June 2021 - 4

EDITOR'S LETTER
Methodical path to automation
During the recent International Forum of Agricultural Robotics Open Day 2021,
a roundtable presented a panel of experts to explore the challenges of funding,
developing and introducing robotics and other autonomous machines to U.S.
growers.
Moderated by Julie Peyrache, investment
manager at CAPAGRO; Praveen Penmesta, CEO
of Monarch Tractor; Gabriel Youtsey, CIO at
the University of California; Walt Duflock, vice
president of innovation at Western Growers and
Alain Pincot, owner of Betteeravia Farms, shared
some spot-on perspectives.
" If you look at the last 60 years, the farm count
in the U.S. has dropped by almost 40%, and farm
size has gone up by over 40%, so we have fewer
bigger operators than a few decades ago, and it
has had a big impact on labor, " Duflock said.
" Specifically, there's two types of farmworkers -
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hired and family farm workers - and both have had massive decreases in the last 50
years. The overall labor drop is 68% across both categories. What's been happening
is that larger operators are buying the family farms, and they're not replacing farm
workers from the family with hired farm workers. They're replacing them with a lot
of automation. "
However, " in spite of hundreds of millions of dollars of startup investments and
hundreds of startup launches over 10-plus years, building this stuff is hard, and
building this stuff takes a long time, " Duflock said. " One of the biggest challenges
with harvest is that every crop requires its own robot. What works for apples doesn't
work for strawberries, and what works for strawberries doesn't work for lemons. "
Of growing importance is the need for solutions that are developed by pairing
those who understand technology with those who are agronomic specialists.
Youtsey pointed to Blue River Technology, a company that worked with the
University of California (UC), Davis, to develop a weeding solution that was ultimately
purchased by John Deere. It involved a process in which " uncommon collaborators "
contributed to the common goal. UC is partnering with Western Growers to identify
obstacles to technological solutions that arise during the process.
" We're really trying to get more pre-competitive alignment between the
universities, startups, government entities and the larger established companies to
collaborate on things that really can't be done in a vacuum by one small start-up, "
Youtsey said. " These things need to be done more systematically across industries.
Bringing those uncommon collaborators together is going to be key moving forward,
and that's how we're trying to help solve the problem. "
Pincot said his company has experienced a return on investment and enabled the
coverage of labor force gaps with the autonomous weeding machines he purchased
for his operation in Santa Maria, California.
" We are replacing crews of 10, 12, 18 people with machines roaming through the
field, " Pincot said. " What we see right now in terms of automation, however, is that
the equipment that is autonomous is not necessarily replacing multiple people. It's
a little bit of a concern to our growers that some of those machines just replace a
tractor driver. "
" The target for us is being able to replace entire crews of tired people. That's our
number one priority, " Pincot said.
Primary needs for specialty agriculture include data, sustainability and
accessibility tools.
" Just an autonomous tractor is not going to solve the challenges, " Penmetsa said.
" What we need to figure out is how to automate operations, whether it's harvesting,
planting, cultivating and all the other operations that happen on the field.
" One of the challenges we are also seeing is that the farm economics currently do
not support multimillion-dollar machines. This hugely limits how many people can
access the technology. Technology has to be accessible and scalable. "
Ag tech companies commonly provide full-service support for growers. Companies
rent machines to producers and will also operate the equipment, collect and
analyze data and partner with third-party suppliers when necessary for full-service
management of a project. This enables farmers to avoid the need to hire and train
highly skilled operators, manage data sets and work outside their skill sets.
" Ultimately, I think we're going to need more and more of these robotic solutions
out there because farm laborers are only getting harder to find and the aging
workforce is real, " Duflock said.
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On April 28, the Mexican Supreme Court
ruled by a unanimous vote of 5-0 in favor of
overturning a 2017 lower court decision that
prevented the Mexican federal government
from implementing regulations to allow for the
importation of fresh U.S. potatoes throughout
the country.
Western drought spurs response from California
governor
With much of the West experiencing drought
conditions and California squarely in a second
consecutive dry year, Gov. Gavin Newsom
on April 21 directed state agencies to take
immediate action to bolster drought resilience
and prepare for impacts on communities,
businesses and ecosystems if dry conditions
extend to a third year.
Texas onion industry has first-ever marketing
campaign
In an effort to tell the story of the Texas 1015
Sweet Onion, the Texas International Produce
Association has taken advantage of a USDA
Specialty Crop Grant administered by the Texas
Department of Agriculture. This effort will be
largely focused on directly reaching American
consumers through a variety of platforms,
engagements and awareness campaigns.
AeroFarms expands global headquarters
To support its corporate expansion,
AeroFarms recently completed the build out
of an additional 25,000 square-feet at its
headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, for new
office space and more expansive R&D and
Innovation Centers of Excellence.
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THEY SAID IT
- MARTIN WIEDMANN, CORNELL UNIVERSITY
I think in terms of sanitary equipment design we can
learn a lot from the meatpacking industry. "
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June 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2021
