Episode 318 | 47-Year-Old Law Is Stalling the Future of Farming in California

Tim Bucher, Co-Founder & CEO, Agtonomy joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how a 47-year-old California regulation is stalling the adoption of autonomous tractors and threatening the future of farming in the Golden State.

Since his last appearance, Agtonomy has entered into a partnership with Kubota to develop autonomous tractors aimed at easing the growing labor shortages in agriculture. Despite this progress, regulatory hurdles remain a significant barrier to scaling these technologies in California. 

A 47-year-old CAL/OSHA regulation technically prohibits the use of autonomous tractors on private farmland, a law originally implemented to prevent the dangerous practice of “driverless tractors,” where operators would jump off moving machines to complete manual tasks.

Today, that outdated regulation is being applied to modern autonomous tractors, creating a de facto ban. As a CAL/OSHA’s autonomous ag vehicles committee member, Tim offers a behind-the-scenes look at the slow but promising progress toward updating the law and unlocking the future of farming in California.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Agtonomy x Kubota

6:25 CAL/OSHA Regulations

10:36 Historical Context of CAL/OSHA “Driverless” Regulations

17:57 CAL/OSHA Advisory Committee

23:49 Defining Regulatory Language

25:50 Engaging with the Autonomous Ag Community

32:15 Labor Issues

37:13 Regulations

39:58 Regulations & Economics

43:35 Preparing for Growth

Recorded on Thursday, July 17, 2025

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