Equipment-Asset Tracking

Don't End Up In The Ditch! Update Your GPS Guidance Lines For 2026

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:53:34 GMT

Farmers who use a local RTK network or state-run Real Time Network (RTN) — Iowa and Ohio both offer these signals — for auto steer and GPS guidance systems will need to recapture new GPS coordinates for field boundaries and A-B lines before spring planting.

That’s because The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) will soon replace two outdated reference frames, NAD 83 and NAVD 88, with a new corrections datum. The shift could knock your current A-B lines and GPS field boundaries off by anywhere from 1 to 4 meters, according to a pair of Iowa State University Extension precision ag specialists.

The Ohio State University Extension and FABE professor Dr. John Fulton issued a similar warning last fall at the Ohio Farm Science Review.

Iowa State University precision ag engineer Luke Fuhrer and digital Extension specialist Doug Houser say farmers using a major commercial satellite RTK network, such as those offered by John Deere and Trimble, should be OK for 2026.

Farmers who need to make quick updates to field boundaries or A-B lines, or check on the potential impact to existing telematics data this winter, are being told to use the free NGS Coordinate Conversion and Transformation Tool (NCAT) to shift their GPS coordinates from NAD 83/NAVD 88 to NATRF2022.

Fuhrer and Houser also want you to consider:

Physically recollecting GPS coordinates for field boundaries, control points or benchmarks using a system aligned to the new datum.
Recalculating your historical data using updated reference points or transformation software.

Example Scenario

(John Deere/Mel Koltai)

The Iowa State researchers share the following scenario as an example of a farmer who will need to make updates before spring planting:

“A farmer in eastern Iowa has been using a local RTK base station tied to NAD 83 to map field boundaries with sub-inch accuracy to avoid a neighbor’s fence line.

“After 2026, the new NATRF2022 datum will shift those GPS-defined boundaries by several feet. While the fence hasn’t moved, the guidance lines will now show up partially in the neighbor’s field. Without correction, auto-steer will drift across actual property lines.”

Before spring 2026, Fuhrer and Houser want this farmer to:

Back up all current GPS files and data.
Talk to his/her equipment dealer about firmware updates or new coordinate system support.
Use NCAT or dealer-provided tools to test a few key points and see how much they move.
Consider a quick resurvey for high-value areas.

For more info, check out the NGS “Get Prepared” resource here .

Four Pro Tips To Help You Harvest More Soybeans

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 18:32:20 GMT

Talk with Marion Calmer for 10 minutes, and you’ll walk away with a handful of practical ideas you can take back to the farm and use – things that will help you simplify tasks and improve efficiency.

Calmer, a fourth-generation Illinois farmer and natural-born innovator, is the CEO of Calmer Corn Heads. He is known among U.S. corn growers for building the first 12- and 15-inch corn head, the world’s largest corn head (in 2013), and other state-of-the art harvesting technology and practices.

In 1985, Marion founded Calmer Agronomic Research Center, an independent, self-funded research center, with the goal of finding ways to reduce input costs and increase profitability for himself and other farmers.

(Marion Calmer)

Calmer is also known for freely sharing information and insights to help farmers take more of their crops to the bin. That was the case when he joined yield champs David Hula and Randy Dowdy recently on their Breaking Barriers With R&D podcast.

While the three farmers talked corn at length, Calmer also shared some soybean harvesting tips and techniques with Hula and Dowdy. Here are four you can use this fall:

1. Consider changing the sickle size on your bean head.
Calmer recommends using a 3” sickle so residue is able to flow better, as compared to a 2” sickle, especially in no-till or high-residue environments.

He says running a 3” sickle (that’s the distance between two snake heads or sections of the sickle) can help prevent plugging from last season’s corn root balls sometimes present in a corn-bean rotation.

“I think a 3” does a better job of cutting beans than a 2” sickle, because the window to retrieve the next plant is wider and bigger,” he tells Hula and Dowdy. “I also think a 3” sickle cuts cleaner.”

2. Keep beans in the threshing chamber longer.
Calmer says with soybeans increasingly being harvested at a higher moisture level with still-green pods and stems, it’s useful to keep them in the threshing chamber longer. One inexpensive way to do that is by modifying a 55-gallon plastic barrel.

“Take a jigsaw and cut a plastic band out of the barrel and then place it underneath the first 6” or first 12” of any color of combine, and that’ll hold those green pods up in the chamber. We just use a ratchet strap to hold that plastic cover plate in there,” he says. “Doesn’t cost anything, but oh my gosh, this makes the combine so much easier to set.”

Plus, Calmer says you will get fewer green pods going into the grain tank. “The pods can set off a chain of events when they get into the grain bin. They’ll all slide to the outer edges and rot and so on,” Calmer explains. “This is just a simple, commonsense kind of thing that can help you.”

Soybean harvest starts in the rotor area of the combine, according to Calmer. “In years past, I never even opened up the side of the combine. I’d just go reset the sieves and the airspeed and take off, and I was never happy,” he says. “I focus on the rotor area more than I used, and it’s made my combine work better.”

(Marion Calmer)

3. Consider adjusting the combine head at harvest to cut beans lower.
This is a good practice, Calmer says, if your beans are podded closer to the ground this fall because you planted lower populations last spring or because of weather that occurred during the growing season. With pods closer to the ground, more harvest loss frequently occurs because the cutterbar was operating too high.

This practice of adjusting the head can be both a bit of art and science to do well. Michigan State Extension offers a detailed article on how to set the combine head lower to achieve the results you want and need.

4. Synchronize reel speed to ground speed.
The goal is to help prevent shattering or pushing plants away as they go into the header. The reel RPM should be 10 times ground speed, Calmer says. A simple example of this: 4 MPH ground speed = 40 RPM on reel. Use a piece of tape or spray paint a bar of your reel to easily count RPM from the cab.

And finally...this idea might not help you take more beans to the bin, but it will help you manage residue: Before you roll into the field, be conscious to start harvesting on the downwind side of the field, Calmer advises. By harvesting downwind, the wind will spread straw more evenly and away from the uncut soybeans.

Listen to this edition of Breaking Barriers With R&D at Farm Journal TV to hear more money-saving tips and ideas from Calmer, Hula and Dowdy that can help you as harvest gets underway this fall. You can also catch this episode of the podcast on YouTube .

Your next read: Farmer Uses Late-Season Fungicide, Nutrients To Beef Up Corn Test Weight

CNH, Starlink Announce Satellite Connectivity Expansion To Case IH And New Holland Machines

Fri, 16 May 2025 03:52:38 GMT

CNH has an agreement in place with Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, to bring industry-leading satellite connectivity to farmers.

The company says this new collaboration will provide customers of Case IH, New Holland and STEYR, with robust high-speed connectivity – further unlocking the benefits of a fully connected fleet – even in the most remote rural locations around the world.

“We’re thrilled to offer our customers access to industry-leading satellite connectivity, enabling them to maximize the potential of our full suite of precision technology in even the most challenging rural environments,” said Stefano Pampalone, Agriculture Chief Commercial Officer at CNH.

(CNH Industrial)

Starlink’s Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellite network offers reliable, low-latency internet. This enables today’s smart machines to communicate and coordinate efficiently , enhancing productivity. The connectivity module will seamlessly integrate with CNH’s FieldOps digital platform, giving farmers visibility of their machines and providing data from anywhere, anytime. It also enables greater data streaming capabilities by keeping farm management devices consistently connected, regardless of location.

CNH says this collaboration underscores it’s ongoing commitment to equipping farmers with reliable, tailored solutions that meet the unique demands of agriculture, while amplifying the capabilities of precision technology.

You can read the full announcement here.

Plowing Through Tough Times: Equipment Manufacturers Double Down on Technology Upgrades Amid Sales Slump

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:20:46 GMT

New two-wheel and four-wheel drive tractor sales appear to be in a free fall to start 2025, and combines are tumbling down with them. That’s based on data pulled from the latest Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) U.S. Ag Tractors and Combine Report.

With spring planting just a handful of weeks away for some, the ag equipment industry is well aware of the forecasts predicting another down year demand-wise.

“I would say our guide on the larger ag machines is in that minus 20 to minus 30 range for the full year, but I haven’t gone through all the details (of the AEM report) yet,” says Kurt Coffey, head of North America, Case IH.

Coffey does think it’s a bit premature to sound the alarm bells based on a contracted January, though.

“We need to see the quarter play out in total, because there are companies that had new product launches that were getting the new line rates adjusted and maybe didn’t ship in January, but they may ship in February,” he adds.

Still, the AEM numbers to kick off 2025 don’t paint the rosiest of pictures. Case IH specifically is coming off a busy 2024 that featured two new massive row crop combine launches and the late-summer introduction of its new mobile fleet management app, FieldOps. For this year, the company debuted a new Farmall C utility tractor in the 100 hp range that Coffey says represents “kind of the core of the every man’s tractor” and is something he is “very excited about that.”

“There are certain areas where we’re very clean and there are certain areas where we would like to reduce a half a month to a month of stock, if that makes sense,” Coffey says. “We’re sitting where we want to be on more of the large categories, but I would like to maybe get a little cleaner on some of the livestock or mixed farm categories, but these are statistically small to our total performance, so it’s nothing really that we’re concerned about here in North America.”

Coffey says he isn’t super worried because his team is focused on what matters: staying steady and “destocking at the dealer level.” He says that effort has helped with overall dealer financial health and has calmed some of the concerns equipment dealers had coming into the year.

“We’ve been closely watching lead measures and used values, and not only values in dollars, but also in quantities,” he says. “And we heavily invested in velocity last Q3 and Q4 to help get some of the used stuff through the system, and now we’re starting to see some of the fruits of that labor.

“I don’t want to speak for our dealers, but we’re hearing feedback that we’re being more proactive and a stronger partner in that area than our dealers have had in a long time. That feedback came from our dealer advisory board. And that’s a good indicator of when the market stabilizes, how healthy are we to then attack a market on an upside?”

Of course, sluggish machine sales aren’t the only hurdle to leap over. The ongoing threat of tariffs – many of which could be levied against some of America’s strongest ag trade partners – has demanded a high level of attention over the last few weeks.

“I’m a farm kid from a town of 800 people, Ashmore, Illinois, and at like eight years old my dad told me ‘Kurt, I can’t sit here and worry about if it’s gonna rain or not,’ and we were in a massive drought. It was the 80s and it just really imprinted on me like, I can’t control this, so what can I do about it,” Coffey says. “And so we stay disciplined and balanced (in our approach). We’re having daily reviews with the Executive team because look, last week it was China, Mexico, and Canada. And then the next day, Canada and Mexico were paused for 30 days. And last week, we had a solid go forward plan. And then over the weekend there’s steel and aluminum (tariffs), so the plan changes. We’re staying calm, focusing on customer value and in a disciplined way, we’re doing what we can to deliver that.”

With new equipment sales slow and the threat of a global trade war looming, one area Coffey is seeing interest from farmers is in Case IH’s tech stack and its digital platform, FieldOps.

“We’re really going deep on our technology and unlocking value with our FieldOps platform,” Coffey told Farm Journal last week at the National Farm Machinery Show. “Where’s the machine? How’s it operating? What are my yields? I need to send that to my agronomist.” Honestly, I’ve been here all day today and that’s probably half the conversation. People literally coming up saying, ‘Hey, how do I integrate my data from my combine to my planter?’

AGCO-PTx Trimble weigh in
AgRevolution CEO Stacy Anthony met with Farm Journal at the AGCO booth, where the Duluth, Georgia-based manufacturer debuted an updated line of Massey Ferguson utility tractors as well as a new Hesston double square baler for hay and forage operations.

RELATED: AGCO Launches Massey Ferguson 2025 Compact Tractor Series, New Double Square Baler

Anthony told us farmers he met with at the show are still talking about last year’s AGCO-Precision Planting-Trimble tie up, which remains the largest ag tech acquisition deal in history. The companies re-branded its combined precision ag technology portfolio under the PTx Trimble name.

“We were always thought of as kind of chasing the leader for years to come, and now this PTx Trimble deal has given us a position to lead from the front, to lead with strength,” Anthony says. “Now we’re going to have a tech stack that’s unlike and unmatched from anybody else in the industry. That’s what we’re excited about and that’s what the farmer is excited about, because he’s got a choice now. He’s got a choice between the competition.”

PTx Trimble had its own separate booth in Louisville, where it was showing its new WM-Field Form land-forming and water management kit for the first time.

The WM-Field Form kit adds an RTK receiver to the blade implement on a tractor already equipped with auto steer to increase single-scraper landforming accuracy and improve connectivity at the edge of the field or in areas where the tractor and implement may not have full line of sight to the sky.

The company also featured its OutRun autonomous grain cart retrofit kit. That tractor and grain cart autonomy kit is available now from PTx Trimble dealers. Although it will start out automating only the tractor-grain cart functions, senior product manager Dinen Subramaniam says the same kit will be adapted to automate tillage tools and dry fertilizer spreaders in the near future.

“There are a lot of small operations that really struggle to find good help and there are large farms that can benefit from the increased efficiency,” he says. “They can now take someone, a highly skilled operator, and get them to do something that is worth their time, but no one else can do it, and then have an autonomous tractor out there taking care of the other tasks.”

Deere Dials Up More Retrofit Options
John Deere did not launch any new tractors or machines at the Louisville show this year, but the manufacturer did expand its Precision Upgrades retrofit program to include ExactEmerge and MaxEmerge 5e seed meter upgrades for 2015 and newer factory planters. The kits are available now at your local Deere dealer.

Deere says farmers that upgrade to its ExactEmerge electric seed meters can increase productivity by more than 100 acres per day by planting at speeds up to 10 mph.

(Matthew J. Grassi)

Both upgrade kits offer increased population accuracy - Deere claims a 20% increase in seeding accuracy compared to its MaxEmerge 5 meters - and the ExactEmerge kit enables accurate population and spacing while planting at speeds up to 10 mph, Deere says.

“Traditionally, customers have gotten a planter upgrade from us and essentially that upgrade came in a full row unit, but now we’re giving them the ability to upgrade without replacing the entire row unit,” says Kyle Barry, manager, Precision Upgrades.

Barry adds the newer your John Deere planter is, the easier it is going to be to install the electrically-driven seed metering kits on your own. Deere is also offering dealer installation if farmers would rather let the dealer techs handle it.

Barry says most farmers make the decision to upgrade an older planter once they get wind of the capabilities that new technology can offer, such as automatic row shutoffs and better seed singulation. Often, those increases can be the difference in getting your acreage planted in a tight window versus missing your window and feeling some yield drag on the back end of the growing season.

“With both of these seed meters we’re giving you the ability to have individual row shut offs on your planter,” he explains. “So as you go around corners or you plant into a headland and you have point rows, we’re going to shut each individual row off. You’re putting the seeds exactly where you want to, so you’re not over planting. That’s where you can get that 20% increase in population accuracy.”

After re-branding its aftermarket program to Precision Upgrades and launching the Precision Upgrades Essential kit at last year’s Louisville show, Deere is now offering many of its technologies as both OEM installed and aftermarket add-ons, most notably being its See & Spray smart spraying technology. Barry says this evolution at Deere is all about meeting farmers where they are on the technology journey and helping them be more productive and profitable.

“We’re increasing the options that customers have with upgrades in general, its not something we’re doing that is just specific to planters,” he says. “We’ve got sprayers, combines, air seeding, basically you name it. Depending on the customer, we’ve got options (for them). We’re really excited about these two new meter only upgrades because it’s giving customers that traditionally would have said no to an upgrade the ability to get this technology on their farm. Or, if its planter-applied fertilizer they want to get into, now we have ExactRate and ExactShot (kits).”

Your Next Read: Where Farm Equipment Is Made

John Deere-Starlink Satellite Service Available Now, New High-Speed Disk Series Debuts

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 15:17:04 GMT

John Deere announced the release of JDLink Boost, a satellite connectivity solution designed to work in fields with little to no cellular coverage, and a new high speed disk tillage solution.

The new JDLink Boost kit supports the partnership between John Deere and Starlink by SpaceX network.

Deere reps say JDLink Boost will benefit farmers operating in fields where cellular coverage is limited or unreliable by providing a secure and faster connection along with real-time access to machine and agronomic data. This improved connectivity enables more timely decision-making regarding irrigation, fertilization, pest control and harvesting.

You can read more about JDLink Boost here. The news release does not detail how the new service will be priced. Reach out to you local John Deere dealer for more information.

New High-Speed Disk Series

John Deere announced a new lineup of high-speed disks, a dual-season tool that it says provides excellent field finish and residue management. It also comes autonomy ready from the factory, Deere says.

(Steve Dolan )

Deere’s new high-speed disk line replaces the largest models from the 2680H series, according to a company press release. Available in widths ranging from 25’ to 45’, Deere says there is a disk size that fits nearly any tractor and farm.

The new high-speed disk line offers improved residue flow, helping reduce plugging in tough tillage conditions such as high field moisture or high residue situations. In the new model, an additional 4” was added between the disk and the finishing basket, which helps provide better overall residue flow.

The high-speed disks come autonomy ready in-base from the factory, and are equipped from the factory with a receiver mast, harnessing, lighting package and TruSet.

Visit your local John Deere dealer or deere.com for information on the full line of tillage equipment.

Technology Risk Takers: A Look At United Prairie's Innovation

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 18:00:00 GMT

Whether it’s a product, software or machine, the team at United Prairie doesn’t shy away from new technology. The retailer is prepared to take a leap of faith if it means bringing the best innovations to its customers.

“We have been a company that has readily adapted and grabbed the bull by the horns to figure this stuff out, even though it could be potentially detrimental in the end,” says Kyle Meece, United Prairie agronomy manager.

It’s the forward-thinking mindset and willingness to embrace change that led to United Prairie’s Tolono, Illinois, headquarters being named the winner of The Scoop’s 2024 Business Innovation Award, sponsored by Ever.Ag Agribusiness.

It All Starts With The Grower
United Prairie is a full-service ag retailer. It offers dry fertilizer, seed, custom spraying and application. Since 1996, when the company was founded, the United Prairie footprint has expanded from four locations to 14 across east-central Illinois. That growth has made the shift to modernize operations paramount.

“We needed to find ways to be more efficient and give a better customer experience to the grower,” says Curt Miller, United Prairie CEO. “It all starts with the customer. You hear their wish list, see what’s achievable and what makes sense and then go from there.”

Meece echoes that sentiment and emphasizes the importance United Prairie places on including growers in these decisions.

“The worst thing I can do, or anybody in our industry can do, is assume we know what the farmer wants,” Meece says. “We have to go ask what they want to see, where they feel like they’re lacking and what we can improve for them.”

The most impactful changes the company has implemented based on grower feedback include the following:

A customer portal and app
Fleet management tools
Drone application

United Prairie UP Connect Digital App

(Cheyenne Kramer)

Going Digital
One of the most requested updates has been the ability to digitally view and pay invoices, prepay bookings and track expenditures as the retailer’s customer base has been transitioning between generations. This is now possible with the addition of the company’s app and customer portal named UP Connect, which was developed in partnership with AgVend.

“We love to hear what kind of features they’re wanting,” says Dakota Patton, United Prairie controller. “We don’t want to push something out just because everyone is doing it.”

Roughly 20% of customers have downloaded the app, but Patton says an important distinction is that almost all of the company’s top 100 customers are using it.

“It’s not just the number of accounts. It’s the key accounts,” he explains.

Patton shares the goal with adding these tools isn’t to become totally paperless but to be able to offer customers their preferred option.

“You’re going to have some people that are still wanting paper statements and contracts,” Patton says. “I just want to be able to offer to every grower we have whatever they feel comfortable with and offer the best service.”

United Prairie uses Sky Dispatch from Agvance to notify growers when application is complete.

(Cheyenne Kramer)

On-Demand Updates
Just as popular as paying invoices in the app is the ability to check the status of an application with the integration of Sky Dispatch by Agvance.

“Some of our growers were really wanting on-demand updates of when their applications are completed, so they can dispatch tillage equipment to their fields,” says Ben Rawlins, United Prairie operations manager.

This feature has been a long time coming for the company. Rawlins explains United Prairie has been in the process of testing versions of the software for more than a decade.

“We had been playing with a version of the program since the mid-2000s,” Rawlins says. “The older versions didn’t work well with our business model. But the latest one was what we needed, and we implemented it two to three years ago.”

The new ability to notify growers when their field has been completed has created a notable efficiency for United Prairie, essentially cutting out a middleman during the application process.

“It eliminated a lot of phone calls because the manager has access to be able to see where they are in their application, and the salesperson doesn’t have to be in the middle of that. Whenever customer communication does need to be made, it automatically does that,” Rawlins says.

Carly LaFoe launches United Prairie’s spray drone

(Cheyenne Kramer)

Adding, Not Replacing
One of the most difficult additions United Prairie made is drone application.

“The drone application was more challenging than we anticipated and not as efficient as we anticipated, but a lot of the growers and people in the community are interested in it,” Miller says.

Carly LaFoe, assistant marketing manager and drone operator at United Prairie, explains in working through those challenges, the company found the best place for the technology would be on new acres.

“We don’t want to take acres away from an airplane or take acres away from a sprayer. We’re more here to help them,” she says. “If they can’t get the job done, we’ll come in and try.”

The team plans to sit down this winter and calculate just how many acres they were able to add this year by having their drones, but LaFoe estimates the Tolono drone was able to spray around 2,500 over the summer.

And while the original plan for this technology wasn’t for recruitment, it’s become a unique tool to set United Prairie apart.

“When students at career fairs find out we have a spray drone and the new See & Spray technology, they want to learn all about it,” LaFoe says. “Technology is a big part of the next generation’s lives, and they really love what we’re incorporating.”

Miller adds, “Younger generations want to see new tech and see organizations that are advancing.”

Kyle Meece examines soybeans on the United Prairie Innovation Farm

(Cheyenne Kramer)

Not Just Any Innovation Will Do
When it comes to putting new innovations in front of customers, United Prairie sets a high bar to meet.

A rigorous vetting process takes place for all technologies and products to ensure they provide a return on investment. Depending on what the innovation is, it may be tested with employees who have been known to adapt quickly, operations managers, sales managers or on the company’s innovation farm.

“We research everything we sell to a farmer. That’s not negotiable. That return on investment has to be there, or we won’t sell it. It’s just that simple,” Miller says.

Meece explains there’s a three-year process for products that make it to the United Prairie Innovation Farm, which was started 10 years ago to perform randomized, replicated trials on a small scale.

Year one: The product goes on the research farm to look for return on investment.
Year two: If return on investment exists, then the product goes to the sales team and is given to key growers to test.
Year three: If return on investment continues, then the product can be brought to market with confidence.

United Prairie’s fertilizer warehouse

(Cheyenne Kramer)

Forward-Thinking Mindset
That advancement within the company is what the team believes makes United Prairie unique within the industry.

“Our management and our operators are willing to adapt to something as quick as we can throw it at them, LaFoe says. “We approached them and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to get a spray drone.’ And we had three operators step up and say, ‘I want to learn how to operate it.’”

And it’s not just about adapting to implement a new technology or tool. It’s also the need to roll with the punches afterward.

“Anytime you try to make changes, there’s pushback, and that’s OK. There should be pushback in anything someone is passionate about,” Miller says. “There’s also going to be innovations or technologies that you try that do not work. But being able to work through those challenges makes us more efficient and helps us give a better customer experience.”

It all comes back to being a partner—solving problems for growers and helping keep them sustainable for years to come.

“We want it to be a joy to do business with United Prairie,” Miller says. “When I walk into a grower’s office and their admin staff grabs me and says, ‘Hey, we really like this. It has made our lives a lot easier.’ To me, that’s a really big win.”

Industry News: 2025 Herbicide Introductions, New Partnership Announcements

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 15:19:40 GMT

Corteva Introduces Two Preemergence Soybean Herbicides for 2025
Corteva Agriscience is bringing two new herbicides — Kyber Pro and Sonic Boom — to market. Both preemergence products will offer multiple modes of action and extended residual activity.

Kyber Pro and Sonic Boom herbicides join Enversa herbicide as new soybean residual options from Corteva that will be available in the 2025 growing season. Corteva says both of the new herbicides will fit well in a program approach to season-long weed control, especially with Enlist E3 soybeans.

Key features of Kyber Pro herbicide include:

Three proven modes of action — metribuzin, flumioxazin and pyroxasulfone — for control of more than 50 broadleaf and grass weeds, including Palmer amaranth and waterhemp.
Up to six weeks of residual activity
The flexibility to be tank-mixed and applied with burndown herbicides prior to planting or with other preemergence herbicides.
A convenient liquid premix formulation that has been enhanced for simplified in-season mixing, handling and storage.

Key features of Sonic Boom herbicide include:

two modes of action — metribuzin and sulfentrazone — effective against difficult, resistant broadleaves, including waterhemp, Palmer amaranth, marestail and kochia.
several weeks of control to keep weeds at bay until postemergence applications can be made.
a convenient liquid premix formulation that can be easily mixed with a variety of tank-mix partners for efficient applications.
the ability to be applied at different times, including at fall or spring burndown, preplant or preemergence.

Kyber Pro and Sonic Boom herbicides have received federal registration. State registrations are in progress. Kyber Pro herbicide is currently available for purchase in states where it has already received state registration. Sonic Boom herbicide is expected to be available for purchase in early 2025.

Yara Launches YaraAmplix Biostimulant Portfolio
Yara North America is launching the YaraAmplix biostimulant portfolio in the United States and Canada, which is designed to enhance crop resilience, nutrient uptake, and overall crop quality while promoting healthier soils and better adaptability to environmental stressors.

Several products within the portfolio feature patented or patent-pending formulations. One of the first featured products Yara is bringing to customers is YaraAmplix Procote Optimize, which retailers can use to coat growers’ dry fertilizer with biostimulants.

Yara is also expanding its manufacturing and formulation capabilities with a new facility dedicated to breakthroughs in biostimulant technology.

Raven Becomes an Official Razor Tracking Distributor
Razor Tracking has announced Raven as an official distributor in an effort to enhance the overall fleet tracking capabilities and efficiencies for mutual customers.

Raven leadership says Razor Tracking’s services have been helping Raven customers gain better fleet visibility for years. As an official distributor, customers will have access to the full Razor Tracking portfolio.

“As technology grows in agriculture, this new business model makes it easier for Raven and Slingshot customers,” said Eric Mauch, managing partner of Razor Tracking. “The access to our entire product offerings of in-vehicle tracking devices and dash cameras, and more options in fleet tracking makes for an improved experience.”

FMC Corporation and Albaugh LLC Settle Patent Infringement Dispute
FMC Corporation has reached a settlement agreement with Albaugh LLC resolving patent infringement litigation related to the manufacture of chlorantraniliprole, FMC’s leading insecticide ingredient branded as Rynaxypyr active.

The settlement was reached following FMC’s filing of a patent infringement lawsuit against Albaugh in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Central Division. In the lawsuit, FMC alleged that Albaugh imported, made, or used products containing chlorantraniliprole made in violation of FMC’s U.S. patent rights protecting FMC’s processes for manufacturing chlorantraniliprole. As part of the agreement, Albaugh has agreed to pay FMC for a license to FMC’s patented technology used in the manufacture of chlorantraniliprole for agricultural uses in the United States.

FMC maintains an extensive patent estate for its chlorantraniliprole technology in the U.S., China, India, and other key agricultural markets worldwide. The company markets several products containing chlorantraniliprole, including Altacor, Coragen, Elevest, Prevathon and Vantacor insect control.

The specific terms of the settlement agreement were not disclosed.

Industry News: Collaboration Announcements From Razor Tracking, Mars Inc. and Acadian Plant Health

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 20:05:35 GMT

Acadian Plant Health and BASF Collaborate To Develop Climate-Resilient Products
Acadian Plant Health and BASF Agricultural Solutions recently announced they are teaming up to bring climate-resilient products to the marketplace.

BASF says it will use Acadian’s biostimulant technology alongside its chemistry and biological portfolio to increase solutions for more sustainable crops.

“Now more than ever, farmers must pursue productivity and sustainability, says Marko Grozdanovic, BASF Agricultural Solutions’ senior vice president of global marketing. “By connecting the best products, technologies, and services, we want to positively transform agriculture to impact food systems and, ultimately, society. Through pooling our expertise and resources, we can make a meaningful impact.”

Acadian shares the goal for this partnership is to boost economic growth across agricultural communities while reducing environmental impact.

“Combining our knowledge and skills creates new agricultural solutions that enhance productivity, sustainability, resilience to climate change, and market access,” says Nelson Gibson, president of Acadian Plant Health. “Our goal is to drive greater economic well-being for farmers while ensuring environmental sustainability.”

Razor Tracking Integrates With Fleetio
Razor Tracking has announced a new partnership with Fleetio to expand the offerings of both providers for mutual customers.

“This partnership brings significant value to our customers due to Razor Tracking’s ability to automatically sync telematics data from agricultural equipment and heavy machinery into Fleetio,” said Stefano Daneri, product marketing manager from Fleetio. “With direct access to diagnostic data from leading manufacturers like John Deere, Case IH, and New Holland, fleets can optimize operations and increase productivity with greater precision and insight.”

Both companies focus on fleet management. Fleetio enables fleets of all sizes to manage assets from any location, automate in-house and outsourced maintenance management, receive recall alerts, centralize data, and track fuel, vehicle inspections, parts and vendors.

At the same time, Razor Tracking streamlines fleet management through dispatching, driver location insights, details on equipment performance and video telematics. The company’s real-time vehicle tracking ensures crew members are in the correct field, and making deliveries to the right location, while increasing transparency.

“We are proud of our new partnership with Fleetio and to offer even more solutions for our customers,” said Eric Mauch, managing partner of Razor Tracking.

Mars Partners With Notable Ag Businesses to Support Regenerative Agriculture
Mars, Inc. has announced collaborations to provide financial incentives to farmers as they implement regenerative agriculture practices in North America.

The partners for this initiative include ADM, The Andersons, Inc., Riceland Foods, and Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, with incentives geared toward wheat, corn, and rice farmers in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Michigan and Ontario, Canada.

“These partnerships reflect our dedication to reducing our environmental impact, supporting farmer livelihoods, and helping to ensure a resilient supply chain for the long term,” said Jon Peattie, senior vice president, commercial, Mars Petcare US, Inc.

Farmers who enroll in the programs will be supported for implementing regenerative agriculture practices. The program results will be tracked using measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification systems.

Partnership Specifics

ADM Partnership with Royal Canin USA and Mars Petcare US, Inc.: This initiative aims to promote practices such as reduced tillage and cover crops on more than 100,000 acres in 2024, supporting outcomes like reduced fertilizer use and an improved carbon footprint.
The Andersons Partnership with Mars Petcare US, Inc.: The Andersons corn procurement program will support farmers across Nebraska, Ohio, Michigan and Ontario, Canada. Investments from Mars will help with enrolling farmers, providing technical support and reporting on key metrics. The estimated annual coverage starts with 30,000 acres across these regions in 2024.
Riceland Foods Partnership with Royal Canin USA and Mars Petcare US, Inc.: The collaboration with Riceland Carbon Ready™ program launched in 2022. The estimated annual coverage is more than 10,000 acres across the regions in 2024.
Soil and Water Outcomes Fund Partnership with Royal Canin USA: This partnership provides financial incentives directly to farmers who begin or expand on-farm conservation practices such as reduced tillage, cover crop implementation, extended crop rotations, and fertilization management. The growing partnership has a strong start with a 10,000-acre pilot in 2024.

CNH, Intelsat Announce Connected Machine Collaboration

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:35:49 GMT

CNH and Intelsat, operator of one of the world’s largest integrated satellite and terrestrial communication networks, announced a collaboration that will provide farmers access to the internet via a ruggedized satellite communications (SATCOM) service.

This offering will be available in the second half of 2024 to farmers in Brazil, where ConectarAgro’s Rural Connectivity Indicator found only 19% of the area available for agricultural use has high-speed internet access. The companies plan to expand their collaboration to the U.S., Australia, and other regions.

The potential tieup, now official, was first alluded to at World AgriTech Summit in San Francisco.

Intelsat’s capabilities offer Case IH, Steyr and New Holland customers SATCOM coverage via its rugged, industrial-grade terminals. CNH customers will use a rigorously tested terminal that connects easily and is proven to withstand extreme weather conditions and the vibration and shock produced by farming equipment.

“Satellite technology helps solve connectivity challenges for hard-to-reach farms, but not all providers are equal. Intelsat stands out for their depth of experience as well as the quality and reliability of their service and industrial terminal offerings,” said Marc Kermisch, Chief Digital and Information Officer at CNH.

Gripp Garners Top Honor at Top Producer Summit 2024

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 21:18:00 GMT

Farm Journal’s Smart Farming Week is an annual week-long emphasis on innovation in agriculture. The goal is to encourage you to explore and prioritize the technology, tools and practices that will help you farm smarter. Innovation today ensures an efficient, productive and sustainable tomorrow.

Gripp.ag was selected as the “Farmer’s Choice Award” by audience vote at the 2024 Top Producer Summit in February. Clearly, farmers saw value in having all their machine maintenance and operator feedback information digitized and accessible to stakeholders in an easy-to-use mobile app.

“We’re very honored to win the Farmer’s Choice Award with so many great AgLaunch companies, it really validates Gripp’s approach to be selected for this award by such a high caliber audience,” Wiedmeyer says. “Our core mission is resonating with farmers of all shapes and sizes.”

Wiedmeyer himself found value in the networking aspects at Top Producer Summit, noting the impressive makeup of attendees and exhibitors.

“There was a level of quiet sophistication that was refreshing to see, which is a real testament to the Top Producer event and its ability to draw some of the most down to earth, elite farmers in the country,” he adds.

Currently, the startup’s digital product is being deployed to farms across the country.

“We have an aggressive set of capabilities coming in March and April based on farmer input, so the struggles of manual record keeping and tracking bottlenecks left to one person on the farm are a thing of the past this upcoming season,” Wiedmeyer says, noting the release of new pricing tiers for small farms and the startup’s recent decision to remove the long-term upfront commitment for farmers who want to try out the system.

What is Gripp.ag?

Gripp.ag is an AgLaunch 2024 startup that is on a mission to digitize and streamline equipment and asset tracking needs for farmers. Founded by Tracey Wiedmeyer, the group hopes to accomplish its mission via its mobile-optimized, digital interface and integrated QR code technology.

Gripp was incubated out of Purdue University’s DIAL Ventures, which works to connect entrepreneurs to the leading challenges across agriculture’s constantly evolving landscape.

“Tracking farm equipment historically has been focused on the maintenance of ‘things on tires’, but we’ve widened our sights to virtually anything that a farm operator relies on to be successful,” Wiedmeyer tells Farm Journal. “The options for today’s farmers range from costly and complex software that wasn’t built for ag, or more commonly, relying on unreliable memory, shop whiteboards, and, on a good day, paper forms, notebooks, sticky notes, and sharpies.”

To learn more head over to Gripp.ag.

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Step Away From The Notepad! Gripp Launches Digital Equipment Management App

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 21:56:20 GMT

As part of our renewed effort to bring you the latest information on cutting edge technology and machinery we’re featuring regular Q&A discussions with several handpicked ag tech startups.

For this iteration, we’re connecting with Gripp co-founder Tracey Wiedmeyer. Wiedmeyer grew up on a farm and through the years amassed a fleet of equipment. He noticed that asset tracking for both driven and non-driven farm equipment was lacking in synergy and integration across different paint colors and product lines.

According to Wiedmeyer, the core premise of Gripp is solving unmet tracking needs across agriculture. The startup accomplishes this via QR code technology that is easy for farm workers and operators to use.

Farm Journal (FJ): How does Gripp “help farmers digitize their operations, improve efficiency, and increase productivity?”

Tracey Wiedmeyer (TW), cofounder: We’ve focused Gripp on making it the easiest way for farmers to enable everyone on their farm to store small pieces of information at the moment of truth - when they’re in front of their equipment and the information is fresh. Gripp leverages familiar user experiences from everyday social media and chat platforms, encouraging the information collected to be casual and media heavy since we all know pictures & videos say a thousand words. We’re removing the friction of collection from using thumbs on a mobile keyboard to leveraging natural forms of input, enriching the captured information to be the most valuable – it’s the nuances that are worth remembering. We can transcribe, translate, and summarize nearly all captured information, bringing on farm communications to the 21st century, a level very few farmers imagined – and consolidating all those on-farm activities and conversations in one place means you can get rid of the app-soup of voice, text, WhatsApp, Facetime, and numerous others - simplifying the whole operation.

Another area we’ve focused on is making Gripp as accessible as possible across the entire farm, giving full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers the ability to track information without requiring an app, user account or password – regardless of their native language. That’s something owners love because historically tracking is left to 1 or 2 people on the farm, usually the owner or farm manager, and most of the time important activities don’t make it to them at the end of the day or they arrive with so little detail, it leaves more work for your most expensive resources to fill in the gaps. With Gripp, those that know your equipment best now have a voice, freeing owners to be more productive with their time.

The labor savings and improved communication increases productivity, and the information collected is able to remove operational blind spots, making the day-to-day more efficient - a hidden cost on the bottom line that most farms don’t track – because it’s always been a pain to do.

FJ: How does a product like Gripp enable farmers to continue to manage their operations/improve decision making as farms consolidate and grow larger?

TW: The unique aspects of Gripp play very well as operations grow. We’ve spent a lot of time designing Gripp through the eyes of the operators in the field and on the front line. In addition to leveraging familiar interface design, Gripp remains easy for anyone to use and doesn’t require a “re-training” event every time Gripp is accessed. Everyone understands how to scan a QR code and take a picture or record a video – a basic activity that scales across an operation, even as acquisitions and consolidation continues.

We also have a unique pricing model. We don’t ask you to pay by user or piece of equipment so you’re able to avoid the mental gymnastics of determining if a certain person “deserves” a seat or if a certain piece of equipment is “worth” tracking. We have a simple all you can eat model, with monthly pricing that we stand behind. No multi-year commitments or service contracts that lock you in - if Gripp doesn’t work for you, you simply cut the cord anytime you’d like.

Lastly when we talk about analysis by paralysis, this is where we expect Gripp to shine. Most tracking software, if you’re even using software, asks you to sit in front of a shiny dashboard and create reports to determine how successful you’ve been. I’ve yet to meet a farmer that has time for that. Using the unstructured, natural language information we’re collecting, and using AI with a ChatGPT-like interface, you’ll soon be able to uncover trends across your operation using simple natural language questions, something never seen before in Ag.

This means Gripp scales as the farming operation does with minimal incremental costs. As your farm grows there’s no additional burden for more reporting, complexity, training or analysis, it just works.

FJ: Skilled labor is another limiting factor in agriculture operations. How does a product like Gripp help a farmer set his hired help up for success?

TW: Farm labor is more transient than ever, the farms we work with see upwards of 40% year over year turn over in seasonal staff, many coming from non-English speaking countries. Empowering this workforce to be productive as fast as possible and throughout the season is a massive challenge – things like training are often conducted in unproductive group settings where you end up wasting a lot of time getting the least experienced up to speed. Using the tribal knowledge collected in Gripp, previously collected pictures and videos can form the basis for very targeted training for the entire workforce, even per user thanks to translations, rather than one-size-fits-all. This allows the least skilled and experienced to become productive very quickly while also making sure that institutional farm information and know-how doesn’t leave the farm when your workers do.

FJ: How did Gripp get its start?

TW: Gripp was incubated out of Purdue University’s DIAL Ventures, which works to connect entrepreneurs to the leading challenges across agriculture’s constantly evolving landscape. The core premise of Gripp is solving unmet tracking needs across agriculture which has historically been focused on the maintenance of “things on tires”, but we’ve widened our sights to virtually anything that a farm operator relies on to be successful. The options for today’s farmers range from costly and complex software that wasn’t built for Ag, or more commonly, relying on unreliable memory, shop whiteboards, and, on a good day, paper forms, notebooks, sticky notes, and sharpies.

Having grown up on a farm and still owning lots of equipment, it’s been a problem I’ve experienced my entire life, so when I got involved with Purdue it was a natural pairing with my tech-heavy background. I own a couple back hoes and tractors, a dump truck, skid steer, countless attachments, a telehandler, and lots of other things that aren’t on tires – finding the information I need when I need it is difficult, even for a small timer like me who grew up as a software engineer and surrounded by technology. It just gets exponentially worse for farmers as the size of their operation grows.

FJ: Is there anything else you’d like to share about Gripp?

TW: Gripp will begin conducting wide scale farm trails starting in March in the Midwest and South through our AgLaunch partnership, we’d love you to get-a-Gripp on your farm, join the revolution!

Learn more about this equipment tracking startup at www.gripp.ag.

Additional Smart Farming Q&As to check out --->

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Agrimatics Announces New Telematics Partners

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 21:53:33 GMT

Agrimatics announces integration of its Libra Cart system with popular Case IH and New Holland data telematics platforms. The integration enables users of Case IH AFS Connect and New Holland MyPLM Connect to interact with the Libra Cart system, as well as transmit data to the Agrimatics Cloud Service.

Libra Cart is a mobile-based grain cart scale and harvest management system. The Libra Cart hardware connects to the grain cart’s load cells and communicates with the Libra Cart app via Bluetooth. It automatically detects and records every grain cart unload event, providing real-time, accurate harvest data to tablets or smartphones.

With Libra Cart, producers can automate and digitize harvest data collection efforts, track and monitor inventory, calibrate the combine’s yield monitor, and efficiently manage and back up harvest data in the cloud. Agrimatics says that the integration streamlines farming operations by effortlessly importing grower, farm, field, and crop data from AFS Connect or the MyPLM Connect into the Libra Cart app via the Agrimatics Cloud Service.

Additionally, field boundaries from Case IH or New Holland can auto-populate and automatically set the active field being harvested in the Libra Cart app if the mobile device has GPS. This offers farmers a simplified workflow and guarantees data accuracy, according to the company.

For more information on Agrimatics and the Libra Cart system, visit www.agrimatics.com.

Syngenta Group and Yara adopt Varda’s Global Field ID system

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 19:08:42 GMT

Norway-based crop nutrition company Yara and the Syngenta Group have entered into a partnership with agtech startup Varda, which was founded by Yara.

The two companies want to accelerate the adoption of Global Field ID, a new technology standard that helps facilitate field data discovery and data sharing in the agriculture and food industry, according to a news release.

Varda digitally maps agricultural land and assigns unique IDs to land plots, creating a “QR code for fields,” delivered to users via an application programming interface (API), the release said. The aim of the service is to create a “common geospatial language” for the whole industry.

Having a unique ID for every field is a necessary step to effectively collaborate toward a more sustainable, resilient and transparent food system, according to the release.

Today, farmers and agribusinesses use different formats to identify fields across their digital farming tools, which hinders interoperability and collaboration across industry, the release said.

For farmers, Global Field ID will mean improved connectivity between their digital farming tools and more efficient communication with stakeholders beyond the farm gate, the release said.

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The system will be used as an additional data layer within the companies’ own digital farming tools, building a shared reference framework to annotate field-level data, which is expected to generate multiple benefits, the release said:

Enabling interoperability — A common identification system allows fields to be more easily paired by users and digital farming tools, resulting in increased connectivity and simpler data integration. This will also provide a benefit for farmers, offering improved data insights and cross-supply chain connectivity.
Increasing transparency around regenerative agriculture — Widespread adoption of a unique Global Field ID can significantly reduce risks of double-counting of land-based carbon sequestration or biodiversity improvement claims, enhancing the credibility and trust in land-focused climate finance and supporting existing verification protocols.
Enhancing traceability — Assigning a shared identifier to each field will make it simpler to establish an uninterrupted chain between agricultural input, field practices and crop supply chains.

The release said the service is currently available in France and the United Kingdom and will be progressively released in Brazil, the U.S. and key European agricultural markets in 2023, with plans for further expansion in coverage and features going forward, the release said.

“We believe that Global Field ID is an indispensable step to break ‘data siloes’ and make information sharing simpler, reducing time spent on information aggregation, accelerating the spread of precision agriculture and the mobilization of climate finance that are necessary to drive efficiency, while preserving soils long term health,” Davide Ceper, Varda CEO, said in the release. “We are proud to be partnering with two industry leaders recognized for their sustainability credentials and are eager to engage with many more companies to establish Global Field ID as an industry standard, accelerating the transformation of our food systems.”

Feroz Sheikh, chief information and digital officer for Syngenta, said digital technology will help growers maximize yield, while taking care of the planet through sustainable farming practices.

“Working together with Yara and through Varda’s Global Field ID system we strive to improve connectivity between digital farming tools, making it more open, faster, and more efficient with the data owner’s consent,” he said in the release. “We invite other industry players to join this collaboration to improve the interoperability of systems to the benefit of farmers and the entire innovation ecosystem.”

EFC Systems Integrates With Razor Tracking as the Preferred Fleet Management Provider

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 22:15:01 GMT

Industry leaders Razor Tracking and EFC Systems by Ever.Ag have integrated data within their respective platforms so customers can remotely monitor vehicles and non-powered equipment in either platform.

Razor Tracking’s solutions allow for extensive operational logistics including fleet monitoring, inspections, safety reporting, dash cameras, maintenance, routing, geofencing, and so much more. This will be teamed with unmatched capabilities in FieldAlytics’ digital operations tool.

“We’re pleased to have this partnership and integration completed as it exemplifies the efficiency and value that data interoperability can contribute to Service Provider efficiency,” said Ernie Chappell, President of EFC Systems by Ever.Ag.

Users of FieldAlytics and Razor Tracking will benefit from the two-way integration of the two respective industry leaders and create a cohesive digital experience. The EFC Systems by Ever.Ag integration functionality will be available in the first February, 2023 release.

“EFC Systems’ FieldAlytics and planning tools paired with Razor Tracking’s operations platform and telematics will bring a comprehensive solution to agribusiness throughout the US and Canada,” said Eric Mauch, Managing Partner of Razor Tracking.

AMVAC Expands Traceability Tech from SIMPAS to Other Supply Chain Applications

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 20:59:15 GMT

AMVAC first developed the SIMPAS application system as an extension of their SmartBox technology, and now that trajectory continues with ULTIMUS.

ULTIMUS is patented software technology that is the backbone for the SIMPAS system but applying it for use in spreader and sprayer applications.

“Historically, we are a chemical company,” says Rick Rice, director, application technologies at AMVAC. “And where we saw opportunity to continue to add value and be a leader in the industry is with best-in-class technology that is easy to use and provides traceability.”

He says with ULTIMUS, there was a light bulb moment when the team realized the potential of using the software in a new way. Whereas SIMPAS controls 72 product cartridges as the planter applies a prescriptive application, ULTIMUS transfers that technology to all applications.

“It’s not just about the products—it’s the ability to demonstrate what we do on a daily basis,” he says. “We can put a tag on anything. ULTIMUS can provide traceability from the bulk fertilizer transport all the way to the field application. It’s a great supply chain tool—we can show inventory as it moves through the entire supply chain and then provide a verified application record.”

Compared to current tracking limitations—which, in best cases, still end when product is delivered to a farmer, Rice says, ULTIMUS links specific containers with the fields that are treated using product from those containers.

“This can be used with ground rigs or aerial applications. When product is applied with ULTIMUS-enabled equipment, the product tag put on by the manufacturer is read and recorded with the application data,” he says. “The concept is that application equipment doesn’t know what’s being applied until someone tells it. With ULTIMUS, the tag does the telling, and the machine records what is being applied without requiring the operator to manually enter the product information.”

He explains all the patents are in place for ULTIMUS, and AMVAC is currently exploring partners to bring the product to market. The system requires application equipment to be enabled with container tag readers for ULTIMUS to function.

And technology developments are smoothing the path for adoption of such technologies.

“Today, we may use hand scanners, but in the future, we see doorway scanners as a standard part of the ULTIMUS ecosystem. That way, when you drive a pallet of tagged product through the warehouse loading dock, it’s automatically scanned and recorded,” he says.

AGCO Announces Direct Connection with Solinftec

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 04:16:35 GMT

AGCO is enabling a direct connection with Solinftec on telemetry-equipped RoGator and TerraGator application equipment. This joint solution reduces idle time, increasing revenue-generating activities and the quality of service to farmers.

Solinftec’s end-to-end solutions maximize logistical efficiency across the supply chain, eliminating bottlenecks in application and tendering. Across the 4 million applied acres deploying the company’s solution in the United States’ Corn Belt, customers have realized a significant improvement in their annual revenue by increasing the number of applied acres per machine per year by up to 5,000 acres. Globally, Solinftec has over 100,000 daily users, coverage of 22 million acres, and over 85% market share in the sugar cane segment in Brazil where the company began.

In 2019, AGCO and Solinftec entered a strategic partnership focused on bringing greater efficiency to agricultural operations in South America, with AGCO dealers in the region offering the Solinftec solution as an aftermarket product. The results Solinftec delivered in both sugar cane and row crop operations led the two companies to agree to jointly present the solution on application equipment in the North American market.

“We are excited to take our partnership with Solinftec to the next level by offering our ag retailer customers an easy way to save money and cover more acres with Solinftec’s solution on our RoGator and TerraGator application equipment in North America,” said Seth Crawford, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Precision Ag and Digital for AGCO.

“After years of developing a strong relationship in South America, we are eager to be expanding our strategic partnership with AGCO,” said Britaldo Hernandez, CEO and founder of Solinftec. “As Solinftec’s global footprint quickly evolves, we are happy to have AGCO as a key partner to help us continue to provide real value to our customers.”

The new, direct connection offers AGCO customers with active AGCO Connect subscriptions the option to subscribe to the Solinftec offering without purchasing and installing additional telemetry hardware, which streamlines access to Solinftec’s solution for the connected AGCO fleet.

Through this connection, Solinftec customers will be able to accurately see parameters from their connected AGCO machines modeled on the AI Solinftec platform to get a highly accurate picture of where inefficiencies are occurring and how they can be addressed in real time.

Customers can access this information and generate efficiency reports on the cloud-based Solinftec platform at any time. The software calculates the best efficiency application scenarios and recommends a dispatching model for scheduling operators. Weather information is also integrated into the Solinftec solution, allowing users to modify their original plan based on potential weather events.

AGCO and Solinftec continue to explore opportunities to strengthen their partnership across subsequent product lines and regions.

Fleet Tracking: What One Co-op Has Learned

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 04:16:35 GMT

After a pilot program with eight locations and 54 machines, Ceres Solutions is eyeing a full fleet tracking program as early as 2022.

Ceres has partnered with Solinftec since 2019 and has integrated its fleet of AGCO, John Deere and CNH equipment, as well as tender trucks, with the software.

“It’s important for us to maximize efficiencies of our rolling iron assets, and our farmers expect us to maximize the use of the fleet,” says Drew Garretson with Ceres Solution, director of digital experience. “Becoming more intelligent in how we do business is for our customers and our employees. I hope there are more applicators who can go to t-ball games.”

Solinftec has done research showing that only 30 to 35% of a sprayer’s running time is in the field making applications. Its software provides fleet management tools such as routing and GPS tracking. And it’s in the data-based logistics management where the biggest gains can be made.

“The biggest reason for stopping is that trucks don’t get an applicator reloaded timely enough,” says Carlos Hirsch, head of sales at Solinftec. “Today’s sprayers and spreaders are monsters with high throughput–if you don’t feed them, they’ll stop. We have to keep them fed and happy. The coordination of all the machines and trucks has shown great benefits.”

Garretson says in the Ceres footprint, they’ve seen how dispatching from multiple locations has proven some perceived solutions to be incorrect.

“We now have the capability to network things together on where and how we dispatch sprayers and trucks from multiple locations. The default solution could be to think we need more application equipment—but long term we see a decrease in total number of machines to serve the same or growing acres,” Garretson says.

Here are five other reasons the team at Ceres is investing in more telemetry and fleet management:

1. Consistency in service. “We need to create a consistent experience internally and externally, and it’s technology that helps us standardize processes at scale,” Garretson says.

2. Delivers on customer expectations. Garretson says farmers want to know when an applicator will be in their field and they want post-application field data too.

3. Record keeping simplified. “The Solinftec tools help us monitor and mange our record-keeping that is required with chemical applications. It reduces the possibility of human error, while also elevating the types of details we are collecting,” Garretson says. It’s all automatically populated–and the applicator doesn’t have to spend time filling out information—it just makes their life much easier.”

4. Practical tracking. The Solinftec technology provides the as-applied records farmers want to see, and in some cases need to see. Garretson shares an example about a drift complaint, where the application data was able to show application timing, product information, and weather data to exonerate the application from causing the problem. “

5. Efficient communication. Hirsch says many Solinftec users appreciate how the software reduces the number of phone calls, radio communication and text messages to ensure everyone is properly dispatched.

John Deere’s New Floater: The 800R

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 04:16:29 GMT

With versatility to be outfitted with an air boom, dry spinner-spreader and liquid systems, John Deere introduces the 800R Floater for model year 2022, which replaces the previous F4365 high-capacity nutrient applicator.

The new 800R delivers greater productivity and a new cab that is larger (including an extra 2” of headroom and 24% wider entry path) and quieter.

“The 800R delivers best-in-class ride quality and operator comfort,” Franklin Peitz, John Deere product marketing manager, said in the product announcement. “In the field, an 800R can be driven up to 25 mph when utilizing John Deere AutoTrac guidance, making it the most productive high-capacity nutrient application system available.”

Specifically the machine can be outfitted with two cab packages: Premium or Ultimate.

The Ultimate comfort and convenience package includes:

a heated, ventilated leather seat (with up to 24 degrees swivel to the left or right)
ActiveSeat II suspension
a 6.5” touchscreen satellite- and smartphone-ready radio
five USB ports
a 12-volt outlet
footrests
refrigerator
carpeted floor mat
dual-tilt steering column with leather-wrapped steering wheel

The ultimate visibility package includes:

On the cab: factory-installed LED work lights and beacons and eight strategically placed service lights
On the machine: factory-installed LED work lights and a single beacon on the rear of the floater
A backup camera and harness for left- and right-hand side view cameras

Cutting the time it takes to switch between wet and dry systems in half, John Deere designed the 800R with new common hydraulic pumps for all New Leader dry-bin configurations, Hagie Liquid Systems and Air Boom attachments.

“Previously changing from wet to dry was a 10- to 12-hour job,” Peitz said. “Now, the changeover can be done in about half the time, saving time and money.”

The 800R floater comes equipped with a 90’ boom and 2,000 gal. tank.

The LS20 Liquid System replaces the LS475 and features an optional front fill and side fill. The new LS20 is available with 30” turrets and 60” cams, or 60” on-center cam locks with 15” on-center high-flow five-way nozzle bodies.

As another convenience feature, the storage box located under the platform has been increased to be three times larger.

Three John Deere DS35 Dry Box options include the NL 4500G4 Edge Box, NL5000G5 Box and the new N4500G4 HP Lime Box.

All 800R floaters featured factory-installed Generation 4 Display and a 4G JDLink MTG (modem), which can be activated for access to the John Deere Operations Cetner. AgLogic can be also be activated to provide efficient scheduling, assignment of work orders, and machine performance analysis.

John Deere Teases Autonomy Launches

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 04:16:24 GMT

In social media posts, John Deere is giving a peek behind the curtain for what’s coming.

On its YouTube channel, John Deere posted the following video detailing the next introduction in the See & Spray lineup. Leading with its previously launching See & Spray Select, which focuses on reducing herbicide use in fallow rotations, the manufacturer then showed a bit of what’s to come for in-season weed control with new technology.

And next month, at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, John Deere will be showing how “Nothing runs like a Deere Autonomously”

Big news is coming to the farm from @JohnDeere on January 4th. Join me on the journey. https://t.co/eTHpLOr5PU #deereemployee pic.twitter.com/IaSQ50wJMI
— Joseph Liefer (@Deere6015) December 11, 2021

The press conference will be live streamed on January 4 here.

You can also stay tuned to this website for updates as we will be on-site for full coverage.

On Target: John Deere's Latest Green-On-Green Spraying Innovation

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 04:16:24 GMT

When John Deere acquired Blue River Technology in 2017 for $305 million, its See & Spray system was installed on hooded pull-type sprayers that ran up to 4 mph. Since the acquisition, the teams at Blue River and John Deere have worked to integrate the technology on a self-propelled machine, which has resulted in See & Spray Ultimate.

At field speeds up to 12 mph, across its 120’ carbon fiber boom, See & Spray Ultimate senses and measures weed pressures differentiated from crops (currently corn, soybeans and cotton) and then applies targeted applications of post-emergence herbicides.
The company says the technology has five key benefits:

1. Herbicide savings (up to 80% in post-emergent products)
2. Less tendering
3. Land stewardship
4. Efficiency with small spray windows
5. Effectiveness with herbicide resistance

Marcio Neutzling, spraying product management manager at John Deere, says, “It’s difficult to make things simple and easy. This is the challenge we accepted to provide in season, in the row weed control.”

And simply put See & Spray Ultimate works by, he says, “More weeds, spray more. Less weeds, less spray.”

There are three core systems to See & Spray Ultimate: new tank system, new boom, and the cameras and vision processing system.

One key component to the system is the new dual solution system which features two plumbing systems and stainless steel split tanks. This maximizes the spray pass with one machine essentially able to make two passes---broadcast residual herbicide in one tank and non-residual tank mix for targeted applications in the other.

The tank split setup is either 750 gal/450 gal or 650/350 gal split tanks.

The boom is the result of John Deere’s 2018 acquisition of Argentinian boom manufacturer King Agro , which has been a leader in carbon fiber. The truss style reduces weight and adds stability.

There are 36 cameras, and the vision processing units–the brain of the system— total 10 across the boom.

Neutzling highlights how the integration was necessary to optimize the technology despite the limitations.

“We can’t speed up the droplet’s fall rate, so everything has been fine-tuned, and we applied the rigorous John Deere processes to test and validate the components for full integration,” he says. “We had to have an ultra-stable boom to know exactly where the weed is. And it has to be stable for the spray to hit it. But our 12 mph travel speed is mostly limited by physics.”

See & Spray Ultimate was in installed on 12 test machines through the end of 2021 (mostly located in the Mississippi Delta, West Texas and the Midwest), with limited production for 2022. For John Deere’s early order program later this year the system is available as a factory option on John Deere 410R, 412R and 612R sprayers.

The pricing for the See & Spray Ultimate will be decided by the value created for farmers say company leaders.

“See & Spray Ultimate is going to change the way farmers spray,” says Kent Klemme, VP of Product Development at Blue River Technology. “They will be able to use new chemistries, save product , and have better outcomes with weed control in their fields.”

Individual nozzle control is enabled by the ExactApply technology, and the new BoomTrac Ultimate provides for boom height control.
For John Deere, this is the first ‘green-on-green’ spraying system where crop is differentiated from weeds. One year ago, See & Spray Select was introduced for fallow ground applications, which deciphered bare ground from green material, only spraying the green.

Machine operators select the crop they are in as well as the weed size threshold to spray on the Gen 4 display. Then a real-time weed map is generated so they can document weed pressures along with the as-applied map. Reports can be generated showing the percent of a field left unsprayed and calculate product savings.

Company leaders say this latest introduction is part of the ‘journey’ the company is on toward more refined plant-by-plant management. With artificial intelligence and machine learning driving the progress.

“See & Spray Ultimate is a great gateway for machine learning for all of agriculture,” Klemme says.

Yield monitors on combines. Module-building cotton pickers. Automatic row shut off on planters. Now for sprayers, will selective smart spraying systems be the next must-have productivity enablers?

Case IH Goes Bold and Edgy With New 50 Series Patriot Sprayers

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 04:16:24 GMT

Three models are bringing a new look and level of performance standards to Case IH application equipment. The Patriot 50 series sprayers span three models (one with two product tank size options):

3250 800/1000 gal, 285 hp
4350 1200 gal, 335 hp
4450 1600 gal, 390 hp

As Mark Burns, Case IH application equipment marketing manager, explains the 50 series was selected to unveil Case IH’s new look with an edgy and bold design—led by the aggressively styled hood.

“The Patriot 50 series sprayers feature an enhanced operator experience and performance,” he says. “If I had to highlight just three things I’d say the styling, the suspension, and the spraying technologies.”

He also calls out a brand-new feature—a nozzle washing station, which is a Case IH-exclusive.

“That is really an “atta boy” for our engineers,” Burns says. “It’s a feature every operator can use daily. If they have a clogged nozzle, right on the machine there’s an air nozzle and water outlet in an easy to use and accessibly way.”

The cab features the MultiControl Armrest featured on Magnum and Steiger tractors with its buttons set for sprayer functions such as master apply, auto steer engage, and speed presets.

“One feature the operators using our pre-production units really appreciated was the forward/reverse quick shuttle at the push of a button,” Burns says.

Two customizable displays include the Advanced Farming Systems (AFS) Pro 1200 for chassis monitor and control and Viper 4+ for autoguidance and product control.

Ride comfort has been improved with a new seat design, seat suspension and chassis suspension.

The new Patriots reduce in-cab noise levels by two to three decibels.

“The shock absorbers provide a controlled ride during aggressive acceleration or deceleration,” Burns says.

Road speeds have been increased by 2 mph or more depending on the model.

And the plumbing has been improved with 21/32” outlet hole which gives a 21% increase in flow capability.

“Applicators can keep the same speed and put on more product or they can put on the same amount of product and drive faster,” Burns says.

Available boom widths include: 90’, 100’, 120’, 132’ and 135’.

Every machine has automatic section control and is guidance-ready. The machines come with a five-year subscription to AFS Connect farm management portal. Additionally, when equipped with RS1 or SC1 guidance options, owners can take advantage of a five-year Slingshot Gold Package subscription.

“Farmers and ag retailers need consistent, accurate and precise application,” Burns says. “And they need the ability to have timely application.”

The Patriot 50 series continues the cab-forward, rear-engine design.

“We have an advantage with the Agronomic Design and weight balance of the machine to get in the field when conditions may be marginal for others,” Burn says.

The lighting package is the last feature Burns is sure to highlight because even the base units are outfitted with lights on the front hood, cab, and tank as well as a center section beacon.

Factory-installed, blue-lens spray pattern lights are optional.

AGCO and Autonomy Partner Report Rapid Progress

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 13:00:00 GMT

Fendt’s Xaver concept autonomous farming robot is gaining traction with additional software horsepower.

AGCO first announced a 2.53% equity investment in Apex.AI, an emerging leader in safety-certified software for mobility and driverless vehicles, in December 2021.

Today the two companies are announcing fast-pacing advancements made by created a software stack using Apex.AI in its concept vehicles, which can be easily transitioned to production units.

This software is notable because it uses automotive industry standards for real-time autonomous functions using:

existing or future computer hardware,
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
and sensors such as cameras, radar and lidar

As a result, the Xaver has improved lidar object detection as well as collision checking and planning.

The latest Fendt Xaver is outfitted with Precision Planting components and plants seeds 24 hours a day, has sub-inch precision, and uses features a lightweight electric design producing zero emissions.

“Apex.OS is a foundational software framework and development kit for rapidly developing advanced autonomous capabilities,” Christian Kelber, Director, Engineering, AGCO said in a news release. “The technology has helped AGCO shorten R&D timelines of our smart agricultural solutions and for the future of highly automated robots. Coming from the automotive industry, Apex.AI enables us to implement safety-critical applications from autonomous driving that can be deployed across our range of solutions globally.”

AGCO has been working on autonomous swarming robotics since 2017.

The Fendt Xaver is integrated into the FendtONE platform, so farmers can manage the same guidance and as-applied maps across the autonomous and manned machines.

Click here to watch a video on the Fendt Xaver

How Ag Retail Will Be Judged By Farmers and Employees On Their Tech Use

Tue, 31 May 2022 20:50:37 GMT

In the next two to three years, Drew Garretson, Senior Director of Digital Experience at Ceres Solutions, believes we will be beyond just technology adoption, and the industry will have transitioned to a time of technology judgement. Customers and employees will start evaluating who they do business with and who they work for on their technology use.

“I don’t know if it’ll be 12 months, but I believe it’s in 24 or 36 months, but I’m going to call it judgment,” he says. “I think our customers and our future employees are actually going to be judging us on our digital portfolio and our technology use to determine not if they want to come to work for us or if they want to do businesses with us.”

Ceres Solutions has a footprint of 70 locations in a 500 mile range across Indiana Michigan.

Garretson’s role is to help the co-op with its technology strategy, including its short-term implementation and long-term strategy. This ranges from business operations, digital customer experiences, and conservation/stewardship.

When it comes to the power of technology, Garretson is a believer.

“I believe that we’re solving real problems and we can truly help make a difference at the farm gate with our customers,” he says.

To optimize the new technologies in agriculture, Ceres Solutions is using strategy to navigate their approach and increase their success.

“Strategy becomes a really important part of helping our people understand why we’re doing the things we’re doing,” he says. “I think we often jump right to what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it.”

A successful implementation step his team has deployed is a better communication of the “why” behind using a new technology in the ag retail business.

“We help them understand the metrics behind why we believe what we’re doing is important,” Garreston says.

One case study he shares in this approach is the current fleeting tracking trial they are doing with Solinftec.

“We went from the two or three locations to about 10 locations in 2021. We were very successful with that pilot project with them. And so we’ve again doubled. We now are at about 16 to 20 locations that are leveraging and utilizing that technology. It’s more integrated into our workflow today. And we are now able to monitor close over 100 machines’ productivity, and we believe that will help us when we can measure things with technology like that do we can understand how we can you know, control them and make them easier and make them better for our employees and make it better for our customers as well,” he says.

Listen to the full interview on The Scoop podcast to hear about their new digital customer experience, the IoT Innovation Hub, and the co-op’s efforts to increase conservation practices.

Ohio Co-Op Uses Fleet Tracking to Manage Fuel Prices, Customer Expectations And Efficiency

Wed, 18 May 2022 19:41:07 GMT

Centerra Co-op, based in Ashland, Ohio, will use DispatchTrack to optimize route planning and truck usage and provide customers with more visibility into their order deliveries. This is DispatchTrack’s first agricultural customer, but as Satish Natarajan, DispatchTrack co-founder and CEO, explains, his team sees a lot of potential growth in this sector.

“Centerra Co-op initially contacted DispatchTrack to help optimize their truckloads which were running inefficiently based on the total volume of feed Centerra was delivering versus the total capacity of trucks,” he says. “The challenge Centerra was facing was two-fold: some trucks were going out with empty bins while in other cases, Centerra was having to rent trucks for deliveries. DispatchTrack was able to optimize truck usage by addressing these loading and volume issues ensuring that Centerra could maximize each truckload which eliminates the need to rent trucks or send out trucks at half capacity.”

The first use of the software will be for feed and fuel trucks with the additional sectors (grain and agronomy) coming online with the software later.

“For propane, Centerra was sending trucks to refill when the propane tanks were only half empty and they were looking for new efficiencies that would help reduce refill trips. DispatchTrack was able to help Centerra plan routes that allowed tanks to refill when they were two-thirds empty, resulting in fewer trips and real cost savings,” Natarajan says.

He adds full visibility into fleet tracking helps manage fuel costs, customer expectations, and sustainability.

“With fuel prices at an all-time high, fleets, particularly those with heavy trucks, must consider optimizing their capacity to minimize fuel costs. Customer expectations for real-time visibility and communication about deliveries are also at an all-time high,” Natarajan says.

Raven Introduces Its Next Generation of Autonomy: OMNiPOWER 3200

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 14:48:30 GMT

For autonomous spraying and spreading applications, Raven introduces its next advance-ment in autonomy with the OMNiPOWER 3200.

Compared to previous models, there are 9 upgrades:

Mechanical improvements

Increased engine horsepower (173 hp to 200 hp) with better performance.
Tier 5 engine.
New hydraulic system, giving the machine 50% more power to the ground.
Frame enhancements and refinements to improve durability.
New improvements to the hydraulic, electrical, and mounting systems for increased serviceability, reliability, and safety.

Function improvements

Improved operation speeds.
Increased efficiency due to new hydraulic system.
Improved up-time.

Aesthetic improvements

Updated look and style.

OMNiPOWER platforms can be paired with New Leader NL5000 G5 Crop Nutrient Applicator Spreader and a Pattison Liquid System’s Connect Plus 120 Sprayer.

Driverless solutions such as OMNiPOWER provide a solution to:

Labor constraints.
Short harvest windows.
Increased yields due to reallocation of resources.

Raven leaders say, “Driverless ag technology allows the farmer to do more, get more, and give more with every minute of their day. By autonomously handling seeding and spraying missions, the reliable OMNiPOWER 3200 unit enables the operator to get out of the cab and focus on other priorities. The improvements to the OMNiPOWER 3200 are designed to make autonomy more accessible and user-friendly — giving growers and customers a clearer picture of how it can work in their operation.”

John Deere Aims To Revolutionize Agriculture Through Autonomy

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 18:46:12 GMT

Introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show with nearly 5,000 watching the live stream introduction, John Deere introduces its full autonomy solution for tractors, which will be available to farmers later in 2022.

“20 years ago, when self driving first made its way to the farm, it was transformational technology. Suddenly, farmers no longer had to focus their attention on steering the machine through the field. Instead, they were able to pay attention to the million and one other things they need to think about on their farm every day,” says Deanna Kovar, product strategy at John Deere.

Kovar says farmers are presented with a the challenge of a highly dynamic environment, and they are constantly looking for ways to increase their output lower their costs and improve sustainability. Boiled down, she hones in on three large challenges:

Find skilled labor
Getting work done when it needs to be done
Doing it consistently to maximize crop yields

John Deere is looking to provide solutions to all three in one package—a fully autonomous tractor. You can watch an intro video here.

“Technology has been and will continue to be the answer to help farmers navigate through challenges like these,” Kovar says.

Its tractors are outfitted with:

Six stereo cameras
360 degree obstacle detection
Trained on 50 million images
AI and machine learning
Real time data sharing
Remote monitoring and management

Farmers can monitor and control machines remotely via the JD Operations Center app on a phone, tablet or computer. They can access the app whether they are in a machine themselves or in their office, or anywhere else.

Kovar points out that unlike autonomous cars, tractors need to be able to do much than just be a transport shuttle from point A to point B.

“When tractors are going through the field, they have to follow a very precise path, and doing very specific job,” she says. “An autonomous 8R tractor is one giant robot. Within one inch of accuracy, it is able to perform its job without human intervention.”

She highlights three benefits to autonomy

Timeliness
Efficiency
Improves the quality of life for farmers

“The road of today’s technology is paved with the technology of the past,” says John Deere’s Chief Technology Officer, Jahmy Hindman. “In 1918 John Deere introduced its first two tractors, and about 100 years later, we have robotic machines used on the farm to feed the world.”

Hindman says artificial intelligence and machine learning are key technologies to John Deere’s vision for the future. In the past five years the company has acquired to Silicon Valley tech startups: Blue River Technology and Bear Flag Robotics.

Joe Leifer product manager for autonomy at John Deere was on AgriTalk to discuss this introduction in detail:

This specific autonomy product has been in development for at least three years as the John Deere team has collected the images for its machine learning library. The team highlights the engineering work that went into the final product to deliver consistency and help build trust with farmers to get the job done.

“We are basically asking the farmer to hand over a task that needs to be done to their high standards of quality. Otherwise it’ll impact their crop, and ultimately their livelihood. All of this tech is ultimately intended to earn, and to keep that trust,” says Julian Sanchez, director emerging technology.

Users have access to live video and images via the app. The real-time delivery of performance information is key, John Deere highlights, to building the trust of the system’s performance.

For example, Willy Pell, senior director of autonomous systems, explains even if the tractor encounters an anomaly and an undetectable object, the team built in safety measures to stop the machine.

And the company expects the technology to be able to deliver 24-hour operations to farmers.

One beta tester said this technology is going to be a “life-changer” and help him run his farming business better.

While the initial introduction of the fully autonomous tractor showed a tillage application, Jorge Heraud, Vice President Automation & Autonomy, John Deere, shares three other examples of how the company is bringing forward new solutions with technologies. He says it’s key to be using the best, most accurate and more real-time data in each.

First, he shares in planning, John Deere has automated the path of the tractor for very straight, consistent rows.

“And that’s not all. We also automate the placement of every single seed, so every single seed is raised in exactly the same distance regardless of the speed at which the farmer drives. This allows every single plant to have exactly the space that it needs,” he says.

The second example is advancements in the spray applications of crop protection products.

“Throughout the year, it’s very important for the farmer to apply its product only where it’s needed and then find out farmers do this. We added cameras on sprayers and placed these cameras on the boom so they can tell exactly where each plant is and apply the product as needed, and only where it’s needed. Doing this can save about 80% of the amount product for the farmer,” he says.

And the third example is with the combine at harvest.

“We use cameras inside that the combine to tell us the crop conditions and adjust the settings of the combine perfectly so that the harvester is doing the best job it absolutely can.”

The leaders at John Deere say the road to the future is continuing to be expanded with new technologies on the horizon.

Razor Tracking Connects To John Deere Operations Center As A Recommnded Remote Monitoring Platform

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 18:25:44 GMT

John Deere’s JDLink equipment and data will now connect to Razor Tracking’s platform for near real-time remote monitoring. In addition, John Deere recommends customers to monitor non-JDLink™ equipment by installing Razor Tracking’s plug-and-play devices via the diagnostic port or solar and battery-powered devices. Current Razor Tracking customers can sign in through the new Marketplace on the Razor Tracking platform to connect with the John Deere Operations Center.

This integration offers a proven solution for John Deere customers to monitor their JDLink equipped machines, service vehicles, and support equipment all in one platform. This integration is the first step in providing a complete remote monitoring product to Razor Tracking and John Deere customers alike.

“Razor Tracking set out to be an entirely open platform back in 2019. We believed integrations and alignments were going to be the key to ensure that our customers could use the best technology, without compromise,” said Eric Mauch, Managing Partner of Razor Tracking. “The John Deere Operations Center is a pivotal milestone integration to continue Razor Tracking’s rising momentum. We will continue to aggressively invest in providing a seamless, end-to-end solution for any industry-specific need.”

The Razor Tracking platform has significantly expanded in the last several years; with its launch in 2012, Razor Tracking set out to provide the most user-friendly telematics system in the industry. In the years since, Razor Tracking has introduced dash cameras, equipment inspection, a driver safety scorecard, tank monitoring, and more to optimize customer operations. In 2019, Razor Tracking set out to provide an open data platform and expand its product to allow integrations and resellers to embed Razor Tracking technology into their platform or onboard through a reseller program.

John Deere To Acquire Bear Flag Robotics for $250 Million

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 15:35:37 GMT

Bear Flag Robotics, a California-based startup founded in 2017, will be acquired by John Deere for $250 million.

This acquisition builds on John Deere’s strategy, and Deere’s Dan Leibfried says this is “the next step in the journey of precision ag technology. And it’s a move into autonomy in a very big way.”

The startup focuses in building retrofit systems to use its patented artificial intelligence for fully autonomous tractors. The company says its technology deploys 360° situational awareness as well as monitors implements, tractor health and the external environment. Bear Flag systems are currently being used by “a handful of farmers” for primary tillage functions.

“Deere views autonomy as an important step forward in enabling farmers to leverage their resources strategically to feed the world and create more sustainable and profitable operations,” Jahmy Hindman, Chief Technology Officer at John Deere said in the company’s announcement. “Bear Flag’s team of talented agriculture professionals, engineers and technologists have a proven ability to deliver advanced technology solutions to market. Joining that expertise and experience with Deere’s expertise in autonomy, along with our world-class dealer channel, will accelerate the delivery of solutions to farmers that address the immense challenge of feeding a growing world.”

Bear Flag was a participant in John Deere’s Startup Collaborator program since 2019. This included meetings with John Deere tillage team to learn how they could improve the tillage passes in the field with autonomy.

“One of the biggest challenges farmers face today is the availability of skilled labor to execute time-sensitive operations that impact farming outcomes. Autonomy offers a safe and productive alternative to address that challenge head on,” Igino Cafiero, co-founder and CEO of Bear Flag Robotics said in the John Deere announcement. “Bear Flag’s mission to increase global food production and reduce the cost of growing food through machine automation is aligned with Deere’s and we’re excited to join the Deere team to bring autonomy to more farms.”

In 2017, John Deere made another Silicon Valley startup acquisition focusing on artificial intelligence when it agreed to buy Blue River Technology for $305 million.

When asked about the two artificial intelligence acquisitions, Leibfried says, “It’s a recognition that the space is rapidly evolving, and that John Deere, while we have tons and tons of capability in the precision technology and precision ag space the reality is we need more. And we need a lot more ultimately in order to accelerate. It was our recognition four years ago this fall with Blue River and the opportunity space around See and Spray and what artificial intelligence could do to manage at the plant level. And this is a recognition that autonomy is another step in that that long journey of customer value.”