I am working with ChatGPT to help me track the latest news and activities in specialty crop automation. A couple of weeks back I asked it to compile a list of the top 10 automation headlines for the year to date (so January through September). Here are the topics it came up with, and a few thoughts from me on the significance of each.

Carbon Robotics crosses $100M in revenue

There’s no doubt this is the top story in automation – we have our first $100M revenue startup and that’s a large piece of support for the $325M in automation revenue for the category in 2025. We are on pace for a 20-25% annual growth rate in 2026 and if we continue at that pace we get to $1B in automation revenue by 2030, which is a huge milestone to reach. Having $100M in revenue from a single company and being on track for $1B in 5 years are both signs that the automation category is reaching early commercial scale.

Verdant Robotics: ~$500K savings and ~7-month payback

Verdant’s key points indicate a clear transition from “does the tech work” to “how quickly does it pay back?” This is a huge milestone for an automation startup – moving from proving it works to proving it works with grower’s economics supported is a key transition area as startups start and try to scale commercialization. In this case, what is working is precision application and what is being identified is a payback period that under some circumstances can be less than a year. Automation startups should target this type of information to share with growers and media interested in how your product is doing.

Bonsai Robotics + farm-ng ecosystem reaches 400+ machines / ~1M acres

Bonsai’s acquisition of Farm-NG creates an ecosystem that has now reached 400+ machines. In addition, as I’ve written previously, their ability to turn the Amiga (and Amiga Max) machines into platforms that can integrate with third party machines is creating significant new and follow-on business opportunities. One of the most interesting integrations is the spraying integration with both electro-static (OnTarget) and conventional spray modules that are being sold to Gary Omori. Watch this space for as-a-service progress, which helps growers by removing utilization and equipment risks and putting them on the OEM side of the cost ledger so the grower buys results instead of equipment. Bonsai CEO Tyler Niday has convinced me this is one of the most high-potential segments in automation.

TRIC Robotics reaches ~1,500 strawberry acres with 15 robots

Adam Stager and the TRIC Robotics team have done a great job of commercializing their UV-C machines on an as-a-service basis for strawberry growers on the Central Coast. Growers can purchase UV-C treatment for $25/acre and can add bug vacuum capabilities for an additional $25/hour. Just like above with Bonsai/Farm-NG, this business model is getting some traction with growers who are increasingly feeling less need to own every piece of equipment the farm uses. The disease-control-as-a-service category should grow as growers and TRIC validate the economics. TRIC reached coverage of 1,500 strawberry acres with 15 operating robots and are on a solid revenue growth trajectory.

Saga Robotics: 100+ robots operating across ~2,600 vineyard acres

Right behind Farm-NG and TRIC is another as-a-service solution involving a potential platform play from Saga Robotics. They reached the 100 robots milestone, and those robots are operating on 2,600 vineyard acres. The WG Innovation team (and John Deere and Reservoir Farms teams) visited Saga in a Paso Robles vineyard a few weeks back. It’s impressive technology and (as with the others on this list) growers are confirming the economics work for growers. The machines are autonomous and 100 robots signals a large fleet milestone.

John Deere commits $10M to Reservoir / specialty-crop innovation

In one of the clearest signals that OEMs see specialty crops as strategically important, John Deere followed up Western Grower’s $1.5M capital commitment and strategic partnership with Reservoir with their own $10M investment of equipment and capital. This is a huge milestone to validate the Reservoir Farms model and team’s work to date, which has been tremendous to participate in and watch. The 3-way partnership continues to grow in strength and the results suggest that we are just getting started and have lots of opportunity ahead.

GUSS + Deere push autonomous spraying further

John Deere’s acquisition of GUSS as both an autonomous and spray equipment provider is a clear indication that Deere is treating the spray space as one worth additional investment, including in high value crops. The deal moved GUSS from joint venture to acquisition and broadened Deere’s spray solutions portfolio. One key milestone is that fractional machine operators have emerged and in some cases GUSS machines are operating in an 8:1 ration (one operator for 8 GUSS machines), which has a large, positive impact on spraying economics.

USDA backs a $7.5M orchard robotics center

This was for an SCRI grant that Manoj Karkee at Cornell was awarded with several partners (including WG) participating in various portions. The grant was kicked off a few weeks ago and there are wins to be found on both the R&D side and in specifics like end effector improvements that can work across tree crops of all types (apples, cherries, stone fruit). Harvest remains the most elusive of solutions and represents 2/3 of farm worker hours so automation solutions to harvest have a large impact when they are able to commercialize. These federal dollars help accelerate that process for orchards.

Bluewhite acquired after logging 100,000+ autonomous hours

This is a mixed set of news. On the one hand, this 100,000+ autonomous hour milestone demonstrates genuine grower adoption in fields, but the acquisition also shows how difficult it remains for AgTech companies to build durable standalone businesses. This is particularly true as AgriFoodTech VC has dropped 70% ($54B in 2021 to $16B in 2025) and pushed some startups into positions where they need to get acquired because they cannot successfully fund raise.

Mixing Bowl market map: 400+ companies, ~$600M raised — but ~20% churn

The latest Crop Robotics Landscape from Mixing Bowl identifies 400+ companies that have raised $600M. This is clearly a large and active market segment that is solving real problems while undergoing significant consolidation. 20% of the startups from the prior list are gone, and a new 20%+ have come along to take their spot on the Landscape.

My key takeaways: (1) we are moving increasingly from demos and R&D to acres, revenue, and ROI; (2) commercial metrics are finally becoming the story. Both of these are wins for automation startups and growers.