In an industry grappling with labor shortages and mounting pressure for supply chain transparency, feed manufacturers are increasingly turning to technology to bridge the gap.
Jake Joraanstad, CEO of Bushel, an integrated agribusiness software company, joined Feed Strategy Chat to discuss how fragmented systems are costing feed operations more than just dollars — they're draining time, reducing accuracy and limiting responsiveness to customer demands.
As transparency and traceability become non-negotiable requirements for many buyers, Joraanstad argues that the solution lies not in adding more complexity, but in creating seamless data flows between farmers, feed mills and end users. His insights offer a roadmap for small- and midsize operations looking to embrace automation without fear of displacing workers in an already understaffed sector.
Interview with Jake Joraanstad, CEO of Bushel
Jackie Roembke, editor-in-chief, WATT Feed Brands: Hi everyone, welcome to Feed Strategy Chat. I'm your host, Jackie Roembke, editor-in-chief of WATT's Feed Brands.
This edition of Feed Strategy Chat is being brought to you by the Feed Mill of the Future Conference. The Feed Mill of the Future Conference is a half-day event that will bring together leading feed industry experts to examine emerging feed mill technologies poised to impact animal feed manufacturing. The conference is produced by Feed Strategy and Feed & Grain, and organized in partnership with the American Feed Industry Association.
To learn more about the 2026 edition of the Feed Mill of the Future Conference, please visit www.FeedMilloftheFuture.com.
Today we're joined by Jake Joraanstad, the CEO of Bushel, an independently owned and operated integrated agribusiness software solution. He's here to talk about how supply chain coordination systems can work together to reduce operational friction.
Hi, Jake. How are you today?
Jake Joraanstad, CEO, Bushel: Hi Jackie, doing well. Thanks for having me.
Roembke: Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. So, let's get into it. In your view, what is the real cost of fragmentation in feed operations today — and not just in dollars, but in terms of speed, accuracy and the ability to respond to customer demand?
Joraanstad: It's a good question. You know, there's a labor problem in agriculture that we don't have enough people to do the work, probably in rural America, but those that are doing the work, the average sort of office work-type effort is $15 an hour at least cost. And so, you talk about inefficiencies, labor challenges — even five minutes is a couple of dollars' worth of time for somebody.
In a lot of cases, you're spending a lot of time not having clear flow of information or flow of actions, and what we hear from our customers that are in this space is they're spending a lot of time trying to show up for the farmer and the buyer or the supplier of their business, and they're in three, five, 10 different systems just to get basic tasks like buying grain into a feed operation. And that creates all kinds of challenges, and you have a perceived labor challenge that is bigger than it probably would need to be if you were more efficient.
Then you've got changing consumer demands that are saying, hey, we need you not only to be more efficient and do this for a lower cost because we've got inflationary challenges, but we also need you to be more transparent with information about who and how you're buying, and it creates this really interesting moment in the space today where there needs to be investments made, but the challenges are not obviously solvable.
Roembke: As transparency and traceability become non-negotiable for many buyers, how should feed manufacturers be thinking about data in terms of who owns it, who needs to access it and how it moves through the system?
Joraanstad: At Bushel, we have this question often. We're a software company — so we're not buying the grain itself; we work with customers to help them enable them to do that.
What we found is your best approach to the data problem and transparency is being forward and transparent, like, "Hey, this is how we're going to do it. This is why we're doing it this way."
A lot of times, people confuse the supply chain's data with the farmer's data. Clearly, how the farmer goes about doing their business and how they bring that into the buyer's world is an important cross section, but being transparent about what you care about and what you don't is super important. So, if you think about being upfront, asking for permission — "Hey, in order to be in this program or to be a supplier to us, we ask these basic requirements of you ..." For example, if you're enrolling in a program where you're going to say, "We're going to share planting records with this facility," or maybe just the fields themselves, being upfront about that, it's not as scary as coming in, certainly after the fact in the conversation.
Our view is transparency first; the technology needs to be there right at the farm where they're at. Most farmers are ready for these tools and capabilities, and it's a matter of the supply chain showing up.
Roembke: So, what comes to mind for small- and midsize feed mill operations when they hear automation or system integration? Do they see that as an opportunity, or are they overwhelmed by all the moving parts? What's a typical interaction like with new customers?
Joraanstad: In our space, talking to these customers that are looking at technology, they're looking at automation, and they're looking at ways to improve efficiency. On the front end, it's like, "OK, I'm not looking to automate my job away. I want to have a job." But as we know in agriculture, we have a labor challenge right now where we don't have enough people. What we found is that automating these roles and automating some of the in-between, whether it's the delivery of grain or it's the offer itself and buying grain, any automation and efficiency that's gained there is typically not, you know, removing jobs. If anything, it's filling a gap where we've got open postings and open positions and are trying to make the business better.
And so, on the front end, automation feels scary. It feels like it's coming for your job, but I think in this culture, we're understaffed, and there's not much happening in terms of going backwards. We're probably looking to hire more, but if technology can fill that gap even better, we've solved two problems.
Roembke: Excellent, thank you so much for those insights. Now, if you'd like to hear more from Jake, he will be speaking at the 2026 Feed Mill of the Future Conference, held at IPPE 2026 in Atlanta on January 27.
For more information about his presentation and the others at the conference, please visit www.FeedMilloftheFuture.com.
Thanks again, Jake, and thanks to you for tuning in.