Johnston, Iowa – May 9, 2023 – Growers Edge, the leading provider of data-driven financial technology (fintech) solutions for the agriculture industry, announced the appointment of Dr. Wendong Zhang to the company’s Data Advisory Board. Dr. Zhang brings an extensive background in land valuation to the advisory board to help Growers Edge build new valuation models for the company.
“Data is the backbone of everything we do at Growers Edge,” said Hollie Bunn, Interim Chief Executive Officer at Growers Edge. “We appreciate the insight and expert opinions from academic professionals like Dr. Zhang as we continue to build an even more accurate yield prediction and risk models that improve the ag industry’s ability to assess and mitigate risk in an extremely volatile industry.”
The Growers Edge Data Advisory Board brings together some of the most accomplished academic leaders from the agriculture industry. The group provides leadership, expertise and a unique perspective on how data and analytics can solve some of agriculture’s most complex issues. The board is instrumental in advising, guiding and collaborating with the Growers Edge data and analytics team on research, modeling methodologies and model validations that power the company’s warranty-backed crop plans and lending solutions. To date, with contributions from the Growers Edge Data Advisory Board, the company has built more than 10 models and APIs for yield prediction, land valuation and other important ag-related issues.
Dr. Wendong Zhang is an Assistant Professor at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University. His research focuses on the U.S. farmland market, agricultural water conservation and Chinese agriculture. In addition to his work at Cornell, Dr. Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Iowa State University (ISU) (on leave from 2022-2023). He is a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development. Dr. Zhang led the Iowa Land Value Survey at Iowa State, co-founded the ISU China Ag Center and served as the Academic Vice President of the ASFMRA Iowa Chapter.
“The ag industry as a whole has the opportunity to solve so many critical issues to address the world’s growing population, the health of the planet and more,” said Ahraz Husain, Vice President of Data at Growers Edge. “The addition of Dr. Zhang to the Growers Edge Advisory Board will help this company take advantage of the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to build relevant models that will most certainly increase value to our customers and transform agriculture.”
Dr. Zhang joins Dr. Sotirios Archontoulis, Associate Professor of Integrated Cropping Systems in the Department of Agronomy at Iowa State University, and Dr. Gene Cheung, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at York University in Toronto, Canada.
For more information about Growers Edge products, including the company’s data-driven yield prediction and land valuation models, visit www.growersedge.com.