The World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in San Francisco unites more than 2,500 global leaders and pioneering businesses dedicated to advancing and investing in technologies to build a stronger, more resilient agri-food supply chain.
With a focus on harnessing nature-based solutions to meet climate commitments, and successful paths for commercialising biological inputs, next-generation breeding, AI and automation, an outstanding speaking faculty uncovers the innovations and investment propelling new value creation in this sector.
Commercialising solutions for climate-resilient ag
Over 100 agri-food experts will be taking the stage. The newest additions to the high-profile speaking faculty include:
- Robert Bonnie, Under Secretary for Farm Production & Conservation, USDA
- Patricia Stroup, Chief Procurement Officer, Nestle
- Matt Hancher, Engineering Director, Google
- Gregory Bohrer, Director - Natural Capital, Walmart
Celebrating its 12th year, this flagship event will transform the Marriott Marquis on March 19-20, 2024 into the epicentre of the agri-food industry for two days of high-level discussion, powerful networking, and deal-making.
Building on the success of the Start-Up Arena, this year’s summit will feature even more founder showcases, interactive breakout sessions and intimate roundtables, alongside a dedicated 1-1 meeting room.
The curated networking environment is designed to ignite inspiration, foster knowledge exchange, and facilitate the critical partnerships essential for future business prosperity.
The show includes a whole floor dedicated to spotlighting start-up talent, with 60+ start-up booths, a networking lounge and busy pitching stage. There is also an exhibition space, packed with hands-on demos and animations to keep ahead with the latest trends in the industry and experience new technologies.
A stellar line-up
The programme includes essential discussion panels on topics such as Navigating Incentives for Decarbonization in Agriculture, hosted by David Hayes, the former special assistant to the President for climate policy at the White House.
A panel entitled The Next Decade of Venture Capital will be chaired by Leshika Samarasinghe, founder of Twine Ventures (formerly Google, ARPA-E)
Another called The GenAI Era: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges in AgTech, will feature Elizabeth Fastiggi, head of worldwide business development, agriculture, at AWS.
Eli Ziskind, partner at Aqua Capital will moderate a debate named Biologicals in Action: Getting Traction on Today’s Farms. A discussion on Future-Proofing Food Systems will focus on water in California and the use of geospatial tools. It will include Will Marshall, former Nasa scientist and co-founder and CEO of Planet Labs, the startup making microsatellites.
The event will also include a breakfast meeting to discuss Nearshoring Potential in Mexico’s Agricultural Sector, where Nestle, The Yield Lab Latam, IADB & Kirchner Group will be joining and hosting roundtables.
“The World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit is the perfect event to create meaningful connections with top leaders from the agri-food industry and forge the right partnerships to bring solutions to market,” said Clara Chappaz, representative for The French Tech Mission. “Agtech is a strategic sector and we are proud to bring such a diverse and pioneering delegation of start-ups which develop groundbreaking innovations.”
