The diverse group agreed there was compelling need for an open source forum to connect California’s two globally known Valleys – Central and Silicon.
The escalating drought adds urgency, as California’s food-producers – the #1 source of many commodities – must capture every last drop of water.
But 2014 began with several signal events in agricultural technology:
- Big data came to the farm in a big way – Monsanto, through its new Climate Corp. subsidiary, and John Deere announced rival sensor monitoring and analytics services.
- The Open Ag Data Alliance was launched earlier this month, at least partially in response to farmer concerns about who owns the data. (See Wall Street Journal article posted 2/25 by Jacob Bunge.)
- The California Air Resources Board, in March 14 revision to its internationally watched AB 32 greenhouse gas reduction plan, called for the ag sector to "develop a plan of action to identify, test, fast-track and transfer new technologies" to combat climate change.
AgTech’s first meeting was held March 19, California Ag Day, and Tse said the large-scale technology innovation in California’s fields is well underway.
Driverless tractors have preceded Google’s cars by many months, he said, operate with such precision that they can cultivate 7% more furrows. Which means a farmer is 7% more productive using the high tech continuum of satellites, GPS, sensor-equipped tractors and other accessories.
Uniting to promote a rural California broadband backbone is the first priority, Tse told the group. "This is like the 1930s and electricity," he said, "and the utilities just did not see the need or critical mass."
It’s not the number of people, Sypnieski added, it’s the acres and connections.
"Every tree is a customer," Nechodom noted, alluding to the rapidly growing number of wireless sensors in the soil, plant stems, leaves and other sites.
Water conservation is a critical need. Though micro-irrigation is now common on the majority of California’s 9 million irrigated acres, the AgTech Roundtable can facilitate the rapid migration of the second and far more sophisticated generation of water management sensors in the ground, stems and leaves.
We need system integrators to connect all the real-time inputs to smart phones.
Smart phone connections would solve a related rural problem, public safety, Tse said. "With apps and GPS, a farmer’s phone would ring at night and tell him or her ‘Your $200,000 tractor is moving’."
And tech transfer is essential to addressing the nationwide issue of rural economic development. Broadband and ag tech will create jobs, Tse said.
Lawmakers will be interested in understanding how to help with the tech transfer, Francovich said, "but first we need to define the problem."
Linder said there is substantial venture capital interest in ag tech. This was cited in a Western Farm Press story on the same topic, which quoted Arama Kukutai of Finistere Ventures in San Diego, "Agriculture has become a hot area for investors interested in both a hedge and a sector with fundamental attractiveness given the global, long-term demand for increases in food, energy and industrial outputs."
The AgTech Roundtable is contacting tech developers and academic researchers with its next steps and to help define the various issues and answers.
Robert J. Gore is senior advisor at The Gualco Group Inc and board member of the California Roundtable on Agriculture & the Environment.
