Produce Podcasts

Walt Duflock Unpacks the Future of Farming and Ag Tech

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 19:42:59 GMT

Walt Duflock, senior vice president of Western Growers, doesn’t have “ag tech bouncer” in his title, but maybe he should. Duflock shares some of what makes his role at Western Growers unique on the latest episode of “The Packer Podcast.”

Duflock says his role and Western Growers’ role is to help ag tech startups on the journey from idea to real-world impacts. He estimates there’s more than 2,000 startups in the ag tech and biologicals space, and there’s about 2,300 members of Western Growers.

“There’s no way that any of them can take calls from all 2,000 vendors,” he says.

He says ag labor in the state of California costs growers $16.3 billion a year at around 850 million hours of farm labor. And two-thirds of that 850 million hour is harvest, which is a challenge to automate.

“We work hard to get the one-third of the non-harvest, the weeding, thinning, planting, spraying out there at scale,” he says.

So, Duflock says it’s his job to help these startups understand what’s needed every step in the development of a new innovation.

“Our role is to kind of be the chief coordinator, the general manager, if you will, of the space and help those startups understand: What do you need to know at the start? What do you need to know when you go into trials? What do you need to go that first time you talk to the grower? And what do you need to show that grower in terms of economics? That shows them your tool can come in and help them, not just by doing the job, but by doing the job in economics that work for them,” he says.

Duflock, a fifth-generation farmer with more than 30 years’ experience in Silicon Valley startups (including eBay), says ag tech is the toughest space for startups to operate in.

“No space requires more patience than ag tech, and that’s the one thing startups don’t all get a lot of,” he says. “If you took venture capital money and you got venture capital board members breathing down your neck to deliver, deliver, deliver, it can be really tough. So, the first thing we tell startups is listen, play for the long game and build a product that is going to do the job no matter how long it takes.”

Because with specialty crop agriculture being such a tight-knit community, he says, growers will talk.

“Inevitably, it’s not always the stuff that does work that gets shared with everybody, widely,” he says. “It’s quite often the stuff that didn’t work. So, they’ll warn their friends off of taking some bad pass, but they may hold the good stuff a little closer to their chest.”

Duflock says he coaches ag tech startups to tailor the message to the audience, whether that’s a grower or an investor. He says startups need to understand that when discussing innovations with growers, it’s about improving economics and experience working with growers of a similar type of operation. And startups need a healthy dose of patience.

“That’s the trick for startups, is we’re one of the slower-moving spaces, so people just have to adjust their time frames and expectations on that side,” he says.

One thing Duflock encourages growers and startups to do is focus on the economics. He tells growers it’s important to discuss their economics to make sure the innovations would truly make a difference to their bottom line. And, Duflock says he tells startups the same thing, if they’re not able to show exactly how the economics of the solution pans out for the grower.

“[I] tell the startups, look, if you can’t get to the level of detail, you’re not there,” he says. “You’re not ready to sell it, you’re ready to share your machine. You’re ready to demo, but you’re not ready to trial or offer a sale to anybody. So, keeping both sides focused on economics has been one of the big wins the last couple of years.”

What to know about biologicals for produce

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 18:57:18 GMT

Biocontrols. Biopesticides. Biologicals. These words are often used interchangeably and mean similar, but different things. In this “Tip of the Iceberg” podcast episode, Pam Marrone, co-founder and executive chairperson of the Invasive Species Corporation, takes a look at the rapidly changing biological industry.

Marrone, whose career in the biologicals and fresh produce industry spans several companies, said biocontrols can mean something such as predatory mites — controlling one bug with another — or biopesticides, products with microorganisms or microbials. While it might be easy to assume biological products are used solely by organic growers, that’s not the case, Marrone said.

“Seventy percent of all biologicals and biocontrols are used by conventional farmers,” she said. “Most biocontrols or biopesticides are listed as organic, but there are some natural materials that are not registered as biologicals or biopesticides but are organic.”

She said an example is spinosads or pyrethrums.

“They’re natural materials because they have a toxic mode of action,” Marrone said. “Not all organics organic materials and organic pesticides are biological pesticides and registered as biologicals; some are registered as chemicals.”

Benefits to using biological products, especially in produce, include lower minimal risk levels, maximum residue levels, and preharvest and reentry intervals, so growers could spray a biological product close to harvest and still harvest and export the crop.

“You don’t harm beneficials. You can have better biodiversity in the field, improve soil health but at the same time actually increase yield and quality,” Marrone said. “Typically, when biologicals are incorporated into programs you see better quality and then pest management than with chemical only programs because of that synergy of the modes of action.”

Marrone said the biological and biocontrol categories continue to grow. While biological products might make up only 10% of inputs currently, that number will rise, she said.

“The predictions are, by 2040, the biological market and size will be equal to chemicals,” Marrone said. “Chemicals are only growing at 5% a year and biologicals are growing 10% to 20%, so they’re going to cross over at some point.”

Growers interested in adding biologicals need to work with their vendors to understand how to clearly handle the product and set realistic expectations of how the products work, as there is a bit of a difference in terms of application and modes of action.

For growers who are hesitant to use biologicals or had a bad experience using them in the past, Marrone said it’s worth giving them a try.

“If you used a biological five years ago, you got to try it again,” she said. “The technology is changing so fast. We have new tools to improve the products now. That’s the thing with biologicals, you can keep improving them and it’s worth looking at them again. If you’ve tried them and it didn’t work some years ago, it’s worth trying them again.”

Make Ag Retail Sales Fun Again

Thu, 29 Sep 2022 13:53:39 GMT

Jason Hanson and two ag industry pros are launching Ag Mafia –a consultancy group focused on training ag sales people. Hanson details how they’ll lean on their real-world experience to earn their stripes and what others can learn from their successes and maybe missteps.

Hanson says in his 25+ year career, the technology has changed the most. With roles including sales agronomist, technical agronomist and independent consultant he says one lesson has stuck with him.

“I know I have to perform every year and deepen the customer relationship,” Hanson says. “You can’t take a loyal customer for granted.”

Ag Mafia will provide training, resources and mentorship for those working in ag sales.

“We want to make this fun again—or ‘funner,’” Hanson says.

The founders of Ag Mafia say they’ve seen manufacturers become more sales focused and aren’t providing as high of a level of background services such as traing.

“There used to be a lot of training, and that’s kind of disappeared. There’s still a need for it because you still have all the young newer people coming into the business,” he says.

The sales piece is the bread and butter for the industry, but it requires an understanding of process, efficiency and soft skills.

“I know for me, it was a long time to get the process of how to sell figured out,” Hanson says. “A lot of businesses are trying to reach your customers or new customers more efficiently. There are tools you can use to measure traction of certain emails or messages to make you more efficient.”

He says mentorship is key to help build confidence and competency in the channel.

“For example, you have the meeting, and the meeting is over, and you get home and wonder why did you have that meeting. But if there’s if there’s follow up to a meeting, or in the case of if there’s some type of mentorship, then it kind of takes hold.”

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