Voices of the Valley

What do pest-controlling GMO insects have in common with orchard biomass recycling? They are both part of the almond industry’s effort to increase crop yield, improve water efficiency, control almond-killing pests and mitigate climate change. Josette Lewis, the Chief Scientific Officer at Almond Board of California, reveals the latest research and near-term innovations that are solving the almond’...

Imagine a world where every piece of fruit and vegetable you eat tastes as ripe as the day that it was picked or harvested. Hazel Technologies is making that world a reality. Understanding that of all food produced globally goes to waste, Hazel Technologies CEO Aidan Mouat has made it his mission to use chemistry to improve efficiency in the supply chain and solve the food waste problem…and he has...

Will C-3PO and R2-D2 be working on the farm anytime soon? According to robotic tractor startup Bear Flag Robotics, the possibility may happen sooner rather than later. In this episode of Voices of the Valley, Bear Flag Robotics’ CEO and Co-Founder Igino Cafiero walks us through the journey of how his agtech startup successfully “exited” and now works hand-in-hand with John Deere to accelerate auto...

Detroit Hives has one goal: transforming vacant lots in Detroit into urban bee farms. In this episode of Voices of the Valley, Detroit Hives’ founders Timothy Paule and Nicole Lindsey speak about the steps it took to build one of the very first urban bee farms. During the interview, they delve into how their ever-expanding bee farm is bringing diversity and cognizance to bee awareness, rebuilding...

For decades, Peter Wren-Hilton has supported initiatives to address the impact of burgeoning threats on farmers and growers across the globe. In this episode of Voices of the Valley, Peter outlines major themes surrounding ag technology – from New Zealand to Singapore to North America. Peter, who is founder & CEO of Wharf42 and head of global alliance Agritech New Zealand, shares his vision on how...

Food safety expert Tim York expands on the importance of data sharing for advancing food safety. York, who currently serves as the CEO of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, shares how the fresh produce industry has made several efforts to anonymize and aggregate food safety data, but in the end, they have all fallen short because of lack of trust. In this episode, he urges the need f...

Listen to episode 2 of 2 of the “On the Farm” episode with Neill Callis of Turlock Fruit Company and Walt Duflock of Western Growers. In this episode, Neill and Walt dive deeper into the topics of technical cross pollination and a distributed collaboration model. They speak about the impact of general technology crossing into agriculture and share updates on how this trend is bringing new players...

Hear episode 1 of 2 of the “On the Farm” episode with Neill Callis of Turlock Fruit Company and Walt Duflock of Western Growers. In this episode, Neill and Walt speak about what tech development, adoption and success look like. What does it take to get a technology across the finish line? Neill, a NASA systems engineer turned farmer, and Walt, a 25-years veteran in the agriculture and technology s...

Voices of the Valley speaks with Amy Tomlinson, project development director at Concentric Power. Tomlinson speaks about her experience as the first female Blue Angel of the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, and provides insight on how her career in the Navy has played a role in her agtech journey. She also gives guidance into hiring the next generation of agtech workers as well as shares u...

Voices of the Valley is back with a brand new episode on how agricultural technology has evolved in 2020 and 2021. Candace Wilson, who led operations at Seminis/Monsanto/Bayer for the past 15 years and now serves as Vice President of Business Development at GreenVenus, touches on the incremental gains in both traditional and new breeding, and speaks about the difference between CRISPR gene editing...

For nearly 3 decades, Hank Giclas (former Western Growers’ Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning, Science & Technology) served as one of the leading experts on science & technology in agriculture. In this episode of Voices in the Valleys, Hank shares his thoughts on ag and agtech industry priorities. He also discusses the type of technology today’s farmers are interested in and how the WG Cent...

Rodrigo Nieto Gómez shares his thoughts on how there needs to be a global collective effort by humanity to innovate our way out of Coronavirus. How? Doing things in the right order: 1) Aggressive Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions; 2) Regular Testing; 3) Public Health Breakthroughs; and 4) Vaccine Deployment Gómez, who is a research professor at the Naval Postgraduate School (one of the Navy’s flags...

During this episode, Dr. Carol Snyder of Trimble Inc. joins WGCIT Director Dennis Donohue to peak on Trimble's expansion in the agricultural space. She starts with an overview of her background in water management. She then does a deeper dive into autosteering and precision ag., an area that Trimble is most known for. Dr. Snyder covers an array of other topics pertinent to the farming community an...

This episode of Voices of the Valley, WGCIT Director Dennis Donohue has gone from interviewer to interviewee to speak about what to expect at the upcoming seventh annual Salinas Valley Ag Tech Summit. This year the Western Growers CIT will be partnering with the event to discuss the latest trends in Ag Technology. While this is the seventh annual summit, Dennis shares some key differences between...

Concentric Power’s CEO and founder Brian Curtis joins WGCIT Director Dennis Donohue on this episode of Voices of the Valley. With over 20 years of experience in energy, Curtis reports on the changes of the marketplace and stresses the importance of people being aware of the dramatic changes in the energy infrastructure. Curtis also provides insights into the Salinas Valley Energy Forum which will...

Richard Strafehl of Healthy Cow Corporation joins WGCIT Director Dennis Donohue during this episode of Voice of the Valley. Healthy Cow is an ag-biotechnology company focused on helping dairy farmers improve the health and welfare of their dairy cows by developing a system of products that address the critical stressors during the critical 100-day transition period right around calving. CEO Richar...

Jon King and Robert Forsythe are co-founders of Milk Moovement, a supply chain software for the raw milk industry. This monitoring system handles everything from milk production to transportation, with applications for producers, processors, labs and more. During this episode of Voices of the Valley, King and Forsythe reveal the functions of their program and how it compares to similar traditional...

During the second part of this Voices of the Valley episode with Martha Montoya of AgTools, the founder and CEO discusses customers of her tools across the industry, leveraging worldwide data to stay competitive in markets and insights she's acquired while working in the industry. She also addresses how technology has impacted businesses and how AgTools can reduce margins of loss by being able to...

Martha Montoya, founder and CEO of AGTools, shares how her company has come up with a tool designed to assist farmers, suppliers, and buyers, with gathering and simplifying data to improve a consumer’s decision-making. During this episode of Voices of the Valley, Montoya goes beyond the field, sharing some of the capabilities of the tool and how leveraging worldwide data helps companies stay compe...

CO2 GRO Inc. is dedicated to increasing the growth of all indoor and outdoor value plants using their advanced CO2 Delivery Solutions. During this episode of Voices of the Valley, Aaron Archibald, CO2 Gro Inc. Vice President of Sales and Strategic Alliances, speaks about the work CO2 GRO is doing to benefit farmers. He also touches on the value of CO2 and how it makes plants grow bigger and faster...

During part 2 of this special Voices of the Valley episode with Abby Taylor-Silva of Grower-Shipper Association, the vice president takes us through a host of water topics, including the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and how it differs in the Salinas Valley, and some of the critical water issues producers in Monterey County are experiencing. She also touches on traceability in ag and it’s...

Abby Taylor-Silva speaks on how her role as vice president of policy and communications at Grower-Shipper Association of Central California helps advance agricultural technology – especially as it relates to food safety and water regulations. During this episode of Voices of the Valley, Taylor-Silva shares what new technologies she has seen that support food safety traceability. She also delves in...

During part 2 of this special Voices of the Valley episode with Brain Dawson of Harvestport, the agtech entrepreneur takes us through the journey of raising a series A round of financing. He shares what next steps are crucial for success after raising substantial funding from a venture fund and reviews the thought process behind slowly transforming your business model to meet changing needs and tr...

Brian Dawson, founder & CEO at HarvestPort, speaks on the importance of bridging the gap between technology and agriculture. He shares how he originally launched HarvestPort as a platform that allows agribusinesses to share their seasonally-used equipment and assets, so farmers can monetize idle equipment during their off-season. Known as the “Airbnb” of agriculture, HarvestPort allows participant...

Roi Adar, general manager of RootsTalk, provides an inside look into what it’s like being an agtech entrepreneur. He reveals how he identified which crops to target while forming his agtech start-up company, RootsTalk, and how he made it a priority to build a team who has experience in all facets of agriculture. He provides insight into the future of agtech and how data is not the answer – agtech...