FARGO — A wide variety of 20 speakers gave speeches at this year's Tedx Fargo, including pioneers in the agriculture community, an anonymous speaker with involvement in the war in Ukraine and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. The theme of this year's event is TedxIf, so several speakers centered their lectures on "ifs", challenging audience members to think beyond the norm.
Gabe Brown was the last speaker of the evening, wrapping it up by giving a speech about his successes through the rejuvenation of soil health. "We need to get to a place where we're using food as preventive medicine," Brown said. Brown is a leading figure for the soil health movement and has been recognized as one of the nation’s top 25 influential agricultural leaders, gathering a long list of awards.
He is also a believer that good soil leads to better food. He advocates for no-till soil, stating no-till soil helps water absorption and helps grow better produce. Brown said no-till soil is able to absorb over 20 inches of rain per hour whereas some tilled soil only has the ability to absorb a half inch.
"I have not stood on a single one (farm), including my own, that is not degraded," he said. Brown said the soil's inability to absorb excessive rainfall creates excessive flooding in streams, rivers and lakes, impacting water quality. He advocated for a multi-step rejuvenation process which creates a more absorbent soil, leading to better production of plants and more nutritious food.
"Through rejuvenation agriculture, we can find the common ground for the common good," he said. The rejuvenation of agriculture is not exclusive to farmers and crops but also coexists with ranchers and animals. Brown states when animals graze the land, especially biodiverse land, it helps reduce carbon emissions and prevent climate change.
"If you want to mitigate climate change, we need to integrate grazing for animals," he said. "If you want to desertify this planet, remove the animals from the landscape." This is not Brown's first speech, as he is a world class speaker who travels over 200 days a year.
"There is an increase in awareness from consumers who are really beginning to understand the soil health, plant health, animal health and human health connection," he said. Four-star Admiral Stuart Munsch introduced another agricultural pioneer, Dr. William Aderholt.
"We're at the cusp of the fourth revolution of agriculture. And like all things high-tech, it's more complex than ever before," Munsch said. As the Executive Director of Grand Farm, a nonprofit organization dedicated to solving agricultural challenges, Aderholt finds innovative ways to revolutionize the agriculture industry through technology and artificial intelligence.
Much of Aderholt's speech consisted of his outlook for farming communities as the agriculture industry enters into its fourth revolution, focusing on technological advancements as it transforms. "The fourth agricultural revolution will bring together both agriculture and advanced technology," he said. He mentioned implementing tools such as sensors, biotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence to excel farming communities.
Some of these tools focus on individual plants and animals instead of entire fields and pastures. "What if every plant was given the precise amount of nutrients per plant that it needs to thrive?" Aderholt posed. "What if every animal was given a specialized individualized diet both maximizing quality of life and nutrition?" Aderholt talked about possibilities to revolutionize the farming industry and create innovative technology with resources like $1.
5 million pledges from Microsoft and a $10 million grant from the North Dakota Legislature and State Department of Commerce. As Aderholt works to grow every crop with technological care, another speaker, Vanessa Williamson, strives to promote “ugly vegetables" which are discarded after their production. "We're taught that food is meant to be pretty and perfect," she said.
In her speech, she alluded to findings from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) stating that 40% of food grown in the United States is never consumed. "It's not only food wasted," she said. "It is money, time and water wasted.
" She went on to say every year 92 billion pounds of food are thrown away equating to 145 billion meals and $473 billion worth of food. To help decrease food waste, Williamson urged members of the audience to purchase "ugly vegetables", avoiding discrimination based on how a vegetable looks. She said people can still eat vegetables even if they have bruises, imperfections and dents.
"Ugly foods can nourish our bodies the same as perfect ones can," she said. "Be a part of the movement and conversation to remove these unnecessary beauty standards on our produce." A few speakers after Williamson, at the end of the second session, a planned anonymous speaker took to the screen.
He preferred his identity to be confidential because of involvement in the Ukraine War. A dark shadow hid his face on the video board and a transmitter hid his voice. All the lights changed from their usual purple, white, yellow and green to a deep solid red.
The speaker began to talk about how he became involved in the war through YouTube videos. He said after sifting through several videos he was able to find accurate ones, avoiding the propaganda and focusing on the truth. "Little by little I went deeper down the rabbit hole beyond traditional news coverage and into unconventional sources," he said.
The speaker developed a passion for Ukraine's drones and their ability to create high power weapons with little cost. This passion turned into involvement after one of the YouTube videos offered an opportunity "for software developers to help break code for the war effort." "It turns out the various YouTubers had connections into the military," he said.
The speaker said he became affiliated with the Ukraine government and began to develop software for drones used in the war, helping them accurately strike targets and avoiding jams. "Before I knew it I was writing customer software," he said. The speaker said he is currently aiding in the development for a second phase of these drones and even has the code name "Chaos" for his affiliation with the Ukraine government.
He speculated some audience members may be able to guess his identity and urged them to keep him anonymous. "Writing drones that kills Russians is not something I would like to advertise," he said. He said the reason he chose to speak was because he wanted to let the public know the government "was not just sending bags of money to Ukraine.
" "Ukraine gets the old weapons and the money allocated to Ukraine goes to buy new weapons for the U.S." he said.
He concluded his speech by telling the audience everyone has a capability to create impact. "I'm just a kid from North Dakota and I'm helping to defend Ukraine. We can all do our part.
" he said. To close the event, Actor Josh Duhamel introduced the chief gratitude officer of the event, Governor Doug Burgum . "I adore this guy," Duhmal said.
"No matter what side you're on, this guy is a genuinely good human being." Burgum gave about a seven-minute speech, congratulating all the speakers. He encouraged the audience members to turn the speaker's words into actions, break out of isolation and form new connections.
"When we are united and when we are together, it is unlimited what we can solve," he said..
