Last week, we hosted what I believe was the most successful & productive Edition of the Salinas Biological Summit‘s to-date. The venue, the program, the 2 Monday deep-dive workshops, the Reservoir Farms visit and the very real 1-2-1 networking opportunities, all delivered.
Feedback from speakers, sponsors and delegates has been overwhelmingly positive. In the words of Pam Marrone, the doyen of biologicals, ‘It was really good content not seen elsewhere’. I totally agree with that, Pam!
In the words of another of our exceptional speakers, Clarice Turner, President & CEO of the Almond Board of California said, ‘It takes a village. Onward’. I think that summarized a key theme that resonated across the whole Summit. We can only support growers transition to more biological and softer chemistry products through increased collaboration and partnerships. No one country or company can achieve this by themselves. It’s a theme that will drive much of Wharf42’s work over the coming months.
One of the key partnering initiatives highlighted at the Summit was the Platform10 field trials program, currently running across significant commercial grower properties in California. I had the opportunity to moderate the ‘Introduction to Platform10’ panel on Day 2 of the Summit. This session was immediately followed by a ‘Grower Platform10’ panel which highlighted some of the key field trials currently underway. Keeping growers at the center of this initiative is a core outcome we are seeking.
Grower adoption was another key Summit conversation. We were delighted to host a delegation of senior biological experts from Brazil. Often referred to as the ‘Gold Standard’ for biological regulation and grower adoption, we chose to include the Brazilian ‘brains trust’ experts across a range of Summit sessions.
The value to the conference was immense. The reality is that Californian growers are currently operating at a significant disadvantage to their Brazilian peers. A slow registration process at both US Federal & State level means that Californian growers cannot access the full range of crop protection tools that their peers in Brazil can. It’s an issue that our friends and Summit Platinum Sponsors, Western Growers, frequently reference.
The good news is that the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) are aware of the challenge facing growers. In a fireside chat featuring Leia Bailey, Deputy Chief Director, CDPR, Leia provided details of a set of initiatives the Department were considering to speed up the registration of new biological products. For California growers, these initiatives cannot come soon enough.
The need to increase collaboration within the biological sector was repeated across a number of Summit presentations. As regulators and retailers continue to remove chemical pesticides from the growers’ toolbox, the need to find biological alternatives to address increasing pest and disease challenges increases.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing videos of every Summit session in this newsletter. It’s hard to underestimate the value of this content. For biological practitioners everywhere, access is free. It’s part of Wharf42’s commitment to support growers leverage some of the great science in the current biological pipeline.