Subscribe to this podcast

On this edition of the Precision Farming Dealer podcast, brought to you by Ag Express Electronics, technology editor Noah Newman catches up with Bluewhite CEO and founder Ben Alfi for a discussion about the future of autonomy in agriculture and the company’s Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) model.

The Bluewhite autonomy kit retrofits to existing tractor fleets and implements. Alfi explains how the technology works and why the retrofit approach is widening the path to autonomy. He also talks about dealer opportunities, how Bluewhite is helping growers reduce chemical, fuel, and labor inputs, and shares his overall vision for the future of the company.

The Precision Farming Dealer podcast series is brought to you by Ag Express.

More from this series

Ag Express provides services and support for a wide variety of electronic and electro/mechanical devices. We can offer component level repair of an individual customers unit, or, remanufacture and rework hundreds of units for an OEM or an Electronic Manufacturer.  From though hole technology to high population fine pitch surface mount, from simple units to complex industrial units.

Ag Express is 100% employee-owned and celebrating over 30 years of "Providing Possibilities!"

Full Transcript

Noah Newman:

And we're back. Welcome to the return of the Precision Farming Dealer podcast, brought to you by Ag Express Electronics. Great to have you with us. I'm Noah Newman, Technology Editor. Today, we're catching up with Blue White CEO and Founder, Ben Alfi for a discussion about the future of autonomy and the company's robots as a service model. So the Blue White Autonomy Kit retrofits to existing tractor fleets and implements and Alfi explains how the technology works and why the retrofit approach is widening that path to autonomy. He also talks about dealer opportunities, how Blue White is helping growers reduce chemical fuel inputs and also labor inputs, and he shares his overall vision for the future of the company.

Tell me a little bit about Blue White, how the company started and give us an idea of your origin story.

Ben Alfi:

We started Blue White mid 2017 with the idea of creating, being part of the disruption and autonomy through autonomy in industries, and we found ourselves doing this disruption in Ag where all the stars are aligned for the technology, the maturity of the technology, the need, and the amount of people that are involved in that area. We have our R&D in Israel and coming from a background of many, many years in the military industry where we, myself, I was in charge of unmanned system programs in Israel and deploying it and using this knowledge to make as much good as possible. Today, we are 140 people in California and then Israel, R&D is in Israel. Production, we're producing in California, US made, of our capabilities.

And what do we do? We're doing data-driven autonomous farms with the idea of three needs, on the operation cost, labor shortage, the cost of chemicals and the cost of goods, meaning you have your tractor, you want to use it as much as possible and you don't want to throw it away. And in that way, what we're doing, we're taking any existing tractor, transforming it to autonomous, and one person can operate all those tractors and they're not just tractoring, they are mowing, spraying herbicide, whatever is needed in that area.

So anything that moves in the farm and it's not the same type of tractors, different type of colors moving over there can be operated from the same operating system, very easy to use. Safety is our most important thing. And while a lot of people are talking about autonomy and bringing it up and the capabilities, we are actually commercial and we actually, we have already growers who have more than 300,000 acres in California and Washington state, and we have more than 50,000 hours of commercial autonomous capabilities over there.

Noah Newman:

Wow. Yeah, I was at the FIRA Conference, the robotics conference, a couple of years ago, and I stopped by Fresno Equipment, a John Deere dealer out there, and they had Blue White robotics on one of their John Deere tractors. So, like you said, you're working with a lot of dealers right now on the West Coast, how's that working?

Ben Alfi:

On the go-to-market, we have dealerships from New Holland and John Deere that are selling, demonstrating and installing tractors, whether it's a new tractor or your own grower's tractor. We're doing also direct sales, but we want to blend in with the ecosystem and we find that this enables scale in a good way. As an example, we have a dealership that you send them in the morning, it's a manual tractor and in the afternoon, after 14 hours, meaning seven hours times two people one day, it's an autonomous vehicle after all the testing, driving and ready to go. This is what we do, yes.

Noah Newman:

And then kind of getting into a little bit more of the nuts and bolts, what is the Blue White Autonomy Kit? What does it look like? What's some of the componentry on there that's making this work?

Ben Alfi:

So it's a system and the idea is that you have a multi-sensors capability and sensor fusion that enables the tractor to work day and night with or without connectivity, with or without GPS. Under the foliage, you don't have GPS all the time and you don't have connectivity all the time. And when you have this multi-sensor capability, you also have redundancies on safety, on that side. So this is on one side. And the other thing is that while those sensors are there for the tractor to navigate, we use it also to save chemicals because we can See & Spray, because it's the same sensor we can use for more and more application, or do the mowing in the correct way, or herbiciding in the correct way, whatever is needed over there. So very unique autonomous capabilities that involve classic algorithms and AI in those areas.

Noah Newman:

And it is a retrofit kit, right? You have an existing piece of equipment, you buy the kit and you would add it to the tractor, correct?

Ben Alfi:

Yeah, because money is of essence and we want to create return-on-investment as fast as possible. So you're doing it as a service, you pay on a yearly basis or quarterly basis. So you see you don't need to buy a new tractor. You know already which tractor you like, you like a green one, you like a blue one, you like an orange one, whatever, and in that area you want it also to work for at least 10 years. So there is no reason to buy a new tractor. You don't need to invest so much.

Noah Newman:

Yeah. I read a stat where according to the Ag Census, 40% of farmers in the United States have hit that retirement age. So there's concerns about labor issues out there and how can something like this, like autonomy help solve those problems?

Ben Alfi:

We are at a critical stage right now, Noah and the situation is devastating. Gen Z will not come over and drive a tractor. They don't know, first of all, how to drive a clutch, but also if they know, you don't want to drive near those chemicals all day long and all life long. The reason those guys that are now in pension are doing it is because they didn't have any other option. So first and foremost, this is not a work that people need to do in the 21st century. We're moving from pilots and drivers to robot operators and with having robot operator's capability where I can be far from the tractor, by the way, I can jump on the tractor if I just want to hang out and for the love of driving, but I don't want to do it 12 hours a day all year long with all those chemicals around me day and night.

The idea is to have it with the robotics, with the app, with your iPhone or your tablet or whatever. And in that way, diversity-wise, we have young men, young women, older men, older women, handicapped, everybody can be part of the idea of working in this beautiful environment. So I'm very optimistic because what we see in Blue White and our customers that we have positive migration to our customers. Young people are coming in, while I'm guessing you have more statistics to show that nobody's coming to Ag anymore and the amount of people that we are shorthanded of is crazy.

Noah Newman:

And let's burn a quick timeout to remind you that the Precision Farming Dealer podcast series is brought to you by Ag Express. Dealers, farmers and those in Ag know the importance getting the most from their efforts. Technology has been a significant game changer when it works and when it doesn't, turn to the experts at Ag Express Electronics who find a way by specializing in the timely repairs, support, sales and engineering of Ag technology. Ag Express provides component level repairs to save time and money on those costly replacements. They also offer wiring harnesses and custom solutions to meet your customers' unique needs. They also offer wiring harnesses and custom solutions to meet your customers' unique needs. A vast portfolio of over 2000 supported products allows Ag Express to provide possibilities for numerous agricultural concepts. Whether planning, harvesting, chemical application or hay baling, Ag Express has a solution for nearly any operation. You can feel confident doing business with Ag Express Electronics because of their excellent reputation, track record for quality work and commitment to technology. The company is 100% certified, employee-owned and celebrating over 30 years of providing possibilities.

Now, back to the conversation. Yeah, and talking a little bit more about your customer base, what does the typical Blue White customer look like? Is it a wide range in terms of the kind of crops they grow and the size of their operations, just how would you describe your customer base?

Ben Alfi:

So we went on the areas that the need is the highest. We went, first of all, for high-value crops where you have a lot of tractors per acre and it works all year long and you don't have people to do that. And it's with the same software and hardware we are doing any type of tractor, any type of implement, but also any type of crops. We're working in apples, citrus, almonds and nuts, [inaudible 00:10:43] fruits, hops, berries, going to sugarcane and we'll do also, I am guessing also open fields, which is much easier, by the way, to work over there. But the idea is where the need is high, where you have a lot of tractors day and night and we're agnostic to which type of crop on which type of tractor.

Noah Newman:

And looking at your vision for the future of the company, you're with a lot of farms in the West Coast right now. Do you see an opportunity to move to east, more towards the Midwest and the row crops out there, corn, soybeans and whatnot? What does the vision look like here for the future?

Ben Alfi:

Our idea is to go where the need is. We see a huge need in Europe, also elderly growers getting over there. And with the huge need, we see ourselves going to the East Coast of the US, Upstate New York, Florida, and also going into those areas, the Midwest that you've talked about, and Latin America, also there. You don't have enough people in Australia, it's crazy, and our idea is to enhance our footprint with relationship that we are doing with counterparts in the ecosystem from the dealership networks, et cetera.

Noah Newman:

Okay. And then what would you say is one of the keys to increasing the adoption rate of autonomous technology like Blue White? I read an article in the Wall Street Journal talking about how retrofit kits is a good way to get more technology on the farm because like you said, people don't have to, they have the tractor they like or the piece of equipment they like and they can just add to it. So would you agree with that, in that retrofit kits are a good way to speed up the adoption rates of autonomy?

Ben Alfi:

Definitely, this is the way to start and to create as much more trust as possible. So the idea is first and foremost to maximizing existing assets. And yes, in a few years you will have tractors with Blue White inside that have our algorithms and our capabilities that have matured already in those aftermarket kits that have been done, but aftermarket is here to stay for the next decade or two. It's not a transition that happens so fast, especially in this market and you don't want to impose huge investment on growers. You want them to see it, to run with it, to gain trust and just like your smartphones, to create adoption and addiction because you can create much more with less on that area.

Noah Newman:

And what's the cost of a Blue White autonomy kit? Is there a service contract that usually comes along with it or how does that work?

Ben Alfi:

So our idea in general is to be at least 50% of your yearly cost less to operate. Tractors in California cost around $100,000 a year. You save on the person that needs to drive and he drives only one shift, no double shift and the amount of chemicals that you spend because it's not doing the exact job and the quality of work is low or you don't need 12 tractors, eight can do the job because they can run much more. So the idea is we're doing it as a service, saving, in some areas where people are saving 80%-85% on their yearly cost on those areas. So this is the way we're doing it and we're doing it as a yearly model and in a way, in general it's around $30,000. But mainly the idea is not to talk about what is the actual price now, if it's okay, but just to talk about the saving.

Noah Newman:

Yeah, absolutely. And I was curious, you probably do a lot of traveling, how much of your time is spent in Fresno and how much is your time spent in Israel? Do you fly back and forth a lot or what does your schedule look like?

Ben Alfi:

It's very easy. As an entrepreneur, you're just awake and you know that 2028 I will be asleep for like a month, so you're just awake all the time. It's also an opportunity because that way we can work all around the clock and also to create availability to our clients all around the clock because we have people in both zone areas. And myself, I spend half of the time with our R&D team and half of the time with our clients, around growers all around.

Noah Newman:

And then you said you're up to about 140 employees now. How much have you guys grown over the past couple of years?

Ben Alfi:

What we've seen is that we have grown much more. At the beginning, we had more operation people and now because we're working with dealership and the growers are the operators of the vehicles, we invest more and more on growing in the R&D and more and more capabilities and we see ourselves around a couple of hundred people. But the idea is to be a technological company that enables the ecosystem that exists already. Our values are fellowship, love of the land and innovation and fellowship means that everybody needs to win and the ecosystem is amazing. And helping dealership to transform from metal sellers to technology sellers and enablers and to see growers going from hardworking labor to robotic operation, all those things, this is our goal. So we're blending in.

Noah Newman:

If someone's listening to this right now, just what would you say are a few key takeaways you'd want them to take home just in terms of what they should know about Blue White and the work you guys are doing?

Ben Alfi:

Autonomy is happening. It's not a dream. You can save money now. You can have much healthier life now and you can bring your kid back home.

Noah Newman:

All right. Well said. That's all the questions on my list there. Is there anything I'm leaving out or anything else you want to touch on or...

Ben Alfi:

No, I think there's only one thing I'm guessing that will be also a big thing, not just on the labor part, but also on having people near chemicals. I think this is going to be a big issue with the Roundup, et cetera. There is no reason for people to be near tractors running and spreading chemicals and the only reason there is no regulation about it is because there wasn't any other option. Now, we have options, so it will happen and it should happen. Both of us have been in airplanes where people smoked inside and today we think, "Oh, how the hell did that happen?" So this is the only thing that I think that will happen much faster and we, at the ecosystem, should push everybody to transform as fast as possible because we need to have a healthier life, all of us.

Noah Newman:

Great conversation there. That'll wrap things up for this edition of the Precision Farming Dealer podcast brought to you by Ag Express Electronics. Thanks for tuning in and remember, until next time, for all things precision farming dealer related, head to precisionfarmingdealer.com. I'm Noah Newman. Have a great day.