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WWW.POTATOGROWER.COM 47 208.733.7000 solarfarms.info AN AGRI-STOR COMPANY INCENTIVES Act POST HARVEST SPECIALISTS 509.349.7000 Washington: Idaho: Now! Act Act Act tAx Now! Now! 2354-35AgriStore13v.indd 1 1/2/19 9:58 AM H uman progression has forever been linked to our ability to find ways to more efficiently feed ourselves. From hunter-gatherer to agrarian to industrial and networked, each advancement in civilization has been led by technological advancements in agriculture. For a historical perspective, in the United States in 1870, nearly 50 percent of the population was employed in agriculture. Today, that number is below 2 percent. During the middle of the Industrial Revolution, there was still one worker in agriculture for every other employee in the workforce. A series of global famines lead to immense focus on agricultural efficiency and application of technology in the 1950s and '60s. Currently, roughly one employee in agriculture can feed 50 people. However, the need for farmers can never completely disappear. As the world population increases and global food demand skyrockets, the need for higher and better food production is increasing, while the margin for error is decreasing with limited arable land. Our food producers have always been at the mercy of nature. Drought, flood, heat, cold, pests and disease are only a few of the natural phenoma farmers have had to contend with for millennia. In addition, producers today are facing challenges that no other generation of farmers have had to face. Tackling modern-day challenges is where the farmer is less equipped or, in some cases, not equipped at all. The world is experiencing an overall urban migration at a rate never seen before. The labor force upon which farmers have relied is slowly aging and disappearing as rural communities "advance" through their agrarian phase. Urban service economies are creating high-paying, high-tech jobs, leaving employment in the agricultural industry looking unexciting and unprofitable. Non-GMO and organic movements are stripping farmers of their historical weapons against nature. A focus on urban economies and urban service industries has led to government policies artificially driving up labor wages without consideration to the impact on farming communities, thus adding a new challenge in an always price-driven commodity market. Other resources that feed farming, such as and especially water, are now regulated, debated and increasingly expensive. The rate of global civilization advancement coupled with the above societal shifts have left the farmer technologically behind. The list could go on. All of the above has resulted in farming communities feeling threatened and marginalized at a time when we need them most. To quote one of these growers, "…We feel like we have a target on our backs." There is a new movement countering the above: Farmers and farming communities are beginning to take control of the future and pool their resources to fund the innovations they need. A major impediment has been a lack of familiarity with complex technology development at a global scale. The technology companies that do engage with farmers have ignored the generational knowledge and insights that rest with farmers and have therefore failed in providing the needed advancements. Several technology companies have taken advantage of farmers, whether through data rights, usage/modification restrictions, or limiting revenue trickledown to farmers. Some companies have engaged in all of these and more. This has led to audacious growers engaging companies like Motivo to develop their needed solutions. Motivo's unique commercial arrangements allow farmers and farming communities to leverage their insights by encapsulating them into unique services and products for deployment not just on their farms, but globally. Early adopters and visionaries in agriculture are seeing a world of opportunity, with new innovations leading to intellectual property and new revenue streams. This is just the beginning. Unless we apply the kind of societal focus and resources applied to other global challenges, our next generation will be re-introduced to the word "famine"—a word that has largely disappeared from the public vernacular. Unlike previous famines, this time around, our societal antipathy toward farmers and farming would be the primary cause. The agriculture industry must find ways to overcome food security challenges and accelerate a future where farming is viewed as an exciting and profitable profession globally—a future where society has advanced by taking the next giant leap in agriculture.