Growing Agtech Solutions for California: F3 Innovate’s Push for Sustainability and Innovation

California’s Central Valley provides more than half of the fresh fruit, vegetables and nuts grown in the United States. But despite being less than three hours away from Silicon Valley, automation and robotics adoption has been uneven across growers and operational applications. Nonprofit organization F3 Innovate is on a mission to shift agtech into a higher gear and transform the Central Valley into a global hub for agtech innovation.

F3 Innovate is headquartered in the heart of the Central Valley, surrounded by more than 13,650 farming enterprises and 2 million+ hectares/5 million acres of irrigated farmland. The organization has state and Federal funding and partnerships with major universities.

“F3 Innovate is dedicated to advancing autonomous farming solutions by connecting academia, startups, and industry thought leaders to drive innovation and commercialization of solutions that will have a measurable impact and solve real-world challenges,” said CEO, Priscilla Koepke. “At the heart of this effort is our Commercialization Engine, which aims to bridge the gap between research, innovative ideas, and industry needs.”

One big way that F3 Innovate does this is by partnering with universities to accelerate agtech research via commercialization and entrepreneurship training, prototyping support, mentorships and building industry partnerships to help innovators turn ideas into scalable solutions. A few examples of F3 Innovate Projects include:

• Precise irrigation scheduling — using a low-cost sensor chip to measure plant water status
• Citrus harvesting with controlled stem length — using a robotic arm attachment designed to harvest crops of varying sizes with consistent stem lengths
• Multifunctional smart agricultural Robot bullDOG — provides AI-based weed detection, elimination, fruit harvesting and artificial pollination
• Novel hybrid water purification — a combination of nanofiltration with electrodialysis and advanced nanomaterials that removes PFAS and phytotoxins while recovering valuable nutrients for reuse.
• Disease detection in vineyards — using hyperspectral imaging

A delegation from F3 Innovate will attend World FIRA 2025 to build connections and identify potential partners.

“California faces evolving economic and environmental challenges. We are eager to explore how F3 Innovate can work with international companies that have unique approaches to tackling these challenges and are able to demonstrate value to the growers in our region,” said Koepke.

Though 2025 marks F3 Innovate’s first appearance at World FIRA, the organization had a significant presence at FIRA USA 2024.

When asked about the delegation’s goals for FIRA 2025, Koepke said, “We want to learn and absorb as much as possible and establish really meaningful connections. We’re excited to see cutting-edge demos and learn about emerging trends. For any international companies interested in the U.S. market, particularly California’s unique opportunities, we’d love to start that conversation!”

Robotics and Mechanization for the Global Food System

F3 Innovate CEO Priscilla Koepke will participate in a panel discussion, Robotics and Mechanization for the Global Food System on Tuesday, 4 February from 5:30 - 6:30 pm. The event will discuss the transformative potential of robotics and automation and the challenge of developing solutions that cater to diverse farming operations.

The discussion is one of many symposiums and demos taking place at World FIRA 2025, 4-6 February in Toulouse, France. View the complete schedule of events or purchase a pass.