Resident Programming at The Center: Casual Wednesday October
Posted on October 07, 2016 08:56 AM by WGCIT
The Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology hosted our first “Casual Wednesday” this week. With two extra special guests—Kate Hitchcock, Harvest Manager at Mesa Packing, and Colby Pereira, Food Safety Manager for Costa Farms—our startups were able to ask local growers questions about their farming, harvesting, planning, and food safety practices. By way of introduction, Hank Giclas, Senior Vice President Science & Technology at Western Growers, discussed the mission behind The Center and our AgTech startups.
Inteligistics presented their temperature monitoring technology, and discussed the importance of the cold chain in product integrity and food safety. iFoodDecisionSciences discussed how their software can streamline processes and create food safety program efficiencies. HarvestPort was able to introduce their shared assets marketplace model to the startups and growers in attendance.
Issues Discussed:
· Food Safety
· Labor
· Robotics
· Education gaps with Technology
· Water Quality
· Sensors
· Solar Energy vs. Natural Gas
· Air Quality vs. Air Regulations Regionally
· Circular Economy (Farm Waste)
· Field Trials and Benchmarking
Thank you to everyone that joined us at The Center! For those of you that missed this one, we hope to see you next month (details TBD).