Ag Expo rolls out innovations in AI, robotics, electric vehicles – The Bakersfield Californian

Technology that farmers have only dreamed about will be on full display next week at Tulare's annual World Ag Expo.

New robotics, artificial intelligence and zero-emission vehicles look to steal the three-day show the largest of its kind at a time when problems like water and labor scarcity are giving inventors plenty to work on.

Advancements in computer software and hardware are being brought to bear on those and other challenges, either through new diagnostics and analysis or equipment built to help move crops more quickly or more cleanly.

Mechanization hasn't evolved to the point where Kevin Andrew, senior vice president of Bakersfield-based farming company Illume Ag, can stop hiring people to do the manual work of growing and harvesting grapes. He said even top international designers he has met with "sort of glaze over" when he explains the tasks involved.

Still, he said technologies that were only talked about five, 10 years ago, such as the latest AI and mechanization, "have kind of become front and center right now."

Andrew said he's particularly encouraged that many different companies have entered the race to come up with the best machines and that existing manufacturers keep introducing upgrades.

"The more companies that come into it," he said, "we'll have a better chance of getting something out of it."

The expo, which starts Tuesday at the International Agri-Center and ends Thursday, has named a top-10 products list that trends heavily toward computer technology.

Half the items on the list are actual robots. One by Nao Technologies emits no pollution as it uses artificial intelligence and automation on large-scale vegetable crops, reducing the need for herbicides as it collects useful data.

There's a "people-scaled collaborative robot" by Burro that works alongside farmworkers with the use of GPS and sensor equipment, and an autonomous sprayer by GUSS Automation LLC that's now more compact than earlier versions.

A robot by InsightTRAC rolls through orchards targeting pests and taking down data, while a dairy automation tool by Onfarm Solutions uses a gantry system to spray cows teats before and after milking.

Also on the top-10 list was an all-electric refrigeration truck by Hummingbird EV and an electric tractor by Solectrac. A mobile data-management tool by TJ Hoof Care made the ranking, as did software by Tule Technologies that helps withirrigation decisions. The other product on the list is a clip plug by Rain Bird for better water management.

Technology will also be a prominent topic on the expo's seminar lineup. On opening day alone there will be a talk on the prosperous use of artificial intelligence and a discussion of ransomware.

On Wednesday, a discussion is scheduled on the "bumpy road" from high-tech ideas to practical field equipment. The final day's seminars are on ag manufacturing and the future of electric vehicles, the "rise of autonomous machine functions" in agriculture and new technologies for improving food security.

Kern County grower John C. Moore III said he's one of those expo attendees who goes mainly to "attend the breakfasts, reconnect with colleagues and marvel at the new equipment," adding that he rarely, if ever, buys new equipment within six months of the event.

But he won't be surprised if some of his peers in local ag take great interest in some of the new innovations.

"Automation is No. 1 for everyone with overtime and minimum wage increases, absent any meaningful increases to most commodity prices," he said by text.

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Ag Expo rolls out innovations in AI, robotics, electric vehicles - The Bakersfield Californian