The Germinate Podcast

In this episode of The Germinate Podcast, Joe Sampson sits down with Harman Sangha, assistant professor at Auburn University, for a conversation about artificial intelligence, automation, agricultural engineering, and what the next generation of farm technology could look like. Harman brings a unique perspective shaped by work in both India and the United States, with experience ranging from small-scale agricultural equipment and UAV technology to computer vision, machine learning, and machinery automation.
The conversation begins with Harman’s path into agricultural engineering. After earning his bachelor’s degree in India, he joined an ag startup developing handheld cotton pickers designed specifically for smaller farms. He later continued his education at Kansas State University, where he worked with UAVs, multispectral cameras, and thermal sensors, before completing his PhD at Iowa State University and working with its Digital Ag Innovations Lab. Those experiences allowed him to collaborate with farmers and major industry partners while focusing on automation systems for the next generation of agricultural machinery.
Using planting as an example, Harman explains how machine learning could analyze factors such as ground speed, soil moisture, vacuum pressure, and other variables to better understand how seeds are placed in the ground. Even something as specific as seed orientation could potentially affect germination timing and ultimately crop performance. The conversation illustrates how the future of precision agriculture may come from improving details that were once impossible to measure or control.
Harman also shares how he approaches research at Auburn. Rather than beginning with technology and searching for an application, he talks directly with farmers and extension agents to understand where current machinery falls short. His goal is to develop systems that can reach producers relatively quickly, including work with peanut and cotton farmers and research exploring whether technology can help accelerate the development of new crop varieties.
One of the biggest themes of the episode is that the future of agriculture is automation, but automation has to work when farmers need it most. Labor shortages continue to create challenges across harvesting, spraying, fertilizer application, and specialty crops. Yet Harman acknowledges why farmers can be hesitant to adopt more complicated technology. During a narrow planting or harvest window, a system that breaks down and can’t be quickly repaired can create more problems than it solves. For Harman, the next step isn’t simply more automation. It’s more reliable, robust, and practical automation.
For students, that creates an enormous opportunity. Harman discusses how undergraduate and graduate students can become directly involved in research, gaining hands-on experience collecting data, working in the field, and helping develop technologies that could eventually reach farmers. He also points to the opportunities available with smaller agricultural equipment manufacturers, where young engineers may have the chance to make an immediate impact.
Throughout the conversation, Harman’s passion for agricultural engineering comes back to something simple: he likes getting into the field, working on machinery, and building solutions that can make a difference for producers. For all the discussion around AI and advanced technology, his approach remains grounded in solving real problems for farmers and creating systems they can actually use.

In this episode of The Germinate Podcast, Joe Sampson sits down with Lon Stroschein for a deeply personal conversation about career success, identity, purpose, and what happens when the life you’ve worked so hard to build no longer feels like the life you’re supposed to be living.
Lon speaks directly to professionals who appear to have everything they once wanted. They have successful careers, financial stability, families, respected titles, and years of accomplishments behind them. Yet somewhere along the way, many begin to feel a growing sense that there might be something more. Lon describes the tension of reaching the height of your professional career while quietly questioning whether continuing on the same path is really what you want.
Drawing from his own experience, Lon shares what it was like to reach the top of his career in agriculture. His work took him around the world, from major companies and organizations to agricultural regions in Brazil, South Africa, Kazakhstan, and beyond. He loved the people, the experiences, and the opportunities his career provided. But despite that success, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed. Another acquisition, customer, bonus, or promotion wasn’t going to solve it.
Joe and Lon explore the identity that often comes with being the person everyone depends on. Successful professionals become problem solvers for their companies, customers, employees, spouses, and children. Lon explains how difficult it can be for those people to admit that they might be the ones struggling or wanting something different. Sometimes the hardest question isn’t whether you’ve succeeded, but whether you’ve reached the end of what a particular chapter can offer you.
The conversation turns to Lon’s decision to leave his executive career after his company was acquired by CNH Industrial. Rather than viewing that moment as quitting, Lon began to recognize it as a finish line. He had accomplished what he was there to accomplish, and staying simply because the job was comfortable would have meant ignoring the possibility of what could come next. Joe and Lon discuss just how intimidating that transition can be when it means walking away from a steady paycheck, benefits, status, and the security professionals spend decades building.
One of the most personal moments of the episode comes when Lon shares a conversation with his wife that helped change the direction of his life. She recognized that he was struggling before he was willing to fully admit it himself. Instead of asking him to protect the lifestyle they had built, she encouraged him to pursue the work where she saw him come alive: teaching, coaching, and helping other people navigate their own transitions. For Lon, that conversation changed not only what he believed was possible, but also how he thought about partnership and asking the people closest to us what they want for us, rather than assuming what they want from us.
Joe and Lon also discuss Lon’s book, The Trade, and why its message can feel uncomfortable for people who recognize themselves in his story. Lon is clear that his message isn’t about encouraging everyone to immediately quit their job or blow up the life they’ve built. Instead, it’s about being willing to acknowledge when you’ve outgrown something and starting the difficult conversations necessary to figure out what comes next.
Ultimately, this conversation isn’t about leaving a career. It’s about recognizing when success has stopped feeling like fulfillment and giving yourself permission to ask what you actually want from the next chapter. Joe and Lon explore the fear, uncertainty, relationships, and courage involved in making that shift, while reminding listeners that sometimes moving forward doesn’t require having the entire plan figured out. It simply requires being willing to start.

In this episode of The Germinate Podcast, Joe Sampson sits down with Casey Niemann, founder of AgriSync and former Microsoft and John Deere leader, for a conversation about
entrepreneurship, agricultural technology, customer experience, and what it really takes to build a company from the ground up. Casey’s story begins on a Kansas farm, takes him through a 15-year career at Microsoft, and eventually leads to his basement, where he took a leap of faith to build a technology company focused on solving a very real problem in agriculture.
Casey shares how his career at Microsoft introduced him to the possibilities of cloud technology at a time when scalable software was becoming more accessible to entrepreneurs. Still passionate about agriculture, he began looking at problems within the industry that technology could help solve. Eventually, he made the difficult decision to leave the security of Microsoft and, as he puts it, choose “courage over comfort” to start AgriSync.
The entrepreneurial journey was far from easy. Casey talks candidly about the financial and personal realities of building a startup in his early forties, with a mortgage, children, and a family depending on him. He invested his savings and Microsoft stock into the business, went years without paying himself, and relied heavily on the support of his wife, family, mentors, and early employees. His experience shaped a lesson he now shares with other founders: building something meaningful requires commitment, faith, and the willingness to keep going when the outcome is far from guaranteed.
Joe and Casey dive into the problem that ultimately inspired AgriSync. As farms became increasingly dependent on technology, equipment issues during planting or harvest could bring an operation to a halt. At the same time, the number of people available to support those technologies was limited. Casey saw an opportunity to create a platform that gave farmers faster access to the trusted advisors, dealers, and experts they already relied on, helping resolve problems in minutes instead of waiting hours or days for someone to arrive in the field.
The conversation also explores AgriSync’s acquisition by John Deere in 2021 and what happened after the deal. Casey explains that he didn’t start AgriSync with the goal of being acquired. He started it to solve a problem. When the opportunity with John Deere eventually arrived, the next challenge was learning how to take a startup technology and scale it globally. AgriSync became Expert Connect within the John Deere ecosystem, and Casey reflects on why successfully integrating into a larger company’s strategy can be just as important as building the startup itself.
As the episode comes to a close, Casey reflects on what he values most from the entire journey. It isn’t the technology, the acquisition, or even the company he built. It’s the people who supported him along the way. Technology changes quickly, but the relationships built through difficult seasons can last far longer. Today, Casey is focused in part on giving back by coaching and mentoring other entrepreneurs, particularly those working at the intersection of agriculture and technology.
Throughout the conversation, Casey returns to two qualities that helped carry him through the most difficult moments of entrepreneurship: faith and tenacity. His story is a reminder that successful companies rarely follow a straight path. They’re built through listening, persistence, strong relationships, a willingness to adapt, and the courage to keep moving when the easier choice would be to turn back.

This episode is a recording of The Momentum Network Webinar, originally recorded on July 31, 2026, and has been repurposed for The Germinate Podcast.
In this special episode of The Germinate Podcast, Joe Sampson and Jeremy Groeteke welcome Daniel Schultz, founder of Schultz Collaborative, for a conversation about challenging conventional thinking in agriculture and why the industry may need more than incremental improvements to move forward.
Daniel introduces the idea behind “Ag Done Different,” a philosophy that challenges agriculture leaders to rethink the way they innovate, market, sell, and build businesses. Rather than following the same industry playbook and competing within already crowded markets, Daniel encourages companies to question long-standing assumptions and look for opportunities to create something entirely new.
A major focus of the conversation is category design and what it means for agricultural businesses. Daniel explores why companies often spend so much time competing for existing demand when there may be a greater opportunity to create a new category altogether. By identifying problems differently and developing a clear point of view around those problems, businesses can potentially create demand rather than simply fighting competitors for the same customers.
Joe, Jeremy, and Daniel also examine why incremental innovation may no longer be enough. Agriculture is filled with companies making products slightly faster, more efficient, or more advanced than the previous version. While those improvements have value, Daniel challenges leaders to think beyond small changes and consider whether they’re truly solving problems in a new way.
The conversation also turns to sales and marketing, including some of the common mistakes agricultural businesses continue to make when trying to differentiate themselves. Daniel discusses why simply having a better product doesn’t automatically make a company stand out and how stronger positioning can help customers understand why a business or solution is meaningfully different.
Throughout the discussion, there is a strong emphasis on bold differentiation. In an industry that can sometimes be resistant to change, Daniel argues that the businesses willing to challenge established assumptions may have the greatest opportunity to shape what comes next.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, executive, marketer, or sales leader, this conversation offers a different way to think about innovation and growth in agriculture. Instead of asking how to compete more effectively within the existing industry playbook, Daniel challenges leaders to consider a bigger question: What if you wrote a new one?

In this episode of The Germinate Podcast, Joe Sampson sits down with Chris Jones, an Iowa scientist, author, and candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, for a wide-ranging conversation about water quality, the changing economics of farming, agricultural policy, and what the future of Iowa agriculture could look like. With a background in chemistry and contaminant hydrology, Chris has spent much of his career studying the relationship between agriculture and Iowa’s water systems.
The conversation begins with one of Iowa’s most pressing concerns: nitrate levels in drinking water. Chris explains how nitrogen fertilizer used in corn production can eventually convert to nitrate in the soil and move through Iowa’s extensive tile drainage system into rivers, lakes, and groundwater. He discusses communities across the state that have had to address elevated nitrate levels and why the issue has become an increasingly important conversation around public health and agriculture.
Joe and Chris explore the complicated question of how Iowa can improve water quality without placing unrealistic burdens on farmers. Chris discusses several potential approaches, including changes to the timing of fertilizer applications, better nitrogen management, incentives, changes to livestock and manure management, and more targeted policies. He argues that voluntary conservation efforts alone have not produced enough progress and that the state needs to consider additional ways to reduce nutrient loss while keeping farms economically viable.
The discussion also turns to the economics of farming. Joe and Chris talk about tight margins, farm foreclosures, rising input costs, land ownership, government assistance, and the pressure farmers face to continually increase acreage. Chris argues that if farmers are struggling financially while Iowa continues facing environmental challenges, the industry should be willing to reconsider whether the existing production system is creating the best outcomes for either farmers or the public.
Joe and Chris also look at how much Iowa agriculture has changed over the past several decades. They discuss the consolidation of livestock production, larger farming operations, rented farmland, and the shift away from the more diversified farms that once included multiple crops and livestock. Chris makes the case that bringing greater diversity back into agricultural production could give farmers more choices while potentially improving environmental outcomes.
Technology and agricultural equipment also enter the discussion as Joe asks whether better application technology could help reduce pesticide drift and improve the precision of fertilizer and manure applications. Chris points to drones, improved application equipment, and more precise manure systems as examples of how technology could potentially improve environmental outcomes without simply restricting farmers’ ability to operate.
The episode closes with Chris outlining some of the priorities he would pursue as Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, including stronger enforcement around pesticide application, reevaluating how water-quality funding is spent, supporting local food production, and developing infrastructure and markets that give farmers more opportunities to diversify. Throughout the conversation, Joe and Chris return to the same central challenge: how Iowa can protect its agricultural economy and support farmers while also confronting water quality and environmental concerns that have been building for decades.