We humans seem to at our best when inspired and challenged…in fact, when inspired and challenged OPTIMALLY, we are unstoppable.
My objective today is to inspire and challenge you.
Not only do I believe there is great business opportunity, and significant benefits to quality of life around the world, but I believe we have a mandate for the good of our planet.
Here it is as a diagram…digitization as we in this room know, is the next Big Thing
And when we approach this with the right vision in mind…everybody wins
To provide some context, and assuming that there may be a few in the room who have not thought much about the food value chain, I wanted to get a few things on the table
I would label these bubbles as SOME of the basic elements of the equation
By no means comprehensive
And innovation and change are happening across it all
I want to drill down on several of these to set the stage for the challenges and opportunities ahead
First, just a graph of the differences globally around farm size
In the US and Argentina, we have mega-farms with mega machines
In many other parts of the world, we have farms no larger than this room where the grower uses a back pack sprayer
And in some cases, virtually no use of technology applied to farming…at least not as we would define it
Now a look at who has food to share, and who relies on others to feed their people
Also in this graphic
In the developed world, we’re spending 10% of our income on food, 60% in the developing world
And virtually all of the nations in food crisis are in Africa
What about upstream of the farm…here a diagram showing the main segments of the Crop Protection product supply chain
These supply chains have end-to-end cycle times between 6 months and over 3 years
Please imagine that if you will, this past growing season, we sold finished product, whose raw materials were ordered in 2014
Speaking of cycle times…before these supply chains are operating, R&D took on average 10 yrs and $250MM to discover and prepare to launch
How about population…we’re at 7B and headed to 9B by 2050
But food consumption will not only increase by 28% due to population growth
Food demand will grow disproportionately because as nations develop, the first thing they tend to spend more money on tends to be protein in the form of beef, pork and poultry…look at the difference illustrated in this graphic
So population growth combined with these factors results in needing a doubling of yield
The first expectation of many consumers in regions with accelerating economic growth is better quality food
This means a diet with more protein, primarily from meat, which requires additional grain to feed more animals
It takes approximately 7 kilograms of feed grain to produce 1 kilogram of beef, 4 kilograms per kilogram of pork and 2 kilograms per kilogram of poultry
Rising meat consumption has an immediate effect on grain consumption, thus substantially more fertilizer will be needed
You might think bringing more land into agriculture is the solution, but that trend line is in the opposite direction
And for good reason, we don’t need or want any more deforestation
As world population grows and urban areas expand, the quantity and quality of land available for agriculture declines
Conversion to Industrial and Urban uses continues to grow at a rapid pace
China feeds 22% of the world’s population on only 7% of the world’s arable land
By 2020, there will be just over 0.2 hectares per person for animal and crop production
This puts significant pressure on farmers to boost crop yields to get production out of a diminishing land base
And I probably do not need to convince you that fresh water availability is also a global challenge
And agriculture is the single largest demand on fresh water consumption
As all of that is going on, we as a population are becoming much more aware
So we are asking more of ourselves
Unfortunately, in many case, we don’t have all the answers
And in just as many case, we have apparently opposing objectives
And as you read this list, I think you would agree there is not even one item, that is unambiguous
So…are you feeling challenged yet?
Well here comes inspiration…technology to the rescue!
Here is a graph of corn and wheat yield progress since the turn of the century
Farm equipment, hybrids, fertilizer, herbicides/insecticides/fungicides and finally biotech
So what's next on this picture…I think you know my answer…digitization technology
Sell More
Growth through enhanced opportunistic revenue capture
Growth through enhanced service
Growth through increased loyalty
Growth through unique capability
Cost Less
Increased asset utilization through better planning
Logistics & network optimization - freight/warehouse/duty
More effective event management
Dynamic optimization of working capital
New Competitive Advantage
New business models
More effective and faster current business models
The Planet
Reduced resource consumption
Raising the minimum expectation on quality of life
The timely ability to see waste/opportunity
The timely ability to see & process: conditions
The timely ability to process: scenario outcomes
The timely ability to suggest/prescribe optimized actions
The ability to sense more
The ability to redefine business, channel and factory floor processes
Forgive the laundry list…but its worth taking this in
Partly because its not often we see it all at once in a menu
Also because each of these will be has a place…a use case and an opportunity
And finally because sometimes, it wont be one of these but a combination that unlocks value
So we know digital will drive the next step change in performance
And we have a list of enabling technologies…and some, by the way, we have not imagined
So where is it applied
Here is a linear view of the value chain from raw material supply to food consumer…you and me
I prefer this view because it illustrates the closed loop of this value chain
It also highlights the collateral value chains
And if you don’t mind a reminder…please think about the lack of digitization currently, or the pockets of isolated digitization
Now imagine the power of connecting these lakes and streams of data and overlaying algorithms and AI
Add a few principles on VCM
Each of these can be detailed…but I’ll pick my favorite to illustrate…DESIGN
As we know, businesses are made up of functions
And these functions each have opportunities to apply digital enablers beyond the current state
Technology…in this discussion digital technology…not only changes performance, but locks it in
But this Turkish retailer I think says it more memorably
Waiting for a comprehensive all inclusive answer vs understanding the principle that it all connects and each pilot has independent ROI…and the combinatorial impact amplifies the ROI
Failing to see this (digital) as a strategic platform
Failing to fund a high ROI “R&D” program
Spending resource on the familiar incremental gains vs the transformative platform capability
Not hiring data scientists, data engineers, data analysts, code writers…directly or through technology partners
Remember the Golden Rules of any value proposition…
We have the know-how AND the capability
We have the resources AND the implementation process
Maybe what we lack is the sense of urgency?
So if you are paying attention to global events, even loosely, like me you may be sensing that the heat and pressure are getting turned up.
Statistics and causation are stubborn things, but as best as we can see into the future…
Climate change discussion
Population growth forecast
Emigration/immigration forecast
Geopolitical stability discussion
These to me provide the sense of urgency…combined with the clear benefits to business economics and the vast number of Use Cases…the mandate is clear.
Thank you for your time today and I hope there was a reasonable dose of inspiration and challenge. I'm happy to take any questions now, or by email later if you prefer.
Thank you!