Minneapolis Star Tribune reports on digital aspects of farming with Land O’Lakes and their CTO (and chair of the MN Broadband Task Force) Teddy Bekele…

Land O’Lakes appointed Bekele the company’s first tech executive in 2018 amid a growing need to connect agriculture with big data and insights. Six years on, it’s still in Bekele’s job description to “lead digital transformation” at the 103-year-old cooperative, especially as artificial intelligence unites a common theme tech and ag share: optimization.

“For the amount of inputs you’re putting in, you’re getting the maximum outputs,” he said. “That’s the core of where our insights and AI come into play.”

Bekele’s team of about 250, plus another 750 consultants and contractors, are dispersed throughout the cooperative’s business units: dairy foods, WinField United crop inputs, Purina animal feed and Truterra, in addition to areas like supply chain. Some of those employees even report to other leaders, giving tech a seat at many tables.

“We’re going to help them get smart about data and analytics,” Bekele said. “As a technology organization inside Land O’Lakes, we’re only successful if Land O’Lakes businesses are successful, and the business is only successful if the retailers and farmers are successful.”

The shift to technology has been strategic…

A Purdue report found as the global population rises, it could take a “miracle that dramatically shifts the annual rate of corn yield improvement” to feed everyone.

“We’ve proven [corn yields] can push over 800 bushels per acre, yet the average is way below that” at around 180 bushels of corn per acre, said senior R&D manager Eric Spandl. “So how do we bring that up and be more efficient with the acres that we have?”