What Is a Techronomist, and Why Does Ag Need One?

When Brianna Elliot took the job, nobody had held the title before. Smart Ag Techronomist, a word Olds College was still deciding whether it had invented, describing a role that sits between the agronomist who reads a field and the technician who keeps the equipment talking to itself.Recorded live at the first AgSmart, Elliot manages the applied research projects on the college Smart Farm and works as the college agronomist, with a small cattle operation of her own west of town. Her explanation for why farm technology disappoints people is unsentimental, and it is usually not the technology.What's Inside- What a techronomist actually does, from the first person to carry the title- Inside the Smart Farm: soil sensor validation, a regenerative project on pasture, and correlating corn samples against NDVI with students doing the sampling- Why she says time and connectivity break more farm technology than the technology does- What happens when a product ships before it is ready and lands in a producer's busiest fortnight- The one place she tells growers to start, which is not a piece of equipment- Why startups keep bringing unproven kit to a two thousand acre college farmConnect with Growing the FutureWebsite: growingthefuture.caYouTube: Growing the FutureInstagram: @growingthefuturepodcastLinkedIn: Growing the FutureSubscribe to the Growing the Future Podcast wherever you listen, and register for Convergence Conference 2027 at convergence.ag. Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.