The Western Growers Innovation team remains focused on our three big initiatives: automation (to help address labor cost and availability challenges), biological solutions (to help address input regulatory and efficacy challenges) and increased availability of AgTech-enabled workers (to help operate all the new automation and biological solutions). As we continue working with education, industry…
One topic that has come up a lot recently─including at the recent FIRA USA event─is how the amount of data being collected on grower operations is tremendous and only growing larger. From on-farm equipment including tractors and implements; to tools like weeding, thinning and planting; to scouting tools; to in-field sensors; to aerial collection via drones, planes, and satellites, growers…
There is a lot of conversation currently around food is health. It is absolutely true that consumers who have a healthy diet with more specialty crops will improve their overall health. To push this initiative, there is a lot of activity around program funding that incentivizes the purchase and consumption of healthy foods. One recent example of a quality program was the USDA Farmers to…
The slide below is from one of the decks I reviewed this week. I see this in various forms way too often, and this is a good example. In this case, the startup has done a five-year set of projections starting with actual numbers from 2022 and half of 2023 (remainder projected) and then forecast out 2024, 2025 and 2026. See if you can spot the red flag. It's the S&M line (Sales and…
Last year’s FIRA USA event in Fresno was a great first effort. Next month, we are going to have three different demo areas in the Salinas Sports Complex, and the automation solutions will be available for demos all three days of the show. Take a look at the aerial layout that includes an orchard demonstration area along with a drone pavilion (yellow pentagon in the top left), a vineyard demo…
On a recent episode of Business of Agriculture podcast, Damian Mason, Adam Bergman and I discussed Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). I remain bearish on CEA and Adam remains bullish. As always, a bit of disagreement makes for great podcast fodder. We covered a lot of ground. Here are the highlights: 1) CEA was one of the hyped sectors of AgTech (along with alternative proteins),…
There is a lot of discussion about biological solutions in agtech these days at trade shows and in ag media, and with good reason. The use of chemical inputs to help manage pests and disease is under massive regulatory pressure from both Sacramento and D.C.—in many cases following the playbook western Europe is already using. Restrictions that could result in reduced use or outright bans are…
Back to back weeks in Toulouse, France and Tulare, USA have convinced me that the format we are adopting for FIRA USA in Salinas in September 2023 is the best event format for the most important activity at a specialty crops automation event—starting and advancing conversations between growers and Agtech companies. It may sound obvious, but a lot of events focus on other things for various…
Labor remains a top challenge for specialty crops, and it’s getting harder to find. U.S. farmworkers decreased by 70 percent in 70 years, regulatory costs increased 795 percent in 12 years, and U.S. H-2A labor increased from 48,000 in 2005 to 300,000 in 2021—which add transportation and housing costs. Innovation remains the best solution to turn manual tasks like planting, weeding, thinning,…
AgTech startups – we encourage you to use the hashtag #agtechfielddemos when you post your field demos online. It allows growers to easily identify all the AgTech field demos in their area on any given week. You can use it globally since users who search can be located anywhere. Please share this post and the hashtag with folks in ag and AgTech so we can get the usage to continue to…
The Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology is very excited to announce that version 1.0 of the Image Library is available for use by AgTech researchers and startups. Here is a short list of frequently asked questions (FAQs): 1) What is the image library? It is a tool to help reduce the time it takes you to do the R&D and initial prototyping work by providing a set of…
Ever feel like you're struggling to keep with all the latest great ag and AgTech content available? Me too, and I've been trying to do something about it. After years of trial and error, I think I've learned a few things and what I've done might be useful to others who would like to be able to keep with more of what's going on in AgTech land, because things are changing at a rapid pace and…
AgTech Startups, we need an open data exchange format to increase the value of complementary data sets to the end customer─the grower. I had a great conversation today about the increased value that can be created in farming operations when data from multiple activities are combined to increase the value of each (in short - 1 + 1 = 3 ... sometimes). As an example, let's say that vendor A…
There are now three crops with image libraries available in that WG Image Library that AgTech startups can use for initial R&D work and prototyping for automation robots. If you're working with romaine, iceberg, or cabbage, there are high-resolution images tagged and annotated available on Github for you to download and begin using. Also of note, broccoli is in the final stages and will be…
The AgTech Startup Mentor List now has 29 people (and counting!) ready, willing, and able to help you scale your startup efforts in key areas like product, strategy, fundraising and go-to market. AgTech Startup Mentor List 1) If you are looking for someone in a specific area, you can review the listings, reach out to the mentors that could be a fit and make contact to get a conversation…
Here are a few of my key bullet points from the Todd-versation podcast: 1) AgriFoodTech saw a huge run up to $50B in annual venture investment over the past decade because there was an opportunity to solve real and ongoing challenges for farmers around labor, water, food safety and inputs. 2) Things cooled off in 2022 to $30B because the two largest segments─CEA and alt-protein (42% of…
Field trials were a big topic at the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit. I recognize the importance of field trials for all segments, but biological solutions may be the most important. Think about automation. You capture the baseline data by analyzing how you're doing the activity now (i.e. frequently labor cost for common tasks like weeding, thinning, harvesting, and spraying), then execute the…
The robots are coming (because labor is still hard to find)! Jennifer Marston put a good article together for AgFunderNews discussing the increased investment in automation by farmers and some of the main reasons. Two of the highlights: (1) 70 percent of survey respondents said they invested in automation in 2022; and (2) the average annual spend by farmers on automation increased from…
I wanted to pass along a recent story on agtech automation partnerships. It is a reminder that agtech channel partners are a great opportunity to help you sell your product, particularly in a new market. But they are also partners that need to be actively managed. Once the deal is signed, it just means the negotiation is done. It does not mean the partnership is destined for success. This…
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) remains a very controversial and high-profile space. As one of the largest investment categories in AgriFoodTech, vertical farming and greenhouse startups have received over $7 billion in venture investment the past five years. Companies like Plenty, Bowery and AeroFarms have received large investments in part because of the media’s over-hype…