Five Iowa farmers shared their perspectives on ag tech and retailer relationships during the popular farmer panel segment at the 2024 Tech Hub LIVE.

Farm4Profit podcast host and Iowa farmer Tanner Winterhof moderated the panel, which included his co-host and 4th generation farmer Corey Hillebo; Scott Henry, partner in LongView Farms in Nevada, IA; “Iowa Farm Mama” Rachel Fishback, People of Ag; and Brad McDonald, McDonald Farm and Continuum Ag. All five are row crop and livestock producers who are leaders in adopting new technology in many different ways.

Fishback farms with her brother in Washington County, Iowa and is known on TikTok and Facebook as Iowa Farm Mama. She also started a media marketing company called People of Ag. “I think technology is growing with the times and keeping farming current with all of other industries that are out there, especially with social media and telling our stories via video,” she said. “I’ve got my brother on camera. We talk about our farming on social media a lot.”

Henry focuses primarily on business development and growth for his family’s 10,000-acre farm and considers technology a path towards better insights on the farm “We’ve truly tried to adopt and be at the cutting edge as much as we can…we hope to be better farmers and better stewards by doing so.”

McDonald takes the view of an economist when it comes to technology. “So the definition of the economy would be the allocation of limited resources. To me, technology is the enhancement of that allocation. So in layman’s terms, getting more with less is really how I view technology.”

One of the advantages Hillebo likes to see when he adopts new technology is in the decision making process. “I think some of the best tech that really helps our farm helps take the emotion out of the decisions,” Hillebo says. “We’ve even got into artificial intelligence when it comes to grain marketing.”

There was a good deal of discussion on the panel about incentives for adopting regenerative agriculture practices such as cover crops and no till to lower carbon intensity scores for farmers who sell grain to ethanol plants. McDonald serves as Chief Operating Officer of Continuum Ag, a company that has been helping farmers adopt these practices that, starting in 2025, could generate a new revenue stream.

“So us as farmers can help the ethanol industry lower their CI score by producing a low CI grain. How do we do it? By using cover crops, no-till, and manure instead of synthetics. If you do those three things, that’s the trifecta to lower your score,” McDonald explained. “And now I’m providing a brand new value to the ethanol industry that I should be compensated for. So at the end of the day it it’s all tied to what is your actual score of the practices that you’re implementing on your farm.”

To sum it up, Winterhof said, “Technology for us needs to be able to help us direct the narrative and tell our story. It needs to be able to help remove emotion, needs to be able to help us increase productivity, save time, reduce costs, and it needs to come with a positive user experience.”