Everybody Is Tied To Agriculture
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That was one of the points Teddy Bekele made clear in his presentation to Council members at the November breakfast meeting, held concurrently with AFA’s annual Leaders Conference at the Sheraton Crown Center. Bekele is the Chief Technology Officer at Land O’Lakes, heading up the company’s ag tech and IT operations. As such, he is responsible for developing and implementing technology solutions for retail and farmer customers to help them produce more sustainable harvests and protein products. Commenting on the legacy of the iconic 100-year-old coop, Bekele added, “We’re not just a butter company.”
Many challenges in farming are not new, Bekele said. “However, what is different now is that farmers are making decisions based on data versus intuition.” More farmers are relying on technology to help them make decisions that allow them to produce more food with fewer resources and less environmental impact. But he pointed out data alone won’t necessarily “tell you anything.”
Elaborating on that thought, Bekele noted the key to making data practical is to turn it into information and churn that into knowledge. But he does not discount farmer intuition. “Intuition is the secret sauce – people, not technology, are the most important piece in the digital transformation puzzle.” Connectivity or lack of it is an impediment, however, to putting some of that digital puzzle together. Over half of farmers want to incorporate more data in their operations, but 60% do not have rural broadband connectivity.
Cybersecurity
Part of Teddy Bekele’s responsibilities at Land O’Lakes is creating and overseeing security measures to prevent ransomware attacks. He said a common attitude of some companies is that they think they’re too small, and assume cyber crooks wouldn’t waste their time on them. In 2020, Bekele said small organizations accounted for less than half the number of breaches that occurred at large organizations. This year the gap shrank. At large organizations, 307 attacks took place; small operations encountered 263.
Bekele recommended these top actions to prevent ransomware attacks:
Install Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) systems – Users must present their User ID, password and be using a known device or supply “text” for access.
End Point Protection (EPP) – Helps identify and prevent ransomware attacks; use a partner/service to deploy and manage EPP.
Protect Your Backups – They are “your only way back – short of paying the ransom.”