The same technology dynamics that drive other industries are impacting how we grow, distribute and consume food as well. That was one of the key messages to emerge from this year’s FOOD IT: From Fork to Farm event in Mountain View, California.

“It’s really fun to see the consistent themes that we see over and over – edge computing, cloud and data-driven decision-making – applied to what is arguably one of the most important things going on,” said Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick) (pictured, left), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio. (* Disclosure below.)

Being able to harness the vast amount of data available to the food industry will be a key goal as a generation of farmers transitions to a younger workforce eager to embrace tech tools.

“They can’t quite see all of the data they have. They are sitting on a lot of information that not only could make their farms more efficient, but also facilitate knowledge transfer to the next generation of farmers, ” said Lisa Martin (@Luccazara) (pictured, right), co-host of theCUBE.

Robotics could help solve labor shortage

With a labor shortage looming in the restaurant sector, there was a great deal of discussion at FOOD IT over how the industry was going to use technology, specifically robotics, to bridge the gap. “As you hit the button to load that coke, you can hit the button to load that salad while you run off to put the rest of the entrée meals together,” Frick said.

Both analysts took note of the role that major companies, such as Google, are now playing in using technology resources to develop sustainable models for food growth and processing. “You can think of how much education could happen from Google Food alone,” Martin said. “I was blown away by that.”

There was plenty of discussion throughout the conference about growing and processing a wide range of foods, from tomatoes and kale to strawberries and seaweed. “… The traditional farmers have a real opportunity to do kind of a refresh with a bunch of people that have grown up with [tech].”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the FOOD IT: Fork to Farm event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for FOOD IT: Fork to Farm. Neither Western Digital Corp., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial influence on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE