Woodland will play host to an international robotics forum and display of automation in agriculture as part of the FIRA USA 2024 event this fall.
The three-day event will feature robots, drones and heavy equipment, as well as the designers, investors and manufacturers developing products to help growers through labor shortages.
California growers are facing the growing “problem of having less people willing to do the work in the fields,” said Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, at a news conference in Woodland on Tuesday.
She said it's important for growers to know about the autonomous equipment that can help California continue to be a top ag-producing state.
To that end, growers will get into the conference for free, whereas regular admission will be $199. Students will also get in free.
The idea behind FIRA is to get the latest robots and technology in front of the end users, namely the growers and farmers who will work with this equipment, said Gwendoline Legrand, co-director of GOFAR, the French nonprofit that puts on FIRA events in Europe — and now for the third year in the U.S.
A survey of the 2,000 members of the Irvine-based Western Growers Association found that labor is their main problem, both in its availability and cost, said Walt Duflock, vice president of innovation with Western Growers. He said automation of California’s specialty crops is the biggest opportunity to keep acreage in production. He said California has seen steady declines in active farmland, while Arizona, Mexico and Peru are seeing increasing farmland.
He said on the face of it, it may be difficult to sell a farmer on the merits of a $1.5 million laser weeder, until you do the math. That equipment reduces the cost of inputs, the need to apply chemicals and the time and labor to do it.
The first FIRA U.S. event was in 2022 in Fresno, followed by another event last year in Salinas, Legrand said.
As robots were being demonstrated in a test field at the FIRA USA in Salinas, one of the most heartening things to see was a line of hundreds of students watching them in action, Ross said. That kind of exposure can help get younger people interested in working in agriculture because it can make ag seem exciting, sexy and modern, she said.
The Woodland event will feature pitch sessions for ag-tech startups to offer their ideas to angel, venture and corporate investors.
Woodland’s FIRA USA event should be the largest one yet, Legrand said, adding that they are anticipating 2,500 attendees over the three days, including farmers, vendors and manufacturers.
There will be ongoing exhibitions of robots in action on a field that will be grown at the venue. There will also be pitches by ag-tech innovation companies and startups as well as multiple panels and discussions for various California crops, which includes nearly 400 commercial products from artichokes and asparagus to yams and zucchini.
The event will be Oct. 22-24 at the Yolo County Fairgrounds.
FIRA is the brand of the International Forum of Agricultural Robotics. FIRA is presented by GOFAR, or the Global Organization for Agricultural Robotics, a nonprofit founded in 2016 and based in southwest France.
The Woodland event is being organized by GOFAR, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, The VINE and Western Growers Association.
