Interview: Ag Tech and the Smart Orchard with NWFM

In late July, PNW Ag Network attended the WSU Smart Orchard Field Day in Mattawa, Washington. Here we talked with Keith Veselka of NWFM about the importance of tech in a changing industry.

Keith Veselka: I'm with NWFM. We're a farm management company. We grow apples, cherries, and pears all over the state. Today's the Smart Orchard Day. We're out here displaying a bunch of ag technology to the industry. We've been working for the past few years with Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission and WSU to bring innovative and novel ideas, technologies to ag to help farmers do what they do.

PNW Ag: Now, there's so many companies out here. Are they all participating in the Smart Orchard? Do they have equipment out here already? Or are they just advertising?

Keith Veselka: I would say about 90% of the groups that are participating today have some kind of stake in the orchard, whether it's sensing or autonomous technology. We've demoed a lot of different tech just to see if it could scale. Could it work in the orchard? Does it save you money when you're doing farming? Or does it help make you money? And those are really important right now with kind of the ag recession that we're experiencing.

PNW Ag: You said some commissioners were here today?

Keith Veselka: Yes, the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. There are a few commissioners here today. I'm a commissioner myself. I'm co-chair of the Ag Technology Committee with Jeff Cleveringa.

PNW Ag: Are there any other important figures here we need to call out?

Keith Veselka: We have a few state reps. Senator Warnick and Representative Sandlin are here too, engaging with the industry, seeing what the needs are so they can take that back to Olympia and help the growers of the state.

PNW Ag:  Should people listening reach out to them with concerns and issues especially?

Keith Veselka: Yeah, absolutely. I think they're very open and responsive to hearing the needs of the growers and understanding kind of where the industry's headed, and they're looking for ways to engage and help.

PNW Ag: How many years have you guys done this?

Keith Veselka:  This will be the fourth season for the Smart Orchard. It's the first year out here in Mattawa at this ranch. And we're excited about the next few years having it here. You can get the research on the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission website. We also post with NWFM on LinkedIn, including sharing updates about the Smart Orchard.

PNW Ag: For anybody that wasn't here today, do you have a message to them?

Keith Veselka: We're living in exciting times for ag tech. I think the future is really exciting. If you're young and wanna work with technology, ag is the place to be. Embrace change. There's fewer farmers that have to farm more acres. The only way to really help you do that is to have some remote sensing and information so you can be at the right place at the right time. It's hard when you scale to be in every place all the time. So you need to know where the problems are so you can go help solve them. If you're a farmer looking for innovative ways to help you do your job, come out and visit us at the Smart Orchard next season and look forward to seeing you.