Front Range blossoms into ‘Silicon Valley of AgTech’
Colorado’s Front Range is home to major agriculture- and food-related businesses that have helped shape the state into what Dr. Gregory Graff calls the “Silicon Valley of AgTech.”
Graff, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University, coined the phrase at CSU’s Ag Innovation Summit in 2015, and the term struck a chord among investors, innovators and politicians.
“Awareness of the ag tech cluster in Colorado has certainly put us on the map with investors and industry,” he said.
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Not only does Colorado’s Front Range house some of the most well-respected research universities in the country — the University of Colorado, CSU and the Colorado School of Mines — but it also hosts large federal agencies such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“This relatively close co-location facilitates ongoing collaboration and exchange among these research institutions and companies in the region,” according to a CSU report released at the end of 2014 that looked at the emergence of an innovation cluster in the agricultural value chain along Colorado’s Front Range.
Companies such as Coors Brewing Co., Monfort of Colorado Inc., Leprino Foods Co. and Celestial Seasonings paved the way for other ag- and food-related companies and entrepreneurial startups to move to the state.
Colorado also has a 50-plus year history in the remote-sensing and aerospace industries.
“When you talk about remote sensing, we are a hub in the world for a lot of that activity,” said Caroline Himes, director of the Office of Industry Collaboration at the University of Colorado Boulder. The state has attracted big companies and small companies to that industry. It has been only in the past couple of years that remote sensing and unmanned-vehicle technologies were introduced to the agricultural industry.
Now, a farmer with 1,000 acres of fields can send a drone with remote sensing and photographic equipment on it across his holdings to see how his property is doing and to make sure the irrigation system is working as it should. They also can remotely determine if the soil is in need of nutrients.
This technology has revolutionized the industry. It saves farmers and ranchers a lot of time driving their property to look for problems. They also need to know what is happening with weather and climate. Is there too much water? Not enough? What is the temperature?
Data and innovation are moving at light speed, said Kathay Rennels, associate vice president of engagement at CSU.
“The university is one of those unique areas where we can work in all those spaces at the same time,” she said.
Entrepreneurship is another aspect that has made the ag tech industry in Colorado boom.
“The whole Front Range … the role of Silicon Flatirons, the number of incubators and having this reputation of being the kind of area people solving those kinds of problems like to come,” Himes said.
Rennels agreed.
“We have such an immense diversity of interests along the Front Range. The contributing factor is the lifestyle and that we’re Colorado, but we have such an incredibly diverse population along the Front Range,” she said.
Colorado is an open and welcoming state, she added. There are other states that are not as welcoming, where someone new moves in and they are treated as an outsider.
“When you come into Colorado, there are opportunities and people are happy to share those opportunities with you and happy to encourage you to stay here,” Rennels said.
Colorado is a leader in drone capacity, sensor capacity and data capacity.
“Those are things we have just scratched the surface on: the ability to collect data that has on the ground applications and global and worldwide applications; and how to manage that; protect the privacy of that; and how to get money from that. How do we make that another stream of income?” she asked.
Innovations around water and climate have huge implications for agriculture in the state. Front Range universities and research laboratories are also doing a lot with sensor, seed and oil technologies. Brewing has also become a major ag-based industry in the state, with Colorado listed as having the second-largest population of breweries in the country.
The spirits, wine and beer industry in Colorado is a spinoff industry from agriculture. They are all made from grown products and use water and land.
“That shows that you can take an agricultural base, invest research and technology into it and create an entrepreneurial culture people want to live in,” Rennels said.
Rennels grew up on a ranch in Douglas County. She still lives on one today. She said that because of her background, she realizes that agriculture is a tough industry to be in much of the time. Many farmers and ranchers look for secondary lines of business — things they can do that will help keep their operation afloat during the lean times. That has bred a lot of innovation.
“Every agricultural family has to have five to eight different streams of income,” she said. That can mean planting corn, wheat, sugar beets, raising cattle and having an excavating business on the side.
That diversification is not just for supporting the business. You have to know what is going on in the innovation space. “It hits the bottom line of agriculture and allows for better and safer agriculture,” Rennels added.
Another important piece of the Colorado ag tech puzzle is financing. How does the state invest in some of these great ideas?
“Colorado is at a tipping point now. If we make the right step, Colorado could become the Silicon Valley of entrepreneurship and technology,” Rennels said. That means looking at the talent we have here in the state and attracting that talent. Much of the human talent and capital in technology are on the coasts.
“We need to attract that here. Not just ag talent, but innovation talent,” she said.
