In their fascinating book, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, Nobel Prize-winning economists Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein explain how simple policy “nudges” can have powerful ramifications. The example that has always stuck with me is the vast discrepancy between the number of organ donors in Germany and Austria. Culturally, socially, and economically,…

In between all of the presidential tweets, catastrophic rain storms, fires and hurricanes, sexual harassment scandals, and Bitcoin mania, it is sometimes hard to remember that technological change is accelerating and, as it does, the world continues to evolve. Over the past year, a number of developments have occurred but below are ten which I…

In many respects, agriculture has long been a leader in adopting new technology. This might surprise some people, but it makes sense. Consider that in 1900, more than 40 percent of the American workforce was directly involved agriculture. Today it’s less than 2 percent. It took a great deal of technology to reduce the number…

Feeding the planet’s 7.3 billion people is no easy feat, but farmers all around the world have risen to challenge. Feeding the next three billion people–who are expected to arrive by 2050–will pose an even greater challenge. However, I am confident innovative farmers and agri-businesses will again step up to the plate (no pun intended)….

 The current world population is estimated to be just over seven billion people. By 2050 an estimated nine billion people will be living on Earth. Feeding two billion more people is a matter of eminent concern. How will this monumental task be achieved? It won’t easy but I’m confident it will be done. Let me…

With summer just around the corner many of us will quench our thirst on hot days with an ice-cold beer. Now, thanks to some creative and innovative entrepreneurs in South Africa, you may soon be able to have that ice-cold beer delivered to you via a miniature drone. (See the 45-second video below). While obviously…

For clients interested in hiring a professional futurist, business forecaster and/or keynote speaker who can address future trends in agriculture, I’ve posted a three-minute overview of a keynote presentation I recently delivered in Kansas City at a Case IH client event. (I tailor every keynote so, depending upon your needs, I would obviously use examples…

At the end of last year, I offered my annual list of predictions for the coming year. Prediction #5 was “Urban Crops” and it read: #5: A mid-size city in the Netherlands will announce its intention to grow 10 percent of its food supply within the physical confines of its city. Utilizing tracks of “open…

Last week, I posted an article on five future trends in agriculture. To better understand how these trends might play out on a real farm, I invite you to watch this new 5-minute video produced by John Deere. It’s called “Farm Forward” and it provides a glimpse into the future of farming: Interested in some…

In the coming months, I’ll be keynoting four agri-business conferences where I’ll be addressing future trends in agriculture. In my talk, I’ll cover a number of business, political, social, economic, demographic and technological trends, including precision agriculture, data mining/business analytics, biofuels, hydroponics, vertical farming, synthetic biology, cloud computing and supercomputing. What follows, however, are the…