Jeremy Williams’ Post

On my visit to India a few weeks ago, I had the honor and pleasure of helping mark a turning point in the lives of some farmers in Hyderabad. After my experiences with our DirectAcres trial, I traveled to Hyderabad for one of the most unique and humbling experiences of my career, and for a reminder that what we think of as digital farming goes well beyond satellites, drones, and prescriptions. Michael Schklowski said it best in a post last week where he gave an overview of what the FarmRise One team has done to improve the lives of farmers who are part of the Shamirpet Co-operative Society outside Hyderabad. These farmers give their lives to their livelihoods, and it was a distinct honor to be present for the opening of the collection center and agri-input shop, which will reduce transportation time and cost and increase their take-home income. The margins for smallholder farmers can be small, so even small acts to make operations more efficient can mean huge change. #FarmRise #Smallholder #DigitalFarming #SustainableDevelopment

I was asked a really important question about feedback at our last digital farming team All Hands meeting a couple of weeks ago: I’ll paraphrase the question Dan Ader asked, which was in essence “How do we handle the emotional component of giving feedback in the context of Dynamic Shared Ownership?” First of all, Joanna Porter made a comment that working in digital farming is already 'not for the faint of heart.' That's because we serve a dynamic industry driven by evolving customer needs and the challenging environment that is synonymous with farming. In our industry success requires decision-making that is focused, fast and agile. This is why the team that has assembled today is made up of individuals who are ready to take ownership, drive results and grow together. Together being the operative word. We are a company made up of individuals with feelings and biases. Nevertheless, it is our obligation to practice giving regular constructive feedback because without this open communication, our aspirations for Dynamic Shared Ownership will not be realized. Giving feedback often runs counter to our instinct to fit in with the rest of the tribe. There’s a sense of danger magnified by uncertainty of how feedback will be received in the context of different cultures and experiences. But feedback is an important practice to drive a high-performance, innovative organization. We also need to acknowledge that feedback is in fact two-way communication, involving a giver and a receiver. Intent, delivery, cultural context all matter. And this is why I’ve included my recommended read here, Reed Hastings’s No Rules Rules. Netflix is a noteworthy example of a company that worked systematically at making effective feedback a company norm. The more we do it, the better we’ll get, and the less the act of feedback will feel dangerous. Being intentional and consistent in giving constructive feedback is how our tribe maximizes its potential. It is how we stay accountable to each other and help each other grow and succeed. #Feedback #TeamBayer #HealthforAll #HungerforNone #WorldMentalHealthDay

Thank you to our #TeamBayer colleagues in India, and to my digital farming colleagues Roslyn Chua, Vinny M., Michael Schklowski, Sumedh Pande, and the rest of the team, as well as Simon Wiebusch and Mohan Babu Rajaram, for hosting me a couple of weeks back.   It's been a little over a year since I shared a stage in New York City with Frank Terhorst as we discussed our vision for farms of the future, in particular the future of direct seeded rice in India and beyond.    And during this visit I got to see a large part of that vision coming to life thanks to our scientists and innovators.   Envisioning the future is an act of using intangible imagination to understand how the tangible, physical world can be different and better. But this trip, as do so many opportunities to see on-the-ground farming as it happens, kickstarted my imagination by showing me the reality of just how powerful a system direct seeded rice will be.   And I remain committed that digital tools – especially in a farming environment fundamentally different from mechanized, Western-style farming – will be critical to the success of the direct seeded rice system as technologies like drone seeding and spraying, GenAI for agronomic advice, and equipment as a service become more prevalent.   Thanks again to the team for their hospitality and for the energy with which they embrace these amazing technologies.   #DirectSeededRice #India #DSR #RegenerativeAgriculture #ClimateChange

One of the ten themes of this year’s Climate Week is Food with a capital F. The first thing cited for this theme – and understandably so – on the Climate Week website is the reality that between one fifth and one third of all GHG emissions in the world comes from our global food system. Centering this fact underlines how important it is for us to make progress against our climate goals. And there’s a lot within our power to change through the advent of data and digital tools. It's not a coincidence that the results of 2024 global Farmer Voice survey publish today. There are many more numbers at play here, but just a brief run-down hints at where ag is headed: -      A third of farmers see weather and price (largely a function of environmental factors for ag) volatility as their top challenge -      But more than 90% of farmers have already begun to implement practices that sequester carbon and that further scale regenerative ag principles -      And three quarters of farmers are open to implementing and adopting new technologies to help them improve their ability to mitigate climate change At yesterday’s Climate Week Newsweek panel (which you should check out if you weren’t able to catch it live), Max Dougherty outlined the challenge and the opportunity inherent in not only mitigating emissions from our global food system, but helping farmers make farming operations a net positive for emissions and the environment. #ClimateWeekNYC #FarmerVoice #DigitalFarming

Climate Week NYC is happening next week, and I encourage all of you to attend this free online discussion to learn about some of the ways the agriculture and food industries are investing to make global climate pledges a reality.    In 2022, Bayer launched a regenerative farming collaboration in the U.S. with Perdue AgriBusiness, aimed at large-scale carbon emission reductions and creating a model for a more sustainable food value chain spanning across Perdue's entire grain network. The collaboration is a first-of-its-kind under our ForGround platform. It combines the strengths and scale of Bayer and Perdue, bringing forward a blueprint for businesses to assess their carbon footprint, and then rapidly scale reduction of Scope 3 emissions.   First and foremost, these programs must benefit farmers. Through this collaboration, Bayer and Perdue are demonstrating how to build a business model that adequately supports, incentivizes, and pays farmers implementing regenerative farming practices, which is very important to scale and meaningfully reduce carbon and GHG footprints globally.   There are three pillars to our approach. The first is providing farmers with agronomic support. The second is lowering barriers to adoption. The third is financial incentives. And what’s been special about this partnership with Perdue is that we’ve been able to activate all three of those pillars. You can tune into the free session featuring our colleague Max Dougherty below (link in comments).   #ClimateWeekNYC #AgInnovation #RegenerativeAgriculture

A few takeaways from last week’s trip to Kenya with the Crop Science executive team: This was my first trip to Africa and an amazing experience both professionally and personally. I had a chance to experience the striking diversity of agriculture in Africa that encompasses smallholder farms and large commercial operations. I was also able to see the vibrant ecosystem of partners that Bayer works with to provide solutions to the most pressing challenges farmers face. Whether small or big, all farmers need high quality seed, effective crop protection, good agronomic advice and markets for their products. Digital technology can enable these inputs to be leveraged even more effectively and at scale, provide effective market linkage and support more resilient agriculture. I was excited to discuss with my colleagues in Kenya various digital initiatives that are underway that will enable us to more effectively serve farmers and enable them to produce more and with even greater sustainability and resilience. Last week we also held a town hall across our Crop Science division, that was the first ever to be held in Africa. It was shared that digital marketplaces, new business models, value chain partnership and an ecosystems approach are key strategic priorities for the region. It is exciting to see digital tools and capabilities as an important focus for this region where the appetite to innovate is high. It was clear in Kenya as in other countries that farmers will benefit from digital technologies that help them farm more efficiently, profitably and sustainably which will also increase their resilience to the things they cannot control. #AgInnovation #AgTech #AI

Two standout items occur to me to share about this recent conversation between Mark Zuckerberg and Dwarkesh Patel: First, as a leader, staying relevant and informed in a highly technical field is really difficult and requires constant continuing education. While this interview does contain a lot of jargon most understandable to those deeply embedded within the AI field, it really underlines the ways that curiosity complements confidence for today’s technical leaders. I’m fortunate to be in agtech today as not only someone who can use his career to improve lives, but as someone who will continue to be genuinely curious and energized by the advancement of technology. It's a gift, but it’s also my responsibility. Second, and relatedly, there’s a nuance to AI tools that I think this conversation handles quite well, which is far from the “to AI or not to AI” binary. AI, like electricity, is going to be a given now that we’ve started to understand how to harness its potential. And also like electricity, not everything needs the same amount of power. I sit at the fascinating confluence of investment and technical excellence, and if I share anything with Mark Zuckerberg, it’s that nerdy excitement over learning to use new things to do cool things. #AI #AgTech #AgInnovation #DigitalFarming

It’s also been a few years since my schedule has allowed me to attend Farm Progress Show, but every year #TeamBayer shows up in a big way. The show represents for farmers a window into what’s possible, not just what they can purchase. We’re proud at every FPS to highlight the things that can benefit farmers now, the technologies on the horizon, and of course our customer support team for any FieldView questions. Congratulations to the team in Boone on another excellent show!

Today we officially unveiled the Climate FieldView Drive 2.0, and tomorrow U.S. farmers will be available to purchase it at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. Like upgrading an old smartphone, this new device is better than the previous generation, improving the experience farmers have with FieldView and allowing them to do more with their precision equipment. The Drive 2.0 offers simplified equipment setup, improved connection stability, quicker connection speeds, and more offline data storage, bringing customers confidence and peace of mind during the busiest times of the year. For the trusted advisors who are co-creating and working with their farmer customers, it allows seed, fertilizer, and crop protection prescriptions to be transferred directly to a monitor for execution in the field, no more fumbling with thumb drives. This means that during the chaos of the crop season - especially during planting and during in-season applications - their trusted advisors can more seamlessly connect to their farmer’s cab to deliver recommendations. The ability to seamlessly transfer and execute tailored, precision recommendations from FieldView advances system-based approaches like the Preceon Smart Corn System and other outcome-based approaches that help de-risk farming operations. To put it simply, this new device helps our customers produce more while using resources more precisely. Bayer will first ship Drive 2.0 in the U.S., followed by launches in additional countries starting early next year. Congratulations to our colleagues across Bayer | Crop Science who dedicated countless hours to the launch of Drive 2.0. Your hard work and commitment have made this achievement possible, and I’m excited to see the positive impact for our customers and the future of regenerative agriculture. #TeamBayer #AgTech #DigitalFarming #RegenerativeAgriculture

I was in the office yesterday for some preliminary activities in support of our annual Bayer United Way campaign, which kicks off next month. This year I was honored to be selected as one of seven new board members of the United Way of Greater St. Louis. Our local campaign is a tradition spanning many years and serves as an annual touchpoint on the importance of giving and community involvement. And our campaign is unique as well in that participation can come in many forms, not just financial contribution. In this and many ways #TeamBayer continually works to better the St. Louis area and I’m excited to see how we show up for our community this year.