By: Matt Hopkins

The agriculture industry is poised to leverage advanced data-driven, connected technology and sharing models to drive new innovation that will promote reinvestment in our rural communities, FarmLink’s CEO Ron LeMay said Tuesday at The White House Second Annual Rural Opportunity Investment Conference.

“Agriculture is a fundamental component of America’s rural communities and economies,” said LeMay. “Know-how and advanced technology have driven substantial progress, but dynamic economic realities require a keen focus on the balance sheet. Today, FarmLink and others are helping to accelerate transformational change to improve the overall business health of farming.”

The Rural Opportunity Investment Conference, led by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and the White House Rural Council, brought together ag tech entrepreneurs, investors and government leaders to discuss new opportunities for investment and growth in rural communities.

“Private investment in new data analytics tools, connected farm technologies and sharing-based business models will unlock new productivity potential and capital for re-investment,” LeMay said speaking on the equity investment panel.

“Agriculture is at an inflection point. New information-based solutions available today were unimaginable one generation ago. Building on the progress that the USDA and others have made, we are connecting farm equipment to capture not only yield information, but planting, water and other critical data, and expanding into more data-intensive, high-resolution applications,” he said.

FarmLink, a leading ag data and technology company, has introduced several industry firsts, such as TrueHarvest yield benchmarking and analytics for precise, objective insights to help farmers pinpoint opportunities for more profitable and sustainable farm management. Last week, FarmLink introduced agriculture’s first on-line equipment sharing platform – MachineryLink Sharing – to manage the cost of farm equipment and help generate incremental revenues.

By rethinking costly capital investments in equipment, farmers and their partners unlock resources to support stronger business practices, which strengthen the communities where they work, farm and live, LeMay told the panel.

“Innovation and progress will come from new ways of thinking about the challenges that agriculture faces and engaging the next generation of farmers so we keep that talent in our rural communities,” LeMay said. “With access to technology through connections and innovation on the rise, there is an unprecedented and exciting opportunity to empower future farmers with a positive impact on their local communities.”