CropLife Retail Week: Syngenta/Taranis AI Project, Longshoremen/Farm Bill Updates, and a Positive Ag Economic Report

Eric Sfiligoj and Lara Sowinski discuss the recent collaboration on artificial intelligence, the latest on longshoremen/Farm Bill talks, and a new ag outlook with some good news.

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*Below is a partial and edited transcript:

Eric Sfiligoj: Welcome to a special edition of Crop Life Retail Week. I’m Eric Sfiligoj, editor at CropLife. Here in person with Lara Sowinski. We are attending an event in Chicago, Illinois. Lara. Hello.

Lara Sowinksi: Wow. I actually get to talk to a live person, right? Sitting next to me. This is this is nice. This is what being a road warrior really looks like.

ES: Yeah, I remember I was in and say, we’re on the road, so we figured we would record while we were on the road. So. So, hey, a couple of tidbits to share with the viewers. I know one thing that we’ve talked about a lot in the marketplace. Oh, gosh, at least the last year is artificial intelligence, AI and, we did find out this week that we had an announcement regarding AI and AI technology.

Our friends at Syngenta Crop Protection have teamed up with Taranis, leading AI provider. And starting in the 24-25 growing season and for a three year period, these two companies are going to collaborate to bring, technology, AI powered agronomic technology to growers and ag retailers and, help them be more efficient using these technologies to make their farms better with better yields.

So, you know, the, comment we have here from, Paul Backman, the head of North American Crop Protection at Syngenta said we believe this collaboration with Taranis will help retailers tap into the full potential of AI and digital agronomy, unlocking new levels of operational efficiencies.

So again, Lara, that’s going to be starting here in the fall and moving into the 25 growing season, we’ll have Syngenta and Taranis working together to improve AI for ag retail. It is very, very collaborative effort there. Yeah. And on that technology note. Oh, okay. We’ll kick it over to you that very good.

LS: I had you know, we’ve been talking about thankfully the ILA and US, agreed to extend the, U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, long term loan agreement until January 15th. The caveat, of course, is technology is still the big bugaboo, particularly the automation and the port. I’ve been trying to kind of keep up, like, you know, what are they negotiating?

What are they talking about? Now, there hasn’t been much report on where negotiations stand currently. But one figured this would be a good I had fun with numbers are not fun with numbers, but, Gosh, the Journal of Commerce is reporting that, the cost, under this agreement, the ILA in the U.S. would raise cost along the waterfront by up to $5 billion.

If you recall, the US did concede to a wage. I, you know. Yeah, not quite as much, what the ILA was asking for, but, and that’s just on, on the wage, so, you know, we’ll see. I mean, and continue to keep on looking for some signs of a resolve and, negotiations, but thus far, nothing.

ES: So let’s continue to hold our breath and hope for the best, because fingers crossed. 215 this right around the corner. So yeah, it’ll be here before you know it. Yeah. You would hope that they would settle all this time into the holiday season Christmas time. But yeah, we shall see. Unfortunately, a lot of times these negotiations, if everything’s going to expire on this date, it’s like at 11:59 p.m. the day before when they finally come to some type of, understanding.

Hey, I wanted to, because again, we’ve been doing more or less negative news. I don’t see on our videos now. All right. I’m not pointing fingers, but. Yes. And negative news items. I have some, I guess, positive news to share. Two tidbits. I know we have talked about the farm bill and the prospects for farm bill.

Folks were saying a couple of weeks ago, the prospects for a farm bill in 24 looked bleak. Didn’t think they were it was going to happen. But, our friend, the secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, was at a recent meeting and he said that the odds of a new farm bill, in his estimation, are, a little better than we thought.

As he pointed out, the reality is we have got to get this done before the end of the year. And everybody says that because, again, the the, current farm bill expired on September 30th. We don’t have an extension yet. But Tom, in this meeting had mentioned Tom Vilsack that the Republican and Democratic leaders on the House and the Senate ad committees are talking, and that he and he anticipates that before the end of the year, they’ll get some type of an agreement in place for some version of a farm bill, even if it’s an extension.

But he again, he said, the fact that they’re talking, he sees that as quote unquote a good sign. So we may get a farm bill after all. That’d be awesome. That would actually that’s really encouraging. Like, see, I told you he could win the prize for good news. Well, and I’ve got some more to share. So, yeah.

And again, we’ve also talked about how rough the ag economy has gotten for growers with, expected grower incomes coming down and commodity prices low. But our friends at CoBank released a report where they are seeing things in a little more positive light. Their outlook for the U.S. ag economy, they say, is, a little more positive than it was about a month ago.

They’re expecting growers to see the largest soybean crop ever and the third largest corn crop. And they say that export demand has been under pressure, but because of continued drought conditions and poor crops in places like Brazil and Russia, they anticipate that buyers around the globe, if they want grains and oilseeds, are going to have to come back and look to the U.S for their export needs.

So again, their read is that it’s a little more positive than it was a month ago. So yeah, we’re good news actually. I’m glad you caught that. I saw that report from CoBank as well, and I was like, well, yeah. And so I had had to share some good news there. Yeah. All right. Well we will then end and hopefully a good news.