Tech Meets Tradition: How the AgTech Innovation Hub Is Future-Proofing Farming

Tech Meets Tradition: How the AgTech Innovation Hub Is Future-Proofing Farming

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Since its founding in 2022, the AgTech Innovation Hubhas been driving scalable solutions that support sustainability, economic viability, and generational change in farming. The collaborative initiative between Nationwide, The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), and the Ohio Farm Bureau is accelerating agricultural innovation through cutting-edge technologies like AI and IoT, while staying grounded in the real-world needs of farmers.

At the CIO Tomorrow conference in Columbus, Bethany Rowles, Nationwide's Senior Consultant of Business Program Management, shared insights into the transformative work of the AgTech Innovation Hub and updated attendees on how the Hub's work is helping farmers prepare for the future.

Moderator: The AgTech Innovation Hub was launched to "future-proof" agriculture in Ohio and beyond. From your perspective, what does "future-proofing" mean in a field as dynamic as agriculture?

Bethany Rowles: To me, future-proofing agriculture is about giving farmers the support they need to stay ahead of change-whether it's climate shifts, market pressures, or new consumer demands.

Anyone who's worked with a farmer knows they bring deep expertise to their operations, navigating hundreds of variables daily-many beyond their control. So, when I think about "future-proofing" agriculture, I believe our role is to complement that expertise with innovative technologies that make it easier to adapt as conditions change.

Moderator: The Hub is a collaboration between Nationwide and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) at Ohio State. How has this unique public-private-academic partnership accelerated innovation compared to traditional approaches?

Bethany: First, this partnership breaks down silos by combining the strengths of each organization. Ohio State CFAES brings deep agricultural research expertise, Nationwide contributes industry insights and risk management capabilities, and together we apply a lens of economic viability and commercial opportunity. That alignment has led to a focused drive for projects that deliver tangible benefits to farmers.

Second, when we talk about "accelerated innovation," we mean it. We challenge teams to deliver real, measurable outcomes within a year-an ambitious timeline for academic research. While many projects support longer-term goals, this approach encourages fresh thinking about what's possible in the short term.

Moderator: Since its launch in 2022, the Hub has funded projects tackling issues from farm sustainability to ag-data analytics. Can you share one or two recent projects that you think best illustrate the Hub's potential impact?

Bethany: One project from our first year focused on improving soybean seed health and resilience in the face of climate variability and pathogen pressure. The research aimed to develop climate-smart planting recommendations and disease management strategies that can be adopted by producers across the region. Their work integrated field data, simulated weather conditions, and seed health diagnostics to help farmers make more informed decisions for growing one of Ohio's most vital crops.

We're also investing in the Ohio Mesonet-a statewide network of weather stations-and the infrastructure needed to make that data accessible. Mesonets provide tremendous value by delivering real-time, localized climate data to farmers and supporting agricultural research. But the benefits extend beyond agriculture: sectors like energy, transportation, and emergency management also rely on this data for planning and response. Supporting this work through the Hub not only creates near-term impact through improved data access but also lays the groundwork for future research and innovation.

Moderator: How are you measuring success-not just in terms of research milestones, but in real-world adoption by farmers and agribusinesses?

Bethany: Success looks different depending on where a project is in the innovation lifecycle, but our focus is always on progress toward real-world adoption.

For early-stage work-like the project that used multi-model data and machine learning to predict yield-it may be seeing it move from research to a working prototype shaped by farmer feedback.

For projects that are further along in the innovation lifecycle, success is about incorporating real-world results and feedback or developing a path to commercialization. For example, the project exploring the use of a novel plant protein not only moved from the lab to field testing but also developed a way to scale up production for commercialization.

Moderator: Given that farmers face both climate variability and market pressures, how is the Hub helping them adopt innovations that are practical, scalable, and economically viable?

Bethany: I'll give an example from a project that was especially relevant during the drought most of Ohio experienced last year. The project worked on an automated version of Drainage Water Management technology, which helps manage the highs and lows of water levels in fields with drainage tiles.

This technology has shown that it helps reduce water deficits, can alleviate some of the physical and mental burden on farmers by leveraging technology to optimize levels remotely and automatically, and that optimization can also improve the photosynthetic capacity of plants.

This project was in a later stage of development when we got involved and was focused on iterating the technology and gathering farmer feedback to improve the design. The team was also collecting more data to help quantify the benefits, which is essential for promoting adoption and giving farmers more information on whether an investment in this kind of technology would be worthwhile for their specific operation.

Moderator: Agriculture is in a generational shift, with younger farmers inheriting operations and bringing new tech expectations. How is the Hub engaging this next generation of ag leaders?

Bethany: One of the great advantages of partnering with an academic institution like The Ohio State University is seeing students actively engaged in the work happening through the AgTech Innovation Hub. We've had students out in the field collecting data, building models, and presenting findings-and faculty are using these projects to teach real-world applications of research in their classrooms.

What makes this involvement so valuable is that it's not just the students learning from the experience-it's also enhancing the quality of the work coming out of the Hub. Their perspectives, curiosity, and hands-on contributions help shape the direction of the research and strengthen its relevance to the challenges farmers face.

Moderator: If we were having this conversation five years from now, what would you hope to be celebrating as the AgTech Innovation Hub's biggest achievements?

Bethany: Five years from now, I hope we're celebrating innovative solutions that started as concepts or prototypes within the AgTech Innovation Hub and are now actively being used by farmers. Our goal is to incubate ideas that move through the full innovation lifecycle-from research to real-world application-and based on the momentum we've built, I believe we're well on our way.

Moderator: For CIOs and tech leaders in the audience today, what's one lesson from agricultural innovation that applies directly to their own industries?

Bethany: One of the clearest lessons from innovation is that technology must be co-created with the end user. In farming, if a tool doesn't provide value, it doesn't matter how advanced it is. Innovation only succeeds when it's grounded in the user's reality-designed with farmers, not for them. That principle applies across industries, whether you're building software, infrastructure, or policy. Real impact comes from listening first, then building solutions that truly fit the context.