Rhishi Pethe and Ben Palone went to Yuma two weeks ago and it was the start of a new path for Western Growers on harvest automation. Ben put together a great agenda for Rhishi that included meetings with growers, farm workers and agtech automation experts with the goal of starting to develop a Product Requirements Document for an iceberg lettuce harvest automation solution. Solutions like this are badly needed for Western Growers members because labor is increasingly difficult to find (for a lot of domestic labor) and getting more costly. In California the current number is that 10% of farm workers are H-2A workers from international locations that cost $28-30/hour when housing, transportation and food are accounted for in the total cost. That kind of hourly rate continues putting pressure on acreage to relocate outside of California. In short, if we can’t automate it, the acreage will help itself to relocate. Nowhere is this more true than reading headlines in industry newsletters that announce weekly record-setting production and ag exports for specialty crops in countries like Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador for key crops like avocadoes, blueberries and table grapes.

The automation progress being made is in non-harvest activities like weeding, planting, thinning, spraying and harvest assist. Western Growers estimates that 2-3% of these activities are automated and that they represent 1/3 of the total farm worker hours in aggregate. Harvest represents the other 2/3, and we are seeing very limited progress on fresh harvest automation. Combine that with the 85% reduction in venture capital ($53B to ~$10B from 2021 to 2025) and you realize that we need new capital strategies to get harvest automation moving forward that do not require venture capital. Rhishi and Ben’s trip was the first step in this direction. We will be reporting on the progress as it gets made, and we plan on building in plain sight. Can we come up with a grower-funded option for the R&D work that does not require any VC funding and provides a completely open-sourced solution available to all growers when complete? We are going to find that out starting with the 3:10 to Yuma trip. In the meantime, check out Rhishi’s great article to see where the journey begins.

One final update (which I’ll have more details on in next week’s Newsletter): since the Yuma trip, Rhishi has put the first draft of a Product Requirements Document (PRD) for iceberg harvest lettuce automation together. It’s a great start and probably a signal as to where Western Growers is going next on harvest automation.

For growers, packers and shippers, getting field heat out fast and monitoring temperature throughout is essential for preserving quality and reducing shrink. Inteligistics solutions makes that easier than ever with an affordable, automated pre‑cooling system that works with the equipment you already have.

Why Growers Choose Inteligistics

• Better quality, longer shelf life
  Inteligistics rapidly removes field heat from berries, leafy greens, and tree fruit, helping slow respiration and microbial growth. Product arrives at market fresher and with longer shelf life.
• Prevents over‑cooling and under‑cooling
  AI‑enhanced data coming from sensors continuously track core and air temperatures—even inside inner pallets—so every load reaches the ideal temperature without guesswork or manual checks.
• Faster cooling and lower energy costs
  Typical operations see 15–20% shorter cooling cycles and up to 33% overall efficiency gains. That means more throughput, less power use, and lower operating costs.
• Works with your current equipment
  The system installs easily on nearly any forced‑air tunnel, vacuum tube or MACS setup. No need for expensive capital upgrades, and most growers see ROI in as little as eight months.
• Fully automated, consistent results
  Start, stop and every stage of pre‑cooling are automated, eliminating operator variation and ensuring every load is cooled correctly.

If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to VP of Digital Transformation, Lawrence Mallia, [email protected].

Harvesting specialty crops has always been an intensely labor‑dependent process, but in today’s environment, the challenges surrounding labor availability, cost and reliability have pushed growers into increasingly uncertain territory. Across much of the specialty crop sector—leafy greens, tree fruit, berries, and vegetables—harvest labor represents nearly two‑thirds of total production costs. For growers already operating on tight margins, this concentration of cost in a single production phase exposes them to financial and operational risks that are becoming harder to manage each year. Labor availability fluctuates, regulatory pressures continue to evolve and the pool of skilled workers able and willing to engage in physically demanding harvest work continues to shrink. The result: a system under strain and an industry actively searching for alternatives.

At the same time, the very sector hoping to drive technological breakthroughs—agri‑foodtech—has faced its own headwinds. Venture capital investment in the space has fallen dramatically, down approximately 68% since 2022, drying up a vital source of funding for early stage automation efforts. While broader market forces have played a role, the structural mismatch between specialty crop needs and traditional VC investment criteria is an equally important factor. Specialty crops are, by design, a niche industry. They require highly customized technologies capable of handling biological variability, tight harvest windows and complex field environments—not the kind of uniform, scalable platforms that venture investors typically prefer.

This creates a fundamental tension: growers need practical, incremental, field‑ready automation solutions, while venture capital often seeks rapid scaling, high margins and broad applicability across markets. As a result, even promising automation concepts struggle to secure funding if they cannot demonstrate the kind of growth trajectory investors expect. Many growers have experienced this firsthand. Companies with strong early prototypes stall out once investment becomes elusive or pivot away from agriculture entirely, leaving growers without long‑term partners or pathways to scale.

In this environment, specialty crop agriculture is left with few traditional options. Relying on large VC investment alone no longer supports the level of innovation required. Instead, the path forward increasingly depends on the industry coming together to drive solutions collectively—growers, technologists, researchers and organizations aligned not around venture returns, but around real grower value. Collaborative problem‑solving, shared risk and models that prioritize grower outcomes over investor expectations are becoming essential.

This is where Western Growers steps in.

The Western Growers Innovation Team is committed to building these new pathways—ones that advance automation not through traditional Silicon Valley expectations, but through a grower‑centric model focused on practical, field‑verified impact. Our work is grounded in listening to growers, understanding operational bottlenecks and ensuring that the technology pipeline solves real‑world problems. By connecting growers directly with engineers, robotics firms and startups, we help shape solutions earlier in the development cycle, increasing the odds that new tools will be usable, affordable and scalable.

We also recognize that innovation must be paired with creative funding models—strategic partnerships, industry consortia, targeted grants, pilots and shared‑investment structures that reduce risk for innovators and growers alike. Automation in specialty crops is too important, too urgent and too complex to rely solely on market forces. It will take a united industry effort, and Western Growers is committed to leading that collaboration.

As labor uncertainty grows and traditional funding declines, the message is clear: the future of specialty crop automation will be built not by chance, but through shared ingenuity, collective action, and solutions designed by and for growers. And Western Growers is here to make that future possible.

Damian Mason’s Business of Agriculture podcast has 10 great predictions for agriculture in 2026. I highly encourage everyone to check out the full episode on YouTube (link below). Here are some of the best predictions:

1) Michael Di Sabato predicts Tyson will divest its beef business from the rest of its portfolio. Tyson’s beef business has gone from a cash cow (sorry) to a $20 billion money losing boat anchor and a big drag on profitability with a $1.1 billion loss in 2025.

2) Chris Rawley predicts we will see humanoid robots in the fields in the next 5-10 years based in part on continued progress from emerging solutions like Tesla Optimus and 15 or more different companies globally making humanoid robots.

3) Ryan Moe had a two part China prediction: (1) China is not going to fulfill their commitment on soybean purchases, and the deal should have never been made. They will continue to buy from Brazil, and the only way to regain share from Brazil is with lower prices; (2) China is going to kill as many hogs as the US hog herd has in total to avoid paying for feed for hogs that do not have any margin.

4) David Mlostek Jr. predicts that management and operations win over agtech. He had a great equation: yield = genetics x environment x management. His prediction is that Management will look to new tools like regenerative practices and growing efficiencies because agtech is expensive and doesn’t always work.

5) Krista Swanson predicts corn-based ethanol can create two new 5% opportunities: (1) maritime fuels – we need 70-80B gallons per year and if US ethanol captured 5% of that it’s 4-5 billion gallons of annual ethanol demand and can go straight into the product (SAF requires extra steps); (2) plastics – if ethanol captures 5% of the plastics market that equates to 10 billion gallons of annual ethanol demand.

6) Martin Peterson predicts that rural real estate land values are not going to drop, they are going to hold up and maybe even increase in spite of the numerous challenges agriculture faces in all segments.

7) Walt Duflock predicts that Peru will have more ag exports than California in 2034, with a particular focus on specialty crops like avocadoes, blueberries and table grapes.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Adaviv, a resident of the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology, is developing mobile-based tools designed to help growers, packers and shippers monitor plant health, evaluate harvest quality and track labor performance. The system operates on standard smartphones, reducing the need for additional equipment.

Following work with partners including Driscoll’s and NatureSweet in Mexico, the company is expanding its deployments across the United States. Early users report that the platform supports earlier detection of crop issues, provides consistent quality assessment from field through packing, and helps decrease product rejections and related penalties.

To support organizations interested in testing the technology, Adaviv plans to offer free onboarding, training and 15‑day pilot programs during the first quarter of 2026. These pilots are open to growers, PCAs, shippers, packers and processors. For more information, contact: [email protected] or 857‑316‑9290.

As we reflect on 2025, the agricultural robotics sector was a mixed bag of fluctuating signals. The year saw rapid advancements in automation, driven by AI, precision tech and strategic mergers. This serves as a stark reminder that compelling ROI and value propositions are primary factors for growers to adopt agtech. Autonomous navigation breakthroughs to non-traditional chemical inputs for pest control­­—laserweeding and precision application implements—2025 reinforced robotics’ role in boosting operational efficiency by providing real solutions for growers combating labor and input costs. Here’s a roundup of some key developments from 2025.

VC-Backed Startups Face Headwinds in Specialty Crops

While innovation maintained a steady course, VC-backed startups targeting specialty crops grappled with new market realities. 2025 saw another meager year in total investment dollars in agri-food-tech investment. FarmWise, known for its AI-powered weeding robots, had its assets acquired by Taylor Farms after struggling to secure further funding. Similarly, Advanced Farm Technologies, a pioneer in robotic apple harvesting, saw its assets and IP acquired by CNH Industrial. Tortuga AgTech, while initially focused on strawberry harvesting, then later pivoted to table grape harvesting, was acquired by Rishi, underscoring consolidation in the automated harvesting space. The acquisitions of Advanced Farm and Tortuga AgTech reinforced the demand for automated harvesting solutions but exposed misalignments between traditional VC models and the specialized, capital-intensive nature of ag markets. Startups often face long development cycles and slim margins, prompting a shift toward strategic buyouts as subsequent funding rounds could not be achieved.

2025 Marked Significant Strides in Autonomous Navigation

Arizona continues to pave the way for on-farm innovation, by passing SB 1320 (updating transportation codes to recognize autonomous farm equipment), while California farmers are currently restricted from using driverless tractors. Agtonomy and Kubota entered into a strategic licensing agreement, which integrates Agtonomy’s AI-driven autonomy software into Kubota’s M5N tractors for specialty crops like vineyards and orchards. This partnership focused on tasks like spraying and mowing, enhancing precision and reducing labor costs. Meanwhile, Bonsai Robotics acquired Farm NG, combining Bonsai’s vision-based AI with Farm NG’s modular electric robots to create “AI-first” machines for crop management. This move aimed to address efficiency gaps in specialty crops. John Deere further solidified its dominance by fully acquiring GUSS Automation, building on a 2022 joint venture to advance supervised autonomy in high-value crops like orchards and vineyards. These developments highlight a trend toward scalable, easy-to-use and retrofit-friendly autonomy, making advanced tech accessible to more growers.

UVC Light Emerges as a Commercial Solution for pest and Disease Control

One of the year’s brightest spots was the maturation of UVC light treatments as viable alternatives to chemical pesticides and fungicides. Proven effective against pathogens like powdery mildew, UVC tech reaches commercial viability in winegrapes and strawberries. Kubota’s investment in UV Boosting signaled strong industry confidence, with the French startup’s UV-flashing equipment reducing fungicide use in vineyards and orchards. Leaders like TRIC Robotics, Saga Robotics, and UV Boosting drove adoption: TRIC’s Luna robots treated strawberry fields with UV-C for chemical-free mite and mildew control, while Saga plans to expand its Thorvald machines in UK strawberries and California vineyards. This shift not only alleviates resistance issues but also opened doors for M&A, as UVC applications shift market direction from traditional agrochemical applicators to standalone automation solutions.