Posts By: Walt Duflock
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Western Growers Global Harvest Automation Initiative Image Library 1.0 Is Live!
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…
Consume Agtech News Like A Pro
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…
Increase the Value of Data: A Call to AgTech Startups
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…
A Free Image Library, Now Expanded, for AgTech Startups
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…
Are You an AgTech Startup Looking for a Mentor?
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…
Hear about the Past, Present and Future of AgTech Investing
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…
AgTech Startups – Be More Specific About What Type of Field Trial You Want
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…
AgFunderNews Covers WG’s Specialty Crop Automation Report
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…
Walt Duflock: Agtech Startups — The Work with Channel Partners is Never Done
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…
WG VP of Innovation Walt Duflock Takes a Deep Dive into Vertical Farming
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…
Looking Ahead at Q1 2023 in Agtech
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 ...
Walt Duflock: Stop it, Civil Eats. Agtech robots are not taking any jobs and farm workers are already a big part of Agtech.
Civil Eats put out an interesting Op-Ed on January 23 entitled “Want an Agtech Revolution? Center Farm Workers’ Expertise. It’s primary narratives are: (1) Agtech robots are coming to take all the farmworker jobs; (2) Agtech startups are targeting farmworkers for replacement and will eliminate tens of thousands of jobs across rural America; and (3) ...
Walt Duflock: FIRA USA — If World Ag Expo and World Agri-Tech had a Baby
(Before I start, I have to once again invite everyone to see one of the coolest event promo videos ever — thank you to my WG colleague Cory Lunde for his great editing work in putting this video together! If you are looking for something to get you fired up about AgTech automation — and ...
WG’s Robotics Experts Advance Tech Stack 1.0 of Global Harvest Automation Initiative
The subject matter experts (SMEs) of the Western Growers Global Harvest Automation Initiative (GHAI) gathered for a two-day conference on Tuesday and Wednesday this week to build Tech Stack 1.0. The conference, which was held in Mountain View, Calif., was comprised of two tracks: tech track and platform/grower-producer track. The tech track focused on key ...
Registration to Organic Grower Summit Now Open
On December 1-2, the “Organic Grower Summit 2021” will bring together organic growers, producers and processors for a wide array of education and networking opportunities. The in-person event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Resort in Monterey, California, and registration is now open at https://www.organicgrowersummit.com/registration/. Produced in partnership with Western Growers…
WG Sponsored-Organic Grower Summit Announces Featured Workshops
Join Western Growers for the Organic Grower Summit 2021 on December 1-2 for a series of educational sessions and workshops aimed at improving the bottom line for organic farmers. OGS 2021 recently announced details on three featured workshops: “Organic Grower Perspectives on the Challenges of Scaling” – this session will explore how organic growing operations ...
Take Survey to Shape Future of Harvest Automation
Growers are facing a multitude of threats, including chronic labor shortages and mounting regulatory and marketplace demands. Western Growers believes that harvest automation will be essential to helping growers adapt to these unprecedented challenges. The Global Harvest Automation Initiative aims to automate 50 percent of the fresh produce harvest within 10 years through a series ...
Western Growers to Roll Out Two Agtech Initiatives at World Ag Expo in Tulare
Western Growers will have a booth in the Corteva building at the World Ag Expo on February 8-10, 2022, and will be sharing some big news: Launch of Harvest Automation Report: WG will officially reveal the Harvest Automation report – the industry’s first in-depth look at how harvest automation is performing in fields, with detailed ...
Western Growers Rolls Out HarvestWiki to Support Startups in Tailoring Ag Technologies
Western Growers (WG) has launched HarvestWiki to help specialty crop growers share information about growing operations, allowing agtech startups to have as much crop-specific information as possible when they design and develop agtech solutions for growers. HarvestWiki—which is focused on fruits, vegetables and nuts—can be found at https://harvest.wginnovation.com/. Like Wikipedia,…
Take the Next Gen Ag Grant Survey to Help Develop Community College Agtech Curriculum
In 2021, Western Growers received nearly $750,000 in grant funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Over the next three and a half years, these funds will be used to educate the next generation of agriculture employee. WG will be working with California Community College ag faculty throughout the state to develop educational ...