What I Wish People Knew about Agriculture Today
By Bill McGough, Digital Lead, IT, Crop Science, Bayer
Hello, my name is Bill McGough and I’m the IT and Digital Lead for Bayer’s North American Crop Science division. Recently, I relocated to St. Louis from North Carolina and I’m literally delighted by the potential we, as ‘new’ Bayer, bring to the market in the form of combined scientific expertise, product assets, digital capabilities and, most importantly, people — all focused on delivering on one mission: Science for a Better Life.
In case you haven’t heard, Bayer acquired Monsanto back in August 2018. So essentially Bayer’s a new company today. It’s an exciting place to be!
When I reflect on the important questions facing agriculture at this point in time, I’m challenged to also reflect on “what I wish people knew about agriculture,” especially because I view this time period as pivotal in the development of our industry.
Three main thoughts I’d like to share:
1. The agriculture industry has an important and unique collective mission — To sustainably feed a growing world. And to do so given the combination of world population growth, less arable land, greater preponderance of unpredictable weather (this year in the U.S. is a good example) and therefore the need for greater productivity, especially at the farm level. This is what we collectively share, as our macro challenges and opportunities, across the agricultural eco-system.
It’s also important to note that farming looks different depending on where you are in the world; therefore the challenges across markets are different too (e.g. small holder farmer dynamics in India; high acceptance of drone technology in China; differing growing season dynamics across geographies — timing, length and number of growing seasons along with pest and disease pressure differences; unique regulatory aspects per market). All of this translates into the simple truth that the agriculture industry is driven by a unique set of complex conditions that we must work within and overcome — as feeding a growing world population is not a MAYBE but a MUST. This Mission is what sets agriculture apart from other industries. (You can learn more about world population here.)
2. The agriculture industry — and the people driving it — are passionate about our Crop Science mission, and we put tremendous efforts and investment into our work from a scientific, research, regulatory and commercial perspective — all in the spirit of advancing agriculture and sustainability, and doing so in a responsible, diligent, caring and respectful way. When you watch the trending news coverage, which is at times challenging, those of us involved in agriculture can feel like we’re constantly in defense mode. But we keep on doing what we do, because we know it’s important and safe.
My Bayer colleagues and I are proud to take part in the agriculture industry, helping to advance agricultural innovation and serve our overall societal mission. We are passionate and excited that “we get to do this” and, for many of us, this is much more than a job; it’s an important part of a broader life mission.
3. We live in exceptionally exciting times given the emergence and maturity of digital technologies which are already significantly affecting our industry; and we’re just getting started. If you reflect back to only a few years ago, you would probably not have predicted that we could predict so much (pun intended!). Specifically, that we could understand so much of what’s actually occurring at a field level, develop specific field level and actionable recommendations to improve crop yields and productivity, as well as connect the dots to ensure future farmer needs are considered in advance.
Advancements in digital technologies and data science — whether specific to the agriculture industry or leveraged from other industries — will be leading drivers of the next agricultural revolution, because they open completely new possibilities to further unlock the value potential of every seed and every acre of land planted. New technologies, combined with attractive win-win value propositions, will further connect the agriculture eco-system in ways we’ve not seen before and play a pivotal role in propelling agriculture forward.
As I’ve personally been involved in the Information Technology field since the early 1980s, I can tell you back then no laptops existed, no internet and no email (imagine that!); not to mention there was no concept of data science, predictive capabilities and many other technologies and trends that we, as an industry, take for granted and use to achieve innovation today. The pace of change is accelerating like never before and so I say, here’s to the next exceptionally exciting set of new developments, and to tackling one of the most pressing societal challenges of our time — feeding the world!
In summary, I will leave you with this quote, which I see as the fuel behind why I do what I do:
“I woke up this morning and wondered not my purpose, for I help feed the world.” - Anonymous
