agribusinessreview.comJAN - MARCH - 202182019 INSIGHT CALLS FOR 20/20 FORESIGHT BY SCOTT JOHNSON, VICE PRESIDENT, AGRICULTURE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT, NORTH CAROLINA BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTEREncouraged by my professor/employer one summer long ago, I signed up for a newly created California process to become a licensed pest control advisor. I proudly passed the multiple exams to be fully licensed in the first wave of "professional" advisors. When I received my card a few weeks later, I was confident that I would never need the qualification. I was destined for grad school and an academic career. Now, 45 years later, I appreciate the gentle coaching of Dr. Bacon, who saw in me more business potential than science potential. My career has allowed me to participate in significant technology impacts while gaining some insight and, I hope, some wisdom. I've led the launch of new families of chemistry, managed state-of-the-art plant breeding facilities, negotiated licenses for pioneering biotechnology traits, and provided the first non-food plant-based renewable jet fuel for the U.S. military. Nevertheless, I am astounded at the amount of activity and investment in agtech in the last five years. And I'm concerned. I am concerned that hundreds of millions of innovation dollars in agtech are missing the mark and will tarnish our sector from future early-stage investment.In my 30 years of experience in the global agtech innovation hub, I've seen and experienced both success and failure. Now I see trends that raise concerns:· Too many founder/CEOs highly skilled in the "pitch" but lacking in-depth market knowledge and a vision of future operations in the next three to five years.· The promise of technology and the availability of digital tech investment are leading to the creation of agtech start-ups focused on digital equipment, cloud-based data, and artificial intelligence modeling. However, there's a disconnect. The recently published 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture shows that about 25 percent of American OPINIONIN MY
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