December 2023 - 70

AGTECH
In FIRA USA tech
equipment displays,
participants viewed
how Escarda
Technology and
Morning Star
laser-assisted
weeding machinery
identifies and
destroys weeds.
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 over-promising and
under-delivering.
In 2022, $29.6 billion was invested in food tech
companies, a sizable 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, 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 consumer-facing ones that
70 | DECEMBER 2023
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.
December 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2023
