One of the most interesting events I've attended this year was the 2024 Biologics Conference in Salinas. It took me back to my early professional years as well as my life-long interest in growing food.
I have fond memories of rice fields, water, and my fascination with the rainbow colors over the water (product of the oily spray of DDT) at my parents' farm in Acarigua. Decades later, I was completely in love with physics, communism, and the church (who wants a boring life anyways). Yet, instead of exploring space, I read "La miseria en Venezuela" by Chossudovsky, and decided to devote my life to feeding people. I studied agronomy and spent years in plant genetics...
Fast forward 40 years or so, I find myself in my element, but more so, back to the basics that make my love agriculture: it is a caring industry. Farmers are heroes: they care for plants (or animals), for their workers, for the soil, the environment, the clients (and the users), the machinery, and the community.
Farmers do not work in isolation, in time and space. They care. Their decisions have long implications for themselves, their community, the people that buy from them, and the people that eat their products. What a difference to AI, SaaS, cybersecurity, e-commerce, etc... where consequences are limited in time and space.
Key insights from the conference:
1. Biologics are produced from living organisms or contain components of living organisms.
2. Farmers have great insights on the use, and consequences of the use of biologics in agriculture.
3. Brazil is leading the regulation of biologics, followed closely by the USA and specifically, California.
4. Cooperation is essential. Individuality doesn't work in agriculture.
5. International collaboration is growing: the Platform 10 Global Partner Network is leading the way: https://www.platform10.ag/
6. Investors are cautious, none of the big crop protection companies has strong biologicals R&D capabilities (and M&A are not common).
7. Biologics need a third party validation.
8. MixingBowlHub.com has a great compendium of the biologics landscape.
9. Farmers are united in finding better ways to create food and care for their land.
10. AI/ML helps develop new molecules but still have to earn regulatory, validation, and customer acquisition.
The conference was also a testimony of diversity and inclusion, camaraderie, and excellence.
Very grateful to Martha Montoya for alerting me to the Conference. In awe of the Western Growers Association, specially Dennis Donohue and Walt Duflock, super cool to meet big researchers like Pam Marrone and Richard Newcomb; community builders Rob Trice and Chris Taylor; consumer expert Sherry Frey and great to finally meet Danny Bernstein, VC investor, amongst the many talented, fun and progressive people.
Refreshing, nurturing, deep, and natural.
