A Bay Area startup that wanted to revolutionize global agriculture appears to have gone bankrupt, burning through hundreds of millions of dollars, laying off nearly its entire workforce, and leaving farmers across the country disappointed.
Monarch Tractors has raised more than $240 million for a self-driving electric tractor guided by artificial intelligence that will debut in 2023. That year, Time magazine called the vehicle one of the year’s greatest inventions, and Forbes magazine predicted the company would become the world’s next billion-dollar startup. The company was later valued at $518 million. Now, the company has abandoned its Livermore headquarters after laying off its entire workforce last year and warning it could be “shut down.”
California winemaker Patrick O’Connor gave a candid review of the technology in an Instagram video posted this week, calling it “a complete failure.” In the video, he said he had been testing tractors on steep vineyards for three years and that $200 million in investor and government money had been “wasted” on a “failed autonomous AI robot tractor.” The video has gone viral, with about 550,000 views and just over 24,000 likes as of Wednesday.
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O’Connor told SFGATE that after three years of using the machine, he couldn’t find a serious use for it. He also said that self-driving mode is dangerous.
“I don’t want other people to get close to it,” O’Connor said.
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Monarch Tractor founders include former Tesla manager Mark Schwager and Carlo Mondavi of the legendary Napa Valley wine family. The company did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment. However, Mondavi commented on O’Connor’s Instagram video this week, saying that O’Connor had high hopes for the product but left the company a year ago over disagreements with the CEO. He said tractors “have real challenges in the first generation and farmers should not be burdened with that burden”.
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“I’m really sorry that the tractor didn’t perform as well as it should have. You and the Monarch family deserve better,” Mondavi said.
Patrick O’Connor’s electric Monarch tractor is on display at a vineyard in El Dorado County, California.
O’Connor told SFGATE that he was initially excited to use the Monarch electric tractor. Organic farms like his often require much more labor-intensive work to control weeds and pests than conventional farms that use pesticides, so the idea of having a self-driving tractor do the work seemed like a pipe dream. He said the machine was specifically made to work in small areas of the vineyard. But it never worked.
“Theoretically, we could see more advances in mechanical weed control than chemical weed control,” O’Connor said. “But the hydraulics were cumbersome, the automatic row-following didn’t work well, it was having a negative impact on the vines, and it was never ready for unmanned operation.”
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O’Connor wouldn’t say how much he paid for the tractor, but said he ended up finding some uses for it. He said the storage container is suitable for moving tools, and the all-electric vehicle’s battery can power other tools, essentially acting as a generator on wheels. He also uses a tractor to split wood. He showed off how to use it in an Instagram post.
Praveen Penmezza, CEO and co-founder of Monarch Tractor, speaks on stage at Vox Media’s Code Conference at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, California on September 27, 2023.
TechCrunch reported in November that multiple tractor dealers are suing Monarch for allegedly selling defective tractors, separate from O’Connor’s complaints about usability. The company denied the allegations in court, but Monarch’s lawyers in at least one case stopped representing the company over concerns they wouldn’t be able to pay their legal fees, the Pleasanton Weekly reported.
Monarch’s three tractor models can cost as much as $100,000, but various government subsidy programs appear to have lowered the price considerably. Monarch’s website lists state and federal grants that can reduce tractor costs by up to 85%.
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While O’Connor remains optimistic that AI and electric vehicles will make it easier to farm without toxic chemicals, he worries that companies could use machines to make it easier to spray more dangerous pesticides, arguing that humans aren’t doing it.
“I support the cause of advancing agricultural technology, but I’m not trying to stop it or be a victim of it,” O’Connor said. “This is my experience and I hope it will be better in the future.”
