Washington Business Fall 2016 | Washington Business | Page 33

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“Farmers love gadgets. When we went to smart phones,
that technology turned the corner for ag as well.”
— John Stuhlmiller, CEO, Washington State Farm Bureau
The industry has benefitted from close relationships with academic
researchers. Washington State University’s Center for Precision & Automated
Agricultural Systems (CPAAS) is at the forefront of agtech innovation here.
Qin Zhang is a senior scientist and director of the center. He emphasizes that
Washington farmers have been very supportive of the science.
“Farmers here are marvelous,” he says, adding that colleagues around the
world often mention the challenge of finding farmers to work with them.
“Here, they are very supportive, willing to collaborate. Some will even actively
approach us.”
The partnership is producing stunning developments, affecting all aspects
of farming, from planting to harvesting to moving product to market. While
the future is notoriously hard to predict, here are five trends to watch in the
coming years.

genetics will accelerate product development,
boost productivity
Applied biotechnology will play an increasing role in developing Washington
agriculture. Producers saw it coming. Twenty years ago, the Washington
Tree Fruit Research Commission established a tech road map that includes
a major focus on using genetics. The commission wanted to reboot apple and
cherry breeding programs, produce new varieties suited to the sometimes-harsh Central Washington climate, and maintain the qualities
that appeal to customers.
Mike Willett, manager of the commission, says the program uses science to learn more about the plants earlier in the process.
“It takes a long time to get a seed to become a tree and then evaluate the fruit,” he says.
Plant scientists here use traditional techniques to develop potential new “cultivars,” plant
varieties developed by selective breeding. Using an emerging understanding of plant genetics,
at a glance
researchers can examine these seedlings for genetic traits just as they are emerging from the
soil, saving years of effort.
Advanced technology has
Using modern genetics to inform traditional breeding processes reduces the time required
contributed to tremendous
to develop a new product. And, it does not trigger the concerns still too often associated with
growth in production since the
genetically engineered crops.
middle of the 20th century, while
While there is no genetically
farmers have been able to reduce
engineered tree fruit for sale in the
inputs, including labor, chemicals,
market, Willett is quick to point out
and energy.
that his group does not generally
oppose development of genetically
The agriculture and food industry
modified produce, but any GMO fruit
accounts for 13 percent of the
or vegetable must meet the very high
state economy.
bar of benefitting consumers as well
as growers.
Biotech, “flying tractors,”
Those benefits are already clearly
designer orchards, and robots
visible in other farm products.
have changed everything on the
Stuhlmiller points out genetic
farm, from planting to harvest to
modification can produce in one year
packing house.
what would otherwise take a decade
or more by standard crossbreeding.
Washington State University professor Lav Khot flies an
eight-bladed octo-copter unmanned aerial vehicle
or drone.

The

$49 billion

food and agriculture industry
employs about

160,000 people
and amounts to about

13 percent of the state
economy.

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