language” and meet critical partners in the farming region. In the beginning, he acknowledged, his firm “thought we could do things we couldn’t.” “We didn’t deliver,” McGregor said. “We had to learn more about what (farm- ers) wanted,” he said. “Luckily, those customers say we actually listened, and we gave them what they wanted. They don’t mind if you fall down as long as you admit it.” After the January storms, McGregor said GVA was in position to aid growers and do so in a common language. He said the firm was able to answer questions such as “how do I allocate personnel and talent to the right places and test the right soil to know the highest risk area?” “When transitioning after a weather event, we helped them make decisions about which fields to keep,” he said. GVA typically serves large-scale growers, shippers and processors, and McGregor said the company hopes to expand to include more commodi- ties outside of vegetable and specialty crops and be a more feasible option for small producers. McGregor describes GVA’s technol- ogies as “boots-on-the-ground tools.” But transitioning to agricultural clients with actual boots on the ground has been a process. He said his farming clients run the full spectrum, with some using Technology Continued from Page 4
demands that farmers juggle daily. McGregor said he sees more farmers getting excited to make data-driven deci- sions and using advanced technologies, such as drones, to capture information. The willingness of agricultural partners to evolve and adapt to technology influ- enced the company to embrace a new philosophy, which includes making sure its technology team understands farmers, their needs and the burdens they face.
“We kept thinking, ‘How come they’re not interacting with forecasts six weeks out?’ Because they are drowning in today and tomorrow’s problems,” McGregor said. “Sometimes all the cool analytics we build are the cart before the horse. Also, we need to make sure people go to the right field.” (Caitlin Fillmore is a reporter based in Monterey County. She may be contacted at cslhfillmore@gmail.com.)
spreadsheets and others sticking to pen and paper records. “I know guys who can forecast lettuce … They give me a number and they just know,” McGregor said. “But the younger population isn’t going to do it that way.” He said new technologies mean that “the new person coming in doesn’t have to forecast for 50 years to figure it out.” Another lesson the agricultural tech- nology firm learned was about the varied
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March 8, 2023 Ag Alert 11
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