Cedar Rapids Gazette: Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sees parallels between Silicon Valley and the heartland that lend themselves to a greater use of technology and artificial intelligence to reduce the environmental impact of food production, improve farmers’ bottom lines and feed a growing population. “The people who were entrepreneurial in Silicon Valley were willing to take a risk of being wrong, or taking a risk of thinking they were going to develop something and being willing to change direction,” Vilsack said Wednesday at a discussion of the role that artificial intelligence and technology can play in the food system. “Farmers are the same way. They take enormous risk.”