Posts By: Stephanie Metzinger
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When Food Disaster Strikes, Being “Shielded” Matters
Food recalls, product defects, contamination events, oh my. These are just a few examples of the potential food contamination disasters that can detrimentally disrupt the supply chain and quickly become a major financial nightmare for all parties involved. Costs from a product recall or contamination can easily cripple even the most conscientious organizations, and understanding ...
FROM ISRAEL TO CALIFORNIA: FieldIn Brings Real-Time Spray Tech to Ag
Last year, FieldIn saved specialty crop growers millions of dollars in pest management by monitoring spray applications and providing alerts, in real time, on more than 6,000 application errors. More impressively, this agtech start-up company has only been up and running for three years and it already monitors almost five percent of the almond crops ...
In Crisis and Disaster, Social Media Used as Beacon for Help
Harvey, Irma, Maria and now Nate. Major hurricanes have ripped through the United States and Caribbean these past months, leaving thousands of people homeless and millions of lives disrupted. Though the full extent of the damage is still unknown, social media has shed light on how victims have been affected and has acted as a ...
Western Growers Annual Meeting: Reade Becomes Chairman; Cannabis Session Attracts Big Crowd
More than 550 attendees enjoyed networking socials, captivating educational breakout sessions and thought-provoking keynote speeches during Western Growers 92nd Annual Meeting in Las Vegas on October 29 – November 1, 2017. During the meeting, Craig Reade, CEO of Bonipak Produce, Santa Maria, CA, was officially inaugurated as the 2018 WG Chairman of the Board of ...
WG ANNUAL MEETING: AgTech Startups Offered $2.25 Million During Competition
When the clock hit 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 31, 2017, six startup companies fiercely pitched their technologies to a panel of investors and farmers in hopes of receiving generous investment offers and ample acreage to pilot their innovations. Two startups left with monumental offers while others left with partnerships that will be key to ...
3 Digital Trends for Ag to Watch in 2018
In 2017, we saw an astounding increase in the number of companies utilizing social media to tell their brand’s story. Industries such as retail, hospitality and tech captivated their audiences by mastering the art of storytelling on free platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram. Take for example Taco Bell, whose Instagram strategy ...
Strengthening Company Culture…One Mindset at a Time
The clock strikes midnight and disagreements continue to hold strong. The realization that they just missed a crucial deadline is slowly starting to sink in among the management team at agtech startup SWIIM System. Gradually, dissent about how the project should have been carried out dissipates, but one glaring fact remains: the company’s culture has ...
Innovation Summit Brings AgTech to Imperial Valley’s Backyard
Chatter surrounding the latest in technology and ag innovation filled the corridors of the Stockmen’s Club in Brawley, CA, on February 8. Drawing a crowd of nearly 200 people, Western Growers’ Innovation in the Imperial Valley Summit brought together farmers, researchers, technologists and agtech startups to delve into the labor and water issues facing agriculture ...
WaterBit: Tech to Simplify Irrigation and Make Smarter Water Decisions in Real Time
Can smart technology offer remote irrigation for agriculture that’s affordable? With the help of WaterBit, the answer is “absolutely.” When Manu Pillai, founder of WaterBit, was growing up in Nigeria, prolonged droughts were a typical occurrence. The massive shortage of water supply wiped out agriculture and devastated the country, severely hindering the ability of Nigeria’s ...
Redefining Rural America, One Woman at a Time
It’s the iconic depiction of agriculture—a farmer driving his tractor at sunrise, walking the fields to check on his budding crops and brushing the dirt off his freshly picked produce. Though this scene is thought to be the most common portrayal of farm life, something significant is missing: the women. Women make up a third ...
Pago: The Ag Labor Platform
Envision a future where digital systems completely replace hand-written time sheets and where you can receive real-time visibility of crew time, production and labor costs. With Pago, that future is here. Pago is the first product to serve both farm labor contractors and growers by offering a platform where the two parties can work collaboratively ...
Influencer Marketing is Powerful Weapon for Brand Growth
The spread of “fake news” has caused a significant rift between the public and media. Consumers used to look to their media allies for guidance and the truth, but this sweeping phenomenon has changed where trust is placed. As consumers’ demand for authenticity increases, the rapid rise of social media has created a network of ...
Workforce Development at the Forefront of Western Growers Initiatives
By Stephanie Metzinger Just as the sun rises over the seemingly infinite fields of lettuce, the chatter of excited university students starts to echo down the highway. In the distance, you can see the silhouette of a bus heading toward the field. The bus arrives at its first stop, unloading 30 students who are marching ...
Food Origins: Precision Ag Startup Puts Actionable Data into Hands of Growers
By Stephanie Metzinger We constantly hear that the collection of data connecting farm to fork is valuable, and Nathan Dorn believes that when it comes to data, more is better. Dorn jettisoned the regular career for the life of an entrepreneur and created a traceability software company called Food Origins with a colleague, Richard Sowers, ...
‘Screen Fatigue’ Leading to Podcast Boom
Screens are no longer optional. Whether you are at work or about to go to bed, you are most likely looking at one. As we are increasingly glued to our phones, screen fatigue is becoming more common. Society is looking for a break, and podcasts offer a refreshing alternative. Nielsen reports that 48 million Americans ...
In an Era of Binge Watching, Video is a Tool to Grow Business
By Stephanie Metzinger There used to be a time when you would have to set your alarm so you would not miss a minute of your favorite television show. When you would be left in shock as an episode ended with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger and you would have to wait a full seven days to ...
“Growth” A Resonating Theme throughout WG Annual Meeting
This past October, California’s Coachella Valley hummed with energy from the 500 leading agricultural professionals who flooded the ballrooms of the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa for Western Growers’ (WG) Annual Meeting. The 93rd Annual Meeting offered a host of workshops and events that embodied the theme of “growth.” Guests had the opportunity ...
Augean Robotics Hailed as “Comeback Kids” during AgSharks Competition
Augean Robotics is a true testament to the phrase “persistence pays off.” The robotics start-up company—which builds a fully autonomous, vision-based farming robot called “Burro”—returned to the AgSharks® Competition stage this past October for a second shot at winning $250,000 in seed funding. The early-stage company first competed in AgSharks in 2017 during the Western ...
AgTechx Events Sparking Technology-Led Disruption in Farming Regions
It is no secret that automation, big data and blockchain are disrupting traditional farming models. What may be unclear, however, is how this digitization of ag can be relevant to the specific crops you grow or how new technologies can be used to solve problems faced in the regions you farm. Last year, Western Growers ...
Agricultural R&D is on the Move as Restaurant Menus Get Healthier
McDonald’s iconic burgers are getting more “real.” The fast food giant recently announced that it plans to strip artificial ingredients from two-thirds of its menu. This announcement comes on the heels of a commitment earlier this year to market more balanced kids meals by offering new fruit and vegetables options in its Happy Meals and ...