Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko.
Field Notes · Events

World Agri-Tech London 2026, Day 2: AI in Agriculture, Excitement and a Healthy Alarm

Day 2 of the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit was about AI in agriculture: 400 crop-robotics startups, quick wins in the packhouse, the data-ownership question, and why the risks of AI call for awareness, not panic.

World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit 2026 📍London, UK
A panel of speakers seated on the summit stage under two large screens, with the World Agri-Tech backdrop and dimmed hall around them.
The expert panel on autonomous and precision farming, World Agri-Tech London, 23 September 2026.

World Agri-Tech Party – Day 2.

We spoke a lot about AI in Agriculture, and I have such dual feelings about it right now. Two days in London only amplified them.

The first feeling: excitement

The first feeling is obvious: excitement. AI is already bringing a lot of positive change to farming. This was confirmed at the expert panel on autonomous and precision farming and at a 40-minute workshop on Agentic AI in Agriculture.

The headliner of both was Dr Elliott Grant, who knows the subject not from the news, but from the depth & inside.

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko in a selfie with Dr Elliott Grant, in glasses and a checked jacket, in a wood-panelled conference foyer.
Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko with Dr Elliott Grant, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge.

A few insightful things:

1. A very dynamic market

Around 400 ag automation startups are on the latest crop robotics landscape.

2. The drivers are real

I hear them on my own Zoom calls with farmers, especially in the Global South: labour shortages, rising input costs, pressure on pesticides.

3. Quick AI wins are simple

A robot that just moves fruit around a packhouse frees the best pickers to keep picking.

Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko and Rob Lind crouching either side of a yellow Spot quadruped robot on the summit floor, in front of the stage.
Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko with Rob Lind from Syngenta, and a Spot robot.
A yellow Spot quadruped robot standing on the patterned carpet of the summit hall, in front of the stage backdrop.
A Spot robot on the summit floor.

4. Who owns the data?

Farmers run mixed fleets of different brands, so interoperability and "who owns the data?" come up every time. From my own experience: in most cases your tech is co-existing with the tech zoo already deployed on the farm.

5. Britain is still a bit British about it

And on AI in UK agriculture: Britain is still a bit British about it (from the stage, not from me :)

Panellists seated on stage beneath a screen showing the speakers' names and portraits: Elliott Grant, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge; Peter van der Vlugt, Kubota Holdings Europe; Norbert Schlingmann, Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation.
On stage: Dr Elliott Grant (Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge), Peter van der Vlugt (Kubota Holdings Europe) and Norbert Schlingmann (Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation).
Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko in a selfie with Belinda Clarke, in a patterned jacket and green lanyard, in front of a sponsor wall.
Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko with Belinda Clarke from Agri-TechE.

The second feeling: a healthy alarm

So, the excited part is finished. Now the second, healthy feeling. Not fear, but inner alarm about the risks of AI.

You know that feeling when you meet a person with amazing depth of knowledge and unbelievable speed of work... but their emotional intelligence is still in its infancy? You don't know how to behave with that person...

Three scenarios if something goes wrong with AI (Geoffrey Hinton, the godfather of AI, said this, I'm just repeating):

  1. Bad guys use AI on purpose & create new global biological risks.
  2. Smart, good guys use it inaccurately and create something not in the plan (negligence; check the Hugging Face incident, brilliantly explained by Elliott 🤗).
  3. AI becomes smarter than us and decides it doesn't need humans anymore.
A screen showing a slide titled 2026 is the start of the Agentic era, a chart of AI task horizons rising from the pre-agentic to the agentic era, captioned Dr Elliott Grant, Agentic AI is Coming to Food and Agriculture, Are you Ready?, World Agri-Tech Summit London, 23 September 2026.
From Dr Elliott Grant's workshop: 2026 is the start of the agentic era.
A screen showing a slide titled Getting your Org Agentic AI-ready, with a checklist beside a cartoon farmer in sunglasses standing in a green field, captioned Dr Elliott Grant, Agentic AI is Coming to Food and Agriculture, Are you Ready?
From Dr Elliott Grant's workshop: getting your organisation agentic-AI-ready.

So what to do? As usual, don't panic :)

  • Be aware of the risks, but focus on your own universe, your best farm or agrifood production.
  • Be aware of the risks, but keep moving forward with AI step by step.
  • More people want AI for good: productivity, less routine, easier lives for growers.
  • There is huge progress in good AI with vibe coding, 3D printing and GenAI, even in business pipelines.
  • In the last month alone I've seen at least a dozen GitHub repositories where someone builds physical AI just for fun, but with obvious commercial potential. So, let's not be scared, but aware.
  • You are not alone, we are all in this unclear time together.
Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko in a selfie with Emma Chapelhow, in a cap and a floral blouse, in front of a sponsor wall.
Dr. Maryna Kuzmenko with Emma Chapelhow, Rising Star of the Year at the National Women in Agriculture Awards 2026.

The only absolutely clear thing

The era of permissionless AI innovation in agriculture is happening right here, right now 🚀

And I felt it at World Agri-Tech 💚

Day 1 of the summit, on what is actually slowing agritech down, is here.