07/02/2026
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Autonomous robotic tractors are patrolling fields at night, killing crop pests with UV light instead of chemical pesticides.
TRIC Robotics, an American ag-tech company, has developed tractor-scale autonomous robots that move through crop rows carrying ultraviolet lights.
The company is starting with strawberries, a crop that often requires heavy pest and disease control.
Instead of spraying chemicals, the robots expose plants to UV-C light, a high-energy form of ultraviolet radiation that can disrupt fungi, bacteria, and some pest populations.
The timing matters.
These robots operate at night because UV treatments can be more effective in darkness, when some pathogens are more vulnerable and plants are not being exposed to strong sunlight at the same time.
The idea is not to make farming “chemical-free” overnight, but to reduce dependence on conventional pesticide sprays.
In the U.S., roughly a billion pounds of pesticides are used in agriculture each year. TRIC’s founder, Adam Stager, says the company hopes the technology can eventually move beyond strawberries into other crops.
The science is simple but powerful: instead of poisoning pests chemically, the system uses light as a physical stressor.
UV-C can damage DNA and cellular machinery in microbes, making it harder for them to survive or reproduce. When delivered repeatedly and precisely, it can help suppress crop diseases without leaving chemical residue behind.
Automation makes that possible at farm scale.
A human crew walking fields with UV lamps would be slow and difficult. A robot can move through rows overnight, applying the treatment consistently while farms are otherwise inactive.
There are still limits. UV light works best on exposed surfaces, and it is not a universal replacement for every pesticide or every crop problem.
But the approach shows where agriculture may be heading: fewer chemical inputs, more precision tools, and pest control systems that work while the field sleeps.
Learn More:
"American company uses robots to remove pesticides from crops." NewsNation
