Whether it’s oxen, wheels, tractors, herbicides, pesticides, or drones, technology has been a crucial part of farming for centuries.

And the trend of adopting farming tech isn’t going away anytime soon: According to Pitchbook, between Q3 2021 and Q2 2022, $11.8 billion was raised by startups in the agtech space, for everything from improving nitrogen fertilizer output to crop harvesting.

• In large part, interest in adopting new farm tech is spurred by rising input costs, which have increased significantly in recent years. Farm production expenses rose 6% in 2022 from 2021, following a 12% increase in expenses between 2020 and 2021, per the USDA.

Computational crops: But although many farmers regularly look to tech to boost efficiency and yields, fifth-generation farmer Andrew Nelson takes it to another level.

• Nelson, who heads operations for Nelson Farms, Inc. and Silver Creek Farms, Inc. in eastern Washington State, is not only a farmer but also a software engineer and consultant working with agtech startups.

The family-run, four-person operation grows lentils, wheat, garbanzo beans, green peas, canola, and barley on over 7,500 acres. Since Nelson took over 10 years ago, he has conducted “hundreds” of tech experiments and pilots in an attempt to better monitor, respond, and improve his fields for farming.

Keep reading about Nelson’s agtech experiments here.—JM

In an era where all the warning signs are written on the wall—from heat waves taking out data centers in the UK and wildfires threatening them in California, to operations sucking up huge amounts of water in drought-affected areas—many data centers aren’t preparing for a future where legislative responses to climate change affect their bottom line.

• According to the Uptime Institute’s 2022 Global Data Center Survey, most operators aren’t tracking key sustainability metrics. While the majority track power use (85%) and 73% track energy efficiency metrics (such as power usage effectiveness, or PUE), just 35% are tracking server utilization.
• Just 39% track water use, 37% track IT/data center carbon emissions, and 28% track e-waste or their equipment life cycles.

Zoom out: Tracking carbon contributions is far from simple and requires not only tracking carbon generated on-site or via electricity consumption, but the carbon cost of facilities and equipment as well as the downstream use of products by consumers.

Meanwhile...Other metrics like power use directly affect companies’ bottom lines, Andy Lawrence, Uptime Institute Intelligence’s executive director of research, told IT Brew. The lack of attention in other areas is setting them up for a rude awakening when legislation requiring environmental reporting hits, he added. 63% of survey respondents expect this to happen in the next five years.

Read more from IT Brew here.—TM

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Emerging Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

I lead a team at IBM which focuses on improving robotic process automation (RPA), meaning we ensure that efficiency is improved in every step of the automation of business processes at IBM. We ensure that IBM is running as efficiently as possible to better serve our clients, business partners, and stakeholders.

What’s your favorite emerging tech project you’ve worked on?

I am working on a project with a new robotic process automation software called IBM RPA. I’ve been involved with this project as a member of the pilot program, and now I am one of their active developers, training three others in the software. I love this emerging technology because it innovates RPA softwares with a sleek and easy user interface, which includes script and drag-and-drop options.

What emerging tech are you most optimistic about? Least? And why?

I am the most optimistic and least optimistic about the same emerging technology, which is the metaverse and the use of VR headsets. As a gamer, I love the idea and it excites me to see the future of what technology and AI can create. However, I am apprehensive about the idea of promoting extended time in virtual worlds fully immersed with VR headsets.

What’s the best piece of tech-related media you’ve read/watched/listened to?

I love all of AfroTech’s content. It’s great to relate to other professionals in tech and find out about new technology or business ventures people are starting.

Stat: Apple said it has paid researchers ~$20 million through its public bug-bounty program, which it opened in 2019.

Quote: “It’s clear that profitable L4 systems are a long way away.”—John Lawler, Ford’s CFO, explaining the company’s decision to shift focus to ADAS rather than full autonomy

Read: How Microsoft’s metaverse plans were derailed.

Lights, camera, Brew: Morning Brew is on YouTube! Our shows cover the tech, trends, and companies you care about—and don’t worry, we’re not jargon people. Watch here.

Everyone will remember that Elon Musk closed the Twitter deal last week. But how well can you recall the deeper cuts from the tech news cycle?

Click here to play this week’s trivia.

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• Matter is finally live. We asked a few members why they joined the smart home standard
• Fleet electrification is opening up a new market for payments companies
• Who is responsible for a broken EV charger? This company wants to help the industry figure it out