FoA 344: Farmland Data with Dr. Aaron Shew of Acres by AcreTrader

Try Acres for free: https://www.acres.co/

Today we hear from AcreTrader with data science director Dr. Aaron Shew. Aaron is unique in that he has an extensive background in agriculture, economics, remote sensing and GIS and of course, data. In his current capacity, Aaron works with a team of software engineers, data scientists, and land experts to build advanced land analytics tools. He has master’s degrees in geography and agricultural economics and a doctorate in environmental dynamics from the University of Arkansas. He has more than 15 years of experience in the agriculture industry with 10 years of research experience focused on agricultural production and geospatial technologies.

Aaron and I talk about the origins of the Acres tool, how it has already been helpful to AcreTrader which has 123 farms under management and ambitious goals to grow that number, why they would want to share this with the world - there’s even a free version that I’ve used - it’s pretty cool, and how this access to better data and insights will impact the farmland market more broadly.