Agritech New Zealand is delighted to be working with Callaghan Innovation to once again support kiwi agritech businesses wanting to attend the annual Silicon Valley AgTech Immersion Program & Conference. This is the third year that New Zealand will be taking a major delegation of early stage and established agritech professionals to learn more about Silicon Valley’s rapidly expanding agtech innovation & investment space.

Over the past two years, 40+ New Zealand agritech businesses have attending the Program and Conference. Many, including TracMap, Robotics Plus, GPS-it and Autogrow have gone on to establish a formal presence in North America to both grow their own footprint and generate increased export sales for NZ.

Traffic has not been one-way. Investors such as George Kellerman from Silicon Valley-based Yamaha Motor Ventures; Driscoll, the world’s largest producer of berries; and other leading US agribusinesses & venture funds, led by Arama Kukutai of Finistere Ventures, have made the return trip (s) to New Zealand. I myself will be back in San Francisco in 10 days’ time, representing Agritech New Zealand at both the Mixing Bowl Food IT & Forbes Live conferences. Momentum is building as New Zealand’s agritech presence in the Bay area becomes more prominent and visible.

From Monday 27 – Thursday 30 August, the New Zealand delegation will be joining an expected 100 other international delegates for the 3-day immersion program and 1-day conference. Callaghan & Agritech New Zealand have been working with our partners, Silicon Valley Forum, to help build this year’s program. On Friday 31 August, we are planning a New Zealand-only day, where we will discuss the opportunities for closer collaboration with partners from across North America.

The focus of this year’s program is around horticulture and cropping.

It’s great to acknowledge the commitment that the team at Callaghan continue to input into this initiative. The payback to New Zealand is immense, as new opportunities for investment into New Zealand agritech businesses become more apparent, and access to the North American market better supported.

Callaghan has today released more details of the 2018 Immersion Program & Conference. Agritech New Zealand encourages you to view the information here. https://www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz/news-and-events/silicon-valley-agritech-2018

Agritech New Zealand will be joining the kiwi delegation at its base this year in San Jose. We very much hope that you will join us.

 Peter Wren-Hilton