November 2023 - 8

AGTECH
for growers, said Mojtaba Ahmadi,
senior production automation
engineer for the Cal Poly Strawberry
Center and the California
Strawberry Commission.
" But, at the same time, we're
noticing that every single one of them
is struggling to make a machine that
would really benefit growers, so they
won't get adopted by growers, " he
said. " And they're always wondering
why this is an issue. All those growers
have a problem with labor and they
really want these machines, but at the
same time, they're not adopting. "
Rob Trice, founding partner of
Better Food Ventures & The Mixing
Bowl, which encourages IT and
inventors to apply their technologies
to food and ag, said growers want
solutions to their labor problems.
" We have a lot of folks and you all
can probably conjure names in your
head, companies that promised the
world and are falling short and took
a lot of money, " he said. " You could
look at the classic hype curve and
think about a lot of spaces in AgTech
that are in that 'trough of disillusion'
right now. "
Trice said he worries " there's a
stench " on the horizon for AgTech
and investing, because of overpromising
and under-delivering.
In 2022, $29.6 billion was invested
in food tech companies, a sizeable
drop from 2021, with ag investments
falling 11.5% in 2022, said Jennifer
Marston, a global AgTech editor with
AgFunder, a Silicon Valley venture
capital firm that monitors food and
agriculture investments.
Much of the hesitancy follows
headwinds companies are facing.
How can companies and researchers
appeal to investors to increase those
numbers, Marston asked.
" This is a really tough time to be
in a startup now, especially in tech, "
she said. " This is definitely a time
when there won't be a lot of funding. "
Farm robotics generated $709
million in funding in 2022, in the
middle of the spectrum of farm tech
investment. Weeding technology is
where investment in robotics and
automated tech is going, Marston
said. She cited Western Growers'
Specialty Crop Automation Report,
8 | NOVEMBER 2023
In FIRA USA tech equipment displays, participants viewed how Escarda
Technology and Morning Star laser-assisted weeding machinery
identifies and destroys weeds.
which identifies weeding as the area
of farm robotics that has proven itself
more than any other AgTech. People
are also beginning to address how
the industry can leverage robotics to
make the harvesting process easier,
she said.
" A lot of that is investors are
starting to understand where the
most valuable places to invest are, "
Marston said. " In what we're dealing
with, the supply chain issues, with
costs and climate, we're seeing
much more capital going into these
upstream companies on the farm
vs. some of the more consumerfacing
ones that got really big when
we were all stuck at home during
the pandemic. "
New technologies will be critical in
helping agriculture manage its inputs,
according to speakers at the event.
" There's an opportunity for us to
help the investors understand that
harvest is not the only good ride to
fund, " said Walt Duflock, senior vice
president of innovation at Western
Growers.
Duflock said investors often push
back when they're advised to consider
funding other ag functions, including
pest control. He referred to robot
manufacturer Burro, which initially
looked into designing a strawberry
harvester, but decided it was too
difficult. The company moved to
harvest assist, which isn't easy, either,
but not as difficult as harvesting.
" In that case, Charlie (Burro CEO
Charlie Anderson) probably got some
decent pushback on size of the margin,
but figured it out, " Duflock said. " So
good advice to the founders. We'll
see if the future ones will take it. "
In a keynote address, Karen Ross,
secretary of the California Department
of Food and Agriculture, referred
to the technological partnership
between FIRA, University of
California Cooperative Extension and
Western Growers and said research
infrastructure investments benefit
California's $55 billion specialty
crop industry, which is dominated by
smaller growing operations.
" If it's based on inclusiveness
and on technology that works for
the smallest of our small farms,
which is over 80% of the farmland
in California, as well as our large
farms, this is possible, we can create
the automated solutions that can be
shipped around the world, " Ross said.
More than 1,700 participants who
traveled from 40 states and more
than 30 countries attended FIRA
USA, which featured 80 exhibitors
and 56 session panelists.
November 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2023
