How AI Is Saving Meat Plants from Costly Cutting Mistakes | AgEmerge Podcast 196 with Colin Hurd
More than tractors, AI and autonomy are moving into all sectors of agriculture, including the meat industry. AI is already saving meat processors real money—not by replacing workers, but by helping them make the right cut every time. Colin Hurd breaks down how FloVision uses laser-guided computer vision to reduce waste, improve consistency, and make packing plants more profitable fast.
This episode gets into the practical side of industrial AI, where even small trimming mistakes add up to big losses. Instead of a futuristic full automation pitch, the system today acts like a precision assistant, showing workers exactly where to cut while sizing the meat and reducing errors caused by fatigue or inexperience.
Watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGh_xGNAclA
The next breakthrough in ag tech is a physical AI layer that can learn, adapt, and make farms dramatically more efficient without forcing every grower to become a robotics expert. Colin Hurd returns to the AgEmerge Podcast with a behind-the-scenes look at where ag autonomy really stands now, why retrofit solutions are only part of the story, and what has to change before self-driving machines become truly useful in the field.
From dusty harvest conditions that break today’s sensors to the opportunity for AI systems to preserve hard-earned farming knowledge, this conversation gets into the real bottlenecks - and the real upside - of the next five years.
Colin has devoted his career to leading innovative companies in the machinery industry. In 2016, Colin founded his second company, Smart Ag, which developed the first retrofit driverless system to automate tractors. After funding and growing the company, he led Smart Ag successfully through an exit to Raven Industries (NYSE:RAVN) in 2019. Raven was then acquired by CNH Industrial in 2021 (NYSE:CNHI). Colin stayed with Raven and managed business development until forming Mach in 2022.
Learn about Mach: https://mach.io/about-us/
