Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8426 / SEEDWORLD.COM OCTOBER 2016 The modern tractor is more technologically sophisticated than the first space shuttle that went to the moon. The implications for the ag sector are staggering, says this German-based futurist. Marc Zienkiewicz WHAT DOES THE seed industry have in common with Uber, Amazon and the Huffington Post? They all exist at a very unique time in history, when the biggest and most successful companies are focused not on making products or building infrastructure, but on something else — mastering data. And the seed industry must be prepared to function in this new environment to ensure food secu- rity for the future. In the business world, the concept of what it means to provide products and services is not the same as it has been in the past, and the ag industry is ripe for similar change and disruption. “The computing power of today’s typical farm tractor is higher than what was needed to reach the moon with the first space shuttle,” says Wallner, director of innovation management and consulting at 2b AHEAD, a German Mastering the Data Layer That means that those in agriculture might just have to think more like Uber, Amazon and the Huffington Post. “The world’s biggest taxi company doesn’t own taxis,” says Jörg Wallner. “The world’s biggest retailer has no inven- tory. The most prominent media outlet doesn’t produce any content. “What does that mean for agriculture? These business models are not based only on infrastructure; they’re capitalizing on this additional layer — the data layer.” Jörg Wallner is a German-based futurist.