How AGCO’s Jena Holtberg-Benge Is Using AI to Transform Precision Agriculture

0:00You know, the risk in agriculture isn't data scarcity, to your point, Peter. It's really a data paralysis.

0:07Peter High: Welcome to Technovation. I'm Peter High, president of Metastrategy. My guest today is Jena Holtberg-Benge. Jena is the chief digital and information officer of Agco, a global leader in agricultural equipment, precision agriculture technologies, and smart farming solutions. The company generated approximately$10 billion in revenue in 2025. Jenna joined AGCO in 2023 and was appointed Chief Digital and Information Officer in 2026 after a successful career leading both business and technology-driven transformation initiatives across the company. Most recently, she led the company's global after-sales parts organization, where she was responsible for driving growth, enhancing customer and dealer experiences, and leveraging digital technologies and artificial intelligence to improve business performance.

0:50Peter High: In her current role, Jenna oversees AGCO's global technology strategy, digital transformation efforts, and data and analytic capabilities, cybersecurity, and the technologies that power the company's vision for precision agriculture. As farming becomes increasingly connected, data-driven, and autonomous, Agco sits at the intersection of agriculture, software, AI, and advanced machinery. And I look forward to covering all of the above and more with her through this conversation. Jenna, welcome to Technovation. It's great to speak with you today. Thank you so much, Peter. Happy to be with you. Yeah, as am I.

1:20Peter High: Thank you. Today's episode is brought to you by Eleven Labs. Most enterprises trying to deploy AI agents hit the same wall. The agent itself is fine. The problem is that it sounds wrong. Robotic, flat, off-brand, and the moment a customer notices, the trust is gone. Eleven Labs develops the AI voice and audio models that give agents a human-level voice, the tone, the emotion, the rhythm of real speech, and wraps them in the full stack you need to actually deploy. knowledge integrations, workflow tooling, multilingual support, and enterprise-grade reliability. Build human-level conversational experiences into your products, services, and operations.

1:59Peter High: Head to 11labs.io backslash technovation to get started for free. And now on to the interview. Let's begin with Agco. For those who may be less familiar with it, please take it from where I started at least and provide a bit more information about the company that you help lead? Of course. Yeah. So Agco is located in Duluth, Georgia. We're a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of ag equipment and precision ag technology. We deliver value to farmers, OEM customers across multiple brands. You might be familiar with Fent, Massey Ferguson, PTX, which is a combination of our precision planting and PTX Trimble Joint Venture, as well as Vultra.

2:38And we have a global footprint, as you can imagine, across 30 different countries with a full line of equipment and smart farming solutions. So we're happy to be one of the largest and pure play farm equipment manufacturers in the world. We're proud to put farmers first in every single thing that we do.

2:55Peter High: Excellent. Well, and talk a bit about your role as a Chief Digital Information Officer. What's within your purview, Jenna? Yeah, so I am responsible as CDIO. I'm responsible for Agco's digital data and information strategy. So across a focus of AI enablement, We'll talk a lot more about that, I'm sure, today. You know, information security, enabling scalable capabilities that support the company's long-term growth capabilities and ambitions. So it's a pretty broad mandate, you know, across infrastructure, enterprise, resource planning systems that help run our factories, enabling the demand planning, you know, solutions that are required to run the business, and ensuring that we've got great cybersecurity to ensure safety and security of our facilities.

3:37I have three primary priorities that might be interesting to talk about as well. One is leading our AI initiative. Second is really advancing our digital enablement, like sales funnel management, e-commerce, customer experience portals, and delivering major programs such as ERP implementations. So something I ask myself every day is how do we translate all of that great technology and innovation into value for the company, the customer, and of course our dealers and shareholders?

4:09Peter High: Fascinating. And a lot of your peers as chief digital and or information officers, Jenna, began their careers in a junior role in a technology organization and began climbing the rungs of that ladder. You've taken a more of a meandering path that's involved in many different parts of the organization, including substantial business unit leadership roles, for example. And I wonder, how do you feel your unusual pathway is the one you know I recognize, but I wonder how perhaps that's colored the way in which you think about leading the organization's digital and information organization the way in which you do?

4:45So the meandering path is sometimes the best way to go, Peter. I would say you gain a lot of experience. And in fact, I've been my own internal customer for this technology. So it's a really great spot to be in. Coming into this role after running a significant business unit for AGCO and in previous roles, it really fundamentally has changed the way that I approach the business and the way that I approach digital technology. As the former vice president of after sales parts for Agco, I managed 30 different warehouses globally, and technology had a direct impact on our operational outcomes. And after sales, technology isn't just about operational impacts.

5:25It's about having the right part of the right place for customers every single time. And things like e-commerce, solutions such as e-commerce are absolutely critical to ensuring that customers have it when they need it. So it's a great example of how technology really can be applied to supporting our customers. It allows them to have 24-7, as you can imagine, of course, 24-7 access to over a million part numbers. And 40 % of those transactions in e-commerce for the ag business come after hours. They come when the dealer's closed. So they're a really important solution to keeping the farmers up and running.

6:00So, you know, we really see technology as an enabler to strategic growth for AGCO. It's not just about the technology itself.

6:09Peter High: It's a competitive advantage. Clearly, I really appreciate that overview. Well, let's talk a bit about some of those advances. Can you describe AGCO's evolution towards precision agriculture and digital farming and some of the work that you and your team are helping to enable that? So it's, you know, we really see, ECHO sees Precision Ag as the answer to one of farmers' most central challenges, which is the ability to produce more with less. So you can imagine in today's environment, feeding, you know, what's going to be 9 billion people with less land, less labor, less, you know, higher input costs.

6:43It's really critical that we bring Precision Ag solutions to supporting farmers. So for 30 plus years as a company, we focused on delivering solutions to help farmers use innovation. And this journey led us in 2024, you probably read about it, but led us to join a joint venture with Trimble and create and expand our precision ag offerings as a result. It's a $2.3 billion joint venture with Trimble, and it really allows us to bring precision planting and the PTX brand together under that umbrella. It gives Agco one of the most comprehensive precision ag portfolios in the whole industry. It really serves farmers by providing technology solutions that include guidance during systems, targeted spraying solutions.

7:27I think we're going to talk about that a little bit more when we talk about AI, but, and autonomous vehicles through retrofit kits. One of the real differentiators for us is the fact that we take a real retrofit first and mixed fleet approach. Most farms you go to, if you've been to a farm recently, is pretty mixed fleet and multi-brand. So that's a really critical differentiator for us at AGCO.

7:51Peter High: Can you talk a bit about the pathway towards adoption of some of what you're describing by the farmers themselves? I wonder to what extent has it been an easy pitch, a difficult one, perhaps a little bit of both? You know, farmers are hungry for anything that allows them to reduce input costs and improve yield. So I would say we've got great, really it varies by country, I would say, but we have a great adoption of things like guidance, guidance systems on vehicles. Those are critical to being able to alleviate some of the labor shortages that we have. So if you have a lack of skilled operators, it's really important to make it easy when the operator gets in the cab of the combine or tractor that we make it as simple as possible for them to be able to operate that machine.

8:34So that's a simple example, but one where there's huge and high, high, high adoption. In terms of additional precision ag technology that helps them reduce input costs, we're seeing some really good engagement in spraying solutions such as Symphony Vision. That's AI enabled. So it allows them to, again, only apply herbicides or pesticides where required, where those problems are. And that reduces their cost structure, but it also improves the sustainability of their farm operations.

9:08Peter High: Well, you've started to get into the topic that you were alluding to a bit earlier as well, AI. I'd love to talk further. You're already talking about some of the really practical and exciting applications of artificial intelligence to help farmers, to help yields, ultimately to help us all as a result of better ability to produce crops, for example. Talk a bit about some of the other use cases that have you most excited, Jenna. it you know it's all about solving problems for farmers 100 so whether that's the input cost i talk about the labor shortage equipment downtime is another really good application so we talked about symphony symphony vision spring which is all about detecting weeds at the plant by plant level but when i think about it you know transforming the way farmers and dealers interact you know things like our ai agent that allows a dealer to understand where their part is what the price of that part is.

10:00Does the part apply to the equipment the way that it should? Do they have the right part associated with the problem that they're trying to solve? Those are ways that we can really reduce the friction in the service experience. So it allows the dealer to keep the customer up and running much, much faster. On the commercial side, we have a couple of really good examples that I'm super excited about because that's really all about not just growing the business, but also supporting farmers and ensuring that they're up. And one good example of that is an agent that allows for us to generate leads for the dealers.

10:34And that's being proactive about when a customer's maintenance agreement or warranty agreement is about to expire, or their telematics connect is about to expire. So that allows that dealer to get ahead of the situation and ensure that they're ahead of that unexpected breakdown that a customer might experience. So all of those use cases are sort of a common thread. And one of those is data. So the more that we can, you know, deeply embed the technology across the crop cycle with smarter decisions and better data in the cab, you know, for the farmer and the dealer on the phone, it really enables us to, again, to differentiate as a company.

11:13Peter High: And you're certainly alluding to the fact that you've got multi-parties to think about, the dealers, the eventual customers. I wonder how do you, as you contemplate the needs of various parties, I recognize there's a lot of alignment. It's not as though they're necessarily pointed in opposite directions. How do you continue to educate yourself and your team on those evolving needs at different parts of the value chain, if you will? We, you know, as a company, one of our primary cultural, you know, strategies is being farmer first. It's one of our number one cultural values. And so it's really important to us, to my team, to all of Agco, that we stay close to the farmer and we stay close to our dealers.

11:55So we have opportunities not only with customer panels, but research and constant forums where we understand customers' problems. And then we are applying technology to solve those problems. So a lot of good technology days, field days, opportunities to get out with customers to understand those better.

12:16Peter High: Yeah, that's really great. I know that agricultural equipment is increasingly connected. And I wonder, with all that connectivity, it also expands the threat landscape as well. And I wonder, how do you think about the cybersecurity challenges, the way they're evolving, and how you counter those challenges? Yeah, I think cybersecurity in general is well understood. Industry-wide risk is understood, Certainly, you know, Agco in particular, we've spent a lot of time and effort on our processes and programs to make sure, you know, that we're safeguarding not only our internal systems, but also the customers' equipment and data.

12:54So connected to connected machines, absolutely, you know, dramatically sort of increase the value we deliver to farmers, but it also proportionally increases the attack surface, as you can imagine. So we have to defend that. So as machines generate and transmit that data, cybersecurity becomes less about an IT function and really more about operational imperative for the business. So our response is layered. As you can imagine, many of the people in my position that you talked to, Peter, probably say something similar in the fact that we've got to not only secure our equipment, we've got to protect the data platforms that connect to it as well.

13:31We've got to connect and harden our internal systems and critically treating our people as that first line of defense. You know, it's great to have the technology systems and processes in place, but without that first line of defense that's well-educated and understands it, you know, that really can support and protect, you know, us as well as our customers and provide that discipline that's required to safeguard the data.

13:57Peter High: I want to stick with data for a moment longer, Jenna. So much of what we're describing actually underscores the quantity of data that you're drawing in. Obviously, if well organized, that can lead to invaluable insight. And now with layering on top of that artificial intelligence, no doubt getting to those insights perhaps a bit faster. But I recognize it's critically important to have a great foundation in place to make sure that the ceiling is sky high in terms of the value one can derive from that. Can you talk a bit about the way in which you think about the synthesis, the collection, the standardization, the governance of operational and agronomic and other data that you're collecting on a regular basis?

14:42Yeah, we think a lot about that. We have pretty strong governance processes in place, obviously, to do that. But if I put that in the farmer's context, in the customer's context, you know, the risk in agriculture isn't data scarcity, to your point, Peter. It's really a data paralysis. They, you know, farmers every single day are swimming in information from equipment sensors, yield monitors, some of the weather station data they get, the ergonomic advisor, you know, information that they get. So my job and my team's job and our job collectively at AGCO is to really reduce that volume and create insights for them, information at the right time, at the right part of the crop cycle to help them make the right decision.

15:24So, you know, one good example of this for AGCO is a core principle behind our PTX Farm Engage. So if you're not familiar with that, it's a great, it's a cloud platform, essentially managing the farm operations across the mixed fleet that I talked about earlier. We had to introduce that last year, and it really allows the farmer to run a mixed fleet operations without having to reconcile data across five different systems or five different platforms or across their operations. So one platform, one view, actionable insights, and really allows them to govern their own data because they own it. It's really important that they have the ability to use it for making the best decisions possible for their farm.

16:05Peter High: Given some of what we've described, Jenna, in terms of clearly a consequential transformation and one that has been very innovative almost by any standard, I wonder how are the skills of your team evolving along with it? given the fast pace of change, no doubt it's something that you need to think about. And as you contemplate both continuing to upskill existing team members while also bringing in some new ones, I wonder what comes to mind in terms of the most important skills to grow and the methods to grow them. As you can imagine, Peter, we have a really strong build culture within Agco. So you're absolutely right.

16:43It's really important that we invest in the capabilities and skills of our team members. And specifically in this time frame, you know, focusing on AI capabilities and knowledge has been really, really important. So over the last year, we've doubled down in terms of AI literacy. We kicked off an AI literacy program this spring to enable what we call practitioners as well as leaders within the organization. So, you know, spending hours and engaging experts in this process to help our organization understand what's coming. And as you and I are doing, learning on a daily and weekly basis, just because it is changing rapidly.

17:23So I think it's really important that, you know, in this space in particular, that we're doubling down on the learning capabilities. And maybe the second aspect of that is the doing. It's not just about learning, it's about taking action. So it's about, you know, even myself spending time on a regular basis, leveraging the agents that I've built, you know, engaging in Microsoft 365, new capabilities that are coming out. All of that is really important that we lead by example.

17:51Peter High: What a great insight that is, Jen. And if I could linger there a little longer, can you talk a bit about some of the agents you're building and ways in which it's helped elevate you a little bit, perhaps, and create new value for you personally as a leader? Yeah, I mean, of course, I'm leveraging all of the potential efficiency tools because it's important. whether it's a co-work type capabilities that enables me to, you know, triage and prioritize what I need to do every day and the meetings that I hold and prepare for those. But also, you know, creating agents that help me stay ahead of the game in terms of my role as CDIO.

18:26That's a great, you know, way to, you know, as a CDIO of a Fortune 500 company, I need to stay abreast of what's most relevant and new, you know, in this space and be able to inform the organization as a result. So creating an agent, that was one of the, you know, ways that I've educated myself is creating an agent that I run weekly that helps me stay abreast of what's new. The other aspects of the agents that we've created have more practical purposes related to projects or, you know, looking at statements of work and ways that we can make sure that we're getting them almost out of the relationships that we've got and the agreements that we strike.

19:05So those are good practical, you know, practical ways that we're using them.

19:09Peter High: That's fantastic. You've now in a couple of recent responses, you talked about the importance of learning on a daily and weekly basis. You clearly have agents who are helping you find and aggregate great content, making that process a little bit more easy as well. I wonder, you know, are there other resources that you turn to, anything you've recently read or that you regularly listen to that you would recommend to others that help you stay current? Yeah. So of course, in addition to your podcast, which I listen to occasionally. Yeah. A16Z is one that really helps me stay abreast. I don't know if you listen to that as well, but stay abreast.

19:45Okay. Yeah. Just a really great way to stay ahead of sort of the latest thinking future tech topics. So they don't just stick with the tech. They talk about the implications to humanity, the implications to business, which is really interesting to me. Nate B. Jones, I subscribe to his sub stack and read his content or watch his videos. And I find him really sort of practical and informational. So, you know, he practices that he shares prompts, and then we go back and practice, you know, I practice some of what he's sharing as well. So those are two examples. But I don't think we can read or listen enough right now to stay abreast of what's changing so rapidly.

20:26Peter High: Good suggestions, though. Thank you for those, Jenna. Any others you look to the future? Any other trends or topics that particularly excite you that we haven't covered already? be interested in hearing about anything else that comes to mind? We covered the gamut, Peter. I'm just, you know, I'm excited about the future of Agco, the future of our company is bright. And I'm really energized about the potential to leverage this technology, to leverage AI, to really grow the business. And as the industry, you might be aware, the ag industry in general is really at a depressed stage in the trough right now, what we would consider the trough.

20:59And just as we emerge from that, how we can truly leverage AI and technology to apply that to farmers' problems and solve those problems for them. So just super excited about that.

21:11Peter High: Yeah, that's very clearly evident throughout the conversation, how energized you are for the mission ahead. So thank you so much, Jennifer, for a terrific conversation. It's so wonderful to learn more about all the work that you and your team are doing, a bit more about the fascinating background that you have that's led to your current role, as well as a look to the future also. I really appreciate you sharing your insights with me today. Thank you, Peter. Appreciate it. Thanks for listening to Technovation. If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe and leave a rating. It helps more leaders find our podcast.

21:39Peter High: Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you next time.