New technologies are critical to keeping Florida citrus alive | Guest commentary
Florida farmers face unique and serious challenges. From invasive pests and disease to workforce shortages, there are real threats to our domestic, safe and wholesome food supply.
Technology and innovation have become integral in tackling these challenges, ensuring the sustainability of Florida agriculture so that we can continue to produce quality food for family tables across the state, throughout the nation and around the world.
I am a fourth-generation farmer and the vice president of Noble Ag Management. Florida citrus is deeply rooted in my life. As we approach our 100th anniversary of the farm, I reflect on how my relatives created and advanced the business — and how technology is vastly improving these processes every day.
At Noble Ag Management, we specialize in tangerines and pomelos. Our products are enjoyed by families across the United States, with our farms in Florida stretching between Polk and Glades counties. Our groves cover more than 3,500 acres, and we support more than 80 jobs for hard working Floridians.
Just a decade ago, at the sight of a rainstorm, we would have to send an employee out into a grove to delay irrigation cycles and prevent overwatering. This process was extremely inefficient, time-consuming and expensive for our operation, which already comes with a high-cost burden in the ready-to-eat citrus category.
Today, technology has allowed us to remotely control and monitor our automated irrigation systems with the click of a button.
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Over the past five years, automation in agriculture has been driven by the innovation and technology of the American entrepreneur. The technology is becoming more reliable at the same time it is becoming more cost effective and essential for the farm. I would encourage growers to explore and embrace these new technologies and learn how they can help in advancing agriculture and promote stewardship of the land.
Emerging advancements like field-ready high resolution camera systems show the promise of accurately estimating crop volume, sizing and quality well in advance of harvest. This system is attached to standard farm equipment and captures terabytes of images in the field daily. These images are compressed and uploaded remotely before the process repeats the next day. Accurate and timely crop data allows for adjustments to inputs earlier in the crop year than traditionally possible.
As technology and innovation continue to advance, artificial intelligence will also begin to play a major role in future farming. AI will have the ability to understand soil samples and determine how to direct the smart sprayers, track our inventory, determine different options in battling diseases and pests and most importantly aid the farmers in how to be the best steward possible of the land.
Innovation has the ability to help us merge environmental stewardship with reduced cost burdens to ensure products are accessible to the consumers.
Growing good-quality and wholesome food is expensive. The shortage of labor in recent years greatly impacts our ability to plant, care for and harvest fruit. New technologies like AI can help us keep control of our costs by directing us to adjust our workforce where they are needed most.
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Pro-American technology policy ensures that we do not hinder the innovations that are vital to the success of our industry. Technology is not just a desire – it is a necessity to ensure Florida citrus will continue to survive and ultimately flourish.
With technology and innovation, America can compete on a global market. Technology and innovation will help us tackle the challenges we face with pests and disease. It will help us overcome the gaps in our workforce while keeping consumer costs low. Technology and innovation will enable fourth-generation farmers like me to continue doing what we do best — providing the highest quality citrus for families across the country.
Geoff Roe serves as vice president of Noble Ag Management, a whole fruit citrus farm founded in 1926 and specializing in tangerines and pomelos across Polk, Manatee, Glades and Highland counties with crops totaling nearly 3,500 acres.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Technology is critical to keeping Florida citrus alive | Guest column
