One variation of a method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility includes: dispatching a loader to autonomously deliver a first module—；defining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants at a first growth stage—；from a first grow location within an agricultural facility to a transfer station within the agricultural facility； dispatching the loader to autonomously deliver a second module—；defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density and empty of plants—；to the transfer station； recording a module-level optical scan of the first module； extracting a viability parameter of the first set of plants from features detected in the module-level optical scan； and if the viability parameter falls outside of a target viability range, rejecting transfer of the first set of plants from the first module.
