Farmers have grown yields over the years through improved varieties, nutrition and equipment. An emerging frontier involves automation, including robotics and AI. 

“We believe automation is going to be a whole revolution in farming,” remarked Adam Stager, founder of TRIC Robotics. “It’s really the next big thing to drive efficiency on these farms.”

One item TRIC has introduced automated, tractor-scale pest and disease control robotics using UV-C light, that was demonstrated at the recent Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Strawberry Field Day. 

Also on display at the event was a prototype robotic strawberry harvester from L5 Automation.

“We’ve seen a lot of startups attempt this, and a lot of startups have failed,” said Dan Schneider, L5 Director of Software. “We want to make sure that we solve these problems correctly, so that we can harvest all season long. Then we will worry about making the process faster.”

Schneider said they expect to harvest trial beds next year, to refine the technology and scale it up to full commercial harvesting. 

Stager and Schneider said they hope their emerging technologies  will ultimately have application that extends to other crops, in addition to California strawberry fields.