GUSS Automation sprayers. Image credit: GUSS Automation/John Deere
It’s still early days for the “robotic revolution” in agriculture, according to agrifood innovation hub The Mixing Bowl and
<img src=” https: alt=””>The 2026 Crop Robotics Landscape
What’s tracking
Spraying and weeding continue to see steady growth and, as Taylor points out, are some of the most popular areas for venture investing.
“We’ve seen a lot of great commercialization there,” noted Western Growers’ Ben Palone, speaking at the recent launch event for the Crop Robotic landscape.
“Quite honestly, I’m happy where we are in the commercialization stage with weeding. We’re getting [further] into the adoption phase, but now we’re seeing some market competition between companies, and it’s actually shaken up a little bit of the business models at a few of those companies.”
Elsewhere, major equipment manufacturers — think Yamaha, Deere, Caterpillar, and Kubota — have acquired companies or assets, or struck partnerships with robotics startups to bolster their own portfolios.
For example, Kubota led an investment into precision sprayer Kilter earlier this year, while Deere in 2025 acquired GUSS, maker of semi-autonomous sprayers. Deere also has an identify the crop properly, find it in the plant canopy, then pick it without damaging the fruit or vegetable.
“You have to bring together so much technology to make that happen,” explains Taylor. Oftentimes, it has to be very crop specific as well.
Even with challenges, there are plenty of external elements driving momentum in crop robotics, not the least of which are labor shortages, increasing input costs, and a changing regulatory environment around crop protection tools.
Certain technologies, such as AI tools, play a big role in growing and scaling robotics offerings, though Taylor is quick to point out that “modern machine learning predates the current AI moment by a decade, and computer-vision models have been trained to tell a weed from a crop for some time.”
The bigger changes involving AI will be in “advancements in the underlying technologies” that allow systems to be developed faster, faster application across farm environments, and machines that are “less reactive and more predictive,” says Taylor.
“Crop robotics will continue to be a beneficiary as well as a driver of that advancement.”
