Debbie Watts is the VP of Innovation and Market Development at Yara North America. A seasoned leader with more than two decades of experience in the agriculture industry, Watts has a deep understanding of the challenges agricultural industry is facing today. Watts provides direction and oversight for Yara’s innovation teams to develop new products and services for enhancing growers’ efficiency and sustainability of food production.
What are some of the major predicaments in agriculture when it comes to technology adoption?
Today, the agriculture industry is much focused on decarbonization and there is a strong push towards regenerative agriculture and soil health. Technology is being used more than before to improve the quality and efficiency of food production. However, despite the progress being made, I believe there is still a lot of work that need to done in the industry.
Rather than going behind random technology solutions available in the market, it is always better to adopt sustainable practices after analyzing the impact it could create on farmers
One of the major challenges that we face now is our constant urge to keep up with the accelerated technological innovations, which can create a lot of pressure on farmers. Moreover, most of these innovations does not align with the needs of farmers or industry, and can cause serious impact on the yield and global supply chains. Rather than going behind random technology solutions available in the market, it is always better to adopt sustainable solutions after analyzing the impact it could create on farmers.
Are there any recent projects that you are working on lately, and what are some of the process elements leveraged to make it successful?
Right now, we are working on a project called ‘Better Soil Alliance’ in California, which involves making small changes in the fertilizers the farmers had been using to yield better results. By focusing on solutions that improve the quality of what we produce, we can make a real difference in areas such as water quality and nitrogen impact. To this extent, at Yara North America we abide a sustainable value growth strategy by promoting climate-friendly crop nutrition and zero-emission energy solutions.
What do you think would be some of the changes happening in the agriculture industry in a couple of years?
I believe the digital tools will gain much prominence for enhancing agricultural operations. And the industry will be collaborating with tech companies for bringing innovative solutions to the forefront for helping growers. But, however, to streamline agricultural production, we need to create a global field identification system consolidating all the data and tools that are currently available to create a cohesive approach for improving agricultural production. If digital tools that are working independently are connected through global field identification systems, it can be used as problem solving tool for growers.
In your experience, what will be your advice to the fellow peers in the industry?
We need to collaborate with growers to understand their need and provide well-rounded support for increasing their production. As agriculture professionals, our prime goal has to be establishing a healthy food production system and supporting successful growth.
