Tag: AgTech

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The Seam Expands Peanut Platform with Coastal Growers, Tifton Peanut Company

The Seam

The Seam announced today that Coastal Growers and Tifton Peanut Company have entered into multi-year agreements for its cloud-based, peanut management platform.

Owned by a cooperative of farmers, Coastal Growers is building a new 400,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art peanut shelling operation in Atmore, Alabama, slated for completion in 2022. State officials said the $87 million project will create more than 150 local jobs. Six buying point affiliate organizations will begin utilizing the platform beginning with the approaching harvest.

Tifton Peanut Company, which maintains five shelling, warehousing, buying point and seed treatment locations across Tifton, Georgia, has also signed on with The Seam for operations specific to plant number 4.

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Sustainability

Agtech Raises the Bar for Sustainability Standards

Agtech | The Seam

Increased sustainability will drive commodity production in the coming decades, spurred by increasing environmental consciousness among consumers.

From crops to clothes, agricultural products are not exempt from increasing preferences for sustainable brands, starting with a desire by the public to know where products are sourced. Purchasing habits are likely to continue to shift in favor of retailers and suppliers who give a greater account of the contributions they are making toward a cleaner and safer planet.

There are clear moral and economic interests for these stories of sustainability to be told. But like every compelling story, the ag industry must not only tell, but also show by accelerating its shift toward data-driven practices and decisions. Harnessing data requires it to be more readily available, accessible and easy-to-use for producers, distributors and the public alike.

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Company News

The Seam Joins AgLaunch for Its 2020 Virtual Field Day

AgLaunch Virtual Field Day

The uncertainty and volatility of a global health crisis has further heightened the hardships of the agriculture world, the ramifications of which are being felt at the farm gate and in under-resourced communities.

That said, struggle often leads to innovation, and there is a unique chance for farmers to pursue new opportunities.

The 2020 AgLaunch VIRTUAL Field Day highlighted the farmers, entrepreneurs and communities that are working together to make the agricultural value chain more sustainable and resilient, while also demonstrating that a strong network of farmers is positively impacting rural and urban communities from health care to education.

The Seam was honored to take part in this event, and our CEO Mark Pryor spoke on agtech, focusing on traceability, transparency and sustainability throughout the industry.

Watch the video below. Mark’s segment begins at 34:25.

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Company News

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Technology Advisory Committee Holds 2020 Meeting

Agtech | The Seam

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is hosting its Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) public meeting via phone conference July 16, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. At this meeting, the TAC will hear presentations from the TAC subcommittees on automated and modern trading markets, distributed ledger technology and market infrastructure, virtual currencies and cybersecurity. The TAC meeting agenda includes key issues that will be discussed and the speakers for each panel.

The Seam CEO Mark Pryor will be presenting Thursday at the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) public meeting of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) sub-committee member, Mark will join Shawnna Hoffman, Global Cognitive Legal Leader, IBM, and Yesha Yadav, Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University Law School as lead participants.

Viewing/Listening Instructions: Watch the live webcast (including audio) at www.cftc.gov. To listen to the live audio feed (no video), call the toll or toll-free numbers below. Call-in participants should be prepared to provide their first name, last name, and affiliation.

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Company News

The Seam Announced as Field to Market’s Newest Technology Partner

Field to Market

Field to Market’s Sustainability Metrics and Algorithms Now Integrated into The Seam’s Software Solutions

Field to Market

MEMPHIS, Tenn., June 18, 2020 – The Seam, a leading provider of food and agriculture software solutions, today announced its approval as a Qualified Data Management Partner with Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, completing an integration of sustainability metrics powered by Field to Market’s Fieldprint® Platform into The Seam’s latest technology suite. As the Alliance’s newest technology partner, The Seam now offers farmers a unified solution for measuring their sustainability performance and operational efficiency.

This integration is made possible through Field to Market’s Fieldprint Application Programming Interface, which connects sustainability metrics and algorithms from the Fieldprint Platform directly into The Seam’s software solutions, allowing farmers to assess the environmental performance of their management practices against regional, state and national benchmarks for key sustainability indicators.

“We are proud to be recognized as a Qualified Data Management Partner by Field to Market,” said Mark Pryor, Chief Executive Officer at The Seam. “Through this integration, we can provide producers with enhanced, science-based tools that are simple and streamlined for continuous, overall improvement in sustainable farming.”

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Company News

MBJ Straight Talk: The Food Supply Chain

MBJ Straight Talk Food Supply Chain

The food supply chain was the topic of the latest edition of the Memphis Business Journal‘s weekly Straight Talk webinar series.

Panelists included Rick James, owner of the local Cash Saver grocery stores; Dr. Ernest Nichols, associate professor in the Department of Marketing & Supply Chain Management at the University of Memphis; and Mark Pryor, CEO of The Seam, a leading provider of commodities trading and agriculture software solutions. The series is moderated Meagan Nichols, MBJ’s managing editor.

The following is an excerpt from the MBJ:

Nichols said that even slight bumps to the chain can affect the whole industry.

Pryor’s company, The Seam, along with The Food Industry Association (FMI), established the Food Industry Exchange, launched in early May, to address such issues.

“The problem that was needing to be solved is the supply chain disruption,” Pryor said. “We had suppliers with excess capacity because the schools are closed. Restaurants are closed. There [are] no sporting events. There are no events in general, and you’d had perishable products and things like that, and no home for it.

“And then on the flip side, you had retailers like Rick [James] saying that the shelves were getting bare in certain cases because of the run on the stores for various things, and people were stockpiling,” Pryor continued. “So, what was needed was a platform to digitally introduce suppliers — the sellers — with buyers — the wholesalers and retailers that have certain needs. So, it’s actually a two-way marketplace.”

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Company News

Cotton Industry Veteran Joins The Seam to Direct Operations, Projects

MEMPHIS, Tenn., June 3, 2020 – The Seam, a leading provider of commodities trading and food and agriculture software solutions, today announced the appointment of Bill Turner as Director of Project Management and Operations. Turner reports to Mark Pryor, Chief Executive Officer at The Seam.

“We are excited to have Bill on board our growing team, as we engage and expand our work in various agricultural sectors,” said Pryor. “Bill brings an incredible amount of experience and knowledge to the company, with more than 35 years in the cotton merchandising industry. We look forward to his continued success on behalf of our customers and industry partners.”

As Director of Project Management and Operations, Turner is responsible for supporting and enabling The Seam’s projects, programs and structured work efforts, including customer service. He also works in collaboration with the information technology and marketing teams to ensure alignment on deliverables and strengthen business development initiatives.

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AgTech Company News

Forbes Technology Council Pros Predict the ‘Next Big Thing’ in Cybersecurity and Encryption

Cybersecurity

Our CEO, Mark Pryor, shared his insight into what’s ahead in cybersecurity and encryption. Here’s what he had to say to the Forbes Technology Council:

“Fueled by the rise of distributed applications, new advancements in encryption technologies allow private data to be stored on public, decentralized networks. Exciting developments in proxy re-encryption (PRE) make this possible, and usability is critical. Data owners can grant or revoke access to their encrypted data without having to worry about the complexities of encryption and key management.”

Read more via Forbes.

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AgTech Company News

The Seam Sponsors GiveCamp Memphis

GiveCamp Memphis/Design for Good is a weekend-long event where professionals from designers, developers and database administrators to marketers and web strategists donate their time to provide solutions for nonprofit organizations. Since its inception in 2007, the national GiveCamp program has provided benefits to hundreds of nonprofits, worth millions of dollars of developer and designer time in services.

“After you and The Seam hosted our first-ever community outreach event in November, this was the biggest GiveCamp Memphis we’ve ever had, by far,” said GiveCamp Memphis organizer Lance Hilliard. “We’re on track to continue our growth toward our 2021 event! Additionally, Tammy’s talent for delivering details-aware results with a reliably kind and constructive disposition is nothing short of amazing. Her round-the-clock contributions this weekend enabled countless stakeholders to perform at their absolute best.”

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AgTech Sustainability

From Dirt to Shirt & Seed to Shelf: The Importance of Sustainability in Every Part of the Supply Chain

From dirt to shirt and seed to shelf, The Seam acknowledges that traceability and transparency in agriculture production is essential to each step in the value chain.

With innovations in agtech and the implementation and adoption of data standards throughout the supply chain, consumers are now able to trace the source of the agricultural products they purchase providing assurance through digital accountability. Technology has become more accessible, capable and affordable, which lowers the barrier to entry for operations to embrace digitization that will ultimately convey their story of continuous improvement in sustainable farming.

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE?

Essentially, it is the ability to produce enough agricultural products to meet present needs without endangering the environment, public health or economic profitability. If food and ag products are not produced with care, future generations of farming will be at risk. The big idea behind sustainable farming is to minimize one’s environmental footprint and enforce good stewardship of the land and natural resources.

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