Autonomous Tractors Stay Stalled in CA Agriculture

Sep 29, 2026

By Leah O'Tarrow

In a world where autonomous robots can act as your server in a restaurant or vacuum your floors and driverless cars can get you from A to B, the question is not when but how these machines will continue to integrate across industries and our lives.

So what happens when you mix agriculture with automation? The jury is still out in California.

While most states do not require drivers at the helm of tractors, California adheres to a decades-old California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) provision, Title 8, §3441(b), that requires moving, self-powered agricultural equipment to have a person at the controls.

The current version of the rule dates to 1977, decades before modern autonomous tractors. Federal OSHA’s agricultural standards contain no equivalent requirement.

The provision effectively prevents fully autonomous tractors from operating around workers without an operator at the helm – a restriction growers and agricultural groups have spent years trying to change.

Michael Miller, director of government relations for the California Association of Winegrape Growers and a member of Cal/OSHA’s advisory committee on autonomous agricultural equipment, argues the state’s regulation has failed to keep pace with advances in agricultural technology.

Click here to see more...

Video: Our Own On-Farm Research Is the Best Source - Managing White Mold in Northeast Nebraska

If you assumed Nebraska was too hot and dry for white mold to be a problem in soybeans, think again.

This week we're featuring Galen Samuelson, a farmer and dealer from Wakefield, Nebraska, who knows all too well how devastating white mold can be.

"We don't have it consistently every year, but with our temperature and humidity, it can hurt us quite bad," Samuelson says. Looking for alternatives, he explains, "What I like about Heads Up is that it's non-harmful to the beneficial fungal colonies in the soil." Galen has been using Heads Up for several years now, after first hearing about it through a small ad in a regional newspaper. Watch below to hear about his journey.

When asked to write about Samuelson Seed, Galen said the following:

"Samuelson Seed is a 4th-generation, family-based company. It started with my grandfather, and I'm now starting to pass the torch to my son, Caleb."

"In the early 1990s, I started working with a company whose focus was on plant and soil health before those benefits were widely known. I've continued to keep plant and soil health the main focus in our farming operation decisions."