Try Acres for free: https://www.acres.co/
IFPA's Fresh Field Catalyst Accelerator: https://www.freshproduce.com/resources/technology/fresh-field-catalyst/
"Taste is King" on the Fresh Takes on Tech podcast: https://www.freshproduce.com/resources/technology/takes-on-tech-podcast/episode-56-taste-is-king/
"Locally Grown Through Vertical Farming on the Fresh Takes on Tech podcast: https://www.freshproduce.com/resources/technology/takes-on-tech-podcast/episode-59-locally-grown-through-vertical-farming/
"Traceability is Crucial to the World Produce Industry" on the Fresh Takes on Tech podcast: https://www.freshproduce.com/resources/technology/takes-on-tech-podcast/episode-55-traceability-is-crucial-to-the-world-produce-industry/
"New Innovations are Improving All Aspects of Our Produce Supply Chain" on the Fresh Takes on Tech podcast: https://www.freshproduce.com/resources/technology/takes-on-tech-podcast/episode-68-live-from-the-global-show-2022-part-four/
"The Future of Automation is in the Fields" on the Fresh Takes on Tech podcast: https://www.freshproduce.com/resources/technology/takes-on-tech-podcast/episode-57-the-future-of-automation--is-in-the-fields/
Today’s episode features Vonnie Estes, vice president of innovation at the International Fresh Produce Association or IFPA. You probably noticed in our opening segment more than just Vonnie’s voice. That’s because we will be playing clips of some of the entrepreneurs and mentors that participated in IFPA’s Fresh Field Catalyst this past year.
You see, Vonnie reached out about coming back onto the podcast to talk about how applications are open for their second cohort. After talking to Vonnie and hearing about how the first cohort went, I realized this would be a great chance to talk about tech and innovation in the produce industry in general. Our conversation today covers some of the challenges facing this industry, including water, labor, food safety, traceability, quality, compliance and more. And you’ll hear from entrepreneurs and industry leaders about differentiation, consumer preferences, indoor ag, traceability, and automation and robotics.
Before we dive in, I want to make it clear that the intention of the accelerator is to attract companies that already have a product in the market somewhere. That could be a market outside of agriculture, or perhaps in row crops, or maybe in produce but in another geography. So they’re looking for companies that already have some traction, but maybe haven’t directed much focus to produce yet but think that there might be value in that market. If that sounds like you or someone you know, applications close soon: March 20 of 2023. I’ll link to the application in the show notes.
You may remember hearing from Vonnie back in episode 270 of this podcast. To refresh your memory, she has held leadership positions at prominent companies including DuPont, Monsanto, and Syngenta along with start-ups including DNAP, Emergent Genetics, and Caribou Biosciences. She has a BS in Horticulture from New Mexico State and a Masters in Plant Pathology from UC Davis.
In addition to Vonnie, you’re going to hear clips from some of the entrepreneurs and mentors in the program’s first cohort. These clips came from Vonnie’s podcast called Fresh Takes on Tech. You definitely want to go check that out. I’ll link to it in the show notes as well.
FoA 345: Alphabet's Moonshot to Scale Sustainable Agriculture via Machine Learning with Dr. Elliott Grant of Mineral
FoA 344: Farmland Data with Dr. Aaron Shew of Acres by AcreTrader
FoA 343: Artficial Intelligence, Knowledge Graphs, and a Cloud for Agriculture with Krishna Kumar of CropIn
FoA 342: Leading from the farm: insights from farmer innovators
FoA 341: California Cotton and Climate Coalition with Cannon Michael and Rebecca Burgess
FoA 340: Building farm-ready robots with Hunter Jay of Ripe Robotics
FoA 339: Carbon neutral foods with Ann Radil and Jim Jarman of Neutral
FoA 338: Animal Feed as a Food Waste Solution with Justin Kamine of Do Good Foods
FoA 337: Synthetic biology for nature-based and data-driven farming with Travis Bayer and Adam Litle of Sound Agriculture
FoA 336: Agtech for grain marketing and risk management with Dakota Hoben of Farmers Risk
FoA 335: Farming isn't natural, but it can be more sustainable with Alex Smith of the Breakthrough Institute
FoA 334: Cybersecurity in Agribusiness with Mike Moore of Ever.Ag
FoA 333: Farm Labor Challenges in Specialty Crops with Mike and April Clayton of Red Apple Orchards
FoA 332: Field Information Infrastructure with Dan Rooney, Ph.D. of LandScan
FoA 331: Building Local Frozen Fruit Supply Chains with Alex Piasecki of Seal the Seasons
FoA 330: 10 Former Guests That Have Been Acquired...and what we can learn from them
FoA 329: Predictive Analytics for Soil Biology with Mike Tweedy of Pattern Ag
FoA 328: Value Added Processing with Darren Bondar of Hempalta and Chris Theal of Phyto Organix
FoA 327: Plant Breeding's Past, Present and Future with Marcel Bruins, Ph.D.
FoA 326: Regenerative Agriculture in Specialty Crops with Silas Rossow of California Ag Solutions
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