We had the chance to catch up with Alex Russomagno, senior manager, AGCO Ventures, after her presentation at the FEMA Supply Summit and Showcase in San Antonio, Texas, a few weeks ago. Russomagno shined some light on the mission of AGCO Ventures and some emerging technologies her team’s really excited about. 

“I manage AGCO Ventures, which is our corporate venture capital initiative. It’s responsible for sourcing and funding early-stage technologies that help us deliver on our strategic priorities in the company. That means they’re farmer first, sustainable, and help farmers across the crop cycle. ”

“A big reason we do this is to help us accelerate R&D. It’s just another tool in our toolkit in addition to partnering and acquisition. It helps us get earlier stage companies to talk to us, for us to learn together, and for us to find win-win structures to have a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship.”

“I think farm robotics, automation and autonomy are really important areas. AI and smart enabled hardware are not only important, but the technology is really starting to advance and companies are starting to generate revenue. But more importantly it’s helping support the adoption of autonomy through more exposure and solving big problems along the way.  Autonomy, robotics, drones, UAVs are starting to take off in other industries, and I’m really excited to see how those innovations are going to make their way into agriculture.”

Catch more of our conversation with Alex, including why drones have piqued her interest, on PrecisionFarmingDealer.com.