Voices of the Valley

Latest Episodes:

The Future of Sustainable Desalination Mar 07, 2023

Show notes

University of Notre Dame professors Dr. Brandon Ashfeld and Dr. Tengfei Luo and farmer J.P. LaBrucherie join the podcast this week; the trio is part of a research project focused on using technology to make desalination a sustainable water solution for all areas of American life, including agriculture.

It’s no secret that desalination is a much-studied and debated topic that can lead to frustration and confusion among scientists and the public. “You’re trying to solve a water problem, but on the other side, you’re burning fossil fuel, which contributes to climate change which leads to the water shortage problem,” Luo said. Ashfeld, Luo, and Labrucherie discuss topics related to agricultural water use, western reliance on the Colorado River, the pros and cons of desalination, and how their developing technology can make desalination a more sustainable practice.

Radicle Growth CEO and Managing Partner Kirk Haney on the Secret to Successful Agtech Investing Feb 21, 2023

Show notes

In this episode of Voices of the Valley, Kirk Haney, CEO and Managing Partner of Radicle Growth, joins Dennis Donohue and Candace Wilson to share some of the expertise he has gained from launching multiple startups and a deep portfolio of agtech investments. “You learn a lot from every investment you make and every company you run,” Haney says.

Haney shares his insight into the opportunities he sees in agriculture from an investment perspective. “Ag is the least digitized industry in the world. That absolutely, 100% cannot continue. Ag has to be digitized,” he says. Haney talks about opportunities to create beneficial systems that will help growers make better risk-adjusted farming decisions and integrate currently siloed processes.

Listen now!

Tom Mulholland and the Bottom Line of Agriculture – Productivity Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

Tom Mulholland sees California agriculture through the wide lens of his multigenerational farm. As a fourth-generation citrus grower, Mulholland knows his lifetime commitment to Mulholland Citrus is one part of the whole that belongs to his family.

“Generational pass-downs are remarkable," Tom says. "The fact of it is that you have to have something that’s of interest... and we have the best opportunity to [show that] feeding people is so important,” he said in this episode of Voices of the Valley.

As CEO of Mulholland Citrus, he shares his effusive excitement about the intricacies of growing the kind of citrus that brings joy to people. Listen to this week’s episode to share in his devotion to the growth of the industry, horticulture, mechanics and, most importantly, family.

Stuart Woolf: Agtech from Apple Computers to Almonds Feb 07, 2023

Show notes

In this episode of Voices of the Valley, Stuart Woolf, President and CEO of Woolf Farming Company, shares his interest, knowledge and utilization of agtech, which started in 1982 with his first Apple computer computations.

Woolf is the second generation of growers who keeps his feet grounded in the present while looking the future: “One thing my Dad did - which I thought in retrospect was really kind of genius - he looked at the crops that were predominantly being grown out there in the mid-'70s and it was a lot of cotton, grain, melons, those kinds of things, and he thought ‘You know, I don’t want to be beholden to farm programs and support payments and all that.’ So he really started to focus on crops that were unique to California like almonds and pistachios where we had global competitive advantage. He narrowed it down to a handful of items that turn out to be highly mechanized, we had a global advantage, we enjoyed a better return per acre foot on those crops.”

That inclination to see the big picture and how it relates to success over time means a focus on innovation. Of the topics that are on his radar ─ water, labor shortages and soil health to name a few ─ Woolf says there is one area of innovation he and his team have an eye on: data processing. His take makes this episodes a must listen for any grower, innovator, or environmental health advocate.

Belinda Clarke and the Many Ways Science Can Help Growers Adapt Jan 31, 2023

Show notes

Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-techE, joins Dennis Donohue and Candace Wilson on this week’s Voices of the Valley to share her knowledge about the many ways science works with growers to adapt and respond to environmental and political changes.

Clarke describes the work that Agri-techE does as creating “an innovation ecosystem for agtech bringing together growers and farmers, technology developers and researchers.”

Donohue, Wilson and Clarke touch on the different industries that are coming to the table to offer agricultural tools from space tech to biology. But tech solutions are nothing without the proper mindset. “Innovation is not just about in-field technology, it’s around processes, it’s around mindset. Innovation is around just doing things differently,” Clarke shares.

The move toward adoption of available and developing resources will be a process, but Clarke and Agri-techE are making the space to provide education and opportunity to the agricultural industry both for England and abroad.

Seana Day: How Farmers Can Use Technology to Make Financially Sound Decisions Jan 24, 2023

Show notes

In this episode of Voices of the Valley, Seana Day, Partner with Culterra Capital and Venture Partner with Better Food Ventures, joins Dennis Donohue and Candace Wilson to share her perspective about the need for digital systems to better utilize farmers’ time, information and resources.

“When we think about the role of technology and optimizing our assets, our resources, it just doesn’t make sense to me why more companies aren’t thinking about integrating those technologies…it’s always surprising to me how much loss or waste operators are willing to assume as just a cost of doing business,” Day shares.

Day also speaks about the growing need for a workforce trained in the unique environment of an agricultural organization and how important it is for those working in specialized roles to integrate with one another and the software that’s available.

“I’m looking at all of this information and it’s siloed,” Day says. “It’s so disconnected. It’s so analog. It’s all done on pen and paper, and it takes forever. Making any kind of remotely real-time decision - let’s be honest, there’s a lot of risk. You leave revenue on the table. Your costs are inflated. There’s more risk than there should be because we’re not able to access information…to make those swift decisions.”

As a Venture Partner, Day also offers insight into the three things that stand out to her when she’s assessing startups and what sets the two to four that are chosen apart from the hundreds that apply.

Simon Pearson from The Lincoln Institute of Agri-Food Technology Talks Agtech Solutions on a Global Scale Jan 17, 2023

Show notes

On this episode of Voices of the Valley, Simon Pearson, Founding Director of The Lincoln Institute of Agri-Food Technology, shares insight into how aiming for lofty heights gives a better perspective on potential solutions to agriculture’s workforce challenges.

“We started with the hard problem - a bit like a moonshot - and then as we actually did that work we sort of went 'Hmmmm, hang on a minute, there’s a few low-lying opportunities here,'” he says.

Pearson discusses how the challenges that growers face in the United States are in line with those that growers in the United Kingdom are navigating. Much like the producers in the U.S., technology in the U.K. may hold the key to solutions in the form of robotics, AI and automation.

Listen now to hear how Pearson and the Lincoln Institute of Agri-Food Technology are working on solutions for “big engineering problems on a global scale.”

Farm from a Box’s Brandi DeCarli on Creating Local Food Access Through Entrepreneurship Jan 03, 2023

Show notes

Brandi DeCarli, CEO and Founding Partner of Farm from a Box, joins Dennis Donohue and Candace Wilson to discuss the dynamic and sustainable future of agriculture.

A listening experience that’s the perfect start to the new year, DeCarli shares a palpable excitement for the coming years in ag, and sees challenges as opportunities.

Whether it’s entrepreneurship or giving a TEDx talk, DeCarli weaves her willingness to thrive in the unknown throughout the conversation: “That is sort of quintessential to the entrepreneurial journey - to choose to just dive into the deep end and then figure out how you’re going to iterate along the way.”

Her adaptability has left an imprint on the product she helped create. Farm from a Box provides food sustainability solutions through flexibility. “We address that through a modular, decentralized drop-in infrastructural support system that works for addressing food crises [and] that also works for re-anchoring localized food production directly into the fabric of our communities,” DeCarli said.

Her goal is clear: “[To] use clean technology to really increase and strengthen localized food access and local and regional food production.”

Central Valley Foundation CEO and Former Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin: Focused on a Better Future Dec 28, 2022

Show notes

“Food is culture. Culture is people. People are stories.” So says Ashley Swearengin, the CEO of the Central Valley Foundation and former mayor of Fresno, who joins Dennis Donohue and Candace Wilson on this episode of Voices of the Valley to share her visions, goals and accomplishments about building a bridge to a brighter future.

Whether the goal is to stem groundwater depletion, halt runaway sprawl, or promote innovation, one component comes up throughout her message: comprehensive partnership. Change for the better happens when people make a point to gather and work together.

Her work to bring everyone to the table has carried over from her accomplishments as mayor to her work with The Future of Food Innovation (F3) program. “The whole point of F3 is to set a table big enough for every aspect of the food economy to have a seat at the table and work together to particulate on a 20-year vision of how we make all of these things work together," she says.

Netafim’s President and CEO Mike Hemman Discusses How Growers Can Respond to California’s Record Drought Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

Mike Hemman, President and CEO of Netafim, joins Dennis Donohue and Candace Wilson on this week’s episode of Voices of the Valley to discuss the short- and long-term strategies for adapting to the nuanced water needs growers have amid the ongoing California drought.

“I think that the opportunity to deliver water in a more efficient manner has never been more important, and I believe that the growth we’re going to see in adoption towards more precise ways of irrigation is going to be huge over the next couple of decades,” Mike says. ”For me, being a native of California, it’s important to me personally to have an opportunity to do that - and from a commercial perspective, it’s a very fast-growing segment of the industry, and there’s a lot of new technology that’s coming into it.”

The key to this new technology, Hemman says, is precision.

“Effectively what you’re doing is taking a very small amount of water putting it exactly where the plant needs it,” Mike says. “It’s almost like an IV.”

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