Growing Pains into Gains

Technology and agriculture. To assume no two worlds are further apart is one of the greatest misconceptions of our industry. 

True, one is often abstracted and futuristic to the other’s boots-on-the-ground, grit-and-grind image, but the Silicon and Salinas Valleys are close neighbors. At just 60 miles apart, each calls the same region of California home, a geographic tie that makes it seem as though any ambivalence between the two may be more a sibling rivalry, brought closer together when they see their differences are what make them a stronger pair. 

If there is a meeting point between the figurative sides of the two valleys, Sheldon Peacock is it.

Sheldon, a Product Director in Agent Engineering at Aptean, focuses on the practical application of AI agents in enterprise software. He has more than a decade’s worth of experience working with global fresh produce and food businesses under his belt, and two decades of experience in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central development. A background spanning software engineering, product leadership, change management, process optimization, and industry-specific ERP design, combined with previous roles at Produce World and LINKFRESH, gives Sheldon deep insight into the operational challenges faced by modern fresh organizations. 

But the first thing he tells me is that he grew up on a farm.

Melissa De Leon Chavez: Sheldon, you bring a unique perspective to a market that is increasingly vying for fresh attention. Can you tell me about what you are doing to help serve supply partners? 

Sheldon Peacock: Product Director in Agent Engineering, Aptean: I grew up in the fresh industry, and now I can experience my two passions—farming and computers—in the same place, which is, quite frankly, bonkers. I can’t believe I’m this lucky. And it helps demonstrate our approach, because while Aptean is a large company covering many industries, we are also focused on serving those industries well. For produce, we are building agents around the recurring problems we consistently see across the industry, so customers can realize value quickly and extend from there. Then we can custom-build on top of that.

MDC: As someone who understands the fresh industry, how do you introduce new technology without disrupting what’s already working in what is inherently an unforgiving space?

SP: Upgrading ERPs is significantly harder than providing a tool that helps suppliers solve problems, especially a tool that understands their industry. That’s the key to a pre-built agent in our space: It’s constructed for not only their product, but their industry and role. So it knows what a procurement officer does, it knows the importance of quality and timeliness in a fresh industry, and it knows how that impacts further down the line.

I know what it’s like to deal with a short shelf-life product that you’ve got stocked and you’re wanting to push out of your warehouse. Having an agent that knows the importance of not sitting on stock that expires can identify likely customers and prepare recommendations for the salesperson. Or maybe you have a customer who allows you to over-send by five percent, so give them a push. If we automate this, we give the human back time so they can go work on a problem an agent can’t apply to. That’s where the value is: It’s not the job it takes, it’s the job you’re allowed to do in its place.

MDC: You have emphasized the importance of giving time back to the grower, and how even the buy-side is seeing changes fueled by technology. What is the untold story or avenue you see technology taking the industry that is not getting shared?

SP: It’s the automation of the frustrations—that’s the biggest value gain. I see it as perhaps what my parents would have seen when computers entered their workplace, going from typewriters and logbooks to these computers with spreadsheets on them. The job didn’t change; the way you worked changed. You started to be able to do more, better, and easier, with less frustration. AI is moving us significantly further forward, but only in certain places. Like any good tool, it has a perfect place for a perfect job. There are things it does okay, and there are things it should not be allowed to do because it’s just not good at it.

“It’s not the job it takes, it’s the job you’re allowed to do in its place.”

- Sheldon Peacock, Product Director in Agent Engineering, Aptean

MDC: As you say that, the first thing I think of is the personal nature of our business and the fear that technology is widening rather than closing the gap. Specifically, around losing the grower-to-buyer relationships that have been built over years. Can you speak to how this can be avoided?

SP: It depends on what you are trying to achieve. It goes back to the automation of the frustration. If a relationship is a frustration within your business, then automate it and give it to an agent. But if handling a relationship is important to you, then keep that and automate what will allow you to focus on your relationship. That way, you get the best of both worlds—you shouldn’t have to compromise, quite frankly. The conversations can be richer because you are able to spend more time on them and less time on the data analysis. And we’re eliminating mistakes along the way; the number of human errors we used to see with data processing is reducing because the agent can identify data trends that are going out.

I don’t see it as depersonalization if you’re focusing on removing frustration to enable the human. I don’t believe that it has to be impersonal if you’re using the information to drive a better conversation.

From complex supply chains and compliance demands to quality, traceability, and margin pressure, Sheldon knows firsthand that ours is an industry that must navigate an incredible amount of terrain to find its footing. Yet the Startup Nation and the Salad Bowl call the same region of California home, a symmetry that brings tangibility to the strengthening bridge between both.

And the possibility of merging the two worlds many view as so far apart is, for him, a dream come true.