Seana Day: How Farmers Can Use Technology to Make Financially Sound Decisions

In this episode of Voices of the Valley, Seana Day, Partner with Culterra Capital and Venture Partner with Better Food Ventures, joins Dennis Donohue and Candace Wilson to share her perspective about the need for digital systems to better utilize farmers’ time, information and resources. “When we think about the role of technology and optimizing our assets, our resources, it just doesn’t make sense to me why more companies aren’t thinking about integrating those technologies…it’s always surprising to me how much loss or waste operators are willing to assume as just a cost of doing business,” Day shares. Day also speaks about the growing need for a workforce trained in the unique environment of an agricultural organization and how important it is for those working in specialized roles to integrate with one another and the software that’s available. “I’m looking at all of this information and it’s siloed,” Day says. “It’s so disconnected. It’s so analog. It’s all done on pen and paper, and it takes forever. Making any kind of remotely real-time decision - let’s be honest, there’s a lot of risk. You leave revenue on the table. Your costs are inflated. There’s more risk than there should be because we’re not able to access information…to make those swift decisions.” As a Venture Partner, Day also offers insight into the three things that stand out to her when she’s assessing startups and what sets the two to four that are chosen apart from the hundreds that apply.