No Silver Bullets, Just Solutions at Growing Innovations 2019
December 20, 2019 Talking about ag technology adoption is a tricky thing, because we always seem to be looking for someone to build the perfect solution. There’s bound to be an idea for a silver bullet out there that will solve all of our crop production challenges, and it’s probably just around the corner. We just need to find someone to develop it. Right?
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But in that quest for the next big thing, we often overlook the opportunities that are right in front of us. That was a theme of this year’s Growing Innovations, held in Las Vegas last month. Fruit, vegetable, and ornamental growers, crop consultants, researchers, and suppliers gathered for this two-day conference and expo focused on innovative tools and techniques that growers are putting to work today. Attendees had the opportunity to learn from these success stories and find potential solutions for their own farming challenges.
“I think what you’ve got at Growing Innovations is people coming together that grow different crops, but they all have to irrigate, they all have to deal with data, they all have to deal with HR issues, they all have to deal with training talent,” said Vonnie Estes, Vice President of Technology for the Produce Marketing Association. “You can learn from each other. ‘How are you solving that problem?’”
Sharing successful approaches to common problems is really important, said Danny Royer, President & CEO of Great Valley Oak, LLC.
“I’ve presented at a lot of events over the last few years, and this was the highest concentration of growers I’ve ever presented to,” Royer said. “Getting growers in an environment where innovation is being talked about is hugely beneficial, especially if you are a farm that has a younger generation that is interested in learning how we move things forward. Meet other people who are asking the same questions, collaborate and learn, and get exposure to all of the awesome technology that exists today.”
While new technology certainly gets a lot of attention at events, one of the most interesting angles discussed at Growing Innovations was unique uses for existing technology. Drones, for example, have been a hot topic in agriculture for a while now. The primary focus has been vision applications — flying over fields with cameras to learn more about crop conditions; pest, water, or nutrient-induced stresses; and other hard-to-see-at-ground-level tasks. But one conference presentation discussed using drones to apply beneficial insects over fields and orchards quickly and efficiently. Another illustrated how drones are being used to apply pollen during critical times when natural or supplemental pollinator resources aren’t enough.
Those real-world discussions carried over into other areas as well: artificial intelligence in the greenhouse. Autonomous tractors, sprayers, and other equipment in the field and the packinghouse. New techniques for precise — and fast — disease diagnostics. Innovative approaches to critical issues like food safety. There was even a session on creative methods like “machine as a service” to help growers afford to use many of these advances.
In addition to conference sessions and networking, attendees had the opportunity to meet directly with more than 75 leading-edge suppliers, both on the expo floor and in a series of solutions-focused presentations in the Growing Innovations GRO TALKS theater.
“There’s a really good list of solution providers here at the Growing Innovations conference that are helping growers look at their problems from a new set of perspectives, a different set of eyes, and a different set of technologies. It’s creating new approaches to solving age-old problems, not necessarily just creating new problems to fit whatever the technology is,” said Vince Restucci, Director of Procurement & Business Technology for R.D. Offutt Farms.
Taking a clear-eyed view of what’s happening in the field, and how growers are finding real solutions to their challenges can make it a little less appealing to sit back and wait for that silver-bullet technology.
“One of the themes everyone — exhibitors and growers — talked a lot about is applied technology, across a wide spectrum of the types of technologies that a growing operation would use,” said John Beauford, President/CTO of Advanced Grower Solutions. “Here’s what I experienced in applying this technology. Here’s what worked. Here’s what didn’t work. Here’s what it cost. It’s a really transparent environment to say, ‘Learn from what I did and try to take that back to your operation and improve it.”
To learn more about the program and this year’s solutions providers, visit GrowingInnovations.com.
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