech company comes in and they're like, hey, I can make your life really easy. And you're like, but do you know my problems? Do you understand what I'm going through? And I I'm glad that you're steering research to say you really need to understand the farmer's lifestyle before you can just walk in and dump something on their lap.
00:21:22 Kristin Demoranville
That's not going to work right?
00:21:30 Kristin Demoranville
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00:21:37 Kristin Demoranville
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00:21:38 Kristin Demoranville
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00:21:50 Kristin Demoranville
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00:21:52 Kristin Demoranville
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00:23:15 Colson Steber
I can give you so many examples of how you're growing strawberries and you have to you have the delivery schedule and you're all on. It's like, yeah, you're gonna plow under a decent number of fields. I mean, look at what's happening in poultry right now because, yes, the price is going up because obviously, but it's.
00:23:35 Colson Steber
It's like beyond necessity and and whether that dollar is really being charged by the farmer in the way that it needs to be because of the.
00:23:43 Colson Steber
Exorbitant cost that.
00:23:44 Colson Steber
They're incurring in the attempt to limit.
00:23:47 Colson Steber
Birth flow is.
00:23:48 Colson Steber
Challenge you to see whether it's true or not.
00:23:52 Kristin Demoranville
It also is heartbreaking, too, when they have to pull her and not her. A flock of chickens because they have tested positive. That is, I mean, yes, obviously that's the answer to that situation. But to know that a farmer lost that much money and time and effort and heart and soul in that flock of.
00:24:12 Kristin Demoranville
A huge amount of birds, 50,000 or whatever they were calling that breaks my heart because they've basically got to start from scratch.
00:24:20 Kristin Demoranville
And you have to raise those chickens up again, you know? And everybody's ago chicks are so cute. They are a pain to deal with. They it's very hard life. The chicken farmer is a hard life and I don't think people understand how frustrating it is when you walk into the store and you can't get eggs or you can't get chicken and you get mad. Imagine the people that are dealing with it on the.
00:24:40 Kristin Demoranville
Ground Zero of it, that is, that is an entirely an experience. You can go have something else. Go have some beef. Go have some.
00:24:46 Kristin Demoranville
Fish go have a carrot. Go have something else. It really. It frustrates me that people aren't seeing this for, you know, for what it is. The basic human aspect of it. And also it's it's different per region as well. Are you doing global research too close or are you just staying in the US North?
00:25:00 Colson Steber
American side, yes, almost 3/4 of what we do.
00:25:03 Colson Steber
Is within North America.
00:25:06 Colson Steber
And I would say that's the stuff I'm closest to that I can provide a more informed opinion.
00:25:11 Kristin Demoranville
On. No, that's fine. I I just, I think it's interesting because I I know a little bit about the UK's iron farming and I.
00:25:17 Kristin Demoranville
They can't the the way this farming space is over there is entirely different than our farming space. We've got obviously more land over here, you know, hence larger country, but it's interesting how not everyone owns like a Columbine. They they tend to rent them out and send them around to the farm. So it's like 1 per county, if you will kind of thing and I find it really interesting. And I'm wondering if at some point the US.
00:25:38 Kristin Demoranville
Or or North America in general will go to that kind of model. But then it dawned on me, not really.
00:25:42 Kristin Demoranville
I mean, they might share it within a conglomerate of area, but we're just too big and our farms are too big in comparison. And then I think about like Brazil, which they do hectares of space which take a helicopter to go from one end to the other. There's no way they're sharing anything and it's it's really kind of too bad because I feel like the sense of community.
00:26:00 Kristin Demoranville
Has lost a.
00:26:00 Kristin Demoranville
Little bit there, but in your research.
00:26:02 Kristin Demoranville
The bag is is community, a big factor, especially with the farmers, because they don't trust anybody. It's very much, I don't know you my my friend Bob's a farmer down the street does not know you. So I don't want you to come in. So how do you navigate trust? Because farmers are inherently distrusting, rightfully so. And they they they really do work within the community as.
00:26:22 Kristin Demoranville
So how do you how do you help navigate these big organizations that come to you and explain to them that, hey, you have to kind of earn your way in, how do you go?
00:26:30 Colson Steber
Through that moment, taking a particular client every thing with the partner begins with relationship. I will say that while there's a disproportionate command and control.
00:26:41 Colson Steber
Culture of the relationship being with the eldest, naturally out of the changes that talked about over the last 10 to 15 years in agtech.
00:26:51 Colson Steber
The there is much more. There's a big shift in decision making control within the last three or so years to that younger in their 30s and 40s. That's why I say sometimes it's skipping a generation and their relationship with them is much more a business relationship they don't do.
00:27:11 Colson Steber
Business with the.
00:27:14 Colson Steber
Insurance agent down the street only because their father or grandfather did for the last 50 years. There has to be real service delivery and real value. And they they gotta trust them because there's value in what it is they're being provided. And I would say that that very much. How does that look?
00:27:34 Colson Steber
And how do you deliver that message? And then what does meeting their needs so that they feel confident about their choice afterward? The interesting thing is, right, like once you get into that relationship, I mean, farmers are an incredible brand.
00:27:50 Colson Steber
Where they are, they massively influence each other and so like it, it generally requires that the the long term value establishment things don't move fast. Generally things are on like an annual cycle even amongst specialties that are harvested more often.
00:28:09 Colson Steber
Does that answer your question?
00:28:10 Kristin Demoranville
Yeah. No, that was a great answer. I actually really, I'm really excited about this. Farmers massively influenced each other. I I think that's great. They're kind of like the original influencers you were making me think about it in terms of that, that's awesome. You know, you don't think about that, but it's so true.
00:28:24 Kristin Demoranville
0.
00:28:24 Colson Steber
There's so much judgment about doing the new thing and the fact that your neighbors gonna see it and then they're gonna like, and that that is one of the biggest barriers to entry around, like a new seed treatment, being able to be adopted or a new or a Challenger brand coming in and being and doing something.
00:28:44 Colson Steber
The the willingness to like, have empathy for that being the reality that like it is a big deal, that it is going to be compared against. If you're going to do that, that.
00:28:57 Colson Steber
Test block of form field.
00:28:58 Kristin Demoranville
Yeah, I think that's a really important point about social pressure. And I I was thinking, while you're talking about the the solar flares that happened in this past year in 2014, about took out the GPS for precision tractors in the upper Midwest and Canada and how they had to roll back.
00:29:18 Kristin Demoranville
The analog to farm and they had to bring in, you know, the older generation because the new generation, as you said, the one that skipped the generation kind of thing, they didn't know what to do without the precision GPS, telling them exactly where.
00:29:29 Kristin Demoranville
Had to plant so they had to go back to, you know, old school, if you will. And I'm sure that the the social pressures and the teasing and the you really need to know how to do this without technology probably came into play or that I told you so this would happen vibes but it worries me too because this just opens up a whole new world for bad.
00:29:49 Kristin Demoranville
Actors, if they see how badly that damaged that situation. I mean mimics are easy in that regard, I suppose. But yeah, I'm. I'm worried about that kind of thing because again.
00:29:59 Kristin Demoranville
And we have a generation that's aging out and retiring or should be retiring and we have this new generation that's just bringing in all these things and doing all this stuff. And like you said, it changed the business direction and the value. And but we're missing like that little piece. So there needs to be almost like this buffer, I guess I'm not quite sure how that's going to happen, but it sounds like it will probably organically happen based on social.
00:30:19 Kristin Demoranville
Pressure from others? Yeah, that's that's. That's fabulous. Thanks, colson. I I really do appreciate that. Ever try and managing industrial cybersecurity risks with spreadsheets.
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00:31:46 Kristin Demoranville
As we're wrapping up here, I would love to talk a little bit about what you think the future is going to be for research within these different companies. Like what do you think is going to be the prevailing go to market type situation with this? What are?
00:32:00 Kristin Demoranville
The company is going to be looking for what are farmers going to be looking for? How do, what do you think the future looks?
00:32:04 Colson Steber
Like, let's just start there. My initial response in my head to that is sustainability, but it is shocking how different the corporation view of sustainability is versus the farmer view is I I.
00:32:20 Colson Steber
Take more of the armor side.
00:32:24 Colson Steber
Looking at sustainability of like my family in this operation, sustainability of my land and its ability to produce, making sure from the corporate side and even down to the consumer trend side of realizing that in order to.
00:32:43 Colson Steber
Realize the change that we think we need to see in the world. We're going to have to.
00:32:48 Colson Steber
Need those needs for the farmer in order for change to happen because like a a great example and working with like an irrigation company in California. Worse, everything is if I'm the worker and I have always set up the spigot hose and spray the entire field.
00:33:09 Colson Steber
And I know that that works and I have to keep all.
00:33:13 Colson Steber
Of this lettuce on schedule.
00:33:14 Colson Steber
The barrier to entry to switch to, like tripline irrigation, even or like things that are absolutely proven in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness is still massive, right? Because I have to have a sure thing and this is the practice that has always worked and therefore like I have no motivation.
00:33:34 Colson Steber
Swish. Despite the fact that off this field there's all sorts of pressure on the system more widely now. Initially that, like the way to get them to change, is not to pressure them into your goal. Well, you're going to have less and less water. You're going to have to muck under fields and.
00:33:51 Colson Steber
Farm because there's pressure that there has to the farm has to keep farming. And so it's this. How do we approach sustainability to I think to some of what you get into, if I were to expand on that, it's I actually think there will be immensely increased knowledge of food sourcing and.
00:33:56
Yep.
00:34:11 Colson Steber
Like managing.
00:34:13 Colson Steber
Through an entire like blockchain management of food sourcing to where you're actually eating, because I think we're going to see some major issues arise overtime as you see kind of like anything.
00:34:26 Colson Steber
Hits the news.
00:34:27 Colson Steber
That gets somebody sick and we do a phenomenal job of not getting anyone sick from the egg industry and.
00:34:32 Colson Steber
That the likelihood that that, that will.
00:34:35 Colson Steber
Continue is that there will be even bigger issues that actually cause gross change all the way back to the farm level is.
00:34:42 Kristin Demoranville
Definitely there. Yeah, I think what you're really describing is a system sinking approach to how we actually do the life cycle of farming in terms of how do we keep it sustainable, both in practice and in practicality.
00:34:56 Kristin Demoranville
And for future proofing it away, I mean ultimately it's with sustainability is, but I think you're totally right about how corporate sees it differently, not to plug myself, but I have a degree in environmental management. So I see sustainability differently. I see more on the farm.
00:35:10 Kristin Demoranville
Side rather than like the corporate side and then when sustainability became a big deal in corporate land, which was like 10 years ago or whatever, I was sort of like you can't do it in isolation. You don't even understand the system of manufacturing, but you want to do what it was always a very weird conversation for me because I if you don't understand your processes, your legacy.
00:35:31 Kristin Demoranville
You've mentioned that immediately with the irrigation company and.
00:35:33 Kristin Demoranville
And anything to do with your people and process. You can't just throw more tech at it. It's not going to work. You can't. You can't change the process without understanding what it is right now, because what it is right now might work really great. It might just need to tweak here or a little enhance here. But ultimately, farming is as a practice has been for generation upon generation since we figure out how to do it.
00:35:55 Kristin Demoranville
The practice of farming is altered and changed, but ultimately it's still the same thing. You put a seed in the ground and it grows food, or you raise an animal and you take its slaughter and you have.
00:36:05 Kristin Demoranville
You know, I don't we have to get back to the basics here instead of just over complicating it with more things. I mean, we didn't even bring up AI, but that's going to dominate moving forward as well, especially when it comes to consumer trends and analyzing behaviors and purchasing behaviors and things like that. People are going to become more informed about the food.
00:36:26 Kristin Demoranville
Michael, I kind of hope that happens also nervous.
00:36:29 Kristin Demoranville
Because people have opinions and it tends to muck things up. But I do think that we will eventually be using it for traceability, and that's going to be really wild. That data pea plant, does your pee come from, you know, in whatever place it was and when was it planted and what was the weather like around it? I mean, we're going to be able to track all kinds of crazy things. And I think as consumers.
00:36:50 Kristin Demoranville
When do we stop? I guess wanting to know one thing about one plant. But some people really will be fascinated and fixated on that, which I think could either drive some really interesting research.
00:37:00 Kristin Demoranville
Just moving forward or like I don't know, I mean I think I mean I'm kind of a kind of if you want to go down the I guess the geek portal there, but I guess there's quite a bit that could really come from that ultimately. But yeah, I really think it's a great answer to inability. We need to be able to stay in our farming and we need to figure how to do it, I guess better, but not to the point where we're changing it so much that we lose what?
00:37:20 Kristin Demoranville
Is and I think people think that like vertical farming and greenhouses is totally changing the game. It's not, it's just making local.
00:37:27 Kristin Demoranville
Food look.
00:37:28 Colson Steber
But we're never we're going.
00:37:29 Colson Steber
To beat the energy source that is this giant ball in the sky that throws it out, it's true.
00:37:35 Kristin Demoranville
That's true. I would like to see someone take on the sun, go for it. But I think you know, I I recently just started watching a sci-fi, and I know behind the time. So please don't make fun of me.
00:37:44 Kristin Demoranville
But I've been watching Snowpiercer and this train that circles the earth while the earth is completely frozen, and it's basically a whole experiment on what society is and how we get people to work together in different class systems. But it it's been fascinating cause they obviously we're keeping cattle on board and chickens and and harvesting and they have a good ocean and it's really absurd. But it really got me thinking about.
00:37:55
Mm-hmm.
00:38:06 Kristin Demoranville
How the basic practices of farms?
00:38:09 Kristin Demoranville
Would be observed in that situation, but you'd have to do it on a in a moving vehicle out pasture, right? So how does that work? And I thought, wow, that only works with tech, so it it's quite interesting. Like the concepts of it in that regard. And yes, I realize I'm analyzing a fantasy show, and that's fine. You can do that. Everybody's analyzed.
00:38:26 Colson Steber
I knew the I knew the RECO though, because I I also read sci-fi to try to have more creative thought.
00:38:33 Colson Steber
As what is it going to be possible? Because people come up with things far beyond anything.
00:38:38 Colson Steber
I can teach.
00:38:39 Kristin Demoranville
It's true, it's absolutely true. Well, so this has been a really fascinating conversation. You've definitely got my curiosity. Like, I like pinging for sure. And I I think the the OT security people and anyone who was critical infrastructure in general can appreciate the fact that we really need to be more considerate when it comes to legacy knowledge because we get bashed with that quite often.
00:38:59 Kristin Demoranville
About how.
00:39:00 Kristin Demoranville
The one person who's in the back of a factory or back of a industrial facility with the wrench who hits it at the right time is the most important person to the entire production line. Yet the most overlooked person, and I think farming as a whole, there's a lot of that going on. You know the the, the tribal knowledge needs to be captured in order to push forward to the next generation.
00:39:21 Kristin Demoranville
So I'm glad that to hear that your reservice your serves in general are looking for that and acknowledging it because.
00:39:27 Kristin Demoranville
The empathy and the human factor is so critical to farming and agriculture in general, and I think that's why a lot of people get nervous.
00:39:34 Kristin Demoranville
About.
00:39:34 Kristin Demoranville
It because there's there's a lot of people, there's a lot of process, technology is easy because it doesn't talk back.
00:39:39 Kristin Demoranville
To you necessarily.
00:39:40 Colson Steber
Right. And all the things you say you have?
00:39:42 Colson Steber
Some concern about they're.
00:39:44 Colson Steber
All the way to meet them is with the resilience.
00:39:47 Colson Steber
Of the human that will decide what to do with them. So right like that is our role is to connect them with the people who have all.
00:39:51 Kristin Demoranville
That's right.
00:39:59 Colson Steber
The data but like we need farmers to be the influence because they're the ones one that will have to do it, but they're also, they're the ones that put the resilience into the system because they're the ones that when the problems arise, they don't take no for an.
00:40:10
Right.
00:40:14 Colson Steber
Answer they solve it.
00:40:15 Kristin Demoranville
That's right, because I have to, because it's probably gonna mean life or death at some on some level. And I think that. So we need farmers to be influencing us as well as them influencing each other. I think that's probably the overarching theme. Great. Any final thoughts before we close off? Thank you so much for being here.
00:40:32 Kristin Demoranville
Great.
00:40:32 Kristin Demoranville
Thanks.
00:40:39 Kristin Demoranville
Thank, thankfully Paulson for joining me today, and thank you also for tuning in and listening to this episode. If something resonated with you or you're walking away with a new idea or insight, please like comment and share the show with your network. It really does help bringing these important conversations to people who care about the future of Food and Agriculture until next time, stay safe.
00:40:59 Kristin Demoranville
Stay curious and we'll see you on the next one. Bye for now.
