FCI Trade Summit PREVIEW: Agricultural Technology Industry to Be Hot Topic

Jim Budzynski

Jim Budzynski

Consider the rationale behind the recent flurry of agricultural acquisitions. Why would Bayer buy AgraQuest for $425 million? Why would Monsanto buy Climate Corp. for $930 million? Why would BASF buy Becker Underwood for $1.02 billion? If you are wondering what all this has to do with you, you need to hear Ag 3.0: Technology Convergence in Agriculture, a keynote presentation at the FCI Trade Summit Americas meeting in Las Vegas on August 26-28, 2014.

Advertisement

Agriculture has reached a turning point – the days of cheap oil, water, seed, chemicals and fertilizer are over! During the 50 years that inputs were cheap, agriculture grew mostly by consolidation, with farm sizes growing dramatically. But now much greater focus must be placed on making full use of inputs, pursuing a “no molecule wasted” mindset that has become the intersection of environmentalism and economics.

Dr. Jim Budzynski will present an overview of these concepts in detail, with particular emphasis on timely questions such as:
■ What is driving the ongoing race for crop production productivity?
■ What changes are ahead in soil fertility and crop nutrition?
■ What’s driving the biologics boom and will it fizzle?
■ How will biotechnology and GMOs evolve?
■ Did ethanol drive inputs, land, and food prices up?
■ Are we likely to have a near-term ag recession?
■ What’s the difference between product focus and platform focus and why should you care?
■ What can we learn from the ongoing technology battles between Apple, Google and Microsoft about where big agriculture is headed?
■ What will technology convergence in agriculture mean for your business?

Dr. Budzynski is excited to be joining the FCI Conference in Las Vegas.
“We all get up every day focused largely on our own product or service, with little thought on how it relates to the bigger picture in global agriculture,” Budzynski says. “The agricultural technology industry is consolidating, and the platforms being developed are designed for global use. International agricultural suppliers who ignore these developing platforms do so at their peril. I’m excited about sharing some thoughts about this topic with the FCI attendees in Las Vegas.”
Spend an hour at the presentation making sure you stay relevant to where global agriculture is headed.

Top Articles
ADAMA Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results

Dr. Budzynski of MacroGain Partners has given talks to many agriculture audiences around the world for many years. In addition to consulting on business strategy in nearly every major ag sector over the past 25 years, he works extensively today in the review, execution and ongoing management of private equity and venture capital deals in the agricultural sector. He is a Venture Partner with venture capital firm Open Prairie Capital and has provided strategic counsel to agribusinesses from start-ups to multinationals and provides strategic technology and market sector assessments to private equity investors and venture capitalists.

Hide picture