HONOLULU, HI – The Hawai‘i Agricultural Foundation (HAF) will host its 19th EAT THINK DRINK (ETD) focused on AgTech: Growing Innovation on Thursday, August 25, 2022 from 5:30-8:30pm at Tidepools by Central Pacific Bank. This event is presented by Central Pacific Bank and Alaska Airlines—and will be in a live, in-person format to hear from keynote speaker Jeremy Williams, Head of Climate LLC and Digital Farming at Bayer. With the cost of land, water, energy, equipment, inputs and labor continuing to increase at alarming rates, the future viability of agriculture in Hawaii will depend on creating efficiencies and sustainable practices through innovation and technology. Leveraging advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, global position systems (GPS), computer mapping, data collection, and digitization, to name a few, can give farmers the tools and knowledge they need to turn a profit, and to grow and sustain their businesses. Agricultural technology or AgTech is projected for an exponential growth in the next few years. The global agricultural tech market is estimated to grow from 11.4 billion in 2021 to 18.1 billion by 2026. Jeremy Williams, Head of Climate LLC and Digital Farming for the Crop Science division of Bayer, will provide an overview of how Bayer uses science innovations and cutting-edge technology at their farms to work more efficiently, help improve the overall sustainability of their farming operations, and help farmers to work in a more precise and data-driven fashion. The panel discussion will be moderated by iHeartRadio’s Rick Hamada and feature: Frederick Cowell, General Manager, Kauai Coffee Co. Ian Kitajima, Director/Tech Sherpa, Oceanit Leilyn Koev, Administrator, Kawamata Farms