Cultivating innovation + change agents in the agriculture industry

The diamondback moth (DBM) has become a growing operational crisis for brassica growers along California’s Central Coast. In recent years, however the escalating DBM pressure has led to significant crop damage, rising rejection rates, and sharply increasing production costs—placing real strain on the economic viability of many farming operations. What was once a localized pest issue has become a region-wide challenge, with the Central Coast now experiencing some of the most severe impacts on brassica production.

I wanted to share some of the recent activity in the Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology (WGCIT) and at our partners at Reservoir Farms. Both are great locations for meeting with elected officials for the same reason. We have several prominent growers and WG Board members within a short drive of both, which makes it easy for us to get our members involved in the conversations. In addition, we have many AgTech startups that are regularly in Salinas Valley because that’s either their headquarters or it’s their US headquarters if they’re based internationally. Access to startups and growers makes for productive conversations with elected officials because they are literally where the rubber meets the road (or more accurately where the robots and biologicals meet the fields and plants).

KipTraq Introduces “Brandi,” a Powerful New AI Assistant KipTraq is excited to announce the launch of Brandi, our new AI assistant built directly into the KipTraq platform. Designed to simplify complex workflows, Brandi can instantly summarize thousands of inspections—data, comments, and observations—and deliver a concise, easy‑to‑read briefing in English or Spanish. These summaries can also be automatically emailed to your team on a customized schedule.

It’s here! Yes, folks, last week was World Agri-Tech in San Francisco, and so once again that means that the team at AgFunderNews released their annual report Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report 2026, which goes in-depth (as always!) into the funding highlights and analysis of why things changed in 2025 and are likely to continue changing in 2026. I have had the chance to read the report for the first time this week. I will give it a couple more reads in the next few weeks, and I often like to compare the content and context to prior years to see where there are some lessons to be learned across multiple years that you don’t always get from a single year analysis. The AgFunderNews is one of the key pieces of analysis for AgriFoodTech. It’s the AgriFoodTech version of Mary Meeker’s Internet Report, and it’s absolutely must-see TV (or must-read print!).

Last Monday marked a milestone moment for the Western fresh produce ecosystem with the grand opening of Reservoir Farms in Salinas. This new commercial-scale site isn’t just another operation breaking ground; it’s an inflection point for the future of agricultural innovation. For years, both innovators and growers have pointed to the gap between early stage development and real‑world commercial testing. Reservoir Farms is designed to close that gap, and its opening signals a major acceleration point for AgTech across the Western U.S.

The WG Innovation team would like to offer a new front door for AgTech startups that want to talk to Western Growers members. I am excited to share the release of the new page that our partners at Plug and Play have put together: Western Growers Association | Startup Intake Form

Next week is shaping up to be a milestone moment for the AgTech community, with major events unfolding across the Central Coast and the Bay Area. From the launch of a new farming venture in Salinas to one of the industry’s most influential global summits, stakeholders across the agricultural innovation ecosystem will have a full and meaningful week of connection, collaboration, and advancement.

The race to develop reliable, scalable automated harvesting solutions is no longer a regional priority; it has become a global imperative. Around the world, growers are grappling with shrinking labor pools, rising production costs, and mounting pressure to maintain a stable food supply. This week marked an important step toward addressing these challenges collaboratively, as Western Growers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI) to accelerate automated harvesting innovation in both the United States and Australia.

We are excited to share that Monday was the Grand Opening for Reservoir Farms first location in Salinas. There were over 300 RSVPs as of last Friday and I am writing this before driving down for the Grand Opening, so we expect several hundred people to come by and support the launch. Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue and Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia will be joining the event for keynote remarks.

Ganaz is a workforce management platform for agriculture with a mass communications system as its first tool.

FieldIn is an end-to-end pest management software solution for professional growers of specialty crops.

Pago is creating a smarter food supply, one app at a time.

TRIC Robotics is an agricultural technology company helping farmers control pests and disease using ultraviolet light as an alternative for chemical pesticides.

A robot for every crop, condition, terrain. Whether you’re a small family farm or a large commercial grower Farm-ng builds tools designed to adapt.

GeoVisual’s OnSight platform is an early warning and monitoring system that helps improve crop yields and reduce losses by detecting problems in the field earlier and with more precision.