New immigration pressures on labor pool is hot-button subject at Forbes Agtech Summit Thursday

More than 600 of the brightest minds in agriculture have joined with those from Silicon Valley to tackle challenges faced when trying to feed a growing population.

Some highlights for Thursday: At 9:45 a.m. they’ll look at how consumer choices are changing as they have more ways than ever for getting food. At 11:25 a.m. the discussion is centered on how farms can optimize their manpower in a time when immigration crackdowns and rising minimum wages are affecting the way farms hire.

“This year, first and foremost, labor is on everyone’s mind. You have a rising minimum wage, you have immigration pressures, you have pressure on migrant workers. So we really want to get to the heart of it and discuss it,” said Forbes AgTech Summit Executive Producer Paul Noglows.

On Wednesday marijuana made its big debut at the summit, as it’s the latest crop on the Central Coast. They also went to Hartnell College where Ag inventors and innovators got to show off their farming technology.

This is the third time Salinas is hosting the Forbes Agtech Summit.