Can you troubleshoot a robot-aided tractor? Modesto forum explores emerging farm jobs
A robot-aided sprayer sat in the rear of a Modesto Junior College lecture hall as Curtis Garner described what it does on a farm.
He took part in a Wednesday afternoon forum on the emerging workforce needs in California agriculture.
Garner and other speakers said graduates need not just high-tech skills but old-school virtues such as being on time and learning from mistakes.
“We really value conscientiousness, somebody that’s going to go above and beyond, someone that can be a fast learner,” Garner said in an interview between sessions. He is co-founder and chief operating officer at Verdant Robotics.
The event also featured Karen Ross, the state secretary of food and agriculture, who touched on the Stanislaus 2030 plan for bioindustry jobs in the county.
The forum was sponsored by MJC and the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology, based in Salinas. Speakers from Merced College, UC Davis and several companies took part.
Farmers are a few decades into using computers to monitor crop health, irrigation, food-safety safeguards and other tasks. Robotics and other recent innovations have brought a need for even more training.
Verdant Robotics employs 52 people and is looking for more, Garner said. The company is based in Hayward and works in the Central Valley and other major farm regions.
Garner said the robotics on the sprayer can discern a young carrot plant from a weed. The former gets a dose of liquid fertilizer. The latter is hit with an herbicide.
Panelist Ron Ratto is co-owner of Ratto Bros., which grows dozens of vegetables west of Modesto. He said the employees mainly do the basic tasks of harvesting produce and keeping it fresh for shipping, but high-tech helps with things like monitoring food safety.
Several speakers noted a challenge in attracting tech-savvy workers from cooler regions such as the Bay Area and Central Coast.
“There’s no cachet to being the IT tech on a farm in Firebaugh,” said Neill Callis, general manager of Turlock Fruit Co. It packs melons and asparagus from the West Side of the San Joaquin Valley.
The tech revolution now includes tractors with a driverless option, such as those launched in December from Monarch Tractor in Livermore. The state has held off on approving their use out of concerns they might injure farmworkers and also trim their numbers.
Supporters say remote-controlled tractors actually reduce the risk of injury, pesticide poisoning and heat stress, while freeing workers from repetitive tasks.
“It’s about easing their work and letting them do more meaningful work,” Ross said.
The secretary oversees food safety, pest detection and several other farm-related concerns. She planned private visits Thursday to some of the companies involved in Stanislaus 2030.
That plan envisions thousands of jobs in turning crop and other waste into fuel, plastics, building materials and other goods. The partners include MJC and UC Merced, which could train some of the workers in bioindustry.
“This is the hotbed of food and beverage processing,” Ross said, “and this is going to be the best example of the connected, circular economy.”
