Bonsai Robotics Inc. has acquired farm-ng Inc., aiming to revolutionize autonomous farming by merging their technologies to create AI-first machines for crop management.

This acquisition allows the integration of Bonsai's autonomy software with farm-ng's customizable robotic platform, enhancing efficiency and reducing costs for farmers managing a variety of crops.

Tyler Niday, CEO of Bonsai, emphasized the urgency of adopting these technologies in response to recent labor shortages and tight profit margins in specialty crops.

The partnership builds on prior collaborations in agricultural settings, positioning the new entity for rapid growth supported by strong financial backing and ongoing commercial deployments.

This merger is a significant step towards reimagining agricultural equipment design, which is expected to enable higher operational efficiency.

The collaboration is anticipated to deliver cost-effective solutions that enhance efficiency and lower operational costs for various farming tasks.

Bonsai has seen a successful first year of commercial deployments, with over 50 machines currently operational across the US and Australia, surpassing initial sales expectations.

Key industry veterans are joining Bonsai's leadership, including John Teeple, former director of technology at John Deere, as Chief Operating Officer, and Gary Bradski, founder of OpenCV, as Chief Science Officer.

Following a $15 million Series A funding round earlier this year, Bonsai plans to expand its operations from tree crops like almonds and walnuts to include bedded crops and vineyards.

The acquisition comes at a critical time when farmers are facing labor shortages, making automation increasingly essential.

Both companies leverage computer vision and AI to navigate obstacles and recognize terrain, having trained their models on substantial datasets from approximately 500,000 acres.

The acquisition addresses labor shortages in agriculture by providing solutions capable of performing complex tasks without the need for skilled human operators.