Out here in the fields, robots are increasingly monitoring, cultivating, harvesting, and managing crops and livestock in the heartland.
The technology is primarily land-based but airborne as well. Near Space Labs makes robotic cameras attached to weather balloons, allowing farmers to measure crop yields and estimate plant health, including potential fungal infections.
Robotics will change but not eliminate the agricultural workforce. Manual, repetitive jobs are likely to decrease, but new roles in robotics operations, maintenance, and data management are emerging, according to the report “Ag Robotics & AI Robotics In Agriculture: 2025 Trends.”
“There are a lot of companies chasing robots and crazy money: 80% to 90% of them will never make it,” Tom Gauthier, an ag-tech AI entrepreneur, said in an interview. “But robots are definitely going to be working in the fields, difficult conditions and all. Labor has been an issue for 50 years in the field.”
One thing is certain: Automation is necessary because of labor shortages and rising food demand amid an aging workforce, declining immigration, and waning interest in farming, according to “Robots in Agriculture: Transforming the Future of Farming” by Fresh Consulting.
It’s difficult to pin down a precise estimate for the agricultural robotics market size, which is broadly defined, but it’s conservatively valued at several billion dollars and projected to grow significantly. By one estimate, the agricultural robotics market is expected to grow from $16.6 billion in 2024 to $103.5 billion by 2032.
Venerable agricultural equipment makers have entered the field to monitor, cultivate, harvest, and manage crops and livestock. John Deere has led in autonomous tractors and precision agriculture technology, while AGCO Corp. specializes in precision agriculture and smart farming solutions.
Specialized robotics companies like Blue River Technology, acquired by John Deere, provide computer vision for precision spraying. Other emerging players include Harvest Automation (robotic systems for nurseries and greenhouses), Iron Ox (robotic farming systems for indoor agriculture), Root AI (robotic harvesting for greenhouse crops), FFRobotics (fresh fruit harvesting robots), and French company Naïo Technologies (small-scale farming robots).
What agricultural technology can accomplish—even before artificial intelligence (AI) and physical AI advance in capabilities, especially around picking fruit and vegetables—has been remarkable. In a short time, existing technology has addressed several key issues that have plagued farmers and their workers for years:
Automated vehicles. Companies like Monarch Tractor are pumping out smart tractors with advanced autonomous capabilities that include fully autonomous feed pushing for dairies, and automated lane-centering for specialty crops.
Automated systems: CODA Farm Technologies has created an internet of things (IoT) system to automate irrigation systems that were once labor-intensive. The system controls water flow and shares irrigation data in real time through a cell phone dashboard that monitors irrigation pumps, valves, and flow meters.
The aim is to reduce malfunctioning manually operated systems that sometimes flood crops, eliminating the need for farmers to regularly venture into fields to check sprinklers and turn them on and off.
Rock removal: TerraClear, a startup providing services to remove rocks from fields, deploys drones that create maps pinpointing rock locations for about $4 per acre. Service providers remove the rocks for between $2 and $9 per acre. The company has around 100 farming customers in Minnesota and Iowa paying for its services.
Weed abatement: Carbon Robotics’ new LaserWeeder AI-powered robots are faster, lighter, and more modular, using the latest AI, computer vision, robotics, and laser technology to fight weeds with precision.
Reduced carbon emissions: Companies like SatAgro, Climate FieldView, and InnerPlant are developing technology to reduce agricultural waste, which accounts for more than 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to 2021 Environmental Protection Agency data.
Through genetic engineering embedded in drones, tractors, and satellites, InnerPlant helps crops communicate with farmers about disease, insects, and nutrient deficiencies. Its technology uses fluorescents that emit signals in leaves when plants are in distress. InnerPlant’s investors include John Deere.
