MENLO PARK, CA - The produce industry is getting an injection of innovation at the latest event put on by SVG Partners. Today, the THRIVE AgTech Innovation Forum is bringing together executives to focus on the ways tech is impacting the ways fresh produce is grown, now, and into the future. The event features speakers such as Bruce Taylor, Kevin Murphy, and Michael Teel and is working to forge new partnerships across technology and agriculture. 

“California farmers are collaborating to accelerate technology development and deployment. The Thrive AgTech Innovation Forum helps nurture and speed this process of discovery,” said Chairman and CEO, Bruce Taylor, Taylor Farms, according to a press release.

The forum is bringing together entrepreneurs, technologists, investors, corporates, and farmers with featured speakers such as:

• Bruce Taylor, Chairman and CEO, Taylor Farms
• Michael Teel, CEO, Raley’s
• Kevin Murphy, CEO, Driscoll’s Berries
• Mike Macrie, CIO, Land O’Lakes
• Karen Caplan, CEO, Frieda’s Specialty Produce
• Sean O’Sullivan, Managing Partner, SOSV, Food-X
• Saida Ruscitto, Product & New Business Innovation IoT, Verizon Wireless
• George Kellerman, COO, General Partner, Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley.

The forum features the top 50 most innovative companies exemplifying the best in agriculture focused innovation with 11 companies presenting their solutions ranging across big data & analytics, biotechnology, cloud services, connected devices, robotics & automation, and supply chain & infrastructure:  

• Agronomic Technology Corp. | Cloud-based recommendation platform for farmers and agronomists  
• BrightFarms | Pioneering the future of local, low-impact farming  
• Strider | Precision agriculture platform for pest control  
• Resson | Bioinformatics and data analytics company, delivering customized agriculture solutions for large corporate clients  
• MagGrow | Magnetic Spraying System  
• PrecisionHawk | Fully autonomous UAV performing low altitude aerial data collection and subsequent data management and analysis  
• Advanced Animal Diagnostics | Developing diagnostic products to cure on-farm animal diseases  
• Granular | Software and analytics platform that helps farmers operate more efficiently and make better business decisions  
• AGERpoint | Redefining data acquisition, analysis, and translation for growers  
• Soft Robotics Inc. | Opening new markets to automation through the application and commercialization of proprietary soft robotics technology  
• Caribou Biosciences | Technology-based biotechnology solutions for cellular engineering and analysis based on the CRISPR-Cas9 technology platform

“The 2017 THRIVE AgTech Forum explores how leaders today across agriculture- from the field through the supply chain to the consumer- are working new technologies into our food system to achieve greater efficiencies, environmental stewardship, and consumer safety,” said John Hartnett, Founder & CEO, SVG Partners.

Since 2014, SVG Partner’s unique agtech accelerator platform, THRIVE, has supported seed and scaling agtech startups by providing well-resourced mentors from leading agriculture and technology companies, deployment, and investment opportunities. What began with the vision of transforming the city of Salinas into a world renowned agtech hub has flourished to become an ecosystem of over 800 agtech startups, mentors and corporate partners.

“The Thrive AgTech Innovation Forum provides the most diverse ecosystem of any AgTech event globally. This event is the only place where all of the strategic stakeholders in AgTech: venture capital, private equity, innovators, universities, startups, established agribusiness companies, corporate farms, distributors and growers can get together and discuss the future of agriculture. Through the fostering of these connections, we are able to very quickly see the progress of innovation, whether it is ready to be applied to our crops and markets, and determine whether we can partner with others to bring these solutions to our member-retailers and America’s farmers in a more expedient way” said Mike Macrie, Chief Information Officer, Land O’Lakes.

The THRIVE AgTech Innovation Forum is presented by SVG Partners in collaboration with partners Taylor Farms, Land O’Lakes, the City of Salinas, Wells Fargo, Western Growers Association, Panasonic, Verizon Wireless, Yamaha Motor Ventures and Laboratory Silicon Valley, Driscoll’s Berries, JV Smith, Raley’s, Softvision and Hahn Winery. Follow along by using the hashtag #THRIVEForum @THRIVEAgTech on Twitter.

THRIVE AgTech Taylor Farms