I was up in Seattle and Yakima a couple of weeks back and it was a great week for both the Pacific Northwest (PNW) and AgTech. Here are the highlights:

1. Erik Benson – take a bow for the second annual AgTech CEO Summit.

Held on Monday in the Seattle area. In just two years, Erik has built one of the coolest events in AgTech. This is what you would build if you could build something from scratch and that’s exactly what Erik did. He took his network of startup CEOs, investors, growers and industry relationships and built a hand-built, curated VIP list and then built a really, really (really) great set of content from the folks that are doing the work to make the real results happen. It was a small but awesome room of folks from each of those 4 groups. If you weren’t there, you should work hard to get a ticket for the third annual event (which will be on Monday, August 30, 2027 in Chicago the day before Farm Progress starts).

Why was it so awesome? Erik brings the street cred from both his farming background and his passion for ag and AgTech plus additional street cred from actually looking at and investing in AgTech startups at Voyager Capital. If you’re not following him on LinkedIn, you should. His posts are among the most thought-provoking in AgTech. He’s not afraid to take positions on tough topics and even if we don’t agree his positions are always well thought out. If anything, he can be accused of having a “selling your book” bias towards the startups he’s actually decided to invest in. I give every investor a pass on this one – they just made the tough call to invest their LPs (and often their own) capital into a startup that likely has a 95% chance of ending badly. You can be excused for being a cheerleader. The street cred on the grower and investor side, the well thought out posts, and a great run event that’s two years old – that’s a trifecta few folks have in the space and Erik’s stuff is must read. And I can say that if he ever does a Newsletter or a podcast, that will be on the “must read / listen” list for me as well. Really fantastic job in Seattle Erik – already have year 3 on the calendar as it gives me a good reason to stick around for Farm Progress when it’s done! The only complaint about the event – it ended way too fast and I didn’t get a chance to talk to a lot of folks for more than 2-3 minutes (which is the complaint you want for your events!)

2. FIRA USA 2026

Year 5 of FIRA USA and the GOFAR team took things on the road. This year – after 4 years in Fresno, Salinas, and Yolo County (2x), the event was up in Yakima Valley at the County Fairgrounds. Once again automation was the big focus and my friends in the Pacific Northwest and at GOFAR did themselves very proud. The biggest different beyond the location was the obvious focus on tree fruit given the new location. Kudos to Ines Hanrahan, the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, and Steve Mantle (Founder and CEO, Innov8.ag) for making sure the right folks were at Yakima Fairgrounds and the right content was on multiple stages throughout the 3 days. From my perspective, I always watch when people arrive and how long they stay. And in Yakima those metrics had some great results. There were some new wrinkles to the format – a “self driving” parade of robots for the robot led by Ben Palone and Lucie Cahierre that showed off how far autonomous vehicles have come and an awards ceremony for growers who are providing the most support and help for AgTech startups with some very worthy award winners. It’s important to show off the new tech layers making progress and even more important to appreciate the growers who help make the magic happen with the startups.

3. FIRA USA 2027 Announcement

FIRA USA 2027 has been announced and will be in Florida. Exact details still being worked out – it looks like it will be near the University of Florida campus near Tampa. This puts it a couple of hours from one of the biggest AI for AgTech efforts – spurred on by a $100M gift from the Nvidia co-founder not named Jensen Huang! What can we expect in Florida? Well, clearly a crop shift back towards some of the specialty crops grown in Florida. The big question is can Mike Joyner and the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association recruit growers in region as effectively as Ines (I say yes!) and can Scott Angle and the U of F team recruit startups and innovators as effectively as Steve and his posse (I say yes again! But both will need some real work!) You can expect 3 more days of automation focused content with some content helping growers understand the tech that is here now and ready to work for them as well as the tech that’s coming soon but not quite ready for prime time. And of course, as always, some great demos!

4.Reservoir Announcement

At FIRA USA, Reservoir announced that their first Pacific Northwest location will open up in Prosser. The details are still being worked out. It’s another impressive geographic expansion for Danny Bernstein and team. This expands the locations from Salinas and Sonoma in California (Merced coming) and Yuma to now include Washington state. As with other locations, each location will have it’s own crop focus and Prosser will be no different. Look for a big focus on tree crops – particularly apples. As with the other locations, startups will benefit from shared R&D space, shared commercially grown acreage, and shared equipment (including John Deere tractors). The ongoing goal is to help startups get to first product cheaper and faster.

It was a great week in the Pacific Northwest! Well done Erik Benson and Voyager; Ines, Steve, and GOFAR in Yakima; and the Reservoir team for another great pending launch – my trips to Yakima are always fun but this one had some real action to it and it was great to see!