Florida-Israel Agriculture Innovation Summit

Florida-Israel Agriculture Innovation Summit

Virtual Participation: November 16-19, 2020

Brought to you by the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator (FIBA) and Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS)

The main components of the Florida-Israel Agriculture Innovation Summit was to learn about the agriculture industry in Florida, agriculture innovation from Israel, and to form opportunities for collaboration between these two agriculture power houses. Participants had the opportunity to directly from Florida’s largest growers, agriculture investors, scientists and Government officials about current challenges and future plans for Florida’s agriculture industry, the 2nd largest industry in Florida after tourism. Additionally, presentations were given from leading Israeli Ag Tech companies and researchers offering solutions and technologies in the fields of ag robots/drones and hemp/cannabis.

Detailed Summit Agenda

Day 1 – November 16, 8:00-10:00AM: SUMMIT KICKOFF

8:00-9:00AM EST: Welcome and Introductions + Overview of Florida and Israeli Agriculture Industries

Moderated by: John Dicks, Partner, Litigation, Ackerman Law

Speakers: Nikki Fried, Commissioner, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS)

Mr. Yakov Poleg, Senior Deputy Director General, Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

Deborah Tannenbaum, Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS)

Shmuel Rausnitz, Researcher & Scout for Agrifood-tech, Start-Up Nation Central

 

9:00-10:00AM EST: Florida-Israel Agriculture Success Stories

Moderated by: Rakefet Phillips, Co-Executive Director, Florida-Israel Business Accelerator (FIBA)

Speakers: Rebecca Marshall, Program Development Manager, 4Roots Farm

Eyal Harel, CEO, BlueGreen Water Technologies

Lior Hessel, CEO, Growponics

Dr. Diane Rowland, Professor & Chair of Agronomy Department, Director of the Center for Stress Resilient Agriculture, University of Florida/IFAS,

Trevor Perrott, CEO, Censys Technologies

James Estrada, Instructor and Director of Agroecology for UF Agronomy and Center for Stress Resilient Agriculture, University of Florida

Day 2 – November 17, 8:00-11:30AM: HEMP/CANNABIS 

8:00-9:00AM EST: Current State of Hemp/Cannabis Industry in Florida

Moderated by: Holly Bell, Director of Cannabis, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS)

Panel Discussion: Brandon Boyd, Owner, TBG Hemp

Kent Dunston, Director, Greenstone North America Corp.

Brett Finkelstein, Investor/Entrepreneur/Executive, Former Co-Founder & Managing Director, Phyto Partners LP

Carley Nelson, Chief Operations Officer, One Hemp Brands

Anthony Armas, Executive Vice President, One Innovation Labs

Mallory Lykes Dimmitt, Vice President of Strategic Development & Business Relations, Lykes Bros. Inc.

 

9:00-10:00AM EST: Presentations by Israeli Hemp/Cannabis Companies

Moderated by: Adam Hunter, Partner, Assurance Services, Cherry Bekaert LLP

Israeli Companies: Agritask Ltd, DryGair Energies Ltd, Hortica, MyCrops Technologies Ltd, Neswell Group, Visicann Technologies Inc.

10:30-11:30AM EST: Hemp/Cannabis Research Roundtable Discussion

Moderated by: Dr. Matthew Curran, FDACS Director Division of Food Safety

Panel Discussion: Scott Burgett, COO and Co-founder of Green Earth Cannaceuticals,

Jerry Fankhauser, Assistant Director, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station (FAES), University of Florida

Dr. Moshe Flaishman, Researcher, Institute of Plant Sciences

Professor Menachem Moshelion, Hebrew University

Day 3 – November 18, 8:00-11:30AM: DRONES/ROBOTICS/AI 

8:00-9:00AM EST: Current State and Future State of Robotics/Drones/AI in Florida’s Agriculture Industry

Moderated by: Dr. Yiannis Ampatzidis, Assistant Professor, Prescision Agriculture Engineering, University of Florida

Dr. Aditya Singh, Assistant Professor, Hyperspecral and Hypertemporal Remote Sensing, University of Florida

Panel Discussion: Dr. Elizabeth Malek, Crop Protection Manager, Lipman Family Farms

Timothee Sallin, Co-CEO, IMG Enterprises

Shannon O’Malley, Founder & CEO, Brick Street Farms

Robert Pitzer, CTO, Chief Engineer, Harvest CROO Robotics

Joby Sherrod, Director of Grove Operations, Duda & Sons, Inc.

 

9:00-10:00AM EST: Presentations by Israeli Robotics/Drones/AI Companies

Moderated by: Bob Grossman, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig

Israeli Companies: Agrint, Arugga AI Farming, Beewise, Metomotion, MyCrops Technologies Ltd, Saturas, Skyx 

10:30-11:30AM EST: Robotics/Drones/AI Research Roundtable Discussion

Moderated by: Dr. Kati Migliaccio, Chair and Professor, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida

Panel Discussion: Dr. Yiannis Ampatzidis, Precision Agriculture Engineering, University of Florida

Dr. Aditya Singh, Assistant Professor, Hyperspectral and Hypertemporal Remote Sensing, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida

Ido Bar-Av, Chief Agronomist, Agro-scout

Dr. Ittai Herrmann, Senior Lecturer, Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, Hebrew University

Day 4 – November 19, 9:00-11:30AM: INNOVATION TO ADDRESS COVID & FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES 

9:00-10:00AM EST: Innovation to Address COVID Challenges in the Agriculture Industry, presented in partnership with the Consulate General of Israel in Miami and Holland & Knight

Moderated by: Meital Stavinsky, Partner and Israel Practice Co-Chair, Holland & Knight

Speakers: Galit Peleg, Interim Consul General of Israel in Miami

Kent Shoemaker, CEO, Lipman Family Farms

Naty Barak, Senior Advisor, Chief Sustainability Officer Emeritus, Netafim

Yemel Ortega, Marketing & Strategy Leader, ADAMA

 

10:15-11:15AM EST: Funding Opportunities and Sources for Florida and Israeli Companies in Florida

Moderated by: Pam Miniati, Co-Executive Director, Florida-Israel Business Accelerator (FIBA)

Speakers: Haim Katz, Research Coordinator, Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD)

Tony Gannon, Vice President, Research & Innovation, Space Florida

Nofar Hamrany, International Collaboration Manager, Israel Innovation Authority (IIA)

Damian Adams, Interim Associate Dean for Research, University of Florida/IFAS

Sarai Kemp, VP Business Development, Trendlines Agrifood

11:15-11:30AM EST: Closing Remarks and Next Steps