KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As part of its drive to transform modern agriculture, FarmLink today announced the creation of its advisory board focused on increasing adoption of new technology and precision agriculture tools necessary to improve productivity, profitability and sustainability of farm operations around the world.

FarmLink leaders, data scientists and tech teams are honored to collaborate with distinguished industry experts, including:

• Julie Borlaug, associate director, Norman E. Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, Texas A&M University
• Howard W. Buffett, lecturer, Columbia University, co-author of 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World, and Nebraska farmer
• Rikin Gandhi, founder and CEO, Digital Green
• Dan Glickman, vice president, Aspen Institute, and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture

“Agriculture needs solutions to the complex challenges often identified but not adequately addressed,” said Ron LeMay, chairman and CEO of FarmLink. “We need fresh thinking and an action-bias to help drive the change necessary for more productive, profitable and sustainable agriculture around the world. We look forward to working closely with our advisors to make a meaningful difference for farming families, agribusinesses and consumers.”

Together with the knowledge, experience and passion of these advisors, FarmLink will continue to focus critical resources to create innovative solutions. “It is incredibly important that the next generation of farmers, ranchers and agriculture leaders have access to the most modern and innovative technological tools to allow them to feed a growing and hungry world sustainably and profitably,” said Glickman. “I look forward to working with FarmLink and the other advisory board members to achieve those objectives.”

FarmLink’s data science and technology teams have decades of experience from transformational industries — including energy, telecommunications and global manufacturing — as well as deep-rooted agriculture backgrounds.The company’s research-quality, proprietary data set offers new insights to help inform farm management decisions needed to continue closing the productivity gap while protecting natural resources.

“FarmLink is at the very forefront of innovation in agriculture, with a real commitment to sustainability in ways that are critical to our future,” said Buffett. “It is an honor to join this distinguished group of advisors in support of such a mission.”

While the company’s initial offerings benefit U.S. farmers, the technology has broad applicability to farm operations around the world. "FarmLink connects the dots to build technology that magnifies human intent and capability. These ag tech platforms can inspire the next generation of agricultural innovators to make meaningful changes in global agriculture at the farm level," said Gandhi.

“My grandfather strongly believed that science and technological breakthroughs in agriculture played the key role in improving the quantity, quality and availability of the food for the world’s people during the past 50 years. But it will take the unconventional ideas and innovation of small start-ups, like FarmLink, to ensure our food security in the next 50 years,” said Borlaug.

About FarmLink's Advisory Board 
Julie Borlaug, granddaughter of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and father of the Green Revolution Dr. Norman Borlaug, is currently associate director for external relations at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research. She advocates for educating and engaging the next generation to ensure continued scientific and technology advances in agriculture to feed a growing world population. @JulieBorlaug

Howard W. Buffett, lecturer at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, is recognized for his leadership in international development and global efforts to increase food security and advance farm sustainability. Before joining Columbia’s faculty, he was the executive director of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which strengthens food security for vulnerable populations throughout the world. Howard previously held posts in the Department of Defense and the White House, and co-authored the New York Times bestselling book, 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World. He and his father operate their conservation-based family farm in Nebraska. @HBuffett

Rikin Gandhi is CEO and founder of Digital Green, a not-for-profit international development organization that uses an innovative digital platform to bring together technology and social organizations to improve agriculture, health and nutrition to improve lives in rural communities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Rikin first worked at Oracle and then Microsoft, where he researched ways to amplify the effectiveness of agricultural development globally. This led to the non-profit spin-off he later co-founded as Digital Green. @DigitalGreenOrg

Dan Glickman, vice president of The Aspen Institute, leads its Congressional Program as executive director. From 1995-2001, Dan served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Previously, he represented the 4th Congressional District of Kansas for 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, during which time he served on the House Agriculture Committee, among other appointments. Currently, Dan serves as a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, co-chairs the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Initiative on Global Agriculture and Development, and co-chairs AGree, a collaborative initiative designed to tackle long-term agricultural, food and rural policy issues. @DanRGlickman