Startups focus on helping growers reduce energy costs

A large number of startup companies are competing for the business of helping growers navigate the landscape of changing mixes of alternative energy sources and subsidies, and of new technologies that promise to make agriculture more efficient and more sustainable.

More than a dozen of these new companies pitched their programs to the growers at the first Organic Grower Summit co-sponsored by California Certified Organic Farmers and the Organic Produce Network in Monterey.

"In agriculture, we often look for new technologies to pay for themselves quickly," said Hank Giclas, senior vice president for Western Growers. "In clean technology, there may actually be opportunities to generate revenue with things like carbon credits."

Many of these new companies aim to help growers make informed choices among the many sources of energy and the complex maze of credits available for using alternatives or sequestering carbon.

"Alta Energy was created to simplify the process," said Aaron Enz, vice president of Alta Energy. "Sixty percent of the new energy that came into the grid last year was wind and solar, a third was natural gas, and none of it was coal. The problem is there are many companies and the process is complex."

This San Mateo-based firm said it has contacts with a network of alternative energy suppliers, and familiarity with the various tax incentives and rebates available for using technologies like solar, wind or digesters that turn waste to electricity.

"We assess what makes sense for your business in terms of sourcing your energy," Enz said. "We can look at growing sites, processing facilities and greenhouses and see what your opportunities are. We have vendors that we have pre-qualified who are looking for customers, too."

One alternative Enz suggested considering is to invest in alternative energy sources off the farm as a way to guarantee greater cost certainty in the future.

"Off-site solar and wind is a way to hedge your bet on energy costs without having to actually put something up on your field," Enz said. "If you're in California, you can fix energy prices for 25 years. A good thing about solar is they require basically no maintenance for 25 years. Renewables fit with organics, and I think your customers are going to want more of this."

Another new firm at the summit attempts to bring advanced technology to the problems of disease control, pest management or drought resilience in both organic and conventional fields.

"We go to the ag area that has a problem like pests or drought or something else, and do an analysis in the lab to understand what microbiomes are interacting in your field, and see how we can shift the troubled microbial community back to a healthy state," said Robert McBride, co-founder of Boost Biomes.

Boost Biomes uses modern technology to quickly analyze the difference in the microbiology of soils that are vulnerable or resistant to diseases or drought, and attempts to shift the living soil in a more positive direction.

"With the advent of cheap sequencing, we have a window into what the microbes are doing," McBride said. "Our approach lets us identify groups of microbes, which are more effective than single microbes. There aren't a lot of tools in the organic industry for dealing with acute outbreaks of crop diseases. We hope to add to your tool box using microbes to make your plant and soil healthier and less susceptible to these outbreaks, and to deal with them when they happen."

This San Francisco startup is already field testing some products that shift soil microbiology to better control diseases such as verticillium and macrophomina.

Yet another company at the summit specializes in combining sustainable energy sources with advanced greenhouse technology.

"We are working on mitigating your risk, and moving agriculture into a high-tech greenhouse removes your greatest risk, the weather," said Sean Lyle, CEO of PowerGrow. "We can mitigate energy risks by combining solar and bio-digester technologies."

This Utah-based company helps develop high-end greenhouses that it said can increase yields as much as 800 percent, produce substantially more crop per drop of water and incorporate a mix of tax rebates to develop an economically viable off-grid mix of energy.

"A component of our software is focused on carbon credits," Lyle said. "We take the carbon, scrub it, and pump it back into the greenhouse. We can take your organic waste, put it into a digester and turn it into a revenue source. We aren't just carbon neutral; we're taking in more carbon and pumping out more oxygen."

In addition to working to bring down the cost of sustainable energy, PowerGrow is also looking at technology as a way to contain labor costs.

"We have a big focus now on partnering with robotics companies to help bring down your labor cost," Lyle said.

(Bob Johnson is a reporter in Davis. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@aol.com.)