Voices of the Valley

Latest Episodes:

Hands-Free is the Only Way to Be Nov 02, 2021

Show notes

Voice-to-data is coming to agriculture…and it’s an absolute game-changer. Imagine being able to verbally cite your activities/data and receive a highly-accurate transcription while keeping your phone in your pocket throughout the day and having both hands free to hold tools, work on equipment or drive a vehicle. Then later have the ability to translate that information into patterns or trends that improve workplace efficiency. The agtech start-up company AgVoice Global is offering just that. AgVoice is the world’s first voice-to-data service that allows farmers and the ag specialists that support them to capture fast, accurate in-field insights on-the-go. Unlike Siri, Alexa or Google Voice Assistant, AgVoice specializes in agricultural terminology, ensuring that all ag documents (like food safety reports, compliance documents, etc) are exactly precise. (Bonus: AgVoice CEO/Co-founder Bruce Rasa reveals how the AgSharks Pitch Competition allowed him to leverage the PERFECT ecosystem for success.)

What Happens When Your Co-Worker is a Robot? Oct 26, 2021

Show notes

From a robot obsession while attending Harvard Business School to traveling 2,700 miles and sleeping in his car just to meet with farmers, Charlie Andersen has achieved his dream: to build a robot company that solves agriculture’s labor woes. Charlie’s company, Burro, recently raised a $ 10.9 million Series A funding and plans to release 500 self-driving wheelbarrows into ag within the next year. These small robots, akin to Disney’s Wall-E, automate some of the hard manual labor within ag. Listen as Charlie outlines his recipes for success (hint: persistence), analyzes the future of agtech (think: startups building on other startup’s tech) and how to quickly grow a robot army from 1 to 500. Bonus: Charlie, who won $250K at the Western Growers AgSharks Competition in 2018, shares the top tips on how to leverage collaboration to successfully build people-scaled products (aka tech that works alongside people to help them work more productively).

Almond Evolution: Self-Pollinating Varieties, Rootstock Gene Editing, Labor-Saving Tech Oct 19, 2021

Show notes

What do pest-controlling GMO insects have in common with orchard biomass recycling? They are both part of the almond industry’s effort to increase crop yield, improve water efficiency, control almond-killing pests and mitigate climate change. Josette Lewis, the Chief Scientific Officer at Almond Board of California, reveals the latest research and near-term innovations that are solving the almond’s major pain points. Think: labor-saving tech that eliminates a step in the harvest process, almond varieties that can pollinate themselves, recycling orchard biomass to significantly sequester carbon, and using genetically modified insects to control the navel orangeworm pest.

Tackling Food Waste: Tech as the Watchdog of Quality Control Oct 12, 2021

Show notes

Imagine a world where every piece of fruit and vegetable you eat tastes as ripe as the day that it was picked or harvested. Hazel Technologies is making that world a reality. Understanding that of all food produced globally goes to waste, Hazel Technologies CEO Aidan Mouat has made it his mission to use chemistry to improve efficiency in the supply chain and solve the food waste problem…and he has been wildly successful. The Hazel Technologies team has invented tech (a small, sugar-sized sachet!) that will extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by up to four days. How? Listen to the episode as Aidan shares his tech secrets and the steps he took raise $90 million and gain 150+ of the world’s biggest growers/packers/retailer as clients.

Building Autonomous Farm Tractors…and Totally Winning Oct 05, 2021

Show notes

Will C-3PO and R2-D2 be working on the farm anytime soon? According to robotic tractor startup Bear Flag Robotics, the possibility may happen sooner rather than later. In this episode of Voices of the Valley, Bear Flag Robotics’ CEO and Co-Founder Igino Cafiero walks us through the journey of how his agtech startup successfully “exited” and now works hand-in-hand with John Deere to accelerate autonomous farm technology. Igino shares key tips on how to reduce the cost of growing food while increasing global food production through machine automation. He also speaks about the steps for building autonomous technology for farm tractors and how to effectively work with farmers and the ag industry early on to co-develop your product. © 2021 Western Growers

Rise of the City Bee: Building Urban Bee Farms Sep 21, 2021

Show notes

Detroit Hives has one goal: transforming vacant lots in Detroit into urban bee farms.

In this episode of Voices of the Valley, Detroit Hives’ founders Timothy Paule and Nicole Lindsey speak about the steps it took to build one of the very first urban bee farms. During the interview, they delve into how their ever-expanding bee farm is bringing diversity and cognizance to bee awareness, rebuilding inner-city communities and supporting bee-saving technology. Plus, they speak about the magic behind local raw honey curing “incurable” colds!

Peter Wren-Hilton of Wharf42/Agritech New Zealand Jun 30, 2021

Show notes

For decades, Peter Wren-Hilton has supported initiatives to address the impact of burgeoning threats on farmers and growers across the globe. In this episode of Voices of the Valley, Peter outlines major themes surrounding ag technology – from New Zealand to Singapore to North America. Peter, who is founder & CEO of Wharf42 and head of global alliance Agritech New Zealand, shares his vision on how robotics – specifically how automation will compliment labor and ways people and machine can work together to alleviate the lack of labor plaguing farmers worldwide. He also speaks about food security spurring alternative methods of food production, such as vertical farming, aquaculture and cellular meats. © 2021 Western Growers

Tim York of California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

Food safety expert Tim York expands on the importance of data sharing for advancing food safety. York, who currently serves as the CEO of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, shares how the fresh produce industry has made several efforts to anonymize and aggregate food safety data, but in the end, they have all fallen short because of lack of trust. In this episode, he urges the need for trust among competing growers and handlers—as well as partnership with government agencies—to improve the industry’s food safety record and build a future kill step. © 2021 Western Growers

Walt Duflock of Western Growers and Neill Callis of Turlock Fruit Company Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

Listen to episode 2 of 2 of the “On the Farm” episode with Neill Callis of Turlock Fruit Company and Walt Duflock of Western Growers. In this episode, Neill and Walt dive deeper into the topics of technical cross pollination and a distributed collaboration model. They speak about the impact of general technology crossing into agriculture and share updates on how this trend is bringing new players into the agtech game. They also touch on factors driving change in agricultural cultural practices, such global trends and technology that is both available and economically viable. © 2021 Western Growers

Neill Callis of Turlock Fruit Company and Walt Duflock of Western Growers Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

Hear episode 1 of 2 of the “On the Farm” episode with Neill Callis of Turlock Fruit Company and Walt Duflock of Western Growers. In this episode, Neill and Walt speak about what tech development, adoption and success look like. What does it take to get a technology across the finish line? Neill, a NASA systems engineer turned farmer, and Walt, a 25-years veteran in the agriculture and technology sectors, provide detailed insight into how to build and pitch agtech. © 2021 Western Growers

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