Amy Wu Shares the Importance of Women in the AgTech Industry
The following piece was originally published in Marist Circle and was written by Emma Gaecklein with photos by Elizabeth Baumgardner. To read the original piece, click here.
Photo by Elizabeth Baumgartner
Former journalist and “From Farms to Incubators” founder Amy Wu spoke to students on Oct. 15 about her project and the importance of women in the agriculture industry.
Wu, who was a reporter for The Salinas Californian, started the project when she was assigned to cover local government and agriculture. Once there, she learned about the $10 billion agriculture industry in Salinas, California and noticed the lack of women in the field — the physical field and the career field. “Not only was there a lack of women in the field, but a lack of women running any agribusiness out there as well,” Wu said.
This led Wu to apply for a grant from the International Center for Journalists, which focused on stories of minority women and business owners. She won and began the process to create her first documentary.
The documentary was completed in 2017 and highlights several women working in the AgTech industry, from young women working to develop an app that allows farmers to simplify their field operations to the founder of a company that uses artificial intelligence to improve the food inspection process.
From there, "From Farms to Incubators" grew from a small documentary and book project to an entire multimedia platform “using storytelling to amplify the work of women innovators and entrepreneurs in the fast growing field of AgriFoodTech,” Wu explained.
Today, the platform offers a mentorship program that targets college students and those early in their careers who are interested in the industry. Mentees use photography, videos and writing to highlight an AgTech project related to artificial intelligence and climate change.
“The mentees have an opportunity to not only learn about AgTech, but they’re also learning about journalism and storytelling,” said Wu. “We’ve been through training about what kind of questions they should ask the researchers, how to fact check the researchers’ backgrounds and we’ve talked about taking photos.”
Through the program, mentees also have opportunities to network with entrepreneurs, educators and investors within the AgTech industry.
“I found it really interesting the way she covered all of these different women, especially women of color and their experience in the AgTech industry,” said Liz Fazio ‘27. “It was nice to hear a new aspect of the agricultural industry.”
Students who attended the documentary screening had the chance to ask questions about the project and received a free signed copy of Wu’s book.
“It opened my eyes about what really goes into the produce on our shelves,” said Fazio. “We just tend to pick up our carrots or apples and don’t think about where it’s coming from, who produced it and all of the work that went into it. The documentary helped me be more aware of that.”
Photo by Elizabeth Baumgartner
