An ag tech conference sets the stage for Salinas as a hub for farming’s tech-enabled future.

Over three days in September, the Salinas Sports Complex was transformed into an expansive expo floor displaying autonomous tractors, AI-powered weeders and unmanned spray drones. Dozens of exhibitors set up booths along the dirt-covered rodeo floor, as thousands of attendees perused the stands, shaking hands and hearing sales pitches.

The occasion was FIRA USA 2023, an agricultural technology conference organized by the Western Growers Association, University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources research arm, and the Global Organization For Agricultural Robotics (GOFAR). An American offshoot of GOFAR’s annual World FIRA event in France, FIRA USA launched last year in Fresno but this year made its way to Salinas – where local organizers and industry stakeholders believe the region’s powerhouse ag sector, coupled with its proximity to Silicon Valley and a budding ag tech workforce, makes the area primed to become a hub for agricultural technology.

“The shift to intelligent automation, on top of mechanization, is taking place – and Salinas has been in the middle of it for some time,” says Dennis Donohue, the former Salinas mayor who’s now director of Western Growers’ Center for Innovation & Technology. Exhibitors from 11 countries, as well as 1,700-plus attendees from more than 30 countries, showed up to FIRA USA – including global companies that are establishing a permanent presence in the Salinas Valley to better serve customers, like France-based farming robot manufacturer Naïo Technologies.

Those companies are not only drawn by the opportunity to serve the Salinas Valley’s year-round fields of leafy greens, berries and other crops. Regional educational institutions have also invested heavily in recent years to develop ag tech programs, training a workforce skilled in both traditional ag and tech realms like engineering, computer science and mechatronics.

Hartnell College is among those institutions, parlaying millions of dollars in grants and donations from local giants like Taylor Farms and Rio Farms to train the next generation of ag tech workers. Clint Cowden, Hartnell’s dean of career technical education and workforce development, says around 100 of his students attended FIRA USA – including one who “walked away with 15 different business cards of companies that are looking for our style of students.”

“Our students come with agriculture in their DNA – their families are working in it, they’re working in it, and they’re excited to be a part of this new economy,” Cowden says. He notes that Hartnell’s ag tech programs offer companies a pool of trained employees who “speak English and Spanish, understand Python [programming] and soil texture by feel.”

While next year’s FIRA USA conference will be held in Davis, Donahue says Salinas is already set to host the event again in 2025. The expo’s continued presence should further his goal of “connecting the Salinas Valley with Silicon Valley,” he adds.