KANSAS CITY, MO. — The need for innovation never goes away. Representatives from across the agricultural sector gathered at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Feb. 27 to discuss the ongoing strategies for improving productivity and generating technology in the ag space during the 2025 Ag Innovation Forum, hosted by the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City and the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA). The forum attracted attendees and invited speakers from all over the industry, including policymakers, producers, entrepreneurs, consultants and suppliers, culminating in an approximate total of 130 registrants.

One point rang clear throughout the event: No one knows for certain the future of agriculture, but there is no debate that innovation is the key to determining the sector’s future.

Speaker Todd Thurman, founder and lead consultant of Swine Insights International, explained how the future may, in fact, be very different from the story so often told. While the issue of rapid population growth has repeatedly been a topic of concern, Thurman argued that the problem that agriculture and the world face is actually the opposite.

“What we're seeing is a slowdown of the rapid population of the experience of the last few years,” he said. “And eventually, what we're going to be seeing is a decline in global population.”

“There's a legitimate discussion on when the population is going to peak, but … almost every demographer will agree that sometime before the end of the century we’re going to see the global population peak,” Thurman continued.

The problem, according to Thurman, isn’t how to feed 10.3 billion people in 2083 — a hypothetical often posed to him — rather, it’s how to feed people more effectively. Thurman noted that countries already produce enough food to feed that many people. However, so much of what’s produced ends up going to waste.

“If we could get a handle on food waste … it would be a huge win,” Thurman said.

Adjusting to a new administration

Adding to the unknowns, the recent change in the United States’ administration has signaled a series of “disruptors,” as Polly Ruhland, senior managing director at FTI Consulting, would refer to the many policy shifts in recent weeks.

During her talk, Ruhland pointed to the $18 billion funding freeze, the 2,000 USDA employee layoffs, new tariffs and stricter immigration policies as some of the disruptors witnessed during President Donald Trump’s first few weeks in office.

“Is disruption necessary for change? One hundred percent,” she said.

Ruhland called on the ag industry to stay ahead of the curve by understanding what the disruptors are and understanding their ripple effects.

In a panel discussion on innovation and investment, Jerrod Westfahl, executive chairman of ILS Beef, also acknowledged the change in administration and how it might affect where funding goes. As the US government is shifting away from sustainability initiatives, Westfahl pointed out that, even before the administration change, the industry appeared to be moving away from the hype of environmental initiatives.

“In my opinion, we had already entered a post-sustainability world in ag innovation,” he said.

Co-panelist Duane Cantrell, managing partner at Fulcrum Global Capital, expressed similar sentiments.

“We've got to be smarter about where money’s going and understand that the purpose is not necessarily to drive down methane emissions but to improve productivity,” he said.

Technology implementation

In a later panel discussion, Andrew Uden, chief executive officer of HerdDogg Inc.; Ash Sweeting, vice president of Agscent; and Daniel Foy, co-founder and CEO of AgriGates, spoke about the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture. The speakers agreed that improving digital literacy is key to bringing the benefits of AI practically on the farm.

“We need to expedite [digital literacy] from the farm level up,” Foy said. "I don’t want them to be coders, but I want them to understand what we’re talking about — to actually having engineer teams at the table. The teams I see the most effective are veterinarians with the engineering team around them.”

Uden added that, based on his experience bringing HerdDogg’s innovations to different markets, the ease of technology adoption often depends on the industry.

“Dairy is very fast at adopting new technologies,” he said. "So, we haven’t had a big barrier there. Surprisingly, cow-calf has been fairly easy. The feedlots, sadly — my sector of the industry — we have a very efficient, ingrained business model, and so we had to make it simple as humanly possible because the managers of the feedyards aren't going to be the ones using [the technology] — probably not even the vets, not the nutritionists. It’s going to be a cowboy who probably doesn’t speak English.”

“If we can give that person a tool to be successful and make it just literate enough for him, everybody up the chain will use it the way they want to use it,” Uden continued. “But it has to go back to that very base employee.”

Other sessions throughout the day focused on topics including the commercialization of innovation and the value of connectivity. Each session approached the need for innovation through a unique perspective. Following the event, Zach Helder, spokesperson for the Agricultural Business Council, remarked on the success of this year’s Ag Innovation Forum.

“Even in tough times for agriculture, we’ve seen steadily growing attendance at our forums each year and have been proud to host greater numbers of national leaders and experts,” he said. “It’s a testament to the leadership of the Agricultural Business Council, and the Kansas City region writ large, in telling our industry’s story to the public.”