AgSharks Doubles Down: $125,000 Flows to Harvest Robotics and Field Data Startups

Two agricultural technology startups split $125,000 in prize money at Tuesday's AgSharks® pitch competition in Maui — the first time in the event's history that two different companies received funding in a single year.

Sami Robotics took top honors with a $100,000 investment from Danny Bernstein, managing partner of Reservoir VC and one of the competition's judges. Soiltech Wireless won a $25,000 check from Plug and Play, awarded by judge Matthew Claxton, the firm's partner and global head of sustainability.

Plug and Play and Western Growers announced the winners during the organization's 100th annual meeting. More than 600 fresh produce farmers and industry leaders attended.

Why automation drew the big check

Sami Robotics combines robotics, AI and data analytics to build autonomous harvesting equipment. The firm has initially targeted brassicas — crops like broccoli and lettuce, where harvest labor remains costly and scarce.

Bernstein, who backed the company personally, tied the investment directly to grower economics. "We obviously really want this machine to be successful because it will hit at the underlying resilience of the operating businesses that we treasure," he said.

CEO and co-founder Pascal Labrecque framed the labor problem in blunt terms during his pitch. "We also know that half of the farmers in the U.S. cannot find all of the workers they need to do the work," he said. That figure — one grower in two short on labor — is the market case for autonomous harvesters moving from demonstration plots to commercial fields.

The Reservoir investment builds on an existing partnership between Sami Robotics and Western Growers. Sami Robotics was Reservoir Farms' first sponsored startup, gaining access to the organization's members as well as John Deere's advanced agricultural technology and equipment.

What does the second prize buy growers?

Soiltech Wireless equips growers with real-time field data to guide in-field decisions. Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Jason Peterson said the company designed for "technology that was affordable enough to put across your whole operation, easy enough to deploy yourself, and showed information in a way that you could actually take action."

Peterson listed the practical questions his sensors answer: "Actions like: Do I need to irrigate today? Is it a good time to spray? Should I harvest? Or maybe that I just don't need to do anything at all today in that particular field." For specialty crop growers weighing input costs against margins, skipping an unnecessary spray or irrigation pass is a direct saving.

The finalists who did not cash in

Two other companies pitched without winning investment:

• BioScout, an Australian startup building an AI-powered early warning system that alerts farmers to fungal pathogens.
• Phiex Technologies, developer of interactive packaging for safety and shelf-life extension in food, healthcare and defense. Attendees voted it Audience Choice Winner.

Neill Callis, general manager of Turlock Fruit Company, hosted the competition. Bernstein, Claxton and Nick Schroer, partner at Trailhead Capital, judged.

The dual award signals that investors now see specialty crop pain points — labor scarcity, field-level data gaps, food safety — as fundable at multiple points in the same value chain. Expect Sami Robotics' brassica harvesters, backed by Western Growers members and John Deere equipment, to reach commercial trials as the next test of whether that capital converts.