California is the top agriculture-producing state in the U.S., according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. But when it comes to autonomous vehicle ecosystem superiority, Arizona has not only taken a front seat—it’s also become the driver. The state has deployed a pro-business approach that has made it the hub for businesses in autonomous technology—and it’s now enjoying all the spoils that come along with it.

Arizona made its move early on to embrace new technology platforms when Gov. Doug Ducey stopped a sting operation on rideshare drivers at the 2015 Super Bowl in Phoenix shortly after being elected. Instead, Arizona legalized autonomous ridesharing, fostering an environment where officials have worked with industry to balance the competing interests of innovation and regulation, collaborating to solve challenges as they come up. The result? Arizona has become the hub for dozens of autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo, Lyft and Uber. This, in turn, has laid the groundwork for the use of autonomous vehicles for agriculture.

At a time when the industry is facing labor shortages, increased costs of doing business, water shortages and environmental concerns, California needs to ensure the success of the agriculture industry by welcoming innovation. Walt Duflock, VP of Innovation for Western Growers, explained that while Arizona embraces this technology, California is at risk of losing its competitive edge by evading it and pushing companies to Arizona. “It makes sense, because the market is there, and the Arizona market is a lot friendlier for the companies developing it,” he said.

Ducey’s open-for-business approach is an excellent example of the impact embracing and adapting to new technologies can have on the world. “When you’re recognized as the autonomous ecosystem leader, all the benefits coming from the tech world flow toward your ecosystem hub in tech and agtech. Arizona is working hard to deliver these economic benefits for their state and the Greater Phoenix to Yuma corridor,” Duflock said.

While some see California limiting innovation and change with its bureaucracy and over-regulation, Arizona’s hands-off approach has encouraged many of the businesses to establish their operations in Arizona. Companies including Google, Uber and Ford have fought California lawmakers on self-driving regulations. They felt some of the rule requirements, specifically with reporting on the number of times a driverless car switched from autonomous mode to human-driven mode, can give misleading impressions when it comes to safety.

Earlier this year, the agriculture industry in the state of California was dealt a major setback when California’s Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board (OSHSB) denied a petition by Monarch Tractor, maker of fully electric, driver-optional tractors, to amend the state labor code that would “allow for the use of driver-optional tractors without a human operator stationed at the vehicular controls within a strict set of safety guidelines.”

Cal/OSHA cited that there wasn’t enough evidence in the hearing to determine if autonomous equipment was safe. A similar petition, brought forward by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) in 2019, was also denied by Cal/OSHA for many of the same reasons.

As a result, in the state of California, manufacturers must obtain a special permit to operate autonomous equipment. Monarch Tractor was granted a temporary variance in 2021 to allow its autonomous tractors to operate without onboard drivers. At the time of the petition, Monarch Tractor revealed that its technology “operated 760 hours with zero incidents of any kind.”

The current labor code, which was written in the 1970s, states that “all self-propelled equipment shall, when under its own power and in motion, have an operator stationed at the vehicular controls.” Monarch’s proposed amendment suggested that current regulations were outdated, ambiguous and didn’t accommodate emerging technologies of the 21^st century.

Proponents of this technology agree that autonomous equipment can bring tremendous opportunities for the agriculture industry, including sustainability, food quality and even improved safety for farmworkers. One can even consider some autonomous equipment would allow growers to operate their fields 24/7 and improve productivity.

“If you look at the types of equipment, it’s my understanding that manufacturers are looking at the types of applications that are the most dangerous for a worker, and they’re creating the autonomy where it makes the most sense, where you’re removing a worker from danger and replacing it with autonomy and reducing safety concerns,” said Joani Woelfel, President and CEO at Far West Equipment Dealers Association (FWEDA), an advocacy group for equipment dealers in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

But there are many people who are familiar with the issue who feel that lack of safety data isn’t the issue, but rather the concern comes from labor. According to Woelfel, the only way around that concern is through education and engagement. “Unless the industry invites labor, regulators and legislators to participate and engage in this process, they’ll have a hard time getting them on board,” Woelfel said.

In November, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema toured JV Smith Farms in Yuma, hosted by Western Growers member and former Board Chair Vic Smith, CEO of JV Smith Companies, for a chance to see cutting-edge technologies used by farmers in the field. Woelfel agrees that more of this needs to happen to increase education.

“If the industry really made a concerted effort to engage legislators and regulators, similar to Sinema’s visit, and get them out there more, we’re happy to facilitate. Sometimes it’s just about connecting all the appropriate parties together to start that conversation,” Woelfel said.

Naturally, as technology evolves, there are some concerns about automation replacing workers. But many in the industry see automation as an opportunity to create more jobs.

“The way I see it, California may have just walked away from thousands of great paying, high-tech jobs in the motor vehicle industry generally and the agriculture industry specifically,” Duflock said. “We’re missing out on jobs that support the design, development, sales and maintenance of equipment, even when California still has a lead in the early R&D stages for many of the new autonomous vehicle companies. There are engineering needs up and down the stack. We have to look at it as an opportunity—what’s being created is new jobs and greater opportunities for workers. In turn, farms can become more profitable and successful and create new jobs.”

Woelfel explained that when it comes to automation, it still involves people—but with a different set of skills as well as a need to change the way we educate up-and-coming workers. “What these workers do is very different, so the industry needs to work together to identify the skills needed to work the equipment and improve their skills,” she said.

But until we engage with and educate decisionmakers and labor and improve the messaging on safety, things will be slow to progress. Western Growers will continue supporting its members and the industry, through the Western Growers Center for Innovation and Technology (WGCIT), to move toward market adoption and get funding and scale.

“We need to make sure their roadmap makes sense, and their economic model makes sense for the growers, and once they do a field trial, we need to spread the word and educate growers that there’s an opportunity to make a change,” Duflock said. In the meantime, California will have to continue to sit in the backseat while Arizona drives the ecosystem of autonomous technology that advances the industry.

“Autonomy is coming. It’s a major growth area and tech driver and will push the industry forward. California can only lead if it doesn’t over-regulate, and if we don’t change course, Arizona will continue in its current leadership position,” Duflock said.

Science fiction stories about the future generally go one of two ways: A dystopian hell where robots attack us (“The Terminator”) or a dystopian hell where robots attack us in space (“2001: A Space Odyssey.”) But now it’s time to separate science fiction from fact. As the labor crisis continues in agriculture, with common-sense immigration reform at a standstill and an aging workforce threatening the future supply of skilled labor, technology will be one of the saviors of the industry.

In recent agricultural industry events—from FIRA USA, the first American version of the international ag robotics expo that was held in Fresno and co-sponsored by Western Growers, to the Alliance for Food and Farming Safe Fruits and Veggies farm tour across the Central Valley, to the Organic Grower Summit held last month in Monterey, Calif.—the excitement about agtech was tempered by one recurring question: Does automation mean farmworkers will lose jobs?

It’s a humane question, one based in the very worthy concern that individuals’ livelihoods would be eliminated by technology. It’s a variation on the dystopian theme that has populated our pop culture for decades.

The answer, thankfully, is no. In fact, in a scenario that might be counter-intuitive for a layperson—automation doesn’t replace workers, but it will actually improve workers’ quality of life by making their specific jobs easier and giving them better paying opportunities down the road.

At FIRA, Hernan Hernandez, the Executive Director of the California Farmworker Foundation, gave a presentation on exactly this topic, noting that technology collaboration is the key to farmworker economic mobility as well as a way to improve safety on the job.

“When we were asking farmworkers ‘What do you think about these new machines? What do you see? What is the future?’ many of them were a bit scared—but the majority of them said these machines are great and all, but they will never replace us,” he said. “We’ve seen this in our data—a lot of farmworkers support technology.  They think it is going to help them….In the Central Valley, the farmworkers’ average age is 45 years old. This is a workforce that, five to 10 years from now, is going to need technology to help them with their day-to-day activities.”

Hernandez says his organization is striving for a “free, fair, prosperous society” and he believes farmworker education to assist with career development is key. To that end, CFF is working with the Fresno-Merced Future of Food Innovation (F3) coalition, which in 2022 received a $65.1 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration—the largest grant ever received in the Central Valley—to accelerate the integration of technology and worker skills.

“One thing that I do want to emphasize is the workforce that we have today knows the fields,” he said. “They’ve lived in the fields, they’ve worked in the fields for 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-, 50 years. They know exactly what the terrain looks like and how to do the work. The one thing I would want to see is more farmworkers being included in the discussions so we can produce better technology that is safe.”

That is exactly what is being done at HMC Farms in Kingsburg, Calif., according to Vice President Drew Ketelsen. “We will always need people—we cannot function without them,” he said. “But technology changes our ever-shifting landscape. Just like in many other industries, some job [categories] are lost and others are gained. There are new positions available in specialized areas in ag because of technology, allowing people the opportunity to pursue careers that didn’t exist five years ago.”

The best comparison to make is to think of what happened to switchboard operators as communications technology improved. Do those kinds of jobs exist in this day and age? Rarely. But did the mobile phone open up a whole new world of better-paying jobs in the same sector? Absolutely. Yesterday’s switchboard operator is today’s app designer.

Ketelsen’s team now operates everything from flying autonomous robots to optical grading and sorting machines to Burro self-driving wheelbarrows to field moisture probes to help HMC’s operations run more efficiently. “Ag technology is present in every aspect of our operation, from field preparation to harvest, packing to shipping, and everything in between,” he said. “Agtech doesn’t always look like a scene from the future, it can be as simple as adding a power system to reduce the manual human effort required of an activity—think of using a power drill rather than a screwdriver. Agtech is not about taking jobs away, it’s about making jobs better for employees.”

And while the cool factor of ag robots is undeniable, there is a very serious business motivation for Ketelsen’s push for technology at his operations.

“If agriculture does not innovate, the job loss will be astronomical. In contrast with slowly losing some jobs to innovation, all jobs will be immediately lost if farm acreage is replaced with non-labor intensive crops, or pulled out of agriculture altogether,” he said. “The concern is about more than jobs, it is also about food security. Two-thirds of all the nation’s fruits and nuts come from California alone. If we cannot find a way to provide healthy and affordable food, everyone will suffer.”

For Chris Rotticci, General Manager at Taylor Harvesting LLC, the fight for automation is on two fronts: to ward off the future inevitable collapse of the ag labor system—and to make sure today’s industry workers stay safe. Why use a ladder when workers can harvest from a mechanized raised platform that moves along the orchard row?

“Here, our emphasis and goal of automation is to improve our ergonomics,” he said. “How do we improve that work environment for the person that is actually doing the work? If we can build convenience into their working environment where they can improve their throughput, that’s a win for everyone.”

And while automation will reveal new ag industry jobs over time, it also helps those workers who are employed today. Skilled labor done more efficiently means more money for the farmworker, Rotticci said. “You get into the compensation side, where it’s either piece rate driven or a tiered bonus system,” he said. “I have safety bonuses weekly for the general labor we have. We have attendance bonuses…we’re shifting skill sets into a higher tier for higher returns.”

So, as it turns out, when it comes to robots in the ag space, the most accurate science fiction tale is actually “The Jetsons.” No, automated harvesters won’t be wearing maid uniforms and carrying feather dusters like Rosey the Robot. But they will make sure that farm employees have a safer, more efficient, less physically rigorous way to do their jobs, all with the potential for greater career development.

“To continue to do what we love, we have to evolve and adapt and welcome a few robots into our industry,” Ketelsen said

Labor remains a top challenge for specialty crops, and it’s getting harder to find. U.S. farmworkers decreased by 70 percent in 70 years, regulatory costs increased 795 percent in 12 years, and U.S. H-2A labor increased from 48,000 in 2005 to 300,000 in 2021—which add transportation and housing costs. Innovation remains the best solution to turn manual tasks like planting, weeding, thinning, harvesting and spraying into automated tasks with mechanization and automation.

So what does the market look like in early 2023? Weeding is the leading robot category for the moment. Carbon Robotics, Stout AgTech and FarmWise are all delivering solutions that provide growers with quality economics. Carbon Robotics has raised $36.8 million and has a one-year order backlog for $1.4 million laser weeding robots that break even at two years or less with 3,000–4,000 acres of production. FarmWise has raised $65 million and is in multiple regions with a weeding-as-a-service option that is price competitive with labor crew economics. Stout AgTech just got a 10 percent investment from CNHI and has sold over 25 mechanical cultivators for around $350,000 each, and its machines can also return a payback to the grower of less than two years. In addition to these, Verdant Robotics just raised $46 million and Naio just raised $33 million, so increasingly the segment is finding capital to help scale out the number of robots in market.

Harvest Assist is also beginning to scale. The best use case for this is Burro, which helps table grape crews by increasing their logistics efficiency by moving harvested product back to the truck via use of an autonomous small platform tractor. The efficiency gains are often 15-30 percent and provide growers with a 6-12 month payback depending on usage and acre count. Burro sells $10,000 robots and has over 100 robots in market with plans to manufacture several hundred more in the coming year.

Spraying automation solutions are one of the emerging areas approaching quality grower economics. GUSS is one of the early leaders offers GUSS sprayer machines for vineyards and orchards, a smaller Mini GUSS for easier turning in smaller fields and Herbicide GUSS. Also delivering an on-the-ground spraying solution is Robotics Plus, which launched in the U.S. market this quarter. Both appear to offer quality economics for growers. In addition to GUSS and Robotics Plus, Rantizzo offers a drone-based spraying solution with competitive economics to tractor-based spraying options.

On the other hand, harvest robots are still in the relatively early stages of product development, testing and roll out. Harvest is proving to be harder to develop than weeding because each crop requires its own robotic solution and the end effectors that pick the fruits and vegetables have to be significantly more gentle with them then weeding robots, which can just destroy weeds. None of the harvest robots have yet gotten to scale, and most have raised $25 million or less (as compared to the weeding robots, which as mentioned above, have been successfully fundraising over the past couple of years.)

So that’s the state of play with specialty crop automation—if you’re looking for weeding, harvest assist or spraying solutions, there are good options with good economics available. On the other hand, if you’re looking for harvest robotics, keep an eye out for emerging players but they are likely a few years away from getting to market at scale.