Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko

Yesterday, exactly at this time, I was at the Oxford Union Debate.
Moreover, I was contributing my 2 minutes on the co-location of data centres and greenhouses.



Now I’m on my way back home after three intense days of The Oxford Farming Conference (OFC)
I’ll write about these days separately.

The only aftertaste I have right now is full acceptance of resilience as the main personal skill to develop in 2026.

Considering that the world is heading in a pretty unknown direction
(no, I haven’t read the news for the last three days — I’m just analysing pieces of conversations I overheard),
we still have a reason for hope.

But it’s very important to highlight:
neither me nor anyone else can give you hope.

You can grow it only by yourself.

How to grow hope?
Simple!



One lady yesterday in our 15-minute conversation (but it feels like I’ve known her all my life 🥰), she told me that when she’s feeling desperate or sad, she does something quite easy. She does push-ups.

The gym is too far from her village, but push-ups are kind of free antidepressants… and good for the body 💪🏻

I don’t know why, but I trust her.

It sounds like a crime NOT to try this truly unique method on such an occasion 🤣

I suggest resilience and hope appears immediately after the first session (however, subject to confirmation 🙂)

Have you any experience of using this method of personal growth?

PS: I’m getting off at the next station. Tomorrow I’ll continue! 💚

#resilience

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10 hours ago | [YT] | 5

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko

It feels like everyone has done a 2025 year recap apart from me.
Let’s do it now!
___



👉 My biggest discovery: AI agents.
They’re a bit costly (ouch!), but when you work with them, you feel like the future isn’t somewhere else — it’s right in front of you, on the screen.


👉 My deepest concern: water.
And the deeper I dive, the more I understand that water trading is something we’ll have in 10 – 20 years.
As of now, strict water monitoring of those available scarce drops (I'm thinking of Western Europe in late August) is a must-have.


👉 My unexplained self-discovery: how I managed to deploy a quick-and-dirty prototype of an Agroforestry Chatbot (RAG, LLM) by myself.

However, what came before that was my greatest learning.


👉 My greatest learning: agroforestry.
I opened a book — it was about how to make any farm profitable — and I stayed there… because suddenly everything makes sense!
Agroforestry is hope for farming (two or more revenue streams; biodiversity gains; applicable in wide range of conditions).


👉 My brightest memory: I walked into a room full of ladies. After a quick look, chat & a little exploration of what we can do TOGETHER, my internal imposter quietly left the room. I stayed there!
(Thanks, Innovate UK Women in Innovation Community Forum 💜 )


👉 My most memorable inspiration: I walked into a different room — full of ladies and gentlemen of my age with a strong farming & agrifood background. After a warm ice-breaker session and a chat, my alien feelings flew away. I stayed there!
(Thanks, Oxford Farming Conference, for the opportunity to be part of the Inspire Programme 💚)


👉 My best-ever philosophical advice, received by me (inexperienced) from someone wise:
"What to do if I’m not good enough?"
"The only thing you can do is continue your way and educate yourself. During this journey, you’ll meet someone who will sincerely believe that you are definitely good (and more than enough)"


👉 My best-ever empowerment: the final sentence of Navy SEAL Echos:



"I will not fail"

It’s worth memorising and repeating it every time — in all environments, on any mission.


👉 My biggest promise: to publish a portal with Petiole Pro mentions in 110+ research papers.
So where’s the announcement?
In tomorrow’s post 🤩
Please, come back 🙏
_________________________


Instead of a conclusion



"Mum, we’ll have a wild party at school tomorrow to celebrate the end of the year"
"What do you mean by “wild”?
"No fancy dress, but the teacher said we will play lots of games with my friends and will be free to chat with each other — with no “told-offs”


Sometimes I see that in our digital, busy, crazy business & human world, all we need is a teacher who will announce a wild party 🤣



However, considering that teachers are very busy people — let’s move the world around by ourselves.


Let’s meet and chat (no fancy dress is required).



And may the biggest impact of our work be born in the next 52 working weeks 💫 🌱 🚀

#personalreflection #drmarynakuzmenko

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6 days ago | [YT] | 8

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko

A few years ago, I was volunteering in a community kitchen.
We needed to feed a crowd of people at our local event.
The weather was unpredictably bad.
The day was very windy, with moments of what the British call “spitting rain”
But the show must go on.

Yesterday, when I started reading the UK #FarmProfitabilityReview, I had a very similar feeling.
That sense of a very important mission that farmers are responsibly accomplishing in 24/7/365 mode.

The global and the national environment is changing.
You know, probably even better than me, how messy the farming business could be, and yet food still has to appear on shelves — on time, every time and with low impact on the natural environment.

That's why the UK Farm Profitability Review, published yesterday, is a very important document.

It provides not only
(1) the overview of what's going on in the fields and barns of the UK but also
(2) recommendations about how to restore balance between food production and the environment

(spoiler straight from the page 7: "They should be treated as two sides of the same coin" 😉)

***

I know that most of you, who spend time with me on LinkedIn and beyond, are not from the UK.
However, in the equation of farm profit, the location brings just a tiny fraction of the story.
The headlines change, but the pressure points are surprisingly universal.

Farm profitability is the first thought guys are waking up with in Colombia.

The same problems with low margins exist for lettuce growers in pretty cool Singapore.
Not even mentioning farmers in Malaysia, living just across the bridge from Singapore — but with profits that are times lower.

Nigeria or California — indeed, the multiplier is different (in Africa we speak about dozens of dollars, but in the US it’s three- or four-digit numbers).

But the essence of the conversations is always about:
(a) making money
(b) staying resilient in a world that keeps shifting
(c) harming nature less while doing (a) and (b)

That’s why you need to read the UK farm profitability review.

You may find something 100% relevant despite the geographical and sometimes economical distance between us.

***

And back on that day at my community kitchen, we had one really sunny person.

Our coordinator was a true leader — keeping the BBQ stove working and the mindset positive (I was just the bring-and-serve guy there :))

Leaders are the decisive factor in most of the equations.

Thank you, Minette Batters DL, for adding your professionalism, wealth of farming experience, and so much soul into this important document for the future of the UK farming 🌱

#farming

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1 week ago | [YT] | 6

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko

10% of my time I spend volunteering.
Locally or globally.
But it’s not my unique invention.

Take any religion on the globe and you’ll find this same request: please, give part of your life to others for free.
You’ll get more 🤩

You can contribute either your time or your money.

As usual, the first step (in our case, the first hour 🕒 or the first banknote 💰) is the most difficult one.

Later it becomes a habit.

__________

Dear students of the free introductory “AI in Agriculture” course on Udemy,

I hope everyone who was waiting for a certificate has now received it (I sent certificates to all students who completed the course between 29 August–27 December 2025 and requested one via the Google Form).

However, I also have a list of two dozen names who asked for a certificate but:

1. either haven’t finished the course (18%, 43%, or even 70% completion is NOT acceptable, sorry) or

2. your name on Udemy is different, and I simply can’t verify you and match you to the list of 2,330 students.

If you’re still waiting for your certificate and you’ve completed 100% of the course — please let me know in the comments and let’s fix it ASAP… I mean, this year :))

I sent the final batch of certificates a few days ago.

It was my birthday gift to myself — to close the year with a clean conscience.

And it’s also my intentional choice: I don’t outsource this pretty routine task for one reason — to keep my connection with reality.

(Moreover, 30% of my students are not on LinkedIn, which is very good — it gives wider perspectives and slightly less bias in understanding what's going on in agriculture)

__________

In 2026, please:

(a) keep your connections with your real people,
(b) educate yourself and
(c) do something kind for your local and global communities.

I will do the same.

See you in 2026 :)

#newyearresolution

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1 week ago | [YT] | 12

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko

For the last three years, I’ve kept the SAME photo at the top of my LinkedIn profile.
What’s even more important… it’s in my heart as well 🥰

Just check the leftest one.
Do you see me and another smiling plant-lover? :)
Her name is Dr. Alicja Dzieciol.
Though, in my phone she’s saved as Alicja SilviBio :)

__________

… It was June 2020, when Agri-TechE (one of the leading UK agritech hubs) organised the GROW agri-tech business plan competition.

I applied with my promising agritech project (huge thank you to Dr. Michael Gifford from NIAB for valuable mentorship 🙏) but I didn’t make it to the final.

So do you know who won?
Alicja & her SilviBio! 🏆

__________

Since then, I’ve been following her and her vision of how modern chemistry can positively impact agriculture and forestry.

We met in person thanks to Innovate UK, during the Women in Innovation Agritech trip to the Netherlands in 2022.
And since our in-person meeting, I’ve fallen in love with SilviBio because of their mission 💚

Alicja and her team are bringing truly unique biobased and peat-free growing media to growers.

I’m not an expert in all this growing stuff, so I asked Alicja why peat-free growing media can be better than traditional soil.

The answer is simply logical: it's more sustainable and more controllable.

Why innovative growing medium is important?
1. It can be made from renewable or circular materials,
2. It can deliver a clean, consistent root environment with predictable water retention, drainage and aeration

Unlike field soil, these mixes are typically free from weeds and many pathogens, can be custom-formulated.
Real examples with less theory?

✨ Silvibio has developed a seed coating for conifers — the most economically important species — that improves germination by 40% under drought stress. This innovative bio-formulation creates a survival capsule for the seedling, providing a water source, slow-release nutrition & a favourable environment for beneficial microorganisms.

✨ Also they launched the Shear Innovation project (funded by the government!😎), transforming wool waste into high-performance, peat-free horticultural substrates. These blends improve water retention, seed germination, and crop resilience — while also helping to reduce fertiliser run-off

✨ Additionally, they also created its own peat-free growing media blend, designed in response to growers’ real challenges. The mix is customizable, coconut coir-free, bio-based, biodegradable & microplastic-free - you see, that’s all the keywords of sustainable agriculture!

If you need numbers a proof - ask Alicja directly.

__________

So, while you’re planning your 2026 season and technical specifications, please think about innovation.

If you want better yields, there’s a need to do something differently — maybe a different growing medium... or a more data-driven approach
(but that’s a different story 😉).

Dear growers: what’s your experience with peat-free growing media blends?

#peatfree

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1 week ago | [YT] | 13

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko

The scariest thing is hitting the “Send” button - emailing someone more powerful while you feel like you’re just… you 😳

“Did I write the correct address?”
“Have I made mistakes?”
“Is the right file attached?”
Those thoughts always come after.

But I believe the real power is still to hit THAT button.


Even if the letter isn’t perfect.
And even if you feel like an imposter with all those loud fears in your head...

This week I wrote to my Member of Parliament — Andrew Pakes.
I’d been planning to do it for a few weeks/months.



But after reading the “Open letter: Six steps towards a national plan of protected horticulture — A call for coordinated action” and the Farming Profitability Review, I realised: no way to delay.
The letter had to be sent now.



I built it around three points — as expected: agritech, education, and (because we can’t ignore it anymore) energy + planning for controlled-environment agriculture (CEA).



So, briefly:



1) Agritech is already “core infrastructure.”

Everything is moving fast (yes, the AI-powered element brings speed).

And 2025 sent very clear signals: ADOPT, AgriScale, the APPGSTA “30:50:50 mission,” the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Regulations 2025, and the Farming Profitability Review — all pointing to the need for a stronger adoption, skills, and investment environment.



2) The curriculum review, currently led by the Department for Education, is a rare window to rebuild the agriculture-to-STEM pipeline.

A few weeks ago in my letter to the APPG on Diversity and Inclusion in STEM, I shared how important it is to bring more agriculture and plant science into the journey: secondary schools → FE/HE → employers, through T Levels, placements, and modern skills (data, sensors, automation, robotics, plant science, and basic AI literacy).
I added this message to Mr. Pakes as well.
This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity we shouldn’t lose.
The most active stage of the review will be in 2026.



3) Energy + planning are the bottleneck for CEA — and also the unlock.
As I mentioned above, I read a short but very clear letter from UK CEA insiders.
It’s signed by 27 passionate experts, and that matters — because it confirms there are issues that could seriously damage the industry if left unaddressed.

Someone in Government must hear them.



(*I said this while snacking on a delicious British tomato accompanied with green British cucumber and a crispy British pepper, locally grown in Cambridgeshire — we need more food grown nearby 🍅🫑🥒🫑🍅)

I also added two specific asks to my MP (read them on the two final pages of my letter).



If you want to support the agricultural industry and science — please consider doing the same.


Write a letter to your MP.

👉 Take my doc, edit it, improve it based on your experience, and let’s have more conversations about UK food security.
No fears. No limits.
Only actions and results.



Dear people passionate about agriculture — how do you agree with this motto? 😉🚀🌱

#UKFarming

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 7

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko

AI in Agriculture: #BigIdeas2026

1) “𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆” 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆.
It's a real bottleneck — and hopefully it will be fixed.
In 2026, the conversation will shift from “Which model?” to “Where does clean, consistent farm data come from?”
The breakthrough won’t be a new algorithm — it’ll be boring-but-brilliant operational data pipelines 👑
The farms that win will be the ones that turn daily routines into structured work with strong data collection traditions.

______________

2) 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁 “𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽.”
Not because it’s perfect but because it’s practical.
Are you reading me from your smartphone right now?
Even if not — in a few minutes you’ll still reach for your best friend, your connector to the world, that one piece of tech we all carry in a pocket 🤗
That's why computer vision in smartphones has a huge potential.
Plus low-cost cameras, and edge devices are slowly but confidently moving up ↗️↗️↗️

______________

3) 𝗔𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 “𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴” 𝘁𝗼 “𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁”
Technically, it's called "Prediction".
Considering how quickly LLMs are dominating and moving to the throne, predictions will become the new KPI. Instead of reporting today’s crop stress or packhouse quality, AI will forecast outcomes.

______________

4) 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲-𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.
2026 will be a reality check: farms can’t depend on perfect connectivity.
There is NO connectivity on farms - let's accept it and move on to the next stage.
The strongest tools will work offline by default, syncing when possible — not breaking when signal drops.
That's why invest in edge AI, on-device inference, and local-first databases 😉.

______________

5) 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗮𝘁.
To cross it, you can swim, jump or just provide photo proof.
In 2026, buyers and regulators will demand more than predictions — they’ll demand proof.
We all want to be reassured in our choices and purchases.
The best agrifood AI products will ship with built-in traceability: who captured the data, when, where, with what confidence — and what the model saw (on that note, ask me about our new app which is in a private demo right now, I have something to show you :))

______________

On a larger scale, if 2025 was a nice “pilot season” — when everyone tasted publicly available chatbots and enjoyed what they got 🥰 — then 2026 is the scale season, where AI stops being a demo and starts being infrastructure 😎

______________

AI adopters and agricultural visionaries, what do you think about our upcoming 2026?

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3 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 5

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko

AI is ready. But how about farms?
This was the question I brought to a webinar with the students and teaching staff at Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad a few weeks ago 🌾

And it’s the main question that sits behind every “AI in agrifood” headline.

Because when you move past the buzzwords, you hit the real work: the mind shift required for 2025 and beyond.

_______________________________

📉 The core problem: Data poverty
We started by busting a popular myth.
Agrifood isn’t drowning in useful data — it’s often living in data poverty.

AI models are sophisticated. But farms frequently lack the infrastructure (and time!) to generate the clean, consistent, context-rich inputs those models require.

So the challenge isn’t “adopt AI”
The challenge is: how do we create actionable data where it doesn’t exist yet — without breaking workflows?

👁️ Computer vision is the most practical entry point
We explored why computer vision is currently the most realistic door into digitisation.

It doesn’t require perfect connectivity. It can start small.
And it meets agriculture where it already is: visual decisions, made fast, under pressure.


We discussed real-world applications where “human eyes on the ground” simply can’t match digital precision at scale:
-> QC & phenotyping: from counting strawberry flowers to checking seedling quality in tomatoes (my truly beloved topic 😉)
-> Precision weeding: spot-spraying instead of blanket coverage
-> Disease detection: flagging leaf issues early — before they spread

📡 Beyond vision: IoT, logistics, and the plant ecosystem
Then we expanded beyond the leaf (scalability is the king 😉)
Because plants don’t exist in isolation — and neither does data.



We looked at how IoT + AI can support:
1. Irrigation & fertigation: predictive models for microclimate-driven decisions
2. Supply chain: traceability from tree to retail, plus automated QC in packhouses (think cocoa, apples, and more)
3. Labour: assistive robotics and safety monitoring (including PPE detection) to support the workforce, not replace it

And the last but never least - 🧠 LLMs, agents — and the realities.
👉 We debated Edge AI vs Cloud AI (a practical question when connectivity is weak) and the constant pressure for ROI.
👉 We also discussed the rising role of LLMs — powerful for SOP guidance, onboarding, and support tools, but risky if used carelessly.
👉 We had separate thoughts on hallucinations and possible crop loss as a result of biased AI.

So the conclusion on LLMs was clear:
Human-in-the-Loop isn’t optional.
It’s the standard 😎

_______________________________

A huge thank you to the hardworking team of Dr. Juri Das, Mandeep rawat and Dr Charu Bisht (PhD) - and the question about synthetic data was really good 👍

Perhaps, it could be a topic for a separate webinar, what do you think? 😉🌱🌾

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 11

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko

Purple light spectrum? Is it vertical farming or sort of a controlled-environment agriculture place? 🌱
Almost! 😉



It’s definitely an environment for growth and yield – but on a much larger scale of the UK economy.


Additional £250bn -> just if women get the same amount of investment as men 🤝

On a global scale the number is even more mind-blowing.
+25% of global GDP, say Stanford scientists.
Can you imagine? 🤯



___



Three days ago, while in Birmingham at the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Celebration, I thought about growth a lot.


Particularly, about cultivating women’s entrepreneurial spirit.
We were celebrating women innovators with a glass of champagne & success stories.



But speaking that day with so many women with wings and ideas, I heard (and know from my own experience) that doing business for women is just a chain of great milestones & simultaneously never-give-up moments.



-> One young lady at the event told me that she relocated herself to one of the northernmost towns in the UK (because it’s the cheapest one).
Just to be able to survive & keep going with her startup in advanced manufacturing.



-> Another lady is working in two official jobs to survive & keep her early-stage startup alive, because it’s about a new way to educate children with special needs.



-> One more woman told me how her PhD supervisor (he was a man) was inappropriately commenting on her discoveries & plans: “Just don’t tell me you will go to patent this, it’s a too big project, you can’t do it alone”
Yes, she is a solo founder, with a patent-pending application.



-> One more bright lady confessed: “I woke up today at 3 am just to be on time at the event in Birmingham.”



And there are hundreds of other women-superheroes whom I’ve met at all my events within agriculture and beyond.



So if you can – just help women to innovate with your money, your efforts, or a simple “Yes, you can do it!”
We all need it.
Women will generously pay you back with a very pleasing ROI. 😉



____



And now – LADIES ONLY.

Girls, you know there is a Women in Innovation competition open RIGHT NOW, until 4 Feb 2026.



You can apply if you are a founder or co-founder of a UK-based company.



Please, read these numbers (and we are not in a hurry, so just read and taste them):
since 2016
over £11 million of real pounds
has been invested in 200 business-women across the UK.



It means that small businesses like you, me & that girl who woke up at 3 am have a chance to get financial support to build our businesses.



For the current call we have spaces for:
🟣 60 women will be selected (it’s more than last year!)
🟣 Each will get a £75K grant (again, it’s more money, which is always good news)
🟣 12 months of tailored support (you won’t row your boat completely alone!)

Plus other priceless perks! 😘

So I sincerely invite you to apply and show off your idea.
Link is below. Yes, you can do it, dear! 💪✨



Thank you to
‪@Innovateuk‬

‪@IUK_Connect‬


Tom Adeyoola
Stella Peace
Emily Nott
Gaia Hudson


#womeninnovate

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4 weeks ago | [YT] | 7

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko

There is one thing in my life right now that I'm genuinely ASHAMED of.
Six months ago I launched "AI in Agriculture: Practical Introductory Course" on ‪@udemy‬



This is one of the leading global educational platforms and here is where we are today:
-> 2,197 students enrolled
-> 39,322.79 minutes of lectures watched
-> 4.62/5 average rating (based on 415 reviews)



Beautiful numbers.
Now — my shame 😳



Some of my students want certificates.
The course is free, and that’s exactly why Udemy does NOT issue certificates automatically.

Right now, I have a backlog of 116 students still waiting for their certificates.


Yes, I practice what I teach.
I use semi-automation to prepare the certificates :)

But the final, individual delivery still takes time.



So, my dear Udemy student 👇

You will get your certificate by the end of this year if:
1. You have completed the course (100% completion – I do check this).
2. You finished the course between 28 August – 14 December 2025.
3. You left your request in the form (the link is in the final “Congratulations!” email you received after completion).
This is my promise.



And I want a promise from you too.
Please, promise me that this course will not be your last step, and you will continue learning — online or offline, with me or without me.

Deal? 🤝🤗🌱


#aiskills

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1 month ago | [YT] | 6