Exporters often receive compliments from potential clients who appreciate translated business cards and marketing materials. Having their own interpreter during traveling visits or trade conferences and sales meetings provides negotiators with an added tool for the success of their negotiations.

An organization like International Contact provides the language link to foment trust and accrue good will.

The company's mission is to produce materials that sound originally written in the foreign language, while mirroring the impact of the materials in English. Whether clients need a brochure localized, an interpreter for a video conference, a multi-language slide presentation or any other foreign language need, they turn to International Contact for services in print, audio, video, web, surveys, language fluency testing and consultation.

Carla Itzkowich, the founder and CEO, was born in Mexico and knows firsthand the issues involved in multi-language/multicultural communication. Her experience presenting U.S. corporate communications to foreign buyers has served Apple, the Port of Oakland and Visa International among many others. She looks forward to helping MBITA members and the TradePort network increase sales results and offers a 10% discount to first-time MBITA members.

By MBITA Member Royse Law Firm, PC

The conference rooms of the Silicon Valley might seem like an unlikely place to hear talk of crops, soil, animal tracking and farm management, but a widening group of techies and investors see the potential of applying the Silicon Valley formula to California's largest industry - agriculture - and are aggressively seeking out the new opportunities.

Agriculture has been tied to technology since the first Fordson tractor replaced an ox-drawn plow. In fact, the thing that is most striking about tech companies focused on agriculture ("AgTech") is how much catching up they need to do.

Last year, venture capitalists (VCs) invested $30 to $40 million in 100 to 155 deals, depending on how broadly you define the sector. That may seem like a lot until you consider that roughly the same amount was invested in transportation-tech (companies that help you find cabs more easily, for example). If $150 million still seems high, consider that VCs invest roughly $30 billion per year in the US, and of that, $10 billion emanates from the corridor that runs from Palo Alto to San Francisco.

A recent webinar conducted by the Royse Law Firm in Palo Alto illustrates the numerous areas that are ripe for innovation. For example, water remains one of California's most valuable and sometimes most controversial resources, and technologies are being developed that control flow, purify and desalinate water and process waste water. As the largest consumer of water in the state, the agriculture sector has the most to gain from efficiencies in water use, storage and distribution.

Because of the importance of soil quality, environmental technologies are inherently suitable for ag applications. Soil technologies address contaminants such as e-coli as well as nutrients, fertilizers, herbicides and composts. Other production related technologies provide specific and up to the minute weather information.

One of the more interesting areas in Ag is machinery. The term, "precision farming" has recently become popular, referring to the ability of machines (such as drones and remote controlled or "smart" tractors) to farm a field with pinpoint accuracy. That may seem like science fiction, but commercial sensors and monitors are now available and getting better.

Similarly, technology now allows farmers and ranchers to track animals from field to table with RFID and tracing technologies. Similar technologies capture and analyze that information, placing agriculture in the cross hairs of the most popular new idea in technology - Big Data. What use can farmers use of the vast amounts of information they are gathering? Who owns that information? How can the process of information monitoring, analyzing and gathering be more easily automated, especially in connection with regulatory requirements. Perhaps the biggest gains will come in this emerging sub-sector.

Finally, the end result of all agriculture eventually ends up on a table (or in a glass), and while the VCs catch up to Ag, the related areas of WineTech and FoodTech have also taken off as areas of innovation and interest. Restaurants no longer have to ship all of their produce from far away - urban farms can supply them with some fresh produce. In fact, herbs and spices now grow in warehouses next door to software companies. A "chip" company in the Silicon Valley can mean a computer chip or a corn chip, both fabbed through high technology.

With all of these potential changes and opportunities in progress, what should the producers be doing? How can rural America get its share of the new wealth about to be created? For starters, the great disconnect in the field, and the reason why Ag-Tech is not yet as big as other "Techs", is the failure of communication between consumer and producer, farmer and techie.

Venture capital might help close that gap but, in the meantime, the group "Silicon Valley AgTech" is hosting 'meetups', webinars and conferences designed to bring the groups together so that the tech community can work on solutions that solve actual problems and create products that farmers actually need. Some farmers have cut out the middleman and created their own technologies, based on solving their own current need. They only need to pitch to the right investors in the right way. Eventually they will start to "hit," get funded and launch.

An agricultural revolution is underway that is no less significant to farming than the industrial revolution. This new revolution will trade in information more than machines, and will lower the cost of production and expand markets. All signs indicate that, given the technological basis of the coming change, the center of agriculture will soon be where the technology is located. For information on how to join this movement, interested persons can check out the Meetup and LinkedIn groups, such as Silicon Valley AgTech, or the website http://www.agtechsv.com/ or attend one of the upcoming meetings, webinars or conferences listed at www.RoyseLink.com.

For a replay of the recent AgTech webinar, see www.RoyseUniversity.com/webinars.

The Chief Economist of Euler Hermes, Dan North, will be giving the keynote address at the West Coast Trade & Export Finance Conference 2013, on October 9th, 2013. He will address the economic challenges within the domestic market, such as manufacturing, monetary and fiscal policy, and evaluate the impact on US exports. The conference is the largest annual gathering of trade finance specialists on the West Coast and will as act as a key meeting point for anyone serious about undertaking business in the region.