Representatives From Pennsylvania’s AgTech Cluster Attending FIRA USA 2025

Pennsylvania is world-famous for chocolate bars and cheesesteak sandwiches. But it is also a top producer of mushrooms, hardwoods, nursery, and greenhouse products.

Here’s another lesser-known fact: Pennsylvania is home to a world-class robotics and AI cluster with more than 125 robotics companies in and around Pittsburgh. Several of those are focused on agriculture applications, including:

• Bloomfield (Kubota) – Uses plant-level imaging and deep learning to continuously assess crop health and performance at scale, delivering unprecedented precision for global agriculture.
• Carnegie Robotics – Develops autonomous “cropbot” farming platforms, bringing precision robotics and advanced sensing to large-scale agricultural operations.
• Moss – Offers AI-powered farm digitization, delivering fast and accurate inventory management to optimize operations for producers worldwide.
• Balanced Engineering – Supports OEMs, startups, and large growers in driving innovation and technology integration, focused on autonomy, electrification, and safety for off-road machinery in agriculture and construction.
• Leaficient – Its HeliOS camera system measures plant vitals (photosynthesis, growth, stress) in real time, enabling early detection of issues and data-driven crop optimization worldwide.
• SKA – Designs technology that makes hazardous farm work safer, repetitive work more efficient, and enables automation of tasks previously not possible in agriculture.
• Neya Robotics – Develops advanced off-road autonomous systems and multi-robot planning technologies, foundational for adapting autonomy to agricultural machinery operating in rugged environments.
• Hellbender – Builds mission-critical hardware and software for AI-driven perception systems, powering autonomy and robotics in severa industrial domains.
• Four Growers – Provides AI-powered greenhouse robots for harvesting, quality control, packaging, and analytics, reducing labor costs and scaling indoor farming globally.
• Near Earth – While deployed in several other industries (mobility, inspection), its autonomous flying technology has strong potential for ag and forestry drone applications, including monitoring, spraying, and field analytics.

AgTech is Big Business in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's agricultural diversity provides fertile ground for new agtech solutions. Top industries include:

• Mushrooms
• Nursery and greenhouse products
• Miilk
• Eggs
• Grains
• Hardwoods

Statewide grants and tax credits de-risk new technology for growers. In FY24-25, Pennsylvania awarded $10 million in grants to help farmers and agriculture businesses adopt new technologies such as anaerobic digesters, autonomous equipment, and renewable energy solutions.

Pennsylvania is also home to several leading research universities in related areas such us:

Penn State’s Collegeof Agricultural Sciences has nine academic departments, 67 extension offices (one in each county), and it runs Ag Progress Days, the East Coast’s largest outdoor farm equipment show.

Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute is a pioneer in crop-perception technology, drone mapping, and autonomous orchard robots. In 2025, the university’s Kantor Lab won a national regenerative agriculture award.

The PA Pavilion at FIRA USA

At FIRA USA (October 21-23, 2025, in Woodland, CA), a delegation from Pennsylvania will present cutting-edge agtech from the Keystone State. At the PA Pavilion, growers and investors can meet with Pittsburgh-area robotics companies, universities, and trade associations.

As of this article’s publication date, potential participants include:

• Team PA
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Penn State University
• PA Dept of Agriculture
• Pittsburgh Robotics Network
• Subset of listed robotics companies

Representatives at the pavilion can answer questions about solutions for a variety of applications, including dairy, poultry, hardwood, and mixed-crop farming.

The Robotics Factory

Robotics Factory will host the PA Pavilion. Robotics Factor has three programs: Create, Accelerate, and Scale. The Create Program is a key driver of innovation in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Robotics Factory is a part of Innovation Works, the most active early-stage investor in the Commonwealth and one of the most active in the country. The Create Program brings robotics developers and industry experts together to turn cutting-edge ideas into commercialization-ready startups.

In 2024, The Robotics Factory hosted a highly successful Agriculture and Robotics Create Summit. The event facilitated ongoing partnerships between Pittsburgh-based robotics entrepreneurs and agriculture organizations from around the world.

All of these activities extend Pennsylvania's relevance in Global Agricultural Technology.

FIRA USA 2025

The PA Pavilion is just one of many places where agricultural leaders, investors, and innovators can collaborate at FIRA USA 2025. This year’s agenda includes:

• In-field robot demos
• Roundtable discussions
• Startup pitches
• Awards

...and much more!

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