They will be part of the international 2018 Silicon Valley agritech immersion programme and Conference, involving Silicon Valley Forum, Tauranga’s Wharf42, Agritech New Zealand, Callaghan Innovation, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.Agritech New Zealand executive director Peter Wren-Hilton says the four-year-old Silicon Valley agritech connection will have a significant and long-term impact on New Zealand’s emerging agritech sector.“Agritech New Zealand is helping build a world class agritech ecosystem but New Zealand needs to integrate agriculture and technology to strengthen its primary export sector,” Wren-Hilton says.“An exploding world population and climate change is increasing the urgency for more sustainable use of natural resources in farming. Cutting-edge agritech is providing alternatives to traditional farming methods and revolutionising the sector.“The economic return through increased cross-border trade is now being measured in the high hundreds of multi-million dollars for the New Zealand economy. This is huge with at least five of the original cohort of early stage Kiwi companies engaged in the first Silicon Valley AgTech Immersion Program now formally established in North America.“These are exciting times for New Zealand agritech. As the global demand for more food grows, we are well placed to provide the knowledge, the products and the services to help make that happen. This month’s Silicon Valley event is just one more key step in that direction.“We are hoping for a major international agritech announcement later this month, directly involving New Zealand which needs to catch up with some of the world’s leading agritech players including Israel, Ireland, the Netherlands and the USA. What happens over the next few months could well determine just where New Zealand sits in this global industry in the years ahead.“Innovation in the agritech sector is growing at an exponential rate, with emerging technologies such as AI taking a serious chunk of both attention and investment.“New Zealand agri-technology competes with the best. If we simply sit back however and don’t take proactive steps to engage with the wider global market, both ag and investment, then we will never reach our full potential.“As the world’s demand for food increases with its ever-growing population, New Zealand can expand its primary sector further by focusing on producing higher value produce for the world.“The application of smart technology will not only assist this growth but ensure that it is achieved in far more sustainable long-term ways, caring for our environment and protecting it for future generations.“New Zealand invests nearly $750 million in research and development for food and agriculture but is only just starting to see innovation startups commercialise the tech resource coming from public and private investment.“Our country is a big primary producer and tech will very soon make a big difference to agriculture. Digitisation of the farm is impacting agriculture globally,” he says.