FEDERALhearing transcript

Hearing on High-Tech Agriculture and Small Business

Original title: HIGH-TECH AGRICULTURE: SMALL FIRMS ON THE FRONTIER OF AGRIBUSINESS

January 1, 2018

agriculture small business technology innovation rural development agtech

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The Frame

What this does

This hearing explored federal and private sector strategies to help small farmers adopt new technologies while minimizing financial risk and promoting rural job creation.

Who is mentioned in the record

Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.

Small and family farmers

They are the primary users of agtech and face financial risks when adopting experimental technologies.

Agtech entrepreneurs

They are developing new technologies and seeking startup capital and market access within the agricultural sector.

What changed

Last recorded activity January 1, 2018.

What's next

Next step not available in the current record.

Summary

The House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy, and Trade held a hearing on October 5, 2017, to discuss how agricultural technology () can support small family farms and rural economic growth. The committee examined the role of startups, private investment, and universities in bringing new innovations to the agricultural sector.

Key Facts

The hearing took place on October 5, 2017, in the Rayburn House Office Building.
The Subcommittee examined agtech innovations including bioscience, data-enabled agriculture, robotics, and supply chain logistics.
The committee identified over 100 different vehicles currently used to develop agtech entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Funding for agtech research and development is currently sourced from corporate investors, angel investors, trade associations, land grant universities, and local chambers of commerce.
The hearing focused on the challenge of minimizing financial risk for small and family farmers when adopting experimental technologies.
The committee discussed the potential for agtech to increase farm productivity, reduce resource usage, and boost profits.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is agtech?

(or agritech) refers to a broad range of innovations in agriculture, including bioscience, data analytics, robotics, supply chain logistics, and new business models.

Why is the Small Business Committee interested in agriculture?

The committee is exploring how startups can create jobs in rural areas and how small family farms can benefit from new technologies to improve productivity and profitability.

Why It Matters

This hearing explored federal and private sector strategies to help small farmers adopt new technologies while minimizing financial risk and promoting rural job creation.

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

Discoveries

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift90% confidence

Focus on Rural Revitalization

The committee explicitly linked agricultural technology development to rural economic revitalization and job creation.

Committee on Small Business

Connected Entities

personBrad Schneider“Member of the Subcommittee”Map →

organizationCommittee on Small Business“House of Representatives committee hosting the hearing”Map →

personJoe Guthrie“Senior Instructor, Virginia Tech”Map →

personLisa Benson“Director of Rural Development, American Farm Bureau Federation”Map →

personRod Blum“Chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy, and Trade”Map →

personMark Kester“Chief Scientific Officer, AgroSpheres, LLC”Map →

personKevin Heikes“COO of IN10T”Map →

Sources

Open source document

www.govinfo.gov

Analysis Score

0–100

Significance40
How much this matters to a regular citizen
Controversy10
Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
Entertainment5
Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
Buzz10
Current news / social attention level

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