We held a retirement party for Mayor Dennis Donohue at the Taylor Farms Courtyard next to the Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology on Monday, May 18. It was a very appropriate in the perfect setting because the CIT was part of the series of events that helped establish Salinas as the epicenter of specialty crop AgTech. There were three key elements that came together to make that happen.

1)          The Forbes AgTech event on Main Street in Salinas in the big tent. This event established west coast agriculture as a separate entity worthy of coverage all on its own. Prior to this, specialty crop agriculture was one of the areas you could see in Tulare at World Ag Expo, but there weren’t many events dedicated to general specialty crop AgTech, particularly with thought leadership content. Forbes changed that with the Salinas Forbes AgTech show. As usual, Dennis was right in the middle of the show, connecting Forbes and Paul Noglows with John Hartnett at SVG-THRIVE and Bruce Taylor from Taylor Farms to bring investors, growers, and startups together in one place for two days to cover everything specialty crop AgTech. It was noticeably different from other AgTech, and the press started to notice. The Forbes AgTech was a big part of the reason that specialty crop AgTech (and later AgFunderNews would extend it to AgriFoodTech to include both the behind and in front of the farm gate tech segments as one to make it appear larger than it was).

2)          The Western Growers CIT was a great visual for AgTech. It created the image of shared workspace and the notion of market access for startups all in one place. It was especially convenient for startups that were located outside of Salinas Valley but knew they needed a presence in the valley. For many, the CIT became that presence, particularly if they were international. They had a place to call home when they visited. As always, Dennis was right in the middle of this, working with Hank Giclas and Emily Lyons to help launch and support the CIT. Equally important, Dennis was the connector that made sure everyone knew that the CIT was there and was available to help with conference rooms for meetings, open air space for large group gatherings, and the courtyard for events that fit better outside or were larger than CIT could support. Because the CIT was the first shared AgTech work spaces, it created a visual image around being first and being a great place to hang out. Big and ongoing thanks to Bruce Taylor and the Taylor Farms team for making it so easy to work with them on the CIT for over a decade.

3)          The launch of the SVG-THRIVE fund with Western Growers and Bruce Taylor as key early Limited Partners (LPs) in the SVG-THRIVE fund. What Western Growers and Bruce told the market was that the ag industry was going to be supportive of AgTech by investing industry dollars into early funds. This is a key signal that horizontal LPs who are not from the ag industry are looking for when they are making decisions about where to put their money. Western Growers represented the 2,000+ specialty crop grower members and a check from Western Growers to SVG-THRIVE said those members supported a direct investment into the companies, not just the use of capital to buy the equipment and solutions after they have been developed. It’s a different level of commitment and confidence in the space. Similarly, when Bruce Taylor invests as an LP, it sends a powerful signal from one of the most influential growers and operators in the food industry. As founder and CEO of Taylor Farms — one of the world’s largest vertically integrated food producers — his involvement signals strong confidence in the opportunity. It should come as no surprise that these early checks were part of the momentum that took AgriFoodTech from $2B in 2011 to $54B in 2021. Industry-led signals led to LPs finding and entering the space with VC General Partners at several funds. And as you may have guessed by now, Dennis was right in the middle of this as well, introducing Bruce Taylor and John Hartnett (Founder and CEO at SVG-THRIVE). From there, the larger picture emerged with Western Growers stepping in alongside Bruce as LPs with Dennis playing the classic tech and capital connective role that all segments need to emerge and scale.

To me, those three events are the key pillars in the emergence of Salinas Valley as the specialty crop capital of AgTech. They provided a catalytic event that lasted for years with capital commitments from key strategic LPs that put cash into influential VCs back when it was really needed and then added a physical visual manifestation of what market access to the key players in the equation really looked like – the growers, because it’s always the growers who write the most important check. That is the check to the AgTech startup that built the thing that they convinced the grower could help improve their economics because they worked with their team to do the before and after math.

Dennis’s retirement party was such a perfect way to put a bow on Dennis’s efforts at Western Growers and as the Mayor because of the speakers who made a few remarks and what they represent. Naturally, I was happy to take the microphone as the MC to try and connect the dots for those that were able to join us. My time with Dennis has been through multiple phases – as a partner at SVG-THRIVE, as a Western Growers member through my 5th generation family farm that supported the Mayor in his first three terms, as a Western Growers colleague, and now as a Western Growers Executive who will continue working with Dennis as the Mayor (now for a 4th term!) We have been in complete alignment through all of our conversations – the growers are the key player in AgTech and they (and they alone) will be making the decisions about which AgTech solutions are ready for prime time and which are not. Having that as our true north star has made it easy to stay on task and on mission no matter what our respective roles have been. It helped SVG-THRIVE cohort startups understand the importance of talking to growers early and often. It helped all startups understand the need for things like the CIT and more recently Reservoir Farms. It helped the growers understand that if we (Western Growers and partners) could provide a vetting experience for startups that helped them earn the right to talk to growers, it made sense for growers to push them our way before they engaged because it was the most efficient way for 2,000+ growers to gain the benefit of the AgTech solutions without needing to talk to 2,000+ startups (just in the automation and chemical alternatives categories).

So, who provided some remarks for Dennis on Monday?

1)          Bruce Taylor – this one was easy. We are in Bruce’s courtyard just outside the CIT that Bruce and Dennis helped build in the Taylor Farms headquarters. No one has been with Dennis on the journey of specialty crop AgTech more than Bruce Taylor from all angles. It was fitting that Bruce shared a few thoughts on the early days of AgTech in Salinas, the relationship with Forbes and John Hartnett, and had a few thoughts for Dennis.

2)          Rob Yraceburu (President of Wonderful Orchards at Wonderful Co.) was next. Rob is the current Chair of the Western Growers Board of Directors and has been very involved in AgTech activities while managing an increasingly large set of operations and activities at Wonderful. As the Chair of the Western Growers Board, Rob stays close to all of the activities going on inside Western Growers, including the WG Innovation team. Rob gave an overview of the importance of innovation to the Western Growers Membership and Wonderful and acknowledged the progress made to date while stressing the need to continue moving forward for the good of the entire WG membership.

3)          Danny Bernstein (Founder and CEO of Reservoir Farms) was the third speaker. Danny has been focused on AgTech for a few years after a very successful career in Silicon Valley. For the last two and a half years, Danny has been working with Ben Palone and me from Western Growers and Sean Sundberg and Greg Christensen from John Deere to develop the strategy, programs, and partners that can turn Reservoir Farms into a world-class on-farm robotics incubator. These activities have led to two huge milestones recently. The first was the official grand opening of the Reservoir Farms location in Salinas off highway 68 with 12 (and counting) Reservoir Farms members using the shared R&D space, shared commercially grown acreage, and shared John Deere equipment to build their products faster and cheaper. The second was the three-year commitment Western Growers made that was a clear indication of long-term strategic alignment and an investment of $1.5M from Western Growers to Reservoir. John Deere has already committed $3M in equipment, support and capital and are evaluating future options for deepening the relationship. And again, how did this get started? Well Danny got introduced to – you guessed it – Mayor Dennis. After they talked, Dennis called me and said you should have lunch with this guy from Silicon Valley. He’s very interesting. As usual, Dennis was right, and Danny and I were off and running the following week.

There you have it. The thre speakers that help symbolize the three key pillars of AgTech innovation in Salinas and in specialty crops. Bruce Taylor as the Founder and CEO of Taylor Farms who was with Dennis from the beginning to help chart the way. Rob Yraceburu as the current WG Board of Directors Chair and a key AgTech player- at Wonderful clearly supporting the work that has been done and the work that remains to be done. And Danny Bernstein, who represents the best path forward in the WG-John Deere partnership to help startups get the last mile connectivity they need to growers with real world field demonstrations just feet away from where they can now complete R&D and iterate on it in real time. We’ve come a long way from the parking lot demos on asphalt with green chalk that some of the early robot startups used before they had Reservoir Farms or real acreage as an option.

Congratulations to Dennis and thank you for all that he did to help make Salinas the specialty crop AgTech capital. It came at a time when Salinas really needed a new economic lever, and the impact on Western Growers members and all specialty crop growers really has been massive. Two things are true at the same time. We have made so much progress in the last 10 years, and we have so much still to do.

Now Dennis turns out to be very bad at retirement. His main purpose in retiring was to be able to be both the current full-time Mayor of Salinas and to run (I would argue an even more full-time job!) for Mayor again. So Dennis and I and many of the folks that were at the retirement party will continue to work together because no industry is more crucial to the success of Salinas than the combination play of agriculture and AgTech. Good luck with the rest of your 4th term, Mayor Dennis, and good luck on securing your 5th term this year! I look forward to continuing to work together.