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 admin | Feb 27, 2024 | 2024 Salinas Biological Summit
Following last year’s sell-out 2023 Salinas Biological Summit, we are delighted to introduce you to some of the awesome speakers and experts we have lined up for this year’s
2024 Summit June.
- Amy O’Shea – President and CEO, Certis Biologicals
- Carl Casale – Founder, Ospraie Ag Science
- Don Cameron – President of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture; VP and GM of Terranova Ranch
- Jerry Baron – Executive Director, The IR-4 Project
- Josette Lewis – Chief Scientific Officer, Almond Board of California
- Julie Henderson – Director, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
- Keith Pitts – SVP, Sustainability and Regulatory Strategy, Bioceres Crop Solutions
- Kevin Andrew – SVP, Operations, Illume
- Pam Marrone – Co-founder & Executive Chair, Invasive Species Foundation and Invasive Species Corporation
- Adrian Percy – Executive Director, N.C Plant Sciences Initiative
- Secretary Karen Ross – California Department of Food & Agriculture
- Sherry Frey – VP, Total Wellness – NielsenIQ
- Stuart Woolf – Chair, Western Growers; President and CEO of Woolf Farming & Processing
- Terry Stone – Global Biologicals Regulatory Policy Leader, Corteva Agriscience
We’ll be sharing details of further speakers over the coming weeks. With a number of international delegations planning to attend, this year’s 2024 Summit will bring growers, researchers, agritech companies and policy-makers together from around the world.
by Peter Wren-Hilton | Sep 28, 2023 | 2024 Salinas Biological Summit
Wharf42 and Western Growers are delighted to announce the dates of the 2024 Salinas Biological Summit.
The Summit will take place in Salinas on 25-25 June, 2024. Following this year’s sell-out event, we are excited about the opportunity to build on what we achieved in June. This will become an annual event, supported by growers everywhere. All too often, agritech-focused conferences miss the grower input. We aim to put them at the center of the conversation.
As the call from regulators and consumers for ‘less chemicals, more biologicals’ grow, we will once again invite international experts to take to the stage. We learnt lessons in 2023 and this will mean more delegate engagement in 2024.
To receive regular updates as we build the Summit Program, please register your interest at www.salinas-suumit.com
The 2024 Summit is going to be a blast!
