Ag-Tech summit brings Silicon Valley experts to the Salinas Valley

A two day Ag Tech summit hosted by Forbes kicked off in Gonzalez on Wednesday.

The conference brings together farming professionals and experts from the Salinas Valley and Silicon Valley.

The event started with a reception and innovation showcase at the Constellation Winery in Gonzalez.

Ag-tech startups were there looking to make their mark on the Ag industry.

The summit focuses on the challenges the agriculture industry is facing and the new technology in the Ag community.

Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine, told News Channel 5 he is excited about the future of technology and agriculture and how energized people are about continuing to merge the two.

“You can do precise planting in a way that’s never been done before, increasing yields per acre in a way, on an exponential scale, and this is just the beginning. Tractors using computers instead of the human hand and getting vastly more precision there,” said Forbes.

According to Forbes, the country also needs to start producing about 70 percent more food because by 2050, the world’s population is expected to reach ten billion.

Dan Bigman, Managing Editor for Forbes, said in order to do that the agriculture industry needs to be more efficient in how it goes about growing food.

“We’re not going to get more land and if you look at the water scarcity here in California, that’s happening all over the world. There are a lot of things that aren’t changeable and aren’t in human’s control, but how we adapt to those things. We see that not only in our control, but one of the great business opportunities of our time,” said Dan Bigman, Managing Editor with Forbes Magazine.

Some of the companies expected to be at the summit include DuPont, John Deere and Monsanto.

The conference continues on Thursday under a tent on Main Street in Salinas.