Artificial intelligence harvesters, drones, and precision agriculture systems are rapidly becoming part of everyday operations in American agriculture. These technologies not only enhance farming efficiency and sustainability, but also help address the long-standing issue of labor shortages in the U.S. farming sector.
With advancements in robotics technology, many tasks that previously required manual labor can now be replaced by machines. Experts developing AI for agriculture indicate that initial data suggests a significant reduction in the labor force required on American farms.
The American Farm Bureau Federation estimated that in the 2024 fiscal year, 17% of the U.S. agricultural workforce consisted of temporary immigrant workers with H-2A visas. Additionally, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed that from 2020 to 2022, undocumented immigrant workers accounted for 42% of the farm labor force.
Roman Rylko, the Chief Technology Officer of software development and consulting company Pynest, told The Epoch Times that they have partnered with vegetable farms in the Midwest to introduce AI systems.
According to Rylko, the automatic weeding machine they developed can instantly differentiate between spinach seedlings and weeds like pigweed, greatly improving farming efficiency. Now, a single machine can clear 50 acres of land in 8 hours, a task that previously required ten workers over two days to accomplish.
“Autonomous tractor technology doesn’t replace field labor but elevates the work from manual labor tasks to higher technical aspects like machine upkeep and management,” he stated. Despite a 70% reduction in manual weeding time with these technologies, hiring skilled technicians remains essential for equipment maintenance and model updates.
“In our recent trial, we removed around 1.6 million weeds per day, equivalent to the work of 12 laborers, reducing total costs per acre by 32%. Farmers are most surprised not by the speed but by the consistency. During peak weed growth, robots don’t call in sick,” Rylko mentioned.
Facing ongoing labor shortages, strawberry farming company Wish Farms in Florida has started experimenting with using AI harvesters due to the labor scarcity.
Joe McGee, CEO of Harvest CROO Robotics, the AI partner of the company, stated that strawberries are among the most labor-intensive commercial crops to harvest, requiring picking every three days, making them ideal for robotic work.
Through an automated agricultural management system, they achieved full automation from harvesting to packaging during the 2024-2025 Florida harvesting seasons, completing commercial strawberry harvesting autonomously for the first time.
“Our harvester, robot systems, and artificial intelligence have autonomously harvested strawberries in the fields, which have already been put on sale generating revenue,” McGee said.
This AI-driven, camera-guided harvester, about the size of a shipping container, moves through the strawberry fields, quickly identifying and picking delicate fruits, then proceeding to weigh and package them. This task typically requires manual labor to bend and pick, taking several days depending on weather conditions like temperature and sunlight duration.
McGee explained that the AI harvester can complete the same harvesting workload in 16 hours, equivalent to the efficiency of 25 workers.
Beyond harvesting and packaging, a study published in 2023 in “AI & Society” supported the use of AI in addressing long-standing agricultural labor shortages. Last year, the U.S. had around 2.4 million agricultural job vacancies, with 56% of farmers expressing a need for more labor.
U.S. agriculture has long relied on migrant workers, particularly foreign temporary agricultural workers brought in through H-2A visas. However, as more farms adopt AI to address labor challenges, the future role of seasonal workers becomes uncertain.
A report from the Baker Institute for Public Policy highlighted the disproportionate role played by foreign labor, including both legal and illegal workers, in ensuring a stable food supply for American households.
Recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 47% of agricultural workers in the U.S. are undocumented immigrants without legal work permits, while 18% are non-citizen workers with legal work status. Approximately 400,000 certified H-2A workers arrive in the U.S. annually.
McGee noted that even legal workers can be costly, bureaucratic, and unreliable for producers. Farmers need to pay thousands of dollars to bring in seasonal workers, covering their transportation and accommodation, but many tend to “escape” before or near the end of their work contracts.
“The problem lies in obtaining labor, labor costs, and ensuring that they can complete the entire harvest season,” McGee remarked.
However, meeting the current demands of American farms, whether relying on AI robots or manual labor, requires time and significant investments. The initial costs of AI agricultural equipment are high, potentially deterring small farms. The base price for a fully automated tractor is around $500,000, excluding maintenance and electricity costs.
McGee indicated that while their company has validated the feasibility of AI harvesters this year, progressing to the next stage poses funding barriers as this emerging technology remains in an “immature market.”
“We currently have only one harvester, but the demand from other farms reaches up to 1,500 units. We have one farmer in Florida who has ordered 165 units,” he said.
According to Grand View Research data, the investment scale of the AI agriculture market was slightly below $2 billion in 2023, projected to grow rapidly by over 25% compound annual growth rate annually until 2030.