FIRA USA, the agricultural robotics and agtech forum, has launched a Grower-Led Innovation of the Year Award that honours farmers rather than machines: the growers and farming operations that test emerging technologies, work with developers to improve them and decide what is ready to scale.

The award is open to growers and farm operations that have tested, evaluated, helped develop, bought or adopted an innovative agricultural technology, and nominations close on 5 October 2026.

"Every grower who takes on a new solution is taking a risk, and the ones who do it well move the whole sector forward," said Marie-Flore Doutreleau, AgRobotics project manager at GOFAR, the Global Organization for Agricultural Robotics, and the FIRA forum. She said the prize gives growers a platform to share what worked so others can learn from it.

The jury includes Julien Laffont and Marie-Flore Doutreleau of GOFAR, Shannon Dininny of Good Fruit Grower, Steve Mantle of innov8.ag and Walt Duflock of Western Growers.

The winner will be recognised at FIRA USA 2026, held on 20–22 October in Yakima, Washington. Now in its fifth edition, the event has widened from agricultural robotics to agtech more broadly and brings together growers, technology providers and researchers.

The organisers say the aim is to put the people who carry the risk of adoption at the centre of agtech, and to encourage closer work between technology developers and the farmers who judge whether their tools succeed in real fields.

Photo: Brian Prechtel / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Source: PrecisionAg