I had the privilege to attend the Growing Innovations conference in Las Vegas, NV this past week. It was a packed 2 days of talks, demonstrations, panel discussions and vendor interactions. Here are a few takeaways.

The rate of Agricultural technology advancement is poised to accelerate rapidly

Carol Miller, editor of American Vegetable Grower, said in her Welcome and Introduction talk that “we are at the beginning of the Ag 2.0 revolution”. The invention and subsequent commercialization of the general-purpose tractor heralded the first agricultural revolution in the middle part of the 20^th century.

While there have been many advances in agriculture technology in recent years, we are at an inflection point where the capability, power and improvements in the process of commercialization in ag tech are truly revolutionary.

From new autonomous tractors and farm vehicles, all the way to new genetic enhancements we are at the beginning of a new wave of technology making its way into fields and farms across the country.

While these developments are impressive feats of technology, Richard Jones, Meister Media, reminded us during his keynote address that “we miss opportunities because we don’t think big enough”. Based on what I saw and heard Ag 2.0 and it’s impact on the industry is going to be big.

The real impact of automation on big ag labor reduction is increasing quickly

Automation at the intersection of robotics, machine learning and autonomous vehicles is now commercially available. It is starting to make real impacts on labor budgets for a variety of farm operations. Here are just a few of many examples of folks who discussed real labor savings with automation:

• Lettuce thinning using machine learning and video reduces labor by up to 61% in lettuce field maintenance – RDO Equipment
• Pleasant View Gardens use of automated sticking machines for labor reductions in cuttings sticking – Mike Goyette, Pleasant View Gardens
• Orchard crop drone pollination – Matt Koball, Dropcopter
• Packing house automation help reduce labor costs at Titan Farms – Ross Williams, Titan Farms
• Autonomous vehicles are here and working and reducing operator labor
  • Autonomous spray rigs – Gary Thompson GUSS Automation
  • Autonomous tractors – Connor Kingman, Kingman Ag Service

Data is the new oil (or hydraulic fluid)

Robert Saik, Saik Management Group Inc., said in his keynote address that farms have so much data, “it’s like spilled hydraulic fluid, it just gets everywhere”.

Clearly data is everywhere, but the quantity of data is not the issue. The issue is that the data needs to be timely, accurate, trustworthy, clean, relevant, usable and actionable.

When the appropriately trained people have access to this kind of data it can be used more effectively for decision support, compliance, planning, and forecasting, tracking and impacting results in the crops.

Currently, many farms have too many sources of data, too many disparate formats and too many places that data can be stored and too many different methods of access. This siloed information makes it harder for the farmers to get insights from data or make cross system decisions.

Farms need systems that house data in accessible formats, and they need to put into place trained employees and data hygiene practices to generate the maximum yield from their data.

Farm tracking using live sensors, sensor networks and drones

As a follow-on to his “hydraulic fluid” analogy, Robert Saik, said that the data that can drive better decisions and better results, in part comes, from sensors in the field. 

Moisture, chemical, nutrient, disease and pest surveys are all key types of data that can be gathered with sensors. The sensors can be in field or sensors on a drone that flies over the crops or on machines that drive through the fields.

The amount of data sensors generate is large and requires networked capability on the farm. The value of the data in terms of crop results can be significant. Saik admonished farmers to take advantage of these types of systems by deploying whole farm mesh WIFI, so that data can flow from new systems and sensors anywhere on the farm.

System Integration / Collaboration is key – across systems, technologies, vendors/suppliers

Danny Royer, Great Valley Oak, LLC said in his address to the conference that farms must integrate systems across functional boundaries and different technologies in order to achieve the true potential of technology in farming operations. 

Systems integration is and will be an increasing need as technology use expands. Farms use so many technologies and data systems but integration of and data flow between systems is still a barrier that industry suppliers must come together to address. The role of a systems integrator, who can put together whole solutions for a grower is quickly increasing in importance and opportunity.

Farms need to partner with technology providers that will help them integrate their technology into the farm as a whole not yet another stand-alone system.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning is starting to pay dividends for growers

The conference featured a number of speakers and vendors using video technology automation and machine learning to drive preventative and not just reactionary measures.

Image analysis from drone flyovers can now identify soil issues, crop issues such as pests or disease infestations and moisture issues.

Machine learning integrated into irrigation controllers can optimize water usage and yield.

Integrated into sprayers, machine learning can intelligently turn on and off the spay jets in empty space saving chemicals.

John Bourne, with Ceres Imaging, talked about use of AI in their crop image analysis where, for one farmer, they were able to identify a water pressure issue in their irrigation system which could have resulted in very poor yield, but because of the early detection, crews were dispatched and corrected the issue before crop yield was impacted.

Rodney Bierhuizen, from Sunrise Greenhouses, talked about the results they have achieved by being more preventative using crop condition and inventory tracking with the iUNU system. The iUNU system makes use of machine learning image analysis and in-greenhouse video technology to monitor plants and identify issues.

New business models improve access to technology and knowledge

Afshin Doust, Advanced Intelligent Systems, talked about the new business model of “Machines As A Service – MAAS” as a way to balance usage of equipment with capital investment. MASS could provide farmers access to equipment, and its impact on their operations, without the full, and many times significant, capital outlay that is typically required to procure new technology.

Connor Kingman, Kingman Ag Service, has proposed a specific implementation of “Machines as a service” in discussing “Tractors as a Service” in his interviews.

Dan Brewin, with AGvisorPro, provided a new variation on the sharing economy – uberization of farming knowledge. AGvisorPro allows experts to sign up and farmers to be connected to them based on their proprietary matching algorithm. This allows farmers to get the right answers when they need them. AGvisorPro also allows experts in their fields of agriculture an additional outlet to monetize their knowledge.

The increasing complexity of systems demands simplicity

The advent of more complex technology on the farm demands systems and methods that integrate and simplify the presentation of collected data, control system data and actionable intelligence to help the farmers do their job more efficiently.

During his talk, Don Cameron from TerraNova Ranch, requested one dashboard to integrate all data feeds. Don said, “I don’t want 8 separate ‘apps’ to use” to get the full story of current operation.  

Again, this request falls on the vendors to come together with standards and systems that have integration as a fundamental feature and not a ‘customization’ that is done after the fact.

Additionally, Don requested vendors to provide technology that doesn’t create more problems than it solves. Don stated: “Don’t create more problems with your tech for me”.

Vendors and tech providers must work together to test and validate the systems they sell will reduce complexity and office labor to use them and that they work as advertised.

Vertical Farming is quickly becoming a viable alternative to field grown

For the right situations vertical farming can address the issues of locally available fresh produce. By good geographic placement a vertical farm can reduce the amount of time from harvest to consumption to mere hours. The capital costs of vertical farming and the scaling of vertical farm operations have been a challenge.

Dr. Charlie Wang, Oasis Biotech, showed how Oasis Biotech is scaling vertical farming operations outside Las Vegas, NV, to supply lettuces, microgreens, and herbs to restaurants in and around Las Vegas, NV. The robotics and control systems for lighting, water, temperature, air, nutrients and even crop movement and packaging are now available to automate much of a vertical farm operation and thereby scale it.

Software is everywhere and needs to get better

Apps, dashboards, analytic views, login portals, and farm management modules abounded at the conference.

With such availability of software systems and apps its hard for a grower to choose a system. Patricia Bennett of PCBennett Solutions, gave an overview of a simple, practical decision framework for growers to help choose the right system for their situation and needs.

I spoke with Travis Klicker of AgCode and Chad Glover and Julie Strain, of Redwing Software about the needs of onboarding growers to new systems to make quicker use of these new investments in software and the need for near constant training capability by vendors to support growers, and their staff as they change over time.

I spoke with Kevin Hannigan of AgSquared, about how there are a lot of options for growers in terms of farm management software and thus good competition among the software vendors. The wide array of vendors selling software as part of their solution shows there are a lot of options for growers to choose from in the software space.

There was a clear request that improved collaboration is needed so that software systems are more inter-operable and support data sharing and integrations.

Lots of other great speakers and topics

There were many great presentations and vendors in a number of areas I don’t have time to cover here. So just a few closing highlights.

There were a lot of discussions and products related to sustainability of the water supply and sustainability of the soil.

TerraNova Ranch is on leading edge in groundwater replenishment in their California operations with Don Cameron showing unique public-private projects they are working on to harness floodwaters to help replenish groundwater.

Several vendors such as Trace Genomics, SoilOptix and Helia Agriculture, to name a tiny sample, provided soil monitoring products, analysis and information showing ways to improve soil sustainability.

Mike Omeg, of Orchard View, Inc told of the practices and results of Orchard View has achieved in a multi-year soil improvement process for their cherry orchards in Oregon.

Genetic modification of food crops was also a hot topic, where the needs for the producers have to be balanced with public health and perception concerns. In general, the growers I heard felt that our industry has done a poor job in communicating and engaging with the public about genetic modification of crops and the benefits we can receive from them.

Vonnie Estes, from the Produce Marketing Association, talked about the public perception of genetic modification and the challenges of growers dealing with retailers trying to satisfy an increasingly choosy but sometimes misinformed public.

In the closing keynote ‘Fireside Chat’ several members of the Growing Innovations advisory group discussed a wide range of topics. They encouraged growers to try new things, to assess their needs, and to not be afraid of failure but to be disciplined in their process and to learn and grow from every attempt.

In a conference this densely packed with high value presentations, vendors and discussions it is hard to cover everything that was beneficial. Unfortunately, I was not able to talk to every vendor nor attend every presentation so I am sure I have missed other valueable solutions and vendors.

I did find Growing Innovations worthwhile way to learn, connect and envision what is on the technology horizon for the agriculture industry.