OGS Session: Technology Solutions Show Promise

A quartet of speakers told an audience of organic growers that some cutting edge technology does have applicability to both large and small operation.

The session, “Technology is Not Just for Big Ag”,  was held during the Organic Grower Summit in Monterey last week and featured discussions of an online agricultural marketplace, soil testing at the microbial level and the “blockchain” promise for product traceability and transparency.

Moderator Hank Giclas of Western Grower began the conversation by exploring the goal behind the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology (WGCIT).  Housed in Salinas, the center currently is home to 55 start-ups or companies in their early stages, each of which is attempting to use technology to make production agriculture more profitable and efficient.  Giclas said the center was opened four years ago and has matched dozens of entrepreneurs with producers to tackle perplexing issues.  He noted the effort allows growers of all sizes to work with these new companies on potential solutions to thorny problems. 

Hank Giclas of Western Grower

During this session, three residents of WGCIT presented their respective company’s value proposition. In a way, the center gives even the smallest growers access to a technology department that would typically only be available to the larger entities.

Case in point is Harvestport.  Co-founder and CEO Brian Dawson explained the internet-based firm has established a marketplace for crop inputs and equipment.  Any grower can go online and receive products at pricing typically only available to the largest players.  He also said growers can use Harvestport as their own “custom procurement” department.

Diane Wu, President of Trace Genomics

Diane Wu, President of Trace Genomics, told growers that through detailed testing of soil, a grower can discover the root cause of yield loss.  The firm markets a test kit that allows growers to take samples from their fields and ship those samples to the company’s lab.  Wu said within a few weeks, a report will be generated that can tell the grower what pathogens are in that soil and what the disease risk is for specific crops.  The report also gives a soil health index report.  The report can be used to determine which inputs should be increased, decreased or added.

Raja Ramachandran, CEO of ripe.io, discussed the promise of blockchain technology, which offers transparency all the way up the supply chain for food.  In a nutshell, blockchain technology attempts to create a dashboard in which everyone along the supply chain can weigh in as a food product moves from the field to the fork.  He said this can offer complete traceability and transparency, which, presumably, would allow food recalls to be much quicker and more surgically targeted. 

Raja Ramachandran, CEO of ripe.io

When completely built out, a grower would enter all his inputs onto the system and those inputs would be attached to the resulting product.  As that product moved through the system, it would be registered at each stop along the way.  Eventually, even a consumer could have complete access to the complete journey of a bag of salad, for example, as it went from the field to the processor to distributor to the retailer …and any other stops along the way.

During the discussion phase of the session, each presenter was able to dive a bit deeper into their specific product, but the main theme was that these technologies are available for both big and large growers, even an organic grower with a few acres. 

In fact, Dawson of Harvestport said small grower form the backbone of his firm’s value proposition.  Large producers, after all, often have a purchasing department with access to the best pricing on inputs. Harvestport is attempting to bring that same pricing to small growers.

Wu noted that the soil tests themselves – delivered from many small farms and large – are developing a data base that promises to offer additional insights into what the best properties are for any crop in any soil.

One caveat offered by Dawson is that all start-ups by their very nature are a work in progress.  He said nothing ever seems to go as planned but also noted that the early adopters – those willing to work with these entrepreneurs at the early end of the discovery process – can help plot the course and define the product.