For decades, growers have relied on mechanization to streamline production, improve quality, maximize output and ensure the strongest margins.
But the challenges of 2026 require new solutions. And as the 2026 Farwest Show Automation Summit made clear — newer, smarter automation technology can move the needle.
Panelists at the summit included three technology vendors, as well as two growers who have proven eager to embrace what the new technology offers.
“Using technology to help stretch your labor use is imperative,” said OAN Executive Director Jeff Stone, who moderated the discussion.
The panelists pointed to new tech capabilities not seen before. Robotic utility vehicles that carry things. Aerial drones that inventory fields and apply chemicals. LiDAR systems that map the fields. Advanced AI analytics that interpret the LiDAR scans, generating actionable info about growing plants as they move through production.
And, of course, production machinery for pruning and fertilization is more advanced than it’s ever been. All of this has the potential to extend production capacity, giving growers a fighting chance against mounting labor expenses, poor labor availability, and compressed margins.
Chris Thisen grew up on a farm in California, where he learned about automation needs and challenges. He now serves as director of enterprise sales for Burro (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), which makes mobile, autonomous vehicles for farm use.
“The idea is, hey, if we can come in and not replace labor, but come in and get that person out of the tractor seat, he or she can do something more valuable,” he said. “That’s really the goal.”
Automation engineer Asa DeForest started HarvestWise Drone Solutions (Oregon City, Oregon) in 2024. With no ag background, he has brought 37 years’ experience in factory automation to the task of developing grower solutions. “I look at agriculture as if it is a manufacturing process,” he said.
HarvestWise drones are now spraying crops, taking inventories, mapping fields and more. “This year alone, I’ve done over 9,000 acres of application work,” Forest said. “We have flown probably close to 3,000 acres of inventory management, and upwards of about 1.3 million trees of inventory type of work.”
Di Hu, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, cofounded Moss Robotics. She and her team initially looked at making a self-driving robot to handle on-farm tasks, but found the developmental obstacles steep. They pivoted to creating an 18-pound piece of hardware, about the size of a shoebox, that can be mounted to existing equipment. It is outfitted with automotive-grade LiDAR, along with a brain to process what it “sees.”
“You can scan your fields by just driving around with it, and you can even scan multiple rows,” Hu said.
The hardware has an NVIDIA Jetson computer to process gathered data and generate overnight inventories. “Our goal is to help you track the growth, track the movement of your plants, so you can start accumulating valuable, transferable knowledge on your fields and your crops, year over year,” Hu said.
With advanced solutions like these, forward-looking growers are embracing the future.
Todd Nelson, co-owner of Bountiful Farms & Nursery (Woodburn, Oregon) — a large grower of woody material — has visited Europe annually for years to learn how production happens there. Europe was traditionally ahead of the U.S. on automation due to higher labor costs, but now, with Oregon implementing a higher minimum wage and mandatory agricultural overtime, automation investments also make sense here.
“We prune the majority of our plants now with automation,” he said. “All of our fertilizing’s done with automation.”
He added that Bountiful has practically eliminated backpack spraying in its fields, enabling one person to do what 8–9 could did previously.
Growers like Nelson and Tom Fessler, owner of Woodburn Nursery & Azaleas Inc. (Woodburn, Oregon), are highly concerned with return on investment.
“You’ve got to make sure it can pay for itself,” Fessler said. “We’re not doing this mechanization to eliminate their jobs. They’re just going to go elsewhere on the nursery.”
Each expense needs scrutiny. “You can automate yourself out of business,” Nelson said.
However, tech providers like Thiesen, Hu and Forest said they can lay out a strong case for the ROI on their technologies.
“For our stuff, we have seen ROI as soon as within three months, actually,” Hu said.
“The best ROI that I’ve seen on a $31,000 purchase was in five months on a drone that we sent out,” Forest said.
