Some instance you have this important discussion. As is the case with these hearings, there will be members coming and going forward, or overlapping hearings and other committees so you will see some folks come and go through out and ask questions, so we just ask for your patients in bearing with that as well for. Farming and agricultural are at the heart of strong economies around the country. Investing in agriculture is crucial to ensure that our communities will thrive. Coming from colorado, i understand the importance that farming and agriculture have on our states way of life and economic wellbeing. Nearly half of colorado 66 million acres are dedicated to over 30,000 farms and ranches. Many of these are small, locally owned operations. Colorado is a leading producer of cattle, corn, wheat and dairy, and the small farms for everything from bison to auspice and growing grapes and mushrooms, to name a few. In the 24 Century Technology innovation or changing everyday life. Its a drink how consumers shopped and businesses conduct it. Modern farming is no different. Through advancements in robotics, sensors, artificial intelligence, Gps Technology and digital platforms, agriculture is undergoing a revolution and transitioning from the Industrial Age the digital age. These innovations, commonly known as agriculture technology, wag to, provide an opportunity to help farmers increase yields and profitability while reducing wastes and environmental impact. Todays hearing will provide members with an opportunity to hear from innovators, and farmers and researchers about how big tech is helping farmers modernize their businesses and how entrepreneurship and innovation in egg attack is changing our food and farming systems. Seeing crews increased use of ag tech has the potential to address challenges our country will face in the coming century. Globally, the worlds population is on track to exceed nine billion in the next 20 years. According to the united nations, this means our Agricultural Production will need to increase by 70 to meet the growing demand for food, fiber and biofuels. Meeting this Global Demand for food will be even more challenging in the face of Climate Change that is already impacting our food systems, water and land. Changing temperatures reduce yields and increase pressures. Changes in precipitation patterns increasingly caused crop failure and production decline. As a former army, ranger of also seeing how these threats, including scarce Water Resources and poor Food Security and other countries can have a profound impact on our own national security, readiness and resiliency, but the full potential of agtech to meet global food demands, mitigate the negative impacts of Climate Change and create jobs in our Rural Communities will not be fully realized unless we fully support our farmers and innovators in the research that supports them. Agtech can spur innovation and growth in rural parts of the country but like many other sectors in the economy, agriculture is drugging to find and retain a skilled and stable workforce. To address this, i work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass the Farm Workforce modernization act which will help create a reliable workforce for american agriculture. This legislation will help provide certainty for guest workers and for American Farmers and ranchers, an important step in solving the labor challenge facing American Farmers and ranchers. They should also be robust funding of Agriculture Research and development at the usda to support farmers and Rural Communities. I am proud to colorado is a hub of attack in innovation. Growing tech centers in the denver and bolder areas, funding opportunities through quebec and my district, and a pipeline appellant at the university of colorado systems have helped make colorado the second largest agtech ecosystem in the country. As the pipeline develops the high tech skills and food science environmental ear engineering and president agriculture, the specialists will lead the agtech industry forward. Finally, it is crucial to mention the need for greater deployment of high Speed Internet in our Rural Communities. Outside of its importance in Health Care Education and legal services, connectivity is the backbone of agtech. Broadband makes it possible for farmers to aggregate analyze data in realtime while tracking Commodity Markets and operating digital technologies. Small businesses and farms across colorado suffer daily from lack of access to High Speed Broadband Services due in large part to lack of investment. Reliable, affordable, high Speed Broadband is a necessity and why Congress Must work to coordinate federal resources and make investments in infrastructure projects. Technology has become indispensable for Small Businesses and farmers and ranchers on a different. Small businesses play a vital role in providing products and services to support americas digital farming revolution. I look forward to hearing from our expert Witnesses Today on how farming is being impacted by technology, and how r d is impacting Small Business growth and entrepreneurship so the u. S. Can once again be a world leader in Agricultural Research and innovation. I would now like to yield to the Ranking Member, mr. Balderson, for an opening statement. Good morning, everyone, and thank you, mister chairman. Appreciate it. Happy new year and i look forward to a great 2020. I anticipate a great 2020 with another year of bipartisan camaraderie and innovation on Workforce Development subcommittee. Todays hearing, we will explore Agricultural Technology innovations that are modernizing our farms and revitalizing Rural America. Having spent time working on a family farm myself, i understand the impact farmers have on their community and our nation. Agricultural technology, or egg tech, is a broad term describing a diverse range of technologies, including bioscience, vague data, analytics, automation and robotics, supply chain and logistics and alternative Business Models such as hydroponics and meet alternatives. On farms, these technologies can increase productivity, reduce waste and boost profits. On a larger scale, egg tech, entrepreneurship activities boosting role revitalizing efforts are tracking startups, jobs, to more cultural regions. With the diversity of technologies involved, egg tech interacts entrepreneurs and investors for various industries geographies. As we observe the standing growth an impact to tech ventures, we cannot lose focus on the primary stakeholders, our farmers. With uncertain markets and narrowing profit margins, farmers may be hesitant to take on additional risks that come with new technologies. For, example an investment in precision agricultural systems include purchases, installation charges and precisely, precious time spent using and making these technologies. This system must be compatible with preexisting machinery, Internet Connectivity and Business Model. To be worth farmers investments, technologies must have a tangible impact on productivity in profit. As options rapidly increase, how do farmers determine what will work best for the specific business needs, i would like to thank our witnesses for being here today and talking to our experiences on agtech, and talk about what reserve able to minimize the risk of maximize the investment. Thank you for being here today to represent this promising industry. I yield back, mister chairman. Thank, you mr. Balderson, and i agree with you on some exciting when the collaboration we had in 2020, and we will continue that in the next year. The gentleman yields back. I would just like to take a minute to explain the timing role. Each witness gets five minutes to testify, and each member gets five minutes for questioning. There is a lighting system in front of you to assist you. The green light will be on when you began. The light will come on when you have one minute remaining. The red light will come on when you are out of time and you will be asked to stay within the timeframe to the best of your ability. I would not like to introduce our witnesses before doing so i ask unanimous consent to allow congressman Jimmy Panetta who serves on the house agriculture committee, to join the subcommittee hearing . Without objection, so ordered. Welcome, mr. Canada. Thank you for joining us today and i will introduce to you, our first witness. Thank you, mister chairman. And thank you, thank you Ranking Member balderson, i appreciate both their Opening Statements and agree with absolutely everything but if he had to say so, thank you, so it is an absolute honor to be here, and is quite far away from where i come from, in california, come from the Central Coast of california and it is otherwise known as the solid ball of the world. Trust me, i fellow members on the Egg Committee get sick and tired of me saying that and theyve heard me say it over and over again. Now you get to hear me say it, i say it with a lot of pride because they are on the Central Coast of california, you name, it we grow it, we have hundreds of hundreds of specially crops we have the gala capital, world the official capital the world, we have the barry bull of the, world we have specialty crops but as many of you know, specialty crops can be very difficult to harvest, especially crops that take that human discernment when it comes to soft root vegetables, as to figuring out, what is safe, what is right, what is ready to respect, what is aesthetically pleasing to the consumer . Because as you know, most of the time, those products, once they are picked, they go right into the cartons. Those cars go right under the shelves of the stores, and those cartons then go home with us and then those products go right into the mouths of our sons and daughters and so, it does take at this point a very skilled you have to be very skilled in order to harvest this product. Now, for a long time, we have relied on humans to do that, especially on the Central Coast of california and that is why, jason, i agree with, you the prime Organization Act is a very, very important bill but i am proud to say not only passed a bipartisan basis in the host, it must be passed in the senate signed into law but in the meantime the other way we must go down, as you mentioned, is agtech. For this type of technology, for these types of crops, we are behind it. We are lagging. Now, dont get me, wrong ive been up in our fields there, and i have seen some pretty interesting things from some companies right over the hill from Silicon Valley where ive seen pictures more focused robert 0. 1 afternoon then all the photos taken in Human History of a strawberry plant. Is that time of technology that is needed but more needs to be invested in this technology to do it and i think that is why it is so, so important that we are having this type of conversation here in washington, d. C. So that those type of investment in the fields, not just on the Central Coast throughout this country can benefit from the investment that is needed when it comes to tech and, so its an absolute honor that i am here today with you but also have the opportunity to introduce mr. Kevin france. Kevin france is the chief executive officer of swim systems, a Small Business that provides on farm agricultural water accounting. Supreme has a Satellite Office in my district, maryland Central Coast, and it pardons for the western Growers Association which has one of its main offices in my district as well. Now, under mr. Francis leadership swim has been recognized as a top 25 Big Tech Company by forbes magazine. Mister frantz, i thank you for being here, for your preparation and for your time and all of us look forward to hearing what you have to say in regards to the investment that is needed and what has been done and what needs to be done when it comes to agtech. Thank, you chairman, i yield back. Thank you for being here, mister france and jimmy, you might have a lot of agricultural capitals of the world but i dont think you can claim the mushroom capital of the world because that distinction belongs to miss houlihan sitting next to you, so i just wanted to be clear for the record. Our second witnesses doctor david putter, the head of you innovation at geo indigo agriculture, he is focused on building integrated platforms using special technology to complete tackle complex business challenges. He has been building a living map of the worlds food supply. Using reliable maps could help farmers grow crops that are more profitable in sustainable. Prior to joining indigo, the doctor was the cofounder of tell us labs which provided action, Agricultural Intelligence across the food value chain using machine learning, Remote Sensing and a special analysis. The doctor is a ph. D. Ngo demography from Princeton University and served the country as a Surface Warfare officer in the u. S. Navy. Thank you for your service, doctor potere, to the, country and for being here today. Our third witnesses is mr. Roberto mesa, a farmer and cofounder of Emerald Gardens located in emirate, colorado. Well a grad suited at mit in the technology program, he was inspired by student projects addressing Food Production and urban landscapes. His career quickly transition from the arts to agriculture for the focus on food access. After a high it is working on farms and observing problems in our food systems, rubber to move to colorado where the childhood friend and a stop farm in 2017. Emerald gardens grows, harvest and distribute micrograms to restaurants, grocery, stores food pantries, smaller retailers in colorado metro area. They operate sustainable using geothermal and passive solar energy. Robert was also the chair of membership and a risk for miles high farmers, the local chapter of the National Young farmers collision in the Rocky MountainFarmers Union. He is also a board member of the High Plains Food coop and is developing a mater for mass distribution to help with jobs and local producers gain access to markets. Thank you for taking time away from a business to be here today, mr. , maze that it is always good to see a fellow colorado in washington d. C. Now, i would like to yield to our Ranking Member to introduce our final witness. Thank, you mister chairman, i do want to acknowledge the Ranking Member of the Small Business committee has joined us also, Ranking Member chabot, mr. , chabot thank you for being here this morning. I am sure a lot of you are looking at the witness list, dr. Jackson smith and i made an agreement will not do the ohiostuff and we want to acknowledge that the ohio state is not the National Championship job borough is, so high was still representing the championship games coming up monday evening, so i just want to make sure that everyone is well aware of that, and he lives in the southern portion of ohio so we are well represented. Well the gentleman yields . You mention missed the borough, he may soon be a cincinnati bangle, which i havent represent, we shall see. We shall see but assistant director of ohio state, is here to represent the universitys initiative for food and agricultural transformation. For joining ohio state 2016, doctor Jackson Smith served 15 years as a faculty member who has a bachelors a masters degree in rural sociology, a masters degree in Agricultural Economics and a ph. D. In sociology. His resort explores the dynamics of Technology Instructional change it agricultural Natural Resource systems. He has helped nearly 25 million worth of Interdisciplinary ScienceGrant Funding from usda, and sdf, and d. O. E. , we appreciate your research in this field and appreciate you taking your time away from worth to be with us