I am delighted to bring to you the second edition of FAQ – Porter Wright’s Food & Agriculture Quarterly. This edition contains three very diverse articles that are informative and thought-provoking.

First, Emily Lane explains how agriculture is becoming ever more affected by “Big Data” and the Internet of Things (IoT). Interestingly, I recently attended the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives' Annual Meeting, and one of the speakers discussed how the newer generation of farmers are seeking to make the most of their data and analytics. At breakfast, I discussed with California agriculture executives how their growing operations are changing due to IoT and drone technology, and they shared how they foresaw even more changes to come.

Next, we have the first in a two-part series by Will Sjoberg, one of our newest partners here at Porter Wright. He gives us a glimpse of what agriculture might look like without NAFTA, and why we should care. Finally, Devan Flahive discusses consolidation in grain markets and how antitrust enforcement may react to pending mergers.

I am sure you will enjoy each article. As always, if there are topics of interest, please contact me and we will do our best to address them in upcoming editions.

Jay Levine
Editor