Here are two things you need to do.
No. 1: Stay current, no … strive to stay ahead of the ag tech curve.
Today we’ll begin with “sustainable intensification” — a leading concept you must fully comprehend and be an early adopter of. Sustainability is a buzzword and cliché-in-waiting. Everything is sustainable.
Consider, though, the well-known fact (which you better know if you’re serious about ag tech) that ag tech developers must help farmers feed twice as many people on the same amount of land by 2040, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
Thus, sustainable intensification means enabling yields to double while doing no environmental harm.
Doubling yields. Less water. Less fertilizer. More sun, more heat. A migrating climate. More invasive pests. Water is a well-known and home-grown crisis in the San Joaquin Valley.
Let’s add fertilizer as a huge ag tech challenge. The State Water Resources Control Board is now in the process of promulgating a General Order that will drastically curtail nitrogen applications. Let’s skip the details, but you can see the challenge.
It’s a double-edged challenge, actually, because not only do you have to figure out how to help increase yields with less fertilizer, but you could also determine how to assist the grower with regulatory compliance.
Ag tech is the answer.
If you don’t believe me, maybe reading the latest from Yale will help:
No. 2: Participate in — do not just attend — conferences, seminars and conversations that put your mind ahead of the ag tech curve. Take, for instance, the upcoming Water Tech Conference at Fresno State University.
“Water” and “innovation” are inextricably linked now in ag tech. El Niño helped us, but did not end the drought. Fresno State is home of the California Center for Irrigation Technology and situated in the water-challenged, food-growing capital of the planet.
Climate change is visible in the San Joaquin Valley. Grape-growers are leaving as vineyards are being yanked out at a record pace. In the home of “the best dirt in the world” growers are looking for the mix of ag tech, applied materials and crops.
The price is right for the Water Tech Conference too if you register this month. Did I forget to mention the date? I did! Find out for yourself:
http://icwt.net/?page_id=84
