Apps and Infrastructure in Agtech
This is an exciting time to be working in agtech because we are at the start of a new cycle of applications and infrastructure, writes G. Bailey Stockdale at Leaf. Over the last 40 years, agtech has advanced from basic technologies like yield mapping and crop recordkeeping to more advanced applications like carbon marketplaces, autonomous machinery, and data driven agronomy. Now, with the infrastructure built in the previous cycle, these new applications are being developed and are able to successfully scale. This will in turn inspire the next wave of infrastructure to support ever more valuable applications.
As we think about the current state and future of technology in agriculture, we often reference Dani Grant and Nick Grossman from Union Square Ventures (USV)’s thoughts on the relationship between applications and infrastructure. Understanding how one affects the other gives us a better perspective of how to build for the future of agtech.
First, What Is Infrastructure?
In the physical world, infrastructure means things like bridges and power lines, and that infrastructure powers applications like cars and lightbulbs. In the digital world the concept of infrastructure as tools to enable applications is the same, but instead of physical things, digital infrastructure means tools like APIs, databases, and computing services. This digital infrastructure powers applications like Airbnb, Facebook, or Uber.
Digital infrastructure can also mean higher level services that in turn enable higher level applications. Stripe is an example of an infrastructure company that uses lower level infrastructure tools like cloud computing combined with their deep expertise to build and provide online payments infrastructure that is used by internet companies to power their online stores.
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Apps -> Infrastructure Cycle
In their 2018 article, The Myth of the Infrastructure Phase, Dani Grant and Nick Grossman explain how the history of new technologies shows that apps drive the need for infrastructure and not the other way around.
Their examples include the light bulb (the app), which was invented in 1879, and preceded the electric grid (the infrastructure), implemented in 1882. Likewise, the airplane (the app), was invented before there were airports (the infrastructure) in 1928: “the breakout app that is an airplane came first in 1903, and inspired a phase where people built airlines in 1919, airports in 1928 and air traffic control in 1930 only after there were planes.”
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