Voices of the Valley speaks with Amy Tomlinson, project development director at Concentric Power. Tomlinson speaks about her experience as the first female Blue Angel of the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, and provides insight on how her career in the Navy has played a role in her agtech journey. She also gives guidance into hiring the next generation of agtech workers as well as shares updates on how Concentric Power is developing first-of-their-kind microgrids across California that will deliver reliable and resilient energy to customers at rates lower than the current utility.

© 2021 Western Growers

Amy Tomlinson of Concentric Power

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

Neill Callis of Turlock Fruit Company and Walt Duflock of Western Growers

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

Walt Duflock of Western Growers and Neill Callis of Turlock Fruit Company

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

Tim York of California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement

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

Peter Wren-Hilton of Wharf42/Agritech New Zealand

Do you want to be on the cutting edge of the latest agtech trends? Or be the first to hear about a hot, new agtech startup? The Voices of the Valley Podcast has you covered!

Join agtech experts Dennis Donohue (aka “the godfather of agtech”) and Candace Wilson as they interview leading entrepreneurs, innovative farmers and industry analysts to pull back the curtain on all things agriculture and technology. During each episode, you will learn about 1) current innovations being implemented on the farm 2) technologies on the horizon 3) practical applications of these inventions and 4) how to take this information to improve your bottom line.

If you want to know the ins and outs of the latest and greatest technologies in agriculture, this show is for you. 

*The Voices of the Valley Podcast is brought to you by the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology. Learn more at wginnovation.com.

Voices of the Valley

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