Farmers have more technology at their fingertips than ever. Yet, adoption of precision ag and other high-tech solutions remains a lot slower than industry expectations. Some of that may be down to a lack of skilled technicians where they are needed most – rural America. “Questr Automation” wants to change that by training local technicians who can unlock the next wave of agtech adoption.
In founder Dave Oberting’s telling, agtech’s biggest problem isn’t a lack of hardware or AI. Rather, it’s the absence of skilled local people who can make that technology work on real farms, far from major service hubs. In Hardy County, West Virginia, where Questr is based, poultry houses and livestock operations dominate the farm economy, but support from big OEMs or coastal startups is thin. When something breaks, farmers can wait days for help, if it comes at all.
Oberting argues that without local skills to install, repair, and maintain those systems, the impact of agtech will remain limited, not just in West Virginia but across rural regions worldwide. “You cannot create a high-tech industry in a rural area without the individuals to work in that high tech industry,” says Oberting.
Questr describes itself as a “modular integrator.” Essentially, it installs agtech technology like sensor networks, drones, and automated feeding and watering systems. Instead of pushing a single proprietary platform, Questr starts with an on‑farm assessment, identifies the specific pain points—labor‑intensive chores, inefficiencies, blind spots, etc.—and then designs a small automation stack around those problems. The promise is “no tech headaches, just smarter workflows,” with Questr managing installation, configuration, basic analytics, and ongoing support.
Oberting has been explicit that the unique part of Questr is not the gear but “the human capital we’re training and putting into the equation. The company is working with Eastern West Virginia Community & Technical College and other partners to build what they call a “blue‑collar lab”- an apprenticeship pipeline that trains local technicians to install, maintain, and troubleshoot farm automation systems.
Questr expects some graduates of this program to be hired directly by ranches and farms as in‑house agtech specialists, while the company itself plans to recruit apprentices to support its own growing customer base. Their bet is that local skills and service capacity are the missing rails for wider adoption. It’s also a bet that young people would be more willing to stay in their rural communities if they had access to higher-paying, skilled jobs.
For many family farms, the biggest barrier is not skepticism, but the financial and operational risk of being the guinea pig. Questr’s answer is the “Rural Operations Optimization & Systems Trial” pilot program (ROOST), which is designed as a low‑risk, grant‑funded step into automation.
Under ROOST, three to five farming families in Hardy County get to implement up to five major automations over an 18‑month pilot. During that time, Questr and its partners run a detailed, farm‑level assessment, help line up funding from USDA, West Virginia Department of Agriculture, and other programs, and handle installation, training, troubleshooting, and basic ROI analytics.
Their own messaging frames this as a “zero‑risk revolution”: farmers modernize for “0 dollars” upfront while Questr identifies the tech, manages the ROOST grant strategy, and proves the business case with simple, no‑nonsense analytics. Questr believes that if they remove financial risk and decision friction, the adoption will follow.
Questr and its ROOST program are still in the pilot phase as the company and its partners try to work out more details. One of those is funding, which includes a $700,000 grant from USDA that has not yet been finalized. Regardless, it’s encouraging to see innovative solutions like this aimed at helping more farmers adopt money and time-saving technology, as well as keep more of our young people in our communities. (Sources: AgtechNavigator, Forbes, Ledantec, Questr)
