Farmers and organizers liked the venue for this year’s FIRA USA event in California so much that it’s coming back to the fairgrounds in Woodland next year. It’s central location for growers in the state and the short drive from Sacramento International Airport are significant selling points for the ag tech event.

Over 2,200 people attended the event, which started three years ago in Fresno.

“We hit 500 growers, which is fantastic,” said Walt Duflock, senior vice president of innovation for Western Growers, one of the co-organizers of the event.

Adding farmer attendance has been big for Western Growers and event organizers, including the Global Organization for Agricultural Robotics (GOFAR), and University of California Ag and Natural Resources (UCANR), home to UC Cooperative Extension.

When FIRA USA began three years ago in Fresno, very few of the estimated 800 in attendance were farmers. Most were the ag tech startups and a few venture capitalists. Last year’s event in late October drew a few more farmers as attendance grew to about 1,500 at the Salinas Rodeo Grounds. Western Growers’ mission then was to make attendance free to farmers wanting to attend.

“We made attendance free last year for growers, and we’re going to keep that policy,” Duflock said.

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Two years of increased attendance and a growing interest in ag tech by farmers likewise helped draw farmers to the event. It’s central location in California also helped as Woodland is an easy drive from places like Salinas, Fresno, and Chico.

Feedback from farmers was positive, Duflock said.

“Growers found this location good to work with and are willing to return,” he added.

Next year’s FIRA USA will return next October to the Yolo County Fairgrounds in Woodland. World FIRA, the international parent to FIRA USA, takes place Feb. 4-6, 2025, in Toulouse, France.

Why California?

Gwendoline Legrand, co-director of GOFAR, said FIRA USA was borne from discussions after seeing World FIRA grow in Toulouse, France.

“It started because we had the feeling that automation and robots were becoming mature enough to export our concept of FIRA abroad,” Legrand said. “We thought with the specialty crops that you’re growing in California, it was the right place for this.”

Organized by a board of directors that includes ag equipment and robotics experts, Legrand said that a debrief after the 2020 World FIRA event in France raised discussions about expanding the show elsewhere, and “California made sense” because of its array of specialty crops.

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GOFAR is a non-profit organization created several years after FIRA established itself as a leading event for professionals in the agricultural robotics sector. Launched by Naïo Technologies, World FIRA and FIRA USA are now carried out by GOFAR.

“Once we got this idea with the board, we contacted Walt (Duflock) and asked him if he’d be interested in an event like this in California,” Legrand said. “And of course he said ‘yes’.”

Further discussions with representatives from UCANR solidified the deal, and the first FIRA USA was planned for Fresno in 2022.

Legrand is pleased with the rapid growth in attendance over the past three years.

“Now people are coming from Brazil, the UK and Australia to buy machines from FIRA USA,” she said.