Welcoming Western Growers to New Zealand

Wharf42 is delighted to welcome Dennis Donohue, Director of the Western Growers Innovation and Technology Centre, based in Salinas, California, to attend and speak at the 2035 Oceania Summit.

We first met Dennis back in 2016 when we co-hosted the first New Zealand agritech delegation to Silicon Valley. Since then, we have met many times. The COVID pandemic has meant of course that most of those more recent meetings have been virtual and held over ZOOM.

Over the past 12 months however, we have worked together to help establish the Western Growers CIT Global Advisory Board. Today, this provides an opportunity for Western Grower members to learn more about some of the emerging agritech solutions that can help them address some their biggest challenges. These include;

• issues around labor (lack of and cost of),
• water (a deepening drought across California, Nevada & Arizona brought on by climate change), and
• the ongoing challenges around food security and pest management solutions.

Western Grower members account for over 50% of all North American fresh produce production. Representing over 60 specialty crops across the vegetable, fruit, nuts and organic sectors, they are the largest single player in this space.

Dennis’s presence will provide New Zealand and Australian agritech start-ups and scale-ups with an opportunity to learn more about the Center and its Grower Trial Network. It’s a unique offering that provides global agritech businesses with the opportunity to trial their technology solutions to validate market fit.

If you are looking to enter the US market, Dennis’s session is one that you will not want to miss.