China will need to push agtech innovation: insiders

From precision agriculture and food safety, to energy efficiency and water conservation, Silicon Valley and China have much to collaborate on through agtech innovation, insiders say.

Both countries face common challenges in agriculture, such as a shortage of farm labor, water scarcity risks, rising temperatures and a decrease in arable land per capita.

Over the past 50 years, arable land has decreased 60 percent as a result of population growth and rapid urbanization.

"The major discrepancy between supply and demand for food creates a major opportunity for innovation to come up with new ways of farming and delivering food," said John Hartnett, founder and CEO of SVG Partners, a Silicon Valley-based investment and advisory firm.

The current world population of 7.3 billion is expected to reach around 9.7 billion by 2050, according to a report by the United Nations' Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

The middle class is projected to increase from 1.2 billion people to 4.5 billion by 2050, which is "very much led by China", Hartnett said.

This is creating a massive demand – over 70 percent more food has to be produced by then – and the No 1 country being affected by the challenge around supply of food and population is China, he added.

"The solution is going to be innovation, as technologies will improve logistics, robotics and information to farmers," he said, "We must partner together to solve these problems between Silicon Valley, the Salinas Valley and China."

Hartnett founded the Thrive Accelerator program in Salinas, California, home to some of the world's pioneering agricultural firms, to help agtech and food-tech startups deploy their technologies and improve their businesses.

This year, the program has attracted 200 participants from 38 countries, double the number of the previous year. Three winners in "overall innovation", "sustainability" and "operational excellence" will be announced Wednesday during the demo day.

Partnered with some of the big names in agriculture and technology, including Land O'Lakes, Verizon and Taylor Farms, the program will mentor the startups in marketing, finance and other areas.

Hartnett said the firm expects "greater participation with Chinese startup companies. "We are actively looking to partner and work with Chinese accelerators, investors and government to help fund some of the startups in China," he said.

"China-US collaboration in agricultural technology is a natural trend, because we share one global village," said Qian He, a professor of food safety and quality control at China's Jiangnan University. "We have reached consensus that it takes every country's efforts to meet the food demand while considering the environment and people's health.

"Now is an opportune time to push for agtech innovation and collaboration," she said. "Chinese people are increasingly aware of the significance of innovation, as the government has been actively promoting mass innovation and entrepreneurship."

Silicon Valley is the No 1 location in the world in creating technologies and attracting entrepreneurs, said Hartnett. "So on the technology front, we would like to build a strong gateway between Silicon Valley and China to identify some of the top tech companies and solutions and deploy the technologies in the industry," he said.

There's also great momentum for investment, according to Hartnett. "Two years ago, investment in agriculture and agtech was less than $1 billion in the US, and this year, it attracts $4 billion. So this is a forward-looking indicator for a new ‘big opportunity' area," he said.

"We see investment both ways," Hartnett said. "We'd also like to partner with Chinese investors who are looking at other companies through our program and potentially bring those companies to China and deploy their technologies."

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com