Page 62 - The GSE Report March-April 2018

FARM CREDIT SYSTEM / FARMER MAC
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agriculture. Tractors makers in general have been
applying satellite technology to plot courses for
decades, however John Deere has taken it one step
further by removing the need for manual control.
software and operate in over 100 countries – which
makes them the largest operators of autonomous
vehicles worldwide. The American company are
currently working on cab-less concept tractors,
The result of their research is AutoTrac, which
and as if this wasn’t enough, they’ve also
allows the tractor to follow programmed routes and apply automatic steering. The autonomous technology sold by John Deere is less advanced than that used in fully driverless cars, however the number of tractor models in use which have driverless capabilities is staggering. Last year, it
developed an autonomous lawn mower called the Tango E5, which costs just over £2,000. In 2008, John Deere released its ITEC Pro guidance product which uses GPS to automate vehicle paths. Instead of the lasers favoured by automakers, the tractors use antennas.
JOHN DEER AUTONOMOUS FARM TRACTOR
Technologies such as UAVs and satellites feed data directly to farmers’ tablets in the fields,
disruptionhub.com / 15 allowing farmers to utilize fields, analyze crops and provide proper interventions. “Precision
farming,” utilizing real time satellite data and drones, allows farmers to make informed decisions on when to fertilize, irrigate, plant and harvest crops. These innovative technologies allow farmers to identify problems and make important and well-educated decisions.
Dairy farmers have begun using The Intelligent Dairy Farmer’s Assistant, comprised of motion sensors and Artificial Intelligence that monitor their cows’ health and identify the cows that are ill. Herding cattle by an app from the comfort of your couch has arrived, thanks to the Halter app that links to a solar powered band worn by the cow. Halter’s audio cue directs the cows remotely.
John Deer invested $300 million in the company’s model, “See and Spray,” which utilizes computer vision and artificial intelligence to manage pest and weed control. By deploying mobile technologies with AI and computer vision, farmers can locate and eradicate weeds, instead
of blanket spraying an entire crop. This technology makes the food cleaner, saves enormous amounts of money, and dramatically improves the crop yields. Additionally, agriculture algorithms are showing farmers how to maximize crop yields.
In the face of a shrinking and aging labor force, farmers are turning to robotic harvesting equipment. For example, more than 66% of the U.S. strawberry industry invested $5 million in the development of a strawberry picking robot, called Harvest CROO Robotics. The CROO, which uses camera images and sensors to identify ripe fruit to strawberries, replaces 30 strawberry pickers in the field.
Tech companies are also developing chatbots for farmers—a specialized “Alexa” helper that utilizes artificial intelligence to provide encyclopedic facts and figures, analytics to adapt to a rapidly changing world of agriculture.
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