I wrote this on the eve of the Tulare World Ag Expo in early February and wanted to share some big-picture insights on the state of specialty crop automation solutions, driven by some major developments in recent weeks.

1) John Deere continues pushing out autonomous solutions at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, this time with new kits for the 9RX and scaled down autonomy in the 5ML Orchard Tractor for Air Blast Spraying. It’s also rolling out nationwide training, and the autonomy options will be available in some regions from select dealers later in 2025. This is about right for a company of John Deere’s size. This launch is not as high impact as the overall autonomous tractor announcement from a couple of years ago, but it is definitely a big move forward as the autonomy solutions are coming downstream (from the 9 series to the 5 series) and starting to get into the dealer channel with a few key dealers like RDO.

2) Recently, Carbon Robotics launched the LaserWeeder G2 product line, which was showcased in Tulare, California. Viewers were introduced to five models varying in size and cost for specialty crops, along with two new products designed for Midwest crops. The specialty crop solutions are built in 2-meter, 4-meter and 6-meter sizes. This raises the bar for all weeding automation providers. Carbon Robotics’ launch introduces a complete product line to compete against. With 100 machines sold and delivered, a $70 million raise last year (including Nvidia as an investor) and a CEO with a $2 billion prior exit, they are well-positioned in the market and setting the pace. Others with weeding robots need to plan their product and messaging in a way that will address the new competitive landscape. If you’ve been selling against Carbon Robotics by claiming that it is too expensive and too heavy, you should begin adjusting your message to the new product family.

3) The automation space is maturing with new products and product extensions. GUSS has gone from the original GUSS sprayer unit to a product set with three sprayers – GUSS, Mini GUSS and Herbicide GUSS. Similarly, Burro has expanded its product family to include the Burro, Burro Verde, Burro Grande and Contador that offer different sizes, ranges, costs and functionality. The larger footprint units provide extra capabilities for its horticulture customers, and Contador adds lawn mower capability to the Burro family. So that’s a three-model (GUSS), a four-model (Burro) and a five-model (Carbon Robotics) set of product families, which is great news for growers because they now have more choices and price points to evaluate.

4) Ecorobotix is one of the recent startups to successfully launch into the U.S. market. It has sold over 60 machines in 60 weeks, and the product and traction are helping it establish a nice foothold on the West Coast of the U.S. Obviously, it has a solid product that had gotten traction and some scale in Europe before coming to the U.S. That always creates the opportunity for a new regional launch, but it’s another thing to execute the launch successfully. The question now is how many more companies can replicate Ecorobotix’s success—and whether any will take on the challenge of entering the U.S. market in 2025.

5) California growers pay $16.3 billion for 850 million hours of farm labor per year – two-thirds for harvest and one-third for non-harvest – at an average cost of $19.25. Venture capital remains limited for all segments, including agtech – both have seen a 50 percent to 70 percent drop in two years with no change in status expected for 2025. VC will remain tough until IPOs or M&A return, and that looks at least a year out. Harvest remains tough for all fresh specialty crops. Weeding is seeing some progress with Carbon Robotics selling and delivering 100 robots into market. Even at 100 machines, the total hours saved by all CR machines is 3 million hours per year. It’s a nice start, but we need it to scale to really have an impact on the 280 million hours of non-harvest labor – it’s really at just over 1 percent of hours saved so far. So while we consider 3 million hours a year to be meaningful, there is still a lot of work to be done to really start addressing the labor challenges of specialty crops.