CONNECTING LANDOWNERS WITH RECREATIONISTS

By Tresa Wickenheiser

“For farmers and ranchers who are looking for a practical way to add income to their operations, LandTrust is a website that connects landowners with respectful sportsmen looking to pay for access to their land. LandTrust is a partner that helps build a valuable new income from sportsmen while keeping landowners in full control.”

As Nic reflects on the highs and lows of his entrepreneurial journey, Nic shares that a low has been when he and his cofounder broke up, just one month after launching the LandTrust website. Nic states, “This was a very painful process not only because it meant I was losing a co-founder, but it resulted in losing a very good friend.”

Some of the highs that Nic has endured throughout his entrepreneurial journey has been when Nic saw the first booking go through on LandTrust in October of 2019. He explains that it was incredible to see the five star ratings from both the landowner and sportsmen. Not only this, but Nic highlights his team and the hurdles that they have overcome. Nic shares a story, “A high was hearing that the income from LandTrust was a big help for one of our landowners who was rebuilding a fence & a pole barn after a wildfire went through their property here in Montana.”

When asked how the community can support Nic and LandTrust, Nic states, “As we launch North Dakota, we’d appreciate you sharing LandTrust with your friends and family who either are farmers/ranchers or who are sportsmen.” LandTrust is also looking for motivated farmers and ranchers who would like to become Landowner Success Managers.

Readers can learn more about Nic and LandTrust by visiting their website (landtrust.com), Instagram (landtrust_hunt), Facebook (/landtrustinc) and LinkedIn.

Nic De Castro Founder/CEO, LandTrust

Behind the Scenes of the Emerging Grower Podcast

By Tresa Wickenheiser

Teresa Wickenheiser (left) and Belle McLean (right)

About Emerging Grower

Emerging Grower is an agricultural podcast where we bring together growers and AgTech professionals to help accelerate conversations between emerging technologies in the agriculture industry.

How it Started

The idea of Emerging Grower was formed from analyzing the divide between growers and technologists. It was recognized that growers frequently listen to podcasts while doing day-to-day business. Therefore, Grand Farm found that a podcast would be a great way to help bridge the gap between growers and technologists.

Grand Farm and Emerging Prairie hired interns to work with them over the summer. These interns found the idea of a podcast to be beneficial for the agriculture community and took the project under their wing. They met for a couple of hours each week, planned who they would interview, and created a logo to represent Emerging Grower.

T

he name Emerging Grower is meant to signify Emerging Prairie, Grand Farm, and the ever-changing world of agriculture, especially on the grower's behalf.

Emerging Grower has several goals:

• To bridge the gap between growers and AgTech professionals through authentic discussion.

• Accelerate innovation in agriculture by interviewing individuals with an AgTech or grower background.

• Provide a platform for growers to give their feedback on work being done in AgTech.

• Create a platform for both growers and AgTech workers to hear both perspectives on a given topic.

The designated audience for Emerging Grower are those involved with or interested in the AgTech industry, including growers, startups, corporations, ecosystem builders, government entities, research institutions, and investors.

What to Expect in a Podcast Episode:

An Interview between Growers & Agtech professionals: Each episode will contain an interview between a professional in the Agtech industry and a Grower. Relevant Topic Discussion: The Grand Farm team will help facilitate questions/topics to assist the conversation in hopes to create in-depth discussions. Regular episodes: Grand Farm will ensure the episodes are produced on a regular cadence.

The Future of Emerging Grower

Emerging Grower will be releasing a new podcast each month featuring a new grower and technologist.

Grand Farm Partners with Heartland Forward to Bring Builders + Backers Entrepreneurship Program to North Dakota

Grand Farm has partnered with Heartland Forward to launch the Builders + Backers Idea Accelerator program in North Dakota and announced the opening of applications for 10 North Dakota residents to access up to $5,000 to help them turn ideas into potential businesses or ventures.

This program, brought to the region through Heartland Forward’s groundbreaking Community Growth Program and Toolkit (CGPT) and the first-of-its-kind Idea Accelerator program powered by Builders + Backers, is designed to make it as easy as possible for anyone to experiment with entrepreneurship. Applicants are not required to submit a business plan or have a pitch deck for their idea. The cohort of 10 builders is part of Heartland Forward’s commitment to funding and supporting 1,000 builders across the heartland by 2023.

Ross DeVol, president and CEO of Heartland Forward, recently spoke at TEDxFargo 2022 about how the heartland must embrace entrepreneurship and priorities for post-Covid regional economic development.

“Problem-solving with an entrepreneurial mindset will be key to rebuilding our postCOVID local economies, and our Community Growth Program and Toolkit has already proven to be a successful, meaningful way to accelerate the entrepreneurial thinking needed to help our communities thrive,” said Ross DeVol, president and CEO of Heartland Forward. “We’re thrilled to be bringing this program to Fargo, North Dakota as part of our commitment to support 1,000 builders across the heartland by 2023. We’re confident this next cohort of Builders will have the innovative thinking and ideas to create real change in their communities, and we look forward to seeing what they can accomplish in the months and years to come.” “We’re excited to partner with Heartland Forward to bring this program to our region,” said Brian Carroll, Director of Grand Farm. “Encouraging and fostering ideas is critical to igniting the thinking process that will lead to new businesses. This is the type of early stage entrepreneurship we need to continue encouraging and that will ultimately result in real solutions.”

“Entrepreneurship is seeing a problem that exists and experimenting with a solution to address it,” said Donna Harris, CEO of Builders + Backers. "Millions of Americans see problems and solutions every day while driving our kids to school, shopping online or waiting on hold to speak to a doctor. And we say, 'someone should fix this or build that.' Unfortunately, that's where millions of ideas end. We're excited to partner with Heartland Forward and Grand Farm to help get 10 of these ideas in North Dakota from concept to action."

At the heart of the CGPT are the Builders + Backers four program pillars, designed to mobilize and equip Builders through:

• Idea Accelerator: This cohort-based program combines a 45-day Builder Bootcamp to teach participants how to put ideas into action, followed by 45 days of actively executing their ideas through a single experiment.

• Pebble Fund: All of the Builders are supported by a $5,000 Pebble Grant to test their ideas. Participants are mentored by Master Builders throughout the program.

• Storytelling: A comprehensive media program that curates, captures and distributes stories of Buildership™, both from within the programs and in communities everywhere. Through video, written stories, social media and media partnerships, the program inspires people to become Builders.

• Buildership™ Workshops: Workshops and other events introduce people to the ideas of Buildership™ and demonstrate that anyone can generate creative solutions through entrepreneurial experimentation that contribute to the sustainability of communities.

The program was first piloted in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oxford, Mississippi in the summer of 2021, and since, there have been nearly 150 builders across 11 cities.

About Heartland Forward: Heartland Forward is a nonpartisan, 501c3 organization whose mission is to improve economic performance in the center of the United States by advocating for factbased solutions to foster job creation, knowledge-based and inclusive growth and improved health outcomes. Heartland Forward conducts independent, data-driven research and programs to facilitate actionoriented discussion and impactful policy recommendations. To learn more, visit heartlandforward.org.

About Builders + Backers:

Builders + Backers invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building globalscale ventures to power an entirely different future - one where technology creates value for many instead of capturing it for a few. Through proprietary programming, Builders + Backers also inspires and equips people to best seize the opportunities of our digital era - from experimentation and solving problems in their local communities to starting new ventures that could scale. By backing the most creative builders across the country, we can shape the digital future to be one in which more people participate and thrive.

Recon Blockage Plus to Debut at Big Iron

Intelligent Agricultural Solutions, LLC (Intelligent Ag), a leader in innovative technology solutions to help farmers get the most out of their equipment, will debut the new next-generation Recon Blockage PlusTM blockage monitor at the 2022 Big Iron show on Tuesday, September 13th. The new blockage monitor system is designed to help farmers seed right the first time by detecting blockages and reduced seed flow in real-time to prevent skips in the field while increasing yield. Attendees can visit Intelligent Ag’s booth #A12 to learn more about the technology.

The Recon Blockage Plus is the industry’s only acoustic blockage monitor system designed to use sound technology instead of optical sensors, which can get dirty and give false readings. Improving upon the last generation wireless blockage monitor (WBM), Intelligent Ag developed the Recon Blockage Plus to enhance user experience with a wired connection to the ECU for improved connectivity and the latest digital microphone technology.

“The Recon Wireless Blockage & Flow monitoring solution has been an essential piece of equipment for farmers across the U.S. and Canada for over ten years. However, Intelligent Ag is dedicated to continuous improvement, and we believe this next-generation acoustic blockage monitor will improve user experience and help farmers prevent yield loss,” said Calby Beckstrand, product manager at Intelligent Ag. “We’re excited to take the new blockage monitor with us to Big Iron to showcase what it can do.”

Benefits of the acoustic blockage monitoring system include:

• Detect and alert the operator of any partial or full blockages • Adaptable to any system • • Improve the value of your current air seeder • • Wired connection to the ECU for better user experience • • Easy to install & flexible options for placement on equipment • • New and improved communication from ECU to iPad

Recon Blockage Plus adapts to nearly any equipment, allowing operators to monitor seed flow from inside the cab with an iPad application that alerts them to blockages in real-time. Farmers who currently use the WBM system from Intelligent Ag can purchase the upgraded ECU and harnessing parts through their local Intelligent Ag dealer.

THE RECON WIRELESS BLOCKAGE & FLOW MONITORING SOLUTION HAS BEEN AN ESSENTIAL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT FOR FARMERS ACROSS THE U.S. AND CANADA FOR OVER TEN YEARS. HOWEVER, INTELLIGENT AG IS DEDICATED TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT, AND WE BELIEVE THIS NEXTGENERATION ACOUSTIC BLOCKAGE MONITOR WILL IMPROVE USER EXPERIENCE AND HELP FARMERS PREVENT YIELD LOSS"