Farming Smarter: AgTech Innovations & Business Strategies for Urban Growers

Join us for a workshop designed to help small and micro-scale urban farmers explore practical, scalable agricultural technologies to grow their operations. Learn how AgTech solutions can improve efficiency, boost crop yields, and strengthen financial sustainability. Whether you're a nursery operator, urban farmer, non-profit grower, or community gardener, this session will provide valuable tools and strategies to maximize your farm's earning potential and community impact.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to integrate AgTech solutions to improve efficiency and crop production.
• Research-driven strategies for optimizing plant growth in urban environments.
• Funding opportunities for urban and micro-scale farmers to test AgTech innovations.
• How to connect with tech innovators to pilot new agricultural technologies on your farm.
• Business strategies to create additional revenue streams through AgTech partnerships.

Our featured speaker, the Urban Agriculture Technology Advisor for Los Angeles and Orange Counties, will share insights on leveraging resources from the UCANR South Coast Research and Extension Center. Additionally, the LARTA Institute will present opportunities for farmer-tech innovator matchmaking, including funded programs that support urban farmers in testing AgTech solutions on their plots.

Connect, learn, and explore strategies to grow your farm business!

Featured Speakers:

Grant Edward Johnson | Urban Agriculture Technology Area Advisor UCANR

Grant Johnson is the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Urban Agriculture Technology Advisor for Los Angeles and Orange Counties, providing impartial, research-driven insights to optimize plant production in urban environments. With a focus on indoor production, his diverse clientele includes nurseries, commercial growers, school districts, and community gardens. He aims to present research and extension of horticultural topics related to irrigation, plant culture, and agricultural technology, such as agrivoltaic system innovations that drive the future of farming, ensuring technological advancements that benefit a wide range of urban farming practitioners.

Gunjan Siroya | Chief Solutions Officer, LARTA Institute

Gunjan Siroya is the Chief Solutions Officer at Larta Institute, where he has served in leadership positions for over a decade. At Larta, Gunjan excels in his role of overseeing program design and delivery, ensuring compliance, developing an ecosystem of partnerships and funding opportunities, and creating value for stakeholders across Sustainability themes such as Agriculture, Food, Marine, Oceans, Cleantech and Healthcare. Prior to Larta, Gunjan served as Principal Partner at Netspective Communications LLC - a business and technology solutions company. Gunjan also served as Director of Product Engineering at HCL Technologies, a $10B global systems integration and outsourcing firm for IT, Engineering, and infrastructure. Additionally, Gunjan has co-founded technology companies, such as DigiParts LLC, a specialized B2B e-commerce platform and marketplace, and ezPractice Solutions, an integrated technology platform and services company. Gunjan Siroya has extensive experience in innovation commercialization across multiple industries, strong leadership capabilities, program management, and business strategy expertise.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

South Coast Research and Extension Center/ UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, 7601 Irvine Boulevard, Irvine, United States