Salinas Valley AgTech Summit focusing on today
Hartnell College is getting ready to host its annual AgTech Summit on Wednesday featuring a host of startup companies, agriculture businesses and keynote speakers.
This year’s theme focuses on technology of the future that is available now.
“This event reflects the Salinas Valley’s place in agriculture technology,” said Scott Faust, a spokesperson for Hartnell College.
On Tuesday, the college hosted a networking event for businesses, ag companies and sponsors, highlighting the importance of collaboration in this fast-paced industry.
“I can meet farmers that have needs that we can solve,” said Chris Bley, founder of Insight Up Solutions.
“When students are able to come here and see that there’s people coming from all over the world… number one, that’s going to inspire them in the classroom, really get them excited,” said Clint Cowden, the dean of workforce development at Hartnell College.
This year’s theme is “Tomorrow’s Technology You Can Use Today.”
“What can people learn, hear, gather, see in action that they can take away and put it to action in their own business right away,” said Faust.
Things like using drones to spot problems in crop fields like the need for more water.
“We’ll send up a drone with a camera system on it depending on the resolution we want to gather,” said Bley. “And then once we capture that information, we process it and then assemble it into a map layer.”
It sounds complicated, but it gives farmers a chance to care for their fields more concisely than before.
“We’re kind of on the cutting edge of some of this work,” said Bley.
And for students, the AgTech Summit will be a treasure trove of opportunity.
“We have a vendor here today that he’s on track to hiring 15 of our students. This year. Why? Because he started off with one intern. That intern was phenomenal… two, three, then it continues to go,” said Cowden.
Close to 800 people are expected to participate in the summit ranging from ag production to ag business to pest control experts.
