The Forbes Impact Award in Leadership – Presented to Founder and CEO of Taylor Farms, Bruce Taylor

The inaugural Forbes AgTech Summit began on July 8^th in the heart of the Salinas Valley on Historic Main Street to bring together the best and brightest of the Silicon and Salinas Valleys.

“His passion is in what he does,” the Honorable Joe Gunter, Mayor of Salinas, said to a crowd of hundreds on Thursday at the Forbes Reinventing America: The AgTech Summit.

He was speaking about our very own Bruce Taylor. As he accepted the Impact Award in Leadership he gave thanks to the community and people who have helped to make Salinas, California a leading hub for AgTech.

Bruce Taylor accepting the Impact Award in Leadership from Joe Gunter, Mayor of Salinas

“You have to have the right people, in the right place at the right time,” Taylor said. “All of you that are here, it’s an honor to have you here. And the reason you’re here is because this is where the people are who are going to make the decisions on driving our agricultural industry forward.”

Taylor Farms Team Members celebrate Bruce’s honor in front of our new corporate headquarters on Main Street in Oldtown Salinas.

” One of the roadblocks to innovation has been that our industry is very competitive,” he said. “We read the book that said you’re supposed to compete with each other until you all die, and we’re getting pretty close to that now. This is really the first step in trying to build collaboration among our industry, among the ag players.”

Taylor was also involved in selecting the ten AgTech finalists who represented the industry for the Thrive Accelerator Program, an initiative sponsored by SVG Partners and Forbes. It’s a highly selective mentorship and investment program for technology-enabled startups in the Precision Agriculture space. Mr. Taylor, along with a select group of expert mentors, sifted through over forty entries from innovative leaders in Peru, Israel, Switzerland, Panama, France, UK, Ireland, and from across the USA at Thrive Accelerator’s Seed Camp.

Forbes AgTech Summit Cocktail Reception

Congratulations to our founder and CEO, Bruce Taylor on your award. You’re a respected leader in our industry and an inspiration to us all.