2021 Virtual AgTech Innovation Summit a Success

Category : Research Park
Posted on: March 12, 2021

The 2021 Agriculture Technology Innovation Summit was a success yet again, bringing together the biggest agriculture companies and brightest minds in agtech for the sixth year in a row; this time virtually.

This year, Research Park held its first AgTech Networking Night prior to the AgTech Innovation Summit. This event allowed agtech professionals to connect with other conference-goers, hear pitches from agtech startups, and engage in meaningful discussion with one another on the night before the summit.

This year’s event included remarks from industry thought leaders including Bayer’s Senior Vice President and Head of Seed Production Innovation Shannon Hauf, who delivered the keynote speech. In her speech, Hauf emphasizes the importance of innovation, diversity, and sustainability for the future of advertising. “If we are to meet the needs of the future, innovation is critical, it is needed. Everyone needs to be at the table to solve the challenges,” says Hauf. 

The 2021 panels included discussions on agrifood innovation, regenerative agriculture, the ag sector’s role in carbon markets, AI farms, building the future agtech workforce, investment, and growers & producers. In addition to the unique mix of panel discussions, key individuals participated in fireside chats, where they could give brief presentations on their company, their technology, and their plans for the future.

The day concluded with the AgTech Student Career Event, a first for the Summit. This interactive conference offers participants the opportunity to learn and share knowledge about the current state of agtech and looking into the future through dynamic panels, inspiring keynote presentations, and networking opportunities.

The AgTech Summit is a collaboration between the University of Illinois Research Park, the University of Illinois, the College of ACES, and the Office of Corporate Relations. Thank you to all those from the local agriculture community as well as others from all over the globe that attended this virtual event. Another thank you to the moderators and panelists for sharing your time and talents. Last but not least, thanks to the AgTech 2021 sponsors who made this year’s event possible:  Bayer, John Deere, Moore & Warner Ag Group, Kin + Carta and Genective.

For more information on this year’s event, go here. To browse the event’s photo gallery, go here. For this year’s agenda, look below. And don’t forget to save the date for next year’s Agriculture Innovation Technology Summit on March 9, 2022.

2021 Agenda

Wednesday March 10, 2021

8:00 AM: WEBINAR OPENS
8:15 AM: WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS
8:45 AM: MORNING KEYNOTE
9:10 AM: FIRESIDE CHAT: JIM SPRADLIN, GROWMARK
9:45 AM: AGRIFOOD INNOVATION
10:15 AM: BREAK
10:30 AM: REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
11:00 AM: FIRESIDE CHAT: SETH CRAWFORD, AGCO
11:20 AM: GLEN “GB” BRANDT PRIZE FOR AG ENTREPRENEURISM
11:35 AM: THE AG SECTOR’S ROLE IN CARBON MARKETS
12:05 PM: FIRESIDE CHAT: JULIAN SANCHEZ, JOHN DEERE
12:30 PM: EDWIN MOORE FAMILY AGRICULTURE INNOVATION PRIZE
12:45 PM: PAST MOORE INNOVATION PRIZE WINNERS
1:15 PM FIRESIDE CHAT: KROGER
1:30 PM: FIRESIDE CHAT: SAM EATHINGTON, CORTEVA
2:00 PM: BREAK
2:15 PM: EMERGING DISRUPTION IN AGRICULTURE

What technology or business model will be the next big disruption or game-changing paradigm in agriculture? For this session with Genective President & CEO Linda Jing, we will gather ideas in advance and select contributors to share their vision live during the program. During the AgTech Summit we will use the Zoom polling feature to ask participants to vote on ideas that they think will be most impactful the industry. Submit your idea.

If you submit an idea, you will receive the collective input from all contributed ideas in this call for submissions.  The results will be aggregated and not attributed to individual names or companies. We will also share polling results from the event and notes from the overall AgTech Summit.

2:40 PM: AI FARMS
3:00 PM: BUILDING THE FUTURE AGTECH WORKFORCE
3:30 PM: INVESTMENT IN AGTECH
4:00 PM: GROWERS & PRODUCERS
4:25 PM: CLOSING REMARKS
4:30 – 5:30 PM: AGTECH STUDENT CAREER EVENT
  • Registered Companies: Bayer, John Deere, Illinois AgTech Accelerator, and EnterpriseWorks
  • Students and Employers register for the Career Event here
    *This event is exclusive to companies located in the Research Park
5:00 – 6:30 PM: BAYER AGCONNECT NETWORKING EVENT
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