by Peter Wren-Hilton | May 3, 2024 | 2024 Salinas Biological Summit
Where has the year gone? Dennis from Western Growers and Jacqui & I are now saying quietly to ourselves: ‘The 2024 Salinas Biological Summit takes place next month’. Gulp! We are, in short, at the business end of the organisation and planning for this year’s event.
Over the past few weeks, we have locked in more epic speakers and secured the support of a number of awesome new Summit Sponsors and Exhibitors. We are indebted to everyone who is supporting and promoting this year’s event.
Following 2023’s inaugural sold-out Summit, I can also confirm that ticket sales are well ahead of last year. It’s a reflection I hope on the quality of the Program we are developing as well as the increasing significance that ag biologicals are playing in the global ag input, regulatory and consumer space.
To secure your Summit ticket today and get to meet and engage with the wide range of stakeholders attending next month’s event, please click 2024 Salinas Biological Summit | Humanitix
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Apr 26, 2024 | 2024 Salinas Biological Summit
Accelerating innovation into the agriculture sector is crucial if farmers and growers are to continue to provide nutritious, affordable food for an ever-increasing global population. Leveraging new technologies, thinking outside the box and applying them to on-farm production and supply chain systems is the critical factor at play.
It’s against this background that the Summit organizers are delighted that Guy Kawasaki, tech titan, former Chief Evangelist at Apple, venture capitalist and best-selling author will be a keynote speaker at the 2024 Salinas Biological Summit.
In his most recent book, Think Remarkable, Guy teamed up with Madisun Nuismer, producer of the Remarkable People podcast, to share invaluable knowledge from more than 40 years of working with game-changing organizations such as Apple, Canva, Google, Mercedes Benz, and Wikipedia.
Guy knows all about addressing the big issues. In the world of specialty crops, there are few bigger than the global call from regulators and consumers for ‘less chemistry, more biology’.
Are growers ready for the significant transition required to meet these calls? It will require developing strategies that enable you to transform your plans to prepare for the major changes ahead. That will require growers to adopt a growth mindset, develop grit and build resilience. These are some of the key themes in Guy’s Think Remarkable.
At June’s Summit, Guy will close out the Day 1 session. He joins an amazing set of speakers and domain specialists who will be sharing their insights and expertise. You can view their profiles on the Summit Speaker page.
I am stoked that Guy will be joining us in June. The reason is personal.
Apple Computers is where I started my ‘tech’ career. 35 years ago. That’s of course all we did. Think Mac Plus, LC, CI, FX. Plus the odd laser printer. Since then, the company name changed and Apple has gone on to create whole new industries through its technology stack.
There are strong lessons to be learnt. With Platform10, Western Growers and Wharf42 are seeking to enhance grower confidence and facilitate market development and adoption of new biopesticide products. This will require a whole new generation of smart agritech devices and software that will spray, monitor and manage the application of these new biological solutions. June’s Summit program has been designed to provide stakeholders from the wider ag sector with both inspiring content and the opportunity to meet and engage to discuss this opportunity.
To quote Steve Jobs;
‘The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Apr 3, 2024 | 2024 Salinas Biological Summit
As we prepare for the 2024 Salinas Biological Summit in June, Jacqui and I were delighted to be back in California two weeks ago.
During this visit, we joined 100 growers at ‘The Nexus of Soil Health and AgTech: Field Day at Braga Fresh’ in Soledad. A Western Grower Science event, the day featured presentations and in-field demonstrations of some of the latest agtech solutions being deployed by growers in the Salinas Valley.
The venue was appropriate. Braga Fresh is a family-owned property, growing fresh conventional and organic product across 20,000 acres in several different locations. The Field Day also provided me with a unique opportunity to meet and engage with a number of growers 1-2-1. The problems and challenges they face are familiar; labor, water, regulation and the ever-increasing cost of inputs.
One of the key themes that emerged from yesterday’s Field Day was the increasing interest in regenerative agriculture. A number of speakers provided science-based evidence which demonstrated its benefits for both soil and plant health. This in turn was supported by on-farm data that provided the hard numbers on ROI returns – typically to be earned 2-3 years after a system-based regen strategy had been implemented.
Many of the growers attending the Field Day are attending the Salinas Biological Summit in June. Increasing regulation (another key theme yesterday) around reducing synthetic chemical use means that growers are having to look at alternative inputs to improve plant health (& yield) as well as manage pest and disease damage to crops. The Salinas Summit Program, Speakers and launch of the Platform10 Global Partner Network and its international component in June are well-timed to meet this need.
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Feb 21, 2024 | AgriFutures
I was delighted to join Harriet Mellish, GM, Global Innovation Networks, AgriFutures Australia and Rebecca Robinson, President & CEO, Kansas State University Innovation Partners, on stage at yesterday’s growAG session at evokeAG 2024.
First, a declaration of interest. I was honoured to be invited to join the inaugural growAG steering committee back in 2020. The then Australian Agriculture Minister, David Littleproud, had requested AgriFutures Australia to build a platform that would provide transparency into RDC research spend (given that 50% came from Federal taxpayers).
The growAG platform was born.
Today, growAG highlights over 3,000 research projects being undertaken by Australian RDC’s and other research organizations. For international researchers, industry players and investors, it provides a unique insight into the Australia’s agrifoodtech ecosystem. 50% of its users are based overseas and at any one time there will be at least 100+ projects with commercial opportunities – research, commercial & investment.
Over the past two years, international venture investment into Australia has grown exponentially. Pre-growAG (I call that BG), accessing information about current agrifood research in Australia was a challenge. Inward international investment was low. growAG has changed that. Today, Australia’s agrifoodtech ecosystem continues to benefit from the visibility that growAG brings to the market.
New Zealand – The Missed Opportunity
Over the 4 years since I first joined the growAG inaugural steering committee, I have advocated for pro-active New Zealand Inc. engagement with it. Despite visits to NZ by growAG representatives, these calls have fallen on deaf ears. There is still no formal arrangement currently in place between NZ Inc. and growAG.
I suspect that this is reflected in inbound venture capital metrics over the past 2-3 years. Whilst NZ & Australia were both on a ‘par’ back in 2020, offshore venture funding into Australia’s agrifoodtech start-up and scale-up companies has far exceeded that of NZ peers since then. I suspect that this will be reconfirmed when we hear from Michael Dean of AgFunder later today at evokeAG 2024. I believe that growAG has been part of this story.
The good news is that NZ researchers and companies can independently list their research and ‘opportunities on the platform. I would encourage more to do so. There is no cost and it helps leverage the trans-Tasman lens that I continue to advocate for.
Yesterday’s session with Harriet & Rebecca was a blast. Afterwards, Rebecca and I took part in a growAG podcast which will be released at some time in the near future. I’ll share that link on this website when it’s available.
For New Zealand researchers and companies looking to leverage the power of growAG, you should visit www.growag.com today. The growAG team will be pleased to meet you!
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Feb 20, 2024 | Platform10, Uncategorized
Yesterday, Wharf42 was pleased to host the first Platform10 Global Partner Network review in Perth, Western Australia.
On the eve of the 2024 evokeAG conference, we were delighted to be joined by Dennis Donohue & Jeana Cadby of Western Growers, together with biologicals doyen, Pam Marrone. We were also delighted to be joined by a stellar group of invited stakeholders from both Australia & New Zealand. Their time, inputs and observations were very much appreciated.
The session kicked off with a live ZOOM presentation by California Department of Food & Agriculture Secretary, Karen Ross. Karen is an awesome supporter of Platform10 and we really appreciated her spending part of her Sunday evening with the group in Perth. The joys of time-zones! Pam Maronne then provided an insightful 15 minute presentation covering some of the most significant current trends in the world of biologicals. It was fascinating to see so many moving parts and the significant role that Platform10 had to play.
It was then the turn of Dennis & Jeana to provide an overview of the Platform10 model. This included an update on the recent recruitment of 10 biopesticide companies and growers to the first US-based Platform10 cohort. This provided something of a template for future international engagement.
Following a short break, the delegates attending then provided their own thoughts and insights around the development of the Global Partner Network. These included important contributions around:
- the efficacy and importance of robust field trials
- the recruitment of an International Advisory Board
- the recognition of the need to engage growers, their advisors and regulators in the process
- the opportunity to leverage existing programs in Australia and New Zealand that support investigating alternative inputs
With plans for the launch of the Platform10 Global Partner Network slated for the 2024 Salinas Biological Summit (25-26 June), the contributions made at the session were invaluable. We’ll be maintaining the engagements started today to ensure that the vision and purpose of the Network is realised in Salinas.
It was a great start to what will be an epic two days of conversations and networking at evokeAG.
