Augean Robotics, the 2018 winner of Western Growers AgSharks Competition, has announced its success with raising a $1.5 million seed funding round. The $250,000 equity investment from S2G Ventures as a result of winning the competition played a significant role in helping propel the robotics startup to reach the $1.5 million seed round. Augean Robotics, ...
Technology isn’t only about drones and robots. The fresh produce industry is experiencing a high-tech revolution in the area of food safety, as well. While food safety-related news continues to grab headlines, farmers have made significant strides in food safety process improvements over the years. Now, new cutting-edge tools are emerging to bolster those efforts. ...
Western Growers held an automation work session at its headquarters in Irvine, CA, yesterday to create a roadmap for accelerating the pace of automation in agriculture. During the event, nearly 30 growers, agtech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and leaders from technology companies collaborated on strategies and tactics to make the integration of automation more accessible to ...
Technology in agriculture is advancing faster than one could possibly imagine. Register today for the Forbes AgTech Summit, held in Salinas on June 26-27, to stay on top of cutting-edge agricultural technologies and anticipate revolutionary changes in the food system. As part of the strategic partnership Western Growers has developed with Forbes, all WG members ...
On April 30th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced their Proposed Interim Registration Review Decision for glyphosate, an integral step in the registration review process. EPA has identified no risk to public health when glyphosate is used in compliance with its current label, but ecological risk were identified following the 2017 ecological assessment. The ...
In an effort to promote dialogue between different sectors of California agriculture regarding ways to prevent future foodborne illness outbreaks, the California Department of Food and Agriculture in collaboration with the University of California and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are bringing both the livestock and produce communities together in a series of workshops ...
In October 2018, the Center for Food Safety and the Center for Environmental Health sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for failing to meet statutory deadlines found in 2011’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and the Administrative Procedures Act. The Center for Food Safety and the Center for Environmental Health said that under ...
On June 5, Fresh Express released an Interim Report by its Blue-Ribbon Panel on the Prevention of Foodborne Cyclospora Outbreaks. Multiple Cyclospora outbreaks were reported in the United States in the spring and summer of 2018, linking the outbreaks to fresh produce items and their suppliers. To address these outbreaks, Fresh Express formed a Blue-Ribbon ...
IEG Policy/Food Chemical News recently reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found no strains of E. coli or Salmonella in a recent commercial cooler sampling assignment that targeted romaine lettuce in the Yuma, Arizona and Imperial Valley region in California. The findings were revealed in a letter that FDA Deputy Commissioner for ...
Western Growers’ leadership in expediting the development of agricultural technologies was widely recognized last week during the fifth annual Forbes AgTech Summit. In addition to sponsoring the summit, WG hosted a star-studded panel that discussed how technologies are being used to advance food safety, hosted the agtech startup Innovation Showcase and provided a keynote address ...
Twenty agtech companies from New Zealand recently visited the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology, toured several WG members and participated in various ongoing WG automation initiatives to learn how they can further accelerate mechanization globally. “Automation is a global issue, and our Center is leading the charge in building international relationships to solve ...
Join us for our AgTechx – King City event, as we showcase some of the most innovative minds in agriculture and technology. This AgTechx will take place at the King City Fairgrounds and will feature a keynote speech from Craig Wilson, Vice President of Quality Control & Food Safety at Costco Wholesale. The event will explore ...
AgTechx King City will feature a special keynote speech from Craig Wilson, Vice President of Quality Control & Food Safety at Costco Wholesale. Costco’s food safety audit systems, STEC testing of fresh foods, x-ray product inspection, and unique positions on the Global Food Safety Initiative and the global regulatory environment is well known industry wide. ...
Since opening its doors in December 2015, the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology (WGCIT) has taken significant steps to accelerate the development of agricultural technologies. The Center currently houses 58 agtech start-up companies, which are supported by 40 generous sponsors. The Center welcomed more than 10 new startups in 2019 including the following: ...
In response to the repeated U.S. Salmonella outbreaks traced to papayas imported from Mexico, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) distributed a letter yesterday noting that “the recurring nature of these outbreaks is a clear indication that more must be done within all sectors of the papaya industry to protect its customers and to ...
Western Growers recently submitted a letter to California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross urging the 2020 Specialty Crop Block Grant program to administer funds to the initiatives most important to fruit, vegetable and nut growers. “Over a decade ago, we helped to create and over time helped to increase funding for the ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a new initiative to better understand the ecology of human pathogens in the environment in the Yuma agricultural region. The initiative – which will focus on how pathogens survive, move and possibly contaminate produce prior to harvest – will be implemented with support from the Arizona ...
Dow AgroSciences has reached an agreement with the State of California to cease the registration and sale of chlorpyrifos. Terms for the agreement are as follows: Registrations allowed to lapse at the end of the year Dow AgroSciences will cease sales on November 8, 2019 Dealers/distributors will cease sales on February 6, 2020 Users can ...
After carefully reviewing the flood of applications from start-up companies that are all developing technology to solve agriculture’s most critical issues, Western Growers and S2G Ventures have chosen five finalists to compete in the 2019 AgSharks® Competition on November 12. The selected startups, who will face off and compete for $250,000 in investment capital and ...
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is putting a call out for volunteers to serve as industry relevance reviewers for pre-applications to the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI). “The SCRI awards grants to support research that addresses the critical needs of the specialty crop industry, and it is crucial to have knowledgeable volunteers ...