Plans are firming up for The Desert Difference: A Showcase of AgTech Opportunities for Growing in the Desert. The two-day event will be held November 13-14th in Yuma, AZ. The first day will be a Field Day, the second will be a standard conference with keynote speakers, breakout sessions and trade booths. Details of the event and Conference Day (Day 2) activities can be found here.

The focus of this article is the Field Day which will be held Wednesday, November 13th at the Yuma Agricultural Center. Registration begins at 7:00 am and the program starts at 7:30 am (agenda below). As with our previous AgTech Field Days, the educational workshop will feature 12 of the latest automated and robotic technologies for pest control and improved vegetable production being demonstrated in the field.

This year, we’ve added a twist we think you’ll like. We’ve asked people demonstrating equipment to treat one of their plots two weeks prior to the event. This way, attendees can “see” the end result of the treatment – how well an automated weeding machine technology actually controlled weeds, for example. A second set of plots, immediately adjacent to the pre-treated plots, will be used for a live demonstration of the equipment used.

As mentioned in previous articles, we would love to showcase as many innovations as possible. All live demo slots have been filled, however there are still openings for static displays. If you are interested in being added to the program, please let me know and we will do our best to try and accommodate you. It’s an open invitation - private companies, university and government researchers are all welcome.

Fig.1. Technologies for controlling weeds “pre-treating” plots two weeks prior to the AgTech Field Day. Weed control efficacy of the pre-treated plots along with the technology being operated in the field will be shown at the event.


Fig. 2. Field Day agenda (Day 1) for The Desert Difference: A Show case of AgTech Opportunities for Growing in the Desert event. More information about the event and Conference Day activities (Day 2) can be found here.