Startups are aiming to solve big problems for agriculture, including labor and water shortages, climate-driven headaches and declining bee populations, by deploying artificial intelligence, autonomous driving technology and robotics.f the vast farms of the Midwest are America’s breadbasket, California is its produce department.
Monarch Tractor's electric autonomous MK-V is equipped with the technology found in self-driving cars.“Whether it's labor or water, or even fertilizers and pesticides, those are all resources that are very expensive. With our tractor, with the data we’re collecting, can be more efficient with all those resources,” Penmetsa told.
“Pretty much every year our members have been concerned about not being able to get enough people to do what they need to do or would like to be able to do.”“The lack of products on grocery store shelves was not because farmers stopped growing crops and raising livestock to provide a food source for the country,” the American Farm Bureau Federation said in a recent. “It was because every step of the supply chain lacked the labor needed to keep up with the demand.
Monarch’s tractor, which has been working in Mondavi-owned vineyards since 2020, costs about twice as much as a similar-size diesel tractor. Penmetsa says savings on fuel and labor mean it pays for itself in about two years—and in California, it even qualifies for incentives for nonpolluting ag equipment of. Its cameras and software allow for precise watering and use of fertilizers and pesticides, resulting in further cost savings for growers, he said.
Israeli startup Tevel developed flying robot drones to pick apples, peaches, apricots and other fruit.“Especially in California, with the labor laws, you can’t have pickers work more than eight hours a day,” said Ittai Marom, general manager of Tevel’s U.S. operations, as he watched the buzzy bots plucking apples that were attached with magnets to faux trees under a tent at the expo. “Working 24/7 is a game changer to the entire chain.
“Basically it does 97% of what a beekeeper would do in the field for the bees—the robot does [it] automatically,” Safra said. “We put these in the field and the bees do their thing. They pollinate, collect pollen, they produce honey. And when they come back home, we make sure they don't collapse. It's not too warm. It's not too cold. It’s a five-star hotel for bees.”