California farmers are shouldering what many believe to be a fatal regulatory burden of new and stringent rules on water, inputs (fertilizer and pesticides), energy and labor.
Ag tech emerged as a critical path out of the maze in 2017, according to high-level participants this past week at the Essential Elements 5ive Conference at Harris Ranch in Coalinga, produced by Farm of the Future at West Hills Community College District and my firm, the Gualco Group Inc.
The Essential Elements series is “a place to build relationships between farmers and regulators and build solutions,” in the words of William Bourdeau, the executive vice president of Harris Farms.
And Coalinga, in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, is ag tech ground zero, located in the midst of eight of the nation’s top 10 farming counties. You belong in or near there.
That’s the premise of Lance Donny, CEO of OnFarm Services of Fresno. Donny’s early innovator firm manages aggregated data for selected large growers.
“It’s a simple idea that is hard to execute,” he told the crowd of about 150 that filled John Harris’ (a gracious, generous host) ballroom. “Data science (like ag) is messy and fragmented.” Currently his analytical engine pulses 50 systems linked to agronomic decisions by an individual farmer.
Ag tech is regulatory driven, Donny said.
Water leads the deluge of new rules, said keynoter Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. California growers are using 8 percent less water than 20 years ago to generate a 96 percent increase in economic value and 57 percent increase in yield, she said.
New ag tech must be powerful, indeed, especially since land in the Valley is being fallowed to reduce groundwater pumping in compliance with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, Ross noted.
“Every input — fertilizer, pesticides — must be precisely managed,” Ross continued, to prevent runoff and groundwater contamination especially drinking water in disadvantaged rural communities.
Increase your velocity of innovation, Ross told ag tech developers. “Go faster. Farmers need whole systems.”
Greg Estep, U.S. president of the international ingredient giant Olam, concurred with resources management tech, and added the ongoing need for niche tech to train sophisticated, specialized food-processing workers, in order to facilitate regulatory compliance and reporting, and to manage energy costs.
Referring to higher costs and scarce field labor, Estep cited the need for equally specialized ag robotics.
Brian Leahy, director of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and a former organic farmer, advocated for application hardware and software that “keeps powerful chemicals on target, in the right amounts.” It’s essential, he said, because “every time we turn around, we have new pests.”
Mission Ranches manager Brent McKinney had a message for you: “Ag tech is survival. We live it every day. Listen. Look. Find us new ideas.”
This first of two (no, probably three) blogs, as you now know, lays out the challenges. Next come insights and ideas for ag tech developers … as well as disruptive, piercing thoughts from the Farm of the Future students and recent grads.
Stay tuned. I answer emails and make connections, if you’re so inclined. Prepare for enterprise ideas, complete with urgency, you will get nowhere else.
