Almanac this week announced Chad Jennings as the recently rebranded firm’s latest key hire.
The Vancouver-based agricultural intelligence platform, founded in 2010 as Semios, has brought on board Jennings as Vice President of Product management.
With a Ph.D. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Stanford University, Dr. Jennings has over 20 years of experience in data analytics and geospatial technologies, most recently serving as Group Product Manager at Google Cloud.
He will report to chief executive officer Sumer Johal, who spearheaded Almanac’s transformation after taking the reins in 2023.
“Chad is the perfect leader to drive our mission of advancing food intelligence through data and relationships,” Johal says. “His expertise in AI, geospatial analytics, and the craft of product management aligns with our goals.”
“We look forward to leveraging his leadership, experience and product discipline to enhance Almanac’s intelligence to amplify the wisdom of our growers for smarter, more insightful decisions throughout global food systems,” Johal continued.
Jennings has a “deep respect for the life farmers choose.” But while there is room for tradition, he says there is a “need to embrace modern technology.”
One reason to do so is that “revolutions in cloud computing and Generative AI are opening up capabilities in data analytics that were unimaginable just 18 months ago.” Tools have become both more powerful and more accessible.
Another reason is to enhance the resilience of critical supply chains.
“With the global population surpassing eight billion and climate change threatening food supply chains, there has never been a more urgent time for the agriculture industry to embrace data-driven solutions,” Jennings posits.
“Now is the perfect time to bring AI-driven geospatial insights to millions of growers and billions of people,” he believes.
The B.C. company’s core offering centres around an intelligence platform dubbed Alma. This AI-powered platform synthesizes field data, weather patterns, and expert analysis to provide farmers with actionable insights to optimize crop yields and reduce costs.
“Almanac is uniquely positioned to gather and analyze vast amounts of real-time data—from sensors, satellite imagery, and weather logs—to empower growers with the insights they need to produce more food on the land we have,” says Jennings.
Almanac manages over 100 million acres globally.
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