Chicago is quickly becoming one of the hottest tech hubs of the Midwest. With the growth of 1871, a tech incubator in the city’s Merchandise Mart, organizations such as Caterpillar, Conagra and MillerCoors have partnered with the developer to create a breeding ground for properties in the Midwest. Located close to Chicago’s thriving Fulton River District, the neighborhood is attracting the likes of Google, Salesforce and Morning Consult to its already booming city of industry.
This year, AgTech Nexus makes its Chicago debut and Marketing to Farmers, along with our firm, Rhea + Kaiser, are delighted to be participants. Previously held on both the East and West coasts, the annual ag event is more than just a series of financial seminars targeted to venture capital investors and agribusiness executives. With workshops on How Ag Tech Has Increased Efficiency in Row Crop Production, Investor Perspectives: Which Technologies are Ready to Scale and a Keynote Executive Interview: The Role of the American Midwest in Shaping the Future of Global Agriculture to a panel discussion on The Bridge Between Sustainability and Profitability, the event is a dynamic approach to the marriage of ag and tech and all that it encompasses.
As AgTech Nexus comes to the Midwest, it’s differentiated from its experience on either coast by being at the gateway to agricultural production. This offers farmers and producers the chance to be involved earlier in the development process so that entrepreneurs can benefit from their feedback and involvement. The combination of a tech hub situated in the midst of a modern farming operation creates opportunities for both farmers and startups alike.
Additional features of this year’s event include hands-on demonstrations and exhibitions, which provide an opportunity to see and experience technology as it’s happening. From the marketing influencer perspective, we view this as being part of the process from the ground up and getting a more authentic point of view from the start. By including the producer and farmer into the process earlier, particularly for a technology startup, this gets their buy-in from a theoretical and practical context.
On Tuesday, July 23, Marketing to Farmers’ Jeff Walter will be moderating the Innovation Spotlight: Fostering the Next Generation of AgTech Entrepreneurs. The panel will provide the audience with an opportunity to learn more about the millennial ag tech market, the obstacles they have faced, gains they are earning and how they are changing the game through their everyday practice.
In addition to investors, entrepreneurs and agribusiness executives, AgTech Nexus welcomes farmers and producers to get a broad audience perspective and to gauge how technology is disrupting ag across the board. More than that, it’s looking forward to a productive event that explores the ag tech conversation in a compelling and progressive manner, which gets to the heart of issues facing farmers and producers and how ag tech is part and parcel to their solutions.
R+K is proud to be a partner for this event, co-hosted by AgTech Nexus and The Illinois Soybean Association. We thank them for the opportunity to bring this event to the forefront of Midwest ag marketers and producers. To participate in AgTech Nexus, click here to register and be sure to use the discount code RK15 to save 15% on your registration fees.