Steve Mantle, founder and CEO of innov8.ag, joined the USHBC's The Business of Blueberries podcast as guest host for Episode 229, exploring how autonomous robotics are reshaping on-farm efficiency across blueberry and broader agriculture.
Joining Steve are Charlie Andersen, CEO and founder of Burro, and Noe Toribio, Burro's customer success manager. The conversation covers the origins of Burro's autonomous tractor platform, where the technology is heading, and — critically — what it means for labor costs and workforce planning for producers.
"A stepped or phased approach works best for implementing robots in agricultural operations where movement, perception, manipulation, and data collection are needed."
— Charlie Andersen, CEO, Burro
What We Covered
- Origins of Burro: How a robotics startup built for agriculture from day one became a leader in autonomous field navigation
- Autonomous tractor capabilities: What today's hardware can actually do in a commercial blueberry or multi-crop operation
- The path forward: Evolution from task-specific machines to full operational autonomy — and what that timeline realistically looks like
- Labor cost implications: The honest math on where robotics improves margins vs. where human crews remain essential
- BerrySmart Field Insights: How data collection from autonomous platforms integrates with precision ag tools like Green Atlas and FairTrak
The episode also features a crop report segment with regional updates from Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Peru, and Mexico — recorded February 26, 2026.
Listen Now
The Business of Blueberries is produced by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council.