Author: Colin Raby
Published Date: 2026-03-24 09:15:00
In a new op-ed for the Washington Examiner (read the full story here), he argues that the United States cannot afford to let the most important technology in the next generation of farming be designed, owned, and controlled by anyone other than Americans.
Raby frames agricultural AI as a national security issue, not just an economic one. A food system guided by AI produces a real-time map of American agricultural production, and he warns the country should not repeat the semiconductor mistake of offshoring a strategic industry it later spends billions to rebuild. With more than 160,000 U.S. farms lost since 2017, he argues the technology that can reverse that decline should be built and controlled at home.
His prescription is concrete. The 2026 Farm Bill should reward domestically built AI software and put guardrails on foreign-controlled platforms, so taxpayer dollars do not subsidize the very dependency the country cannot afford. As Raby notes, the United States already has the ingredients to lead, from land-grant universities to deep capital markets and entrepreneurial talent.
This is the conversation FarmMind was built for. Our platform puts AI-driven agronomy, mapping, compliance, and financial intelligence in the hands of growers and the professionals who advise them, all built in the United States for American agriculture.
