
He expected computer engineering to carry him away from North Dakota. Instead, one digitized scale ticket gave Jake Joraanstad a reason to stay - and a blueprint for rebuilding agriculture's stubbornly analog middle.

After a career that ran from a Wisconsin malt house to soybean strategy and seed-treatment sales, the Iowa founder is betting that one of farming’s oldest decisions should happen seconds before the seed meets soil.

After building, selling and rebuilding agricultural marketing firms, Len Kahn has taken his farm-bred instincts into agtech. His career is a case study in staying close to the customer, saying the useful thing out loud and always keeping one move in reserve.