The Latest in Ag Tech at FIRA USA 2024

This week on North American Ag Spotlight Chrissy Wozniak talks to Gwendoline Legrand, Co-Director of FIRA, who shared exciting details about the upcoming FIRA USA event. Scheduled to take place in Sacramento, California this fall, FIRA USA 2024 promises to be a must see event for anyone interested in ag tech, agricultural automation and robotics.

FIRA, an international organization based in Toulouse, France, has been at the forefront of advancing autonomous machinery in agriculture since 2016. The event, returning to California for its third consecutive year, will be hosted at the Yolo County Fairgrounds in Woodland, near Sacramento. This location offers a unique advantage, providing a consolidated space for exhibitions, live demos, and conferences, all set amidst scenic olive trees.

Reflecting on the previous year's success in Salinas, Legrand highlighted the extensive demonstrations and real-life field setups showcasing the latest in robotic and autonomous systems. The event drew nearly double the participants from the prior year, underscoring the growing interest and need for automation among growers facing labor and safety challenges.

This year's event aims to build on this success by fostering even more collaboration between technology providers and agricultural producers. Legrand emphasized that changing the location annually allows FIRA to stay attuned to the diverse needs of California's growers and to engage with key legislative bodies. The proximity to Sacramento's public institutions is strategic, aiming to bridge the gap between technological advancements and regulatory frameworks, ensuring the safe and effective deployment of these innovations.

One of the unique aspects of FIRA USA is its focus on practical, real-world applications of agricultural robots. The event offers an unparalleled opportunity for attendees to interact with cutting-edge technologies and witness their operation in live demonstrations. Highlights include advanced systems like the laser weeder from Carbon Robotics and the autonomous Burro, which exemplify the futuristic yet practical solutions being developed for modern agriculture.

The event will also feature a startup competition where ten shortlisted startups will pitch their innovations to a panel of judges, with one winner being crowned the best startup of FIRA USA 2024. This competition not only highlights the entrepreneurial spirit within the ag-tech community but also provides a platform for these innovators to secure funding and partnerships.

FIRA's collaborations with organizations like Western Growers and the University of California further enhance the event's impact. These partnerships bring together farmers, industry experts, and researchers, facilitating a holistic approach to addressing the agricultural sector's most pressing challenges through automation.

FIRA USA 2024 is set to be a landmark event, offering a glimpse into the future of farming and the transformative potential of robotics and automation. As Legrand aptly put it, attendees will leave with a sense of awe and inspiration, ready to embrace the innovations that are reshaping agriculture.

For more information about FIRA USA 2024 and to register for the event, visi

Agritechnica in Hannover, Germany is held every other year, this year long-time tech writer & ag journalist Willie Vogt has put together for ag enthusiasts! The Agritechnica tour includes three days at the huge equipment and farm technology event. Learn more - https://agtoursusa.com/agritechnica.html

Subscribe to North American Ag at https://northamericanag.com

Transcript

00:00:11:19 - 00:00:38:22
Chrissy Wozniak
Hi, and welcome to North American Egg Spotlight. I'm Christy Wozniacki. My returning guest today is from Toulouse, France. And since 2016, she's been co-director of an international organization called FIRA. They hold conferences around the globe based on autonomous machinery and robotics in the agricultural space. FIRA USA is coming back to California this fall for the third time. And in my opinion, this is a three day event that you cannot miss.

00:00:38:24 - 00:00:50:23
Chrissy Wozniak
It's also one of my personal favorite farm shows of the year. I would like to welcome Gwendolyn Legrand. Welcome, Gwen, and thank you so much for being here. And it's so great to see you.

00:00:51:00 - 00:00:56:06
Gwen Legrand
Thank you, Christy, for the invitation. Once again. It's a very big pleasure for me to be here.

00:00:56:08 - 00:01:05:07
Chrissy Wozniak
So how are you doing? And are you getting excited for the show? And now I'm sure you guys are all busy trying to put everything together right in the next couple of months.

00:01:05:09 - 00:01:22:20
Gwen Legrand
Yeah, that's true actually. It's coming very, very soon. Especially as we are like very close from the date and people are getting excited. We have already sold almost all the booth, so the exhibition zone will be amazing. And the same for the demo area. So yeah, everything is almost setting up.

00:01:22:22 - 00:01:42:13
Chrissy Wozniak
Wonderful. So I've been to all of the Ferrer shows. first was in Fresno, last year was in Salinas, and this year, the show will be held in Sacramento. So let's talk first about the show in Salinas. What were some of the successes and highlights, that you, that come to mind from last year's show?

00:01:42:15 - 00:02:14:11
Gwen Legrand
Yes, sure. So what was nice in sending us last year was the number of demos that were, playing during the three days, actually. so we had this very nice space where everything was at the same location. So you had the exhibition zone very, very close from the demos, and that was something very exciting. We almost we also got the chance to set up real crops like, real life fields to make these demos in vegetables and altars in vineyards.

00:02:14:13 - 00:02:53:14
Gwen Legrand
And that was something also that was very successful for the participants, because they could really see how the robots and the autonomous systems were working properly. So that was something very nice. And I would also highlight the fact that we almost doubled the number of participants last year. Sorry, in Salinas. So that was a big success. And I think that's what's, of the success is the number of growers that are attending more and more the events, because they need to know and to understand what kind of robot can, can address the everyday challenges.

00:02:53:16 - 00:03:23:15
Chrissy Wozniak
I definitely and I can remember in Fresno, I remember you saying that you had something like 400 registered, but 800 people showed up and how that was. So I'm so excited to hear that the number actually doubled last year too. So it's going to be exciting this year. And, so in Fresno, we had a bus tour, which was, which was really cool to see, but then it was easier last year because we didn't have the showgrounds.

00:03:23:17 - 00:03:26:14
Chrissy Wozniak
So how is it going to be in Sacramento?

00:03:26:16 - 00:03:46:14
Gwen Legrand
All right. So this year we also have the best robot. I will come back to this later. but it's not about the demo. The demo is will be very, very close from the exhibition and everything. that's that's having place in the, in the Yolo County Fairgrounds, in woodland. So very close by Sacramento in California, too.

00:03:46:16 - 00:04:17:04
Gwen Legrand
So this is a very, very nice place because actually you have everything at the same location. You have these tiny buildings that the welcoming the conference is the exhibition, private happenings like press conferences, all those kind of things. And it's kind of back with nice olive trees. It's like very, very nice and, very, very comfortable for the participants to, to have everything they need and the same at the same place.

00:04:17:04 - 00:04:57:00
Gwen Legrand
So yeah, it's, it's completely different. So every year we're changing the location, we changing the formats. And and I wanted to highlight also the fact that there is a big reason why we are changing the location every year. and the main reason is because we want to get as close as possible to the growers needs in California to make sure that every guerra can attend at least once, to, to FIRA, and, also that we can better understand their needs depending on the area we are having the and this year.

00:04:57:02 - 00:05:26:24
Gwen Legrand
And that's very special because we are know by Sacramento, the capital of California. And that's also a reason because we wanted to get closer to the legislators and, you know, the public institutions, because we understood that people needed to better understand also what automation means in terms of technologies, in terms of, adoption by the farmers and also in terms of safety.

00:05:27:01 - 00:05:53:05
Gwen Legrand
And what are the manufacturers and the technology suppliers doing to improve the safety, of those machines? And we think that's it's very interesting for the legislators to have the possibility to take both to this event and to talk with everyone who is doing automation, but not only the manufacturers, also the growers that are needing automation in their fields right now.

00:05:53:07 - 00:06:21:22
Chrissy Wozniak
Right. And that's what's so incredible about this show. It's different than than any other farm show in that you get to talk to all of these innovative minds. they're they're all there. Everyone is open. And there's such a feeling of collaboration. and you get to see every single piece in action, which is, which is, you know, unheard of at a normal farm show.

00:06:21:24 - 00:06:50:18
Chrissy Wozniak
and then, of course, it's like you're stepping into the future, right? You know, you think of you think of carbon robotics and the laser weeder like that straight out of the straight out of the The Jetsons or something. Right. And, you know, one of my favorites is burrow, you know, the that that follows you around and recognizes you and, there's just so many advances in agriculture technology that it's just mind blowing.

00:06:50:18 - 00:07:12:24
Chrissy Wozniak
And to be able to go to one place where you can see it all is just, is just really overwhelming. And you come away from it going, wow, we're in such a cool place in agriculture right now. And then you think about the grower who has all of these labor issues, right? Who has these safety issues, who has all all of these issues.

00:07:12:24 - 00:07:17:06
Chrissy Wozniak
And you can see how it comes together and resolves real problems. Right?

00:07:17:08 - 00:07:36:22
Gwen Legrand
That's true. That's really interesting what you're saying, Chrissy, because you're right. You can see so many robots and automation at Chevron. That's the only one place in the world you can see all those machines all together. one place. So you have to spend your 2 to 3 days over there. So make sure that you get the chance to see everything and to talk to everyone.

00:07:36:24 - 00:08:09:18
Gwen Legrand
But I think what's particular and I totally agree with you, Christiane. I think that's the collaboration for sure. And I think it comes from one thing. Manufacturers and industrial don't want to propose machines from scratch. They want to propose machines that are answering for planets from the bureau's point of view. And so that's why more and more, and this year particularly, it's even more real at Ferrum, we are building those collaboration through roundtables.

00:08:09:18 - 00:08:51:04
Gwen Legrand
This year that talk for some of them, hosted by commodity boards. That's all really presenting the needs, the challenging that their industries are facing right now and how automation could, from their vision, address, those challenges. So they will be presenting the issues they are facing. And they will be also asking for the Manufac tures, how they can answer to those problems and how they can either directly, propose, the right machine, the right robots, or how they could collaborate together to build the right machine together.

00:08:51:10 - 00:08:58:10
Gwen Legrand
So that's something really, really interesting. And I think that's part of the reason why you feel that way when you are here.

00:08:58:12 - 00:09:28:19
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, for sure. And, you know, you and it's real collaboration, you know, blue white just announced that they're partnering with New Holland. Right? This is a place where this big business is happening. And the, the, you know, the big three companies don't want to reinvent the wheel. There's these companies that they can partner with. And, and I think that you know, kind of brings us back to even though this is so futuristic, it brings us back to kind of a grassroots level, right, where we're taking people with the ideas.

00:09:28:19 - 00:09:31:04
Chrissy Wozniak
So that I just so inspiring.

00:09:31:06 - 00:10:05:23
Gwen Legrand
That's true. And that's good that you're mentioning New Holland, because this year, the euro, they are becoming a big sponsor at, Euro USA. Wonderful. and that's really interesting to see how they are getting more involved, this year once again, because as you mentioned, the you're having such good, opportunities to meet with startups, with, new entrants, new advances in automation, that they have this capability to collaborate and how some, how to to find the good partnerships together.

00:10:06:00 - 00:10:38:17
Gwen Legrand
And this year they will they will be there to work together with blue white and, and start with where the with which they are collaborating. but New Holland is not the only one, because John Deere is also, having a booth this year at Artura. So we can see and we can feel how OEM, taking more and more, the advent, the opportunity to be presenting for us because they see the qualification of the audience, they can get very, very good, and qualified people.

00:10:38:19 - 00:11:04:24
Gwen Legrand
I have also another nice success story to tell, if you don't mind, is, Nico Robotics. that is, a robot that is, doing precision spraying, and, they are coming from India. And last year they came at Qira and they were present for a pitch, and they met with, investors, and they got funded by one of them that is a judge at the startup extension that here.

00:11:05:01 - 00:11:28:01
Gwen Legrand
but he was out from everything that just mix and they just had a good contact and they got funded by, this, this VC program, Capital Global. So that's. Yeah, I think now we can see the zero diesel made of Europe. And that's something that's really interested.

00:11:28:03 - 00:11:40:07
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. And that's a big focus to, tell the audience about the competition because that's that's just really cool. who you know, the, how that goes throughout the three days.

00:11:40:09 - 00:11:41:17
Gwen Legrand
Sorry. Can you repeat that?

00:11:41:19 - 00:11:49:24
Chrissy Wozniak
The the competition now, there awarded at the end. Who wins? Yes. For the best ideas. Yes.

00:11:50:01 - 00:12:14:05
Gwen Legrand
Yeah, exactly. So we have this startup position, we have ten startups that are shortlisted by, the judges, the judges of VC, you know, mayonnaise and some this also, there are six that selected ten startups to pitch. And at the end, there will be one winner. that will be awarded for the best startup of the year at Shira USA 20 2024.

00:12:14:07 - 00:12:53:01
Gwen Legrand
So that's something that's true. That's very, very nice because we have also these startups that are getting very big, potential of and opportunities to meet with investors during this. so we have more and more investors that are coming and joining to, so that's, a good thing too. So actually, the thing is, Shira is about robotics automation in the farms from prototypes to the marketing and, you know, the, the commercialized robots that are already in the fields for hundreds of, of units already.

00:12:53:01 - 00:13:16:13
Gwen Legrand
So that's really interesting. And that's why you have the investors, journalists, they want to see everything and they want to be there when it's happening. And also more and more, the jitters that are coming, because they also need to find the right robots that will and also to the right challenges of their clients and customers.

00:13:16:15 - 00:13:23:08
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, definitely. And and you partner with Western growers and and go far as well. Do you want to explain that a little.

00:13:23:10 - 00:13:50:16
Gwen Legrand
Yes. Just so we are collaborating and the co organizing here are with Western Growers Association and the University of California. and you know this is a very strong collaboration as three we are very like complementary with the western growers that is really having of course good collaborations with the farmers. They are bringing many, many growers at the event and the show and the University of California.

00:13:50:16 - 00:14:09:22
Gwen Legrand
That does very good. Also contacts and collaborations with the industry and with the academics and, the research. But so we are all three go for Watson girls and you and are working well together for three years now. And that's a very like a success team. Like I would say.

00:14:09:24 - 00:14:29:20
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's amazing what you know, even before the show started, I was saying how how it's amazing how that team comes together and, and just work so well together and puts out this incredible product. It's it's, you know, congratulations to all of you for for the success few short years. Right.

00:14:29:22 - 00:14:55:24
Gwen Legrand
Yeah. Thank you. And, I want to also to mention something very interesting. Western girls is working on the UN use cases. they released the first one with Carbon Robotics and those, and that's available on the website of Boys and girls. And that's really interesting because we have the girls feedbacks from return of investment point of view, all those figures that we need to have when using a robot.

00:14:55:24 - 00:15:19:24
Gwen Legrand
So they started with carbon. They are doing some of those with the scouts, with equal robotics, with very dense very soon. And during future USA they will have this kind of discussions where some families, we really give their visions and feedbacks on how these investments as ROI for, for the farms. So yeah, that's really good.

00:15:20:01 - 00:15:27:14
Chrissy Wozniak
Wonderful. Yeah. That's that is fantastic. So tell me about some of the other events that you hold around the globe is true.

00:15:27:18 - 00:15:53:00
Gwen Legrand
So we are also having the World Series that is in France every year since 2016 now. So we are entering the the eighth, the ninth edition. Sorry. very soon. So it's from the full to the 6th of February, 2025 this year. this is so the second big event we are having a yearly, and we are also having a strong collaboration with Australia.

00:15:53:02 - 00:16:17:13
Gwen Legrand
We are having this, three year program in which we are involved as a partner that is funded by hot innovation. And, we are partnering with the, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of Queensland in Australia and farm concepts. So we are all working together for the vegetable growers over there. That's with the label course that is increasing.

00:16:17:13 - 00:16:40:00
Gwen Legrand
A lot is needed for automation. So this, Australian group will be coming. As for USA and they will be doing this discovery tool. So that's to prevent what we are doing by this. The the one I was mentioning before, we will have 40 participants in total, 15 coming from Australia. but the same amount from the UK.

00:16:40:00 - 00:16:59:24
Gwen Legrand
And some individuals that we do doing the tour. And we will have ten stops in California, in ten different farms to visit the farms. Yeah. Having those visits and also just seeing the technologies and the, and the robots in action in their farms. So that's something also that's new this year.

00:16:59:24 - 00:17:16:21
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's great. That's a great sales pitch there too, that that's exciting. Yeah. Very good. so where can people find you? if you have a few exhibitor booths left, if they, they're going to have to move fast. Right. And then both for producers, where do they go to register.

00:17:16:23 - 00:17:39:24
Gwen Legrand
Yes, sure. So we still have Hugh Booth left. And, you have to take your decision by the end of August. So it's, it's a close date. in any case, you can find everything online on Europe. If I or a that USA that come and on the website to get all the exhibitors list, all the agenda and everything you need.

00:17:39:24 - 00:17:43:23
Gwen Legrand
If you want to register as an exhibitor to wonderful.

00:17:43:23 - 00:17:52:05
Chrissy Wozniak
And and my last question is why do you work in the space, what are you most passionate about in what you do every day?

00:17:52:07 - 00:18:28:21
Gwen Legrand
What I really, really love is to have, you know, the, the girls have solutions to to their everyday challenges and to see that automation can be one. But it's not the only one, and it's not an end because it's not the only solution. So automation can have. That's nice, but, we need to find out how are the other solution that we can bring in the fields to make at the end, to feed the world, with quality food and the sustainable way?

00:18:28:23 - 00:18:36:00
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Very good. Well, thank you so much, Gwen, for joining me. And, I'm really looking forward to seeing you in October.

00:18:36:02 - 00:18:38:08
Gwen Legrand
Thank you very much, Chrissy.

00:18:38:10 - 00:18:55:05
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. And thanks to all who were watching or listening. If you want to learn more, links are provided in the show notes. And don't forget to subscribe to North American Tech Spotlight on, Spotify, Apple Stitcher, My Heart Radio, Amazon or Rumble channels, or really anywhere that you listen to podcasts. And if you like this episode, give it a share.

00:18:55:07 - 00:18:59:09
Chrissy Wozniak
I I'd appreciate it. Have a great day.