Precision Ag

Could Strip Tillage Be Your Key To Lower Costs And Higher Yields?

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 21:51:29 GMT

Strip tillage has provided Ron Verly with a valuable resource nearly every farmer wants more of during planting season: time.

The southwest Minnesota farmer says he is able to create a good seedbed while leaving residue between rows for erosion control and moisture conservation. The result is a significant head start on every season.

“I build strips in the fall, and then I plant right into those strips in the spring,” he says. “While [conventional till farmers] are trying to figure out which field they can go hit with the field cultivator, I’m already out setting my planter.”

Verly’s experience reflects a key benefit: using strip-till can reduce field time by nearly 50%, according to the Strip-Till Farmer 2025 Operational Benchmark Study.

Efficiency in Fuel and Horsepower

Five years ago, Verly was looking for a way to transition away from conventional tillage. The move to strip-till allowed him to reduce his high-horsepower needs and fuel consumption.

“With conventional till, we run a 500 QuadTrac, which can burn over 25 gallons of fuel per hour, and I’ve eliminated a pass,” Verly explains. “I’m running a smaller tractor with my strip-till. There’s a lot of variables to doing strip-till, but if you add them all together, there’s savings to be had.”

Beyond time and fuel, strip-tillage allows for better precision in nutrient management. Verly aligns his fertility program directly with the strip.

“My fertilizer is right where I’m putting my corn and soybean seed,” he says. This targeting helps him maximize every nutrient dollar spent on the ground his grandfather started farming more than 80 years ago.

Before making the switch to strip-till, Ken Ferrie advises farmers to balance pH levels since soil will no longer be mixed. “After you begin strip-tilling, you can then apply smaller lime applications more frequently,” notes Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

Navigating the Learning Curve

Transitioning to strip-till is a management shift that requires a flexible mindset. Garrett Asmus, a fifth-generation farmer from north-central Iowa, suggests that new adopters be prepared to deal more with residue.

“You’re not working the ground and hiding the residue, so there can be times when there’s a lot more of it on the surface to manage,” Asmus says. “Make sure your planter is equipped to handle it.”

Asmus also emphasizes the important role technology plays in the process: “GPS lines are very important with strip-till because you’re putting that narrow strip down (usually 6” to 10”), and then you have to come plant directly over that, so accuracy is really important.”

Verly agrees that “tinkering” is part of the process. “Every year is different. Some years it’s a breeze, and some years you’re out there struggling a little bit,” he says. “There’s a ton of adjustability on these machines, and you need to be willing to make adjustments for your conditions and for each season.”

Asmus, who farms with his dad, Harlan, says they started their journey to strip-till in 2002, working with an experienced custom operator who could teach them the ropes and minimize the potential for costly mistakes. They continued the arrangement for nearly a decade.

“At that point, we invested in our own strip-till bar, and went 100% strip-till,” Asmus recalls.

Timing and Resilience

While Verly and Asmus prefer to build strips in the fall, Ferrie notes that creating spring strips are an option, provided the weather cooperates.

“We’ve built strips in March and early April, and when we got rain to settle them we got a decent seedbed,” Ferrie says.

However, in dry years, he notes that spring-built strips can dry out too much — but there is a Plan B available. “If it’s too dry to plant in the strips, it’s usually dry enough to no-till,” he adds.

The Long-Term Payoff: Yield and Soil Health

Strip-till requires a “long game” strategy. Verly notes that the most valuable results can take a few seasons to achieve.

“You’re not going to see results the first year. You’re going to see results the third year, the fourth year, the fifth year,” he says.

For Verly, the proof is in the bin. Before the switch, he says his soybeans had hit a yield ceiling of 50 to 55 bushels. “By my fourth or fifth year with strip till, I was getting 70 to 72 bushels,” he says, adding he expects to see additional yield increases over time.

“Soil health equals plant health, plant health equals yield,” he says.

Is Strip-Till Right for You?

Ken Ferrie offers five questions for you to consider if you’re contemplating making a move to strip-till:

How well can you manage disease pressure?
Are you willing to take the time to adjust your planter for conditions in each field?
Can you control gully erosion in strips on rolling ground?
Can you control weeds with a burndown herbicide?
How will you manage traffic so you don’t drive over the strips with herbicide and fertilizer applications?

Case IH Debuts Its Nutri-Tiller 1000 Series For High-Precision Strip-Till

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 07:21:18 GMT

As strip tillage gains traction among corn growers seeking better seedbed quality and nutrient efficiency, Case IH is meeting the demand with its new Nutri-Tiller 1000 Series. Unveiled this week at Commodity Classic, the series launches with 6-, 8-, and 12-row three-point hitch–mounted models.

“We’ve got a limited number of machines for 2026,” notes Tony McClelland, Case IH global product manager. “We’ll have full production available for 2027, and we’ll actually start taking orders on the ’27 machines in May.”

Two Row-Unit Configurations

At the core of the Nutri-Tiller 1000 Series is a redesigned row unit engineered to help growers create the ideal environment for seed corn. “The magic and the story here is how the row unit is forming the strip — leaving the right width, the right berm height and shape, and clearing residue to help maximize seed-to-soil contact,” McClelland says.

The redesigned row unit is engineered to help growers create the ideal environment for maxium seed-to-soil contact for corn.

(Rhonda Brooks)

To accommodate varying field conditions, Case IH offers two distinct configurations:

Shank Row Unit: Designed for deeper fracture, creating what McClelland calls a “deeper flower pot for the crop.” It operates at speeds up to 7 mph.
Coulter-Only Row Unit: Provides a shallower “flower pot” and is built for higher-speed operations up to 10 mph.

Precise Nutrient Placement

The series emphasizes precise fertilizer banding within the future root zone, allowing for more efficient uptake and potentially reducing the volume of product required.

“We can do all forms of fertilizer, whether dry, liquid or gas for anhydrous ammonia,” McClelland says. “This machine has a Raven rate control module on it that we can use to control the various forms of fertilizer, whatever you happen to use.”

Beyond nutrient management, the tool promotes early emergence by fostering quicker soil warming and consistent moisture levels. CJ Parker, soil management marketing manager at Case IH, emphasizes the long-term benefits: “The Nutri-Tiller 1000 series is designed to deliver exceptional tillage results while championing long-term soil health and conservation. By minimizing compaction and leaving protective residue between the strips, it enhances the soil’s nutrient utilization — helping farmers protect their soil while supporting strong yield potential.”

High-Tech Efficiency

To maximize narrow work windows, the Nutri-Tiller 1000 features full in-cab control. Operators can adjust residue managers, row unit down pressure, strip keepers, and berm conditioning on the fly without manual field stops.

The series integrates into the Case IH technology ecosystem via FieldOps, simplifying guidance and prescription management.

Additionally, Active Implement Guidance ensures planting remains perfectly aligned within the strips. These tools, managed through the Pro 1200 display, help operators minimize overlap and optimize inputs on every pass.

Unlocking More With Less Through Precision Agriculture

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 19:07:38 GMT

Increasing productivity while also using less fuel, water, inputs and time may sound like a dream at today’s farmgate, but a new report called “The Benefits of Precision Ag in the United States” says that very dream is very much a reality for many farms and fields across the U.S.

The report, published collaboratively by Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, CropLife America and National Corn Growers Association, is a follow-up to the landmark 2020 study that first analyzed the potential of precision agriculture technologies to allow farmers and ranchers to do more with less.

It studies precision ag technologies like auto-guidance, machine section control, variable rate application, fleet analytics and telematics and precision irrigation in U.S. production of crops including corn, soybeans, cotton, peanuts, wheat, sorghum, potatoes, sugar beets, hay and alfalfa.

Quantifying the Impact: Inputs, Resources and Yield

Compared to the study five years ago, the trend of precision agriculture adoption is upward, with farmers reaping the benefits in quantifiable ways, according to Austin Gellings, senior director of agricultural services, AEM.

“The industry continues to see an improvement in input efficiency as a result of precision agriculture,” Gellings says. “Compared to five years ago, we have continued to see productivity increase while the comparative amount of herbicide, fertilizer, fuel and water used on a per unit basis continues to decline.”

The report details its findings of the current savings of critical inputs through precision agriculture, as well as what is possible through increased adoption, including:

An estimated 4 billion pounds of fertilizer application was avoided due to precision agriculture technologies, with an estimated 7 billion pounds of additional fertilizer that could be avoided with broader adoption
An estimated 54 million pounds of herbicide was avoided due to precision agriculture with an estimated 66 million pounds that could be avoided with broader adoption

The report didn’t stop with analysis of inputs, though. The research found similar savings in terms of fuel and water use as well, including:

147 million gallons of fuel saved, the equivalent of 283,000 cars off the road annually or 26,000 fewer flights
Water use has decreased an estimated 5% as a result of precision agriculture, or the equivalent of an estimated 824,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water saved

The savings are helping to unlock an increase in overall productivity fueled by two decades of growth in U.S. corn and soybean yields, the report states.

Critically, the report not only highlights the strides made by adoption of precision agriculture, but what is possible with continued increases.

“The study references savings that could be achieved as a result of precision agricultural technologies if we were to reach full adoption, which we defined as 90-95% adoption,” says Gellings. “These numbers are not necessarily targeted goals, but rather a guiding light for the potential that remains within our industry.”

Quantifying the Impact: On-Farm Pain Points

Gellings encourages farmers to examine their operations for adoption opportunity.

“It is about identifying what the needs of your specific operation are and then identifying the proper technologies that can help you,” he says. “What are the biggest pain points that your operation faces? Once you pinpoint that, it is then about identifying what technologies address those needs while also fitting into the workflow of one’s operation.”

The report shares anonymous grower insights into how that analysis has paid off for their operation through precision agriculture technologies.

In the report, a Kansas farmer growing wheat, soybeans and alfalfa on their operation said, “We’re spraying less chemical, [targeted spray application technology] is saving us money, and it’s better for the environment.”

“We ran through our herbicide costs we were going to have and dropped them by two-thirds. That is going to make our sprayer payment.”

Similarly, a Minnesota corn and soybean farmer had this to say:

“We looked at what we were spending on postemergence weed control and felt we could justify [targeted spray application technology] if we sprayed only 50% of our acres post. In the end, we only sprayed 11% of our corn acres with postemergence herbicide and averaged only spraying 20% of our soybeans with both applications.”

Quantifying the Impact: Agriculture’s Solution Through Precision

The organizations behind the report are hoping that it will serve as a catalyst into conversations with policymakers and consumers around stewardship within the agriculture industry.

“When it comes to all of the conversations that are happening, whether it be healthy food, the environment, or a number of other issues, the solution at the end of the day tends to already exist and that solution is farmers,” says Gellings. “Farmers have, for generations, done what they believe is best for the land and the communities that they live within and serve.”

“Precision agriculture and all of the technologies that come with that term are nothing more than a tool to help them accomplish that goal at the end of the day,” he says. “None of these will be the silver bullet to solve any and all issues, but when chosen based on the needs and capabilities of a farm and then paired with the other proper practices and inputs, they can help farmers get ahead.”

The report is available for free download through AEM.

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Faster Tillage, Smarter Spraying: John Deere Expands Its Machinery Lineup

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 13:58:58 GMT

Farmers looking to conquer heavy residue and tight tillage windows have new ways to tackle both challenges with John Deere’s expanded High-Speed Disk (HSD) lineup. For 2027, the company is offering four new HSD two-section models, which build on initial introductions in 2025. The latest models will be available in 15’, 19’, 22’ and 25’ widths.

As Michael Porter explains, the disks are purpose-built for the slowest, most time-consuming job on row-crop farms: deep ripping.

The high-speed tillage tools combine multiple operations into a single pass — residue sizing, burial, compaction removal and field leveling — delivering both agronomic and economic benefits, especially when paired with autonomous operation, explains Porter, John Deere marketing manager for large tractors and tillage.

Autonomy Creates New Efficiencies

For 2026, autonomy ready capability is available on the 2730 combination ripper and the 64’ and 69’ 2230 field cultivator models, giving farmers more options to integrate autonomous tillage into their operations. Porter says the autonomy factor could create a whole new level of efficiency for row crop growers short on time and manpower.

“Think about having an operator sit in that machine for 12 hours a day and maybe only getting one or two fields done. Now they can go haul grain … and when they get done, there’s a good chance 60%, 70%, 80% of their fields have already been ripped, and they just need to finish up the last few,” Porter says.

The company’s so-called “combination ripper” is equipped with lights, cameras and a StarFire receiver mast to enable safe, precise autonomous operation. “With autonomy, we need to know where this tool is at all times,” Porter notes.

Farmers with 2016 or newer 2730 combination rippers can update to autonomy-ready through a John Deere Precision Upgrade kit. The kits provide a cost-effective way to enhance existing machines delivering greater flexibility, Deere reports. Combination ripper upgrade kits will be available for order starting in summer 2026, while field cultivator kits are available today.

(Rhonda Brooks)

Sixteen cameras provide 360-degree perception, essentially replacing the operator’s eyes. In autonomous mode, the system detects obstacles, evaluates whether it can proceed, and either continues on its own or alerts the operator through Operations Center mobile with customizable, high-priority notifications.

When it comes to ROI, the payoff comes from both direct labor savings and the ability to reallocate time during harvest.

“In general, we see some customers who have run 5,000, 7,000 acres in a year, at a $40,000 to $50,000 cost to them, and this pays off. Those growers are saying, ‘Hey, I would have had to pay someone X amount of dollars for all those hours sitting in the cab,’” Porter says.

See & Spray Upgrades

Farmers staring down ugly weed pressure and weak commodity prices are demanding more from every input dollar. With that in mind, John Deere is betting its model year 2027 upgrades will prove See & Spray is not just cool tech. Instead, the company is positioning it as a fundamental tool designed to deliver better weed control, increased flexibility and a faster payback for farmers across a broader range of crops.

Historically, See & Spray was a tool for use in corn, soybeans and cotton. For 2027, John Deere is moving into the small grains market.

“We are jumping headfirst into wheat, canola, barley and a handful of other crops,” Ladd says, noting peanuts and sugar beets are also joining the list.

Last year, See & Spray covered over 5 million U.S. acres and delivered nearly a 50% reduction in non-residual herbicide use. For farmers on the fence about investing in the technology, the value proposition is moving away from saving dollars and toward improving the bottom line. For many growers, the company says, a two- to three-year ROI is available with the technology.

“We understand the increasing pressures farmers are facing, driving them to find solutions that allow them more flexibility and the opportunity to do more with less,” says Josh Ladd, marketing manager for application equipment at John Deere. “That is why we have updated See & Spray to directly address those challenges by helping farmers apply exactly what’s needed, where it’s needed, and across more acres and more crops.”

Computing Power Gets Updated

On a recent walk-around of a 2027 machine at the company’s Austin, Texas, R&D center, Ladd starts with what you can’t see from the outside: the machine’s computing backbone. Earlier generations of See & Spray relied on as many as 10 processors. The new models consolidate that power into just three vision processing units (VPUs) mounted on the center frame.

“We’re able to do that and not make any sacrifices on overall computing power, and there is less weight involved,” Ladd says. “We can only put so much stuff on this machine’s boom before we start to worry about boom durability, compaction and consistency of performance.”

Nozzle technology is also becoming more cost-effective. While the ExactApply (30Hz pulsing) remains the standard for dual-product systems, John Deere is introducing Individual Nozzle Control Pro as a factory option for 2027 single-tank machines.

“For customers who want 15Hz pulsing instead of 30Hz, or are comfortable with a five-nozzle turret, it’s a more accessible option,” Ladd explains. This gives farmers and customer applicators another entry point into row-by-row nozzle control from the factory, he added.

Additional Enhancements

New center-frame camera placement, on the front of the sprayer, to reduce dust interference and enhance detection accuracy for more-consistent application quality. For operators with MY18 to MY26, these cameras will be available through a Precision Upgrade kit.
Higher operating speeds in targeted modes — up to 16 mph depending on crop and configuration, allowing more acres to be covered when application windows are tight.
Optional full boom lighting enables targeted fallow application at night to extend productive hours.

The expanded See & Spray capabilities will be available on MY27 John Deere 408R, 410R, 412R, 612R and 616R sprayers. In addition, all Hagie sprayers – STS12, STS16, and STS20 – will now feature See & Spray Premium as a factory-installed option.

Alongside the expanded See & Spray capabilities, John Deere is introducing several MY27 sprayer enhancements designed to improve overall productivity, operator awareness and in-field efficiency across a wider range of applications.

Updated Name for DA Series Applicators

To better align their applicator portfolio with the broader tillage portfolio, John Deere is updating the naming of its DA Series Applicators, formerly known as the 2510H. While the name might be new, farmers can continue relying on the same proven performance they are used to across multiple seasons.

“With the MY27 updates, we continue to deliver proven durability, increased flexibility and technology-ready solutions that help farmers maximize productivity,” Porter says.

To learn more about the updates to the John Deere application portfolio, visit JohnDeere.com or contact your local John Deere dealer.

Companies Team Up To Accelerate Ag Innovation With Artificial Intelligence

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:19:57 GMT

SAP SE and Syngenta have announced a multi-year strategic technology partnership designed to bring AI-driven innovation directly to the agricultural sector. For farmers, this means a more modern, data-driven approach to the products and services they rely on daily, from manufacturing and supply chain management to field-level support.

As farmers navigate the complexities of climate variability and global market uncertainty, the partnership aims to bolster the tools available to meet the challenge of feeding a projected 10 billion people by 2050, Syngenta reports. By integrating AI across Syngenta’s operations, the collaboration is positioned to unlock faster innovation and stronger operational resilience that scales to meet the needs of agricultural producers.

“AI is the catalyst for agricultural transformation and has quickly become a core competitive edge for Syngenta,” said Feroz Sheikh, chief information and digital officer, Syngenta Group, in a prepared statement. “Our partnership with SAP is transforming how we run the enterprise, modernizing core operations and unlocking new ways to work — a testament to our commitment to becoming an agriculture company with AI at its core.”

“Syngenta’s transformation sets a benchmark for digital innovation in agriculture,” said Philipp Herzig, chief technology officer at SAP SE, in a statement. “Together, we’re demonstrating how cloud and AI technologies can drive sustainable growth and efficiency in one of the world’s most critical industries. This partnership will help Syngenta future-proof its operations to feed the world responsibly.”

The transformation begins with SAP Cloud ERP Private solutions, modernizing Syngenta’s value chain to ensure the company remains agile and responsive to market shifts. For U.S. farmers, this translates to a more reliable partner capable of weathering volatility and delivering consistent results, Syngenta says.

Through the SAP Business Data Cloud, Syngenta is establishing a unified and secure data foundation essential for real-time decision-making. Combined with SAP Business AI and tools like the Joule Copilot , the company intends to drive operational efficiency and accelerate the development of new technologies. Importantly, this initiative focuses on delivering superior products and services while ensuring farmers maintain control and privacy over their proprietary information.

5 Water Trends to Watch in 2026

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:46:12 GMT

The “everything old is new again” proverb will be at play in 2026 when it comes to water trends irrigators need to know in the new year.

The Packer sat down with Melissa Lilze — who, as of Jan. 1, became senior vice president of Netafim North America, the top position for Netafim in North America, and the first woman to lead Netafim’s North America division — on the top water trends coming in 2026. Several are long-running themes from years past that will continue to dominate in the new year. Others, however, are new and potentially novel.

No. 1: Water scarcity

This one is nothing new, but Lilze notes smart water management or “digital irrigation” that involves remote sensors, automated irrigation systems and real-time monitoring of conditions such as weather, soil moisture and crop needs — once the purview of highly techy early adopters — is increasingly mainstream in the face of ongoing water scarcity.

“Today it’s more of a necessity,” she says.

This fits with both USDA records and data from The Packer’s 2025 Grower Sustainability Insights .

According to the Census of Agriculture’s most recent few Irrigation and Water Management Surveys, the number of farms and open-field acres under irrigation using drip, trickle or micro-flow sprinklers has grown since 2008, even as farm numbers and open-field acres under irrigation have fallen.

For example, in 2008 , 43,368 farms (14.4% of 2007’s total irrigated farms) reported using these water-saving irrigation systems on 3.76 million acres (6.84% of total irrigated acres in 2008). In 2023 , the numbers had jumped to 60,160 farms (21.14% of 2022’s total irrigated farms) and 6.43 million acres (12.11% of total irrigated acres in 2023).

The Packer’s Sustainability Insights survey responses showed similar grower attention to water conservation efforts. Water efficiency was ranked as the most important sustainability issue by produce growers, and precision irrigation ranked high on the list of sustainability investments growers are making on their operations.

No. 2: Regulations and reporting requirements

Just like water scarcity is nothing new, so too is the mounting regulatory pressure because the two are so closely intertwined.

“[Ongoing water scarcity] just changes what we will see in the next few years with regulation around water use and groundwater use,” Lilze says, pointing to regulation and reporting requirements as a major water theme in 2026.

“We have increasing regulatory pressure in different farming regions. Growers must adapt to allocation limits that they’re given, especially in the western U.S.,” she says. While California and its Sustainable Groundwater Management Act come to mind when it comes to water regulations squeezing produce growers, regulations and their attendant reporting requirements can vary wildly by state, county and even by watershed.

Lilze framed digital irrigation as helpful to irrigators regardless of the regulatory situation they find themselves in because it not only helps with water conservation efforts but documents them at the same time.

“Many times the reason you have regulation is because you don’t have the data to show that you are being conservative with the water and of your resources,” she says. “I absolutely think the more information you have available to prove that you are a steward of the land, which these farmers are, I think the better situation they’re in on the front end of things.”

No. 3: Drip irrigation expanding

Lilze reports the well-known water saving strategy of drip irrigation has been expanding into new crops, something she highlights as a trend to watch. Alfalfa is an example she’s seen with Netafim.

“With an alfalfa, we’ll do an SDI system, which is a subsurface drip irrigation system, meaning we’ll actually bury the drip 10 to 12 inches underground,” she reports. Not only has this resulted in extra cuttings and increased yields, but it has management implications as well.

“You can get into the field quicker after a cutting because we’re not having to flood irrigate,” she says.

No. 4: Return of federal funds

A welcomed “new” trend in 2026 according to Lilze is the return of federal funding for conservation and sustainability improvements, including for water.

“There’s a lot of federal funding, NRCS [National Resources Conservation Service] and EQIP [Environmental Quality Incentives Program] monies, that are available typically every year. In 2025, a lot of that money got put on hold,” she says. “We just received news that the 2026 funding will be available in January, and growers will be able to apply and access those funds for smarter, more efficient irrigation systems.”

On Dec. 15, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service announced it was opening its first funding round of key conservation programs. This includes the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, Agricultural Management Assistance, the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and the new Regenerative Pilot Program .

According to NRCS, growers, farmers and ranchers have until Jan. 15, 2026, to apply for the first batching period. National and State Conservation Innovation Grants will open later in the year.

“We’re really starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel with this funding coming,” Lilze says. “There’s been a lot of farmers that have benefited from this money over the years, and having it frozen last year really prevented a lot of new irrigation systems going in because [growers] need the funding to help with that initial year return.”

No. 5: New or untapped funding sources

In addition to the return of federal funding that can go to conservation irrigation efforts, Lilze points to other, potentially more novel or unexpected sources of funding for water sustainability projects as something irrigators should look for in 2026.

On the one hand, the “partnership economy” around water — basically, applying the carbon credit concept to water — is growing. Lilze pointed to Netafim’s Corporate Partnership Program as an example, explaining that they pair companies with high water usage with area farmers and growers who still use less efficient irrigation like flooding. The company helps fund the grower’s conversion to a drip irrigation system.

“So basically, we’d put in a drip irrigation system, we’d put our automation system out, and we can track water usage over that crop and over time, we can show the amount of water that’s been saved by investing in that drip irrigation system,” she says.

Other precision irrigation or ag tech companies have similar programs, such as Phytech and N-Drip. Though Lilze says Netafim has been “leading the charge” on developing these kinds of partnerships.

“We’ve been successful over the last two years in matching up these companies that have this money set aside for these sustainability practices with the farmers in the region that are trying to be more efficient in their farming.”

Lilze also recommends irrigators look at other, potentially untapped local funding sources for irrigation efficiency improvements such as state, county or watershed organizations.

For example, she notes that Utah’s Department of Agriculture has a fund specifically “to help their growers become more efficient water users.” Utah growers could receive as much as $500,000 in funding for irrigation optimization efforts. Applications for the program open on Jan. 1, 2026 and run through the end of February.

“There’s plenty of state funding moving because they want people to move away from flood to drip and conserve,” Lilze says.

How Does Autonomous Machinery Stack Up Against Labor Costs on Midwest Row Crop Farms?

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:32:13 GMT

A first-of-its-kind academic analysis looks at labor rates and current autonomous solutions to spur a discussion on the tipping point for when the technology pays. Published by Chad Feichter, ag economist at Purdue, and PhD student Josh Strine, the recently released study looks at large-scale autonomous farming equipment and a Midwestern 50-50 corn/soybean farm.

“We were puzzled by what could potentially be the returns to these large autonomous machines because it seems that’s at least the trend of where we’re going,” Feichter says. “Also the idea there’s a labor shortage seems to be what’s motivating the conversation.”

The economists started with an economic farm-planning model originally developed at Purdue 60 years ago, updated it and plugged in a series of factors:

Labor rates
Production costs
Field size
Machinery/subscription costs
Equipment efficiency

The takeaway: Comparatively, autonomy is still an expensive alternative to average farm labor rates. Per the analysis, autonomy pays off when the labor rate is greater than $44 per hour.

“Currently, with where labor rates are, the autonomy solution across the board isn’t probably what we need in the immediate term, based on what we understand about how autonomy works and the productivity of autonomy,” Feichter says. “But if there’s a farmer who cannot find labor, autonomous machines will allow those acres to be farmed.”

Feichter says the current technology platforms installed on large-scale machines aren’t a one-for-one substitute for a human operator for a few reasons.

Profitability of autonomy hinges on three things:

the cost of autonomy subscriptions
the field efficiency of the machines
how much human supervision they still require

Co-author Strine says the ROI of autonomy is operation-specific to how the efficiencies of autonomy are realized. Their analysis included wide ranges in the variables to explore likely scenarios with today’s technology so as efficiencies improve there can be a comparison.

“Right now, the efficiency of the autonomy isn’t an advantage versus humans,” Strine says. “Maybe they will quickly get to 100% human efficiency, and it’s possible that it will surpass just having somebody driving that tractor. However, right now, oversight hours are required and the on-road transport is required.”

Where could autonomy pay off the soonest—Fiechter says it’s where high value tasks, in field efficiency and tightness in labor intersect.

“There are really high-value tasks, where you could potentially alleviate the labor challenge in the short run,” Fiechter says. “Maybe harvest is one of those where we would really see a benefit of having autonomous machines, whereas in planting time, it may not be quite as important.”

Manufacturers Report No Humans Have Been Displaced by Autonomous Tractors

Craig Rupp founded Sabanto, which sells autonomy systems to be outfitted on mid-range hp tractors.

“I had an epiphany after 50 systems,” Rupp says. “I’m not solving the labor problem. Farmers may buy as if we’re replacing labor, but they keep the labor, and it’s about quality of life. It’s about not spending 12 to 16 hours a day when they get behind or have to work weekends. And they are using autonomy to scale their operation—they are taking on more acres.”

Earlier this year Sabanto published a case study looking at seeding 10,000 acres with a traditional 4WD high-horsepower set up versus running three Sabanto outfitted tractors. The company’s analysis did not include labor costs, but evaluating the investment and operational costs, Sabanto says a traditional setup costs $18.88/acre the three Sabanto equipped machines cost $6.27/acre. You can read the whole report here.

His company has sold more than 200 systems in the past two years.

“We’ve put no people out of work,” Rupp says. “Farmers will adopt autonomy for labor when it’s the last choice they have.”

Michael Porter, large tractor marketing manager at John Deere, shares an anecdote from a customer over the Thanksgiving weekend.

“A great example this year is we had two machines running on Thanksgiving, and they literally ran while the farmers had their Thanksgiving dinner,” Porter says. “And the next day, when they got back out there, they had a couple hundreds acres already tilled so they can continue moving on with that fall field work.”

The quality of life autonomy adds to as well as the agronomic value of timely field work are added values manufacturers point to for being benefits of adopting these systems.

“That’s something that’s hard to quantify, football games on Friday nights, dinner with the family, all those things that’s a big part of it. Those quality of life things, they’re really hard to quantify, but people experience them, and once they experience them, they don’t want to go back,” Porter says.

John Deere autonomous systems cost between $40,000 and $45,000 for the kit, plus dealership install and yearly subscription fee, which is $10,000 for unlimited acres for tillage, for example.

Dinen Subramaniam, product launch manager for Outrun at PTx Trimble, has lead their team to deploy autonomous grain cart systems and tillage systems in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Georgia.

He shares a story from a customer in Nebraska who it’s a father-son farming duo, and the OutRun grain cart allows the father to truck grain while the son harvests supported by the autonomous grain cart. That 3,500 acre farm has been able to finish harvest in 20% to 25% less time.

“It’s really about the flexibility of the deployment of labor that autonomy gives you,” Subramaniam says. “Like having a grain truck driver rather than a grain cart driver, or having someone who can take a five hour break during tillage and let the autonomous system run.”

AGCO’s PTx OutRun tillage solution is $44,000 for hardware plus a $9,000 annual cost. OutRun’s modular model also includes autonomous grain cart operations, with additional tasks in development. A combined tillage/grain cart setup costs $55,000 for hardware and $15,000 annually.

Subramaniam also highlights agronomic benefits for fall field work getting done timelier when autonomous systems are used.

“Instead of straining into December with harvest trying to get that crop off the ground, autonomy can help reduce late harvest yield loss, which can be a 3% to 5% reduction,” he says. “We talk about an ideal harvest season, but the reality is there are always weather delays, mechanical delays, and more.”

There’s a trickle down effect of timely harvest, fall tillage and fall application.

“From a tillage point of view, we’ve also learned that there’s other benefits as well from better incorporation of crop residue, getting to tillage sooner so that that crop residue can break down,” he says.

The Purdue economists agree this is a space to watch as what’s possible with technology and the escalating labor issues intersect.

Farmers Ask How To Set Up A Hybrid Chisel To Achieve Maximum Tillage Results This Fall

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 22:11:35 GMT

Ken Ferrie gets a lot of questions this time of year from farmers on how to do a good job of setting a tillage tool. “Farmers want to know what depth to go after, where to run it, when to use the cutters and shanks,” says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

But before he can answer any of those questions, he says farmers need to be able to tell him what kind of system they use. Most commonly in central Illinois, row-crop growers are going with either conventional horizontal tillage or conventional vertical tillage.

Conventional Vertical Tillage: In this system, farmers often use a disk ripper or a chisel plow to work the soil in the fall and then finish it in the spring with a vertical harrow prior to planting.

Conventional Horizontal Tillage: Because you’re going to make your seedbed with horizontal tillage in the spring – using something like a soil finisher, disk field cultivator or high-speed disk – how deep you run the tillage tool this fall is important but not critical.

“With conventional horizontal tillage, it comes down to how fast do you want to pull the tool – more so than how deep you want to go – how much coverage you want of your corn stalks,” Ferrie says. “For a lot of people, they’ll find that spot where they have the horsepower to pull it at the speed they want, using their front-end cutters like we have here to try and get that coverage. That’s an OK approach, because you’re going to build your seedbed in the spring with a soil finisher.”

In a new video, Ferrie demonstrates how he sets the up a hybrid tillage tool for both horizontal and vertical tillage.

Achieving Full-Width Shatter
Ferrie says with vertical tillage if the fall pass is your primary tillage that you’re doing – where you’ll chisel or rip in the fall and then run a vertical harrow in the spring before planting – that requires a bit of a different result with the fall pass.

“We have to get what’s called full-width shatter from shank to shank,” he says.

To achieve that, Ferrie sets the tillage tool a bit differently. “I’m going to suck these disks up as high as I can to make sure flow still goes through the rig, so you’re not plugging up. But I don’t want these disks doing much work. I want the shanks doing all the work,” he says.

(Crop-Tech Consulting)

“This tool is doing a good job of laying things down level, and the amount of residue on both sides is somewhat equal. From the road, you would not know this tool is set differently for these two different types of passes,” Ferrie says.

You have to get behind the tool and down into the knife tracks to see what kind of shatter or soil fracture you’ve achieved.

After making the conventional horizontal tillage pass, digging behind the shanks reveals a humped soil bottom and solid berms in the video. These are problems Ferrie says you would be able to address next spring before planting, using a disk or soil finisher to shear off the berm.

In this photo, Ken Ferrie shows berms that have not been shattered but could be fixed next spring with horizontal tillage using a disk or soil finisher.

(Crop-Tech Consulting)

In contrast, a vertical tillage system requires more extensive shatter. The columns between knife tracks have to be fractured all the way down and across, leaving no solid berms. Otherwise, you’ll get a lot of chatter and bounce in your planter as you go across the field.

“We’ve got to shatter this thing in that 6” of this column. It needs to be busted up and shattered so it’ll disperse when we hit it in the spring,” he says, showing shattered berms in the photo below.

For conventional vertical tillage, the tool is set deeper to achieve full shatter from shank to shank, ensuring soil is well-tilled for a spring seed bed. Ferrie demonstrates here how easily the berms collapse as opposed in a conventional horizontal tillage scenario.

(Crop-Tech Consulting)

“In the conventional vertical system, we went down an inch to an inch-and-a-half more, so we could get the shatter so these points don’t make it all the way to the top. Digging behind the knife shanks here you see the columns in the middle, but the difference is these columns are fractured. So I’ve got these columns fractured, and I’m going to be able to come in here in the spring and buff this thing off to get a nice seedbed to plant into,” he adds.

Your next read: Drought Conditions Require Careful Attention To Fall Tillage Practices

AgZen, Corteva Team up on AI-Powered, Retrofit Sprayer Tech

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 15:08:46 GMT

AgZen announces an agreement with Corteva to further “explore the commercial potential” of AgZen’s AI-powered crop spraying optimization technology, RealCoverage.

The news comes on the heels of Corteva’s big announcement on Oct. 1 , detailing the crop protection multinational’s plan to split its crop protection and seeds businesses.

AgZen, a tech startup spun out of MIT, is making a name for itself by pioneering feedback optimization for spray applications — a new approach the company thinks has potential to improve farmer outcomes and reduce crop input costs.

(AgZen)

AgZen’s first product, RealCoverage, is a retrofit kit that can be bolted onto any sprayer to measure and optimize the number of drops of agrochemicals applied to crops. The system features a boom-mounted sensor that analyzes the coverage and quality of spray applications in real-time, displaying actionable data to a tablet mounted in the cab. Farmers can use the data to optimize the physical settings on spray rigs, both self-propelled and pull-behind, to increase coverage.

The startup says its system works by leveraging AI and cutting-edge computer vision, and customers have used RealCoverage to save 30% to 50% on input costs.

Farmer Feedback

(AgZen)

Northwest Indiana farmer Bryan Brost slapped a RealCoverage system onto his Hagie STS 16 high-clearance sprayer to use on his waxy corn and soybean crops. He says it has helped boost his spray program efficiency overall by reducing application rates while maintaining optimal coverage throughout his 12,000-acre operation.

“The payback came in the first year,” he tells Farm Journal via text message. “We have increased our acres [covered] per day with less hours on the machine, the operator and the nurse tanks supplying product [to the sprayer].”

Corey McIntosh set the technology loose across his 4,000 acre spread in Missouri Valley, Iowa. He is looking forward to using the data to improve his application efficiency across the board. He’s also letting his neighbors and local retailer in on the secret.

“I was getting a chem shuttle refilled at [the] co-op, these guys have always been complimentary of our weed control, I asked them: ‘What percentage of leaf surface area do you think you are covering with your sprayers?’ One of their best operators said he thought 50% coverage. The salesman next to him said it would definitely be more than 60%,” McIntosh says.

“They were shocked when I told them we were at 9% to 10%, but nobody has had ever had a way to quantify this before,” he adds. “We are really looking forward to making improvements.”

Since launching on the market in 2024, AgZen says it covered more than 970,000 commercial acres of application across the U.S. on row crops and specialty crops.

Your Next Read: Breakthrough Fungicide Delivers White Mold Disease Control in Key Crops

From Best Buy Toy to Pro Spray Drone: A Father-Son Duo Takes Flight In Missouri Cattle Country

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 19:41:27 GMT

Iowa State University freshman Rhett Keaton and his father, Vance, are launching a drone spraying side hustle.

The father-son duo started out just having some fun several years ago, buzzing around the house with a $20 drone from Best Buy that “drove mom crazy”. But now, they are getting serious about turning entertainment to revenue.

Vance, who runs 5K Cattle Company out of Anderson, Mo., ran out and purchased a DJI Agras T20P spray drone this spring, and both Keatons secured the Part 107 Commercial Pilot Certificate needed to operate on a farm. Combined with the private pesticide applicator’s license 5K Cattle Co. already held, the guys can now apply restricted-use pesticides to their own pasture ground.

University of Missouri Extension experts recently weighed in on the promise of drone usage in farming, and more specifically, in cattle operations. Field specialist Caleb O’Neal likens the technologies’ versatility and practicality to that of a UTV.

“Back in the 1980s, it would have been rare to see a UTV being used on a farm,” he says. “Visiting farms today, I’m hard-pressed to find an operation larger than 20 acres that doesn’t have some type of UTV that they utilize on a regular basis.”

And while the Keaton’s are banking on custom application services with a spray drone as their next play in ag, you don’t have to spray crops or weeds to use drones for the benefit of your farm or ranch, according to O’Neal.

Use of drones in agriculture is increasing as row crop and livestock producers find new ways to improve efficiency and productivity.

(Photo courtesy of Caleb O’Neal.)

“Livestock producers can monitor fences and availability of water and can make sure animals are where they should be without even opening a gate,” O’Neal explains. “Drone technology lets cattlemen quickly check estrus indication patches for optimized breeding timing, monitor cows during calving season, look for hidden newborn calves and look out for potential predators.

Getting back to the Keatons, the next step is for Rhett, who is majoring in ag systems technology in Ames this fall, to secure his Missouri commercial pesticide applicators license.

Once that happens, the pair can start marketing drone spraying services to neighboring farms. Their plan is to start locally with pasture and grassland applications before seeking out work on row crop farms to the north once foliar fungicide season hits.

Related - The Scoop Podcast: What’s Next For Ag Drone Application?

Even though the T20P is one of the smaller spray drones offered by DJI, Keaton says it’s proven to be the perfect fit so far. He also rents a neighbor’s spray drone, paying a per-acre fee, when he needs more than one bird to cover more ground.

“We do a lot of flying in and out of trees and stuff like that,” Keaton says. “Having that smaller drone with less capacity and a more efficient battery, I get about double the battery life as [the bigger drones] do. But I also have about half the tank.”

The reservoir on the T20P holds about 5.5 to 6 gallons of tank mix, so Keaton will usually need to land and refill his tank after about five or six minutes of spraying. He averages 23 acres per hour when everything is set up for a quick land-refill-takeoff cycle.

Keaton says Corteva’s DuraCor herbicide, an aerial application-approved formulation containing two Group 4 AIs, is the main product he’s been spraying from the drone thus far. The product label calls for 2 to 3 gallons of active ingredients (mixed with carrier water) applied per acre with coarse droplets.

A fellow rancher kicks the tires on Vance and Rhett Kaiser’s spray drone trailer at a field day event. The Kaisers operate 5K Cattle Company out of Anderson, Mo., and have plans to launch a spray drone custom application business in the near future.

(Rhett Keaton )

Keaton and Vance also picked up a nicely appointed spray drone trailer off — of all places — Facebook Marketplace. The whole setup – drone, trailer, extra batteries, etc. – cost about $30,000 all-in, Keaton says.

“We found one that was cheaper to buy than it was to build our own, especially with the generator — that is probably the most expensive part of that trailer,” he explains. “It already had the generator, pumps, the mix tanks and a thousand-gallon freshwater tank, and everything was lined up.”

With the spray drone in the air and the nice, shiny trailer parked edge-of-field as Keaton makes his passes, cleaning up weed escapes in fields that he says are “pretty clean” already, neighboring farmers often take notice and stop by to ask if he and his dad can come by and spray some of their ground, too. Their plan is to find the sweet spot between a $12 to $20 per acre fee to charge for their drone spraying services.

Speaking of sweet spots, O’Neal feels that spot spraying, guided by aerial imagery or even first-hand producer knowledge of where weed problems are significant and need to be addressed, is a good target for drone service providers like the Keatons.

“A pasture with a rash of blackberry weeds in isolated areas has great potential for a prescription herbicide application where only the problematic areas receive treatment via a spray drone, as opposed to a broadcast application where the entirety of the field is treated whether it needs it or not,” he says.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity [for it] around us. There’s a lot of guys with hay fields, and they do a lot of burn down applications. That’s one thing we are planning on hitting on,” Keaton says. “I think some guys would be interested in that. Especially if we have a wet spring and guys can’t get in the field.”

Missouri Extension field specialist O’Neal agrees with that assertion.

“In my neck of the woods in southwestern Missouri, the topography can be quite unforgiving, with some areas too harsh to allow access by ground spray rig or even an ATV,” O’Neal says. “With an aerial piece of equipment like a utility drone, landowners can now get herbicide applications on these problematic areas and put them into useful forage production.”

With a pilot year of flying his family’s acres fastened securely under his belt, Keaton says the arrow looks to be pointing up on spray drone technology in agriculture.

“Hopefully we can expand and get maybe another trailer or a bigger drone, it just depends kind of on what’s calling for us,” he says. “I’ve got to see exactly how much work is out there in this business and from there just make it all work out. Our foot is just in the door [right now].”

Your Next Read: Now is the Time for Beef Producers to Invest with Purpose

No More Waiting: Operator-Free Grain Cart System Improves Harvest Efficiency

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 15:48:39 GMT

At first blush, the benefits promised by new autonomous retrofit grain cart system, OutRun, seemed too good to be true to Ken Ferrie and his agronomic team.

The system, now commercially available, promises to help farmers increase harvest efficiencies while reducing labor needs in the process.

Ferrie and team’s skepticism quickly turned to appreciation as they put the system to work harvesting large-scale Farm Journal Test Plots in central Illinois.

“Once it’s in the field, it’s kind of like a dog with a shock collar,” says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist. “It can’t leave the field, meaning that there’s a GPS fence around that field that keeps it from leaving that defined area.”

OutRun, developed by PTx Trimble (formed by AGCO and Trimble), enables a tractor and auger cart to team up and move autonomously to catch a combine on the go.

The system uses Starlink connectivity and PTx Trimble location technology, while the combine’s guidance and steering system remains unchanged. Field boundaries loaded into the OutRun system keep the cart/tractor team where it needs to be.

Less Manpower Potentially Required
Nebraska farmer Geoffrey Ruth says he is pumped about the practicality and ease-of-use of driverless grain cart automation. The opportunity to reduce manpower needs or redeploy a worker is especially appealing.

“We’re usually pretty short on labor at harvest time, so we’re looking to purchase one outright and take that operator and throw them in a semi to haul grain,” Ruth says in this recent article by Farm Journal’s Matthew Grassi: Smart Harvest: How One Farmer Is Hitting Harvest Windows, Helping Others With Grain Cart Tech

As Ruth and Ferrie quickly learned, the grain cart can be staged or called for unloading without the need for another driver.

Once full, the combine operator can then send the grain cart to a predefined truck unload zone for unloading. An operator is still needed, however, to unload the cart into a truck.

“Once you get a full tank, you call for the cart, and the cart will pull up beside the combine and unload on the go for you, or you could stage it at the end, so it’s waiting for you when you get there,” says Ferrie, whose agronomic team at Crop-Tech Consulting are running the system.

The truck driver can then disengage the cart, fill the truck and then reengage the cart so the combine operator can take control of the system again.

“Your combine operator can put the cart anywhere he wants it to go,” Ferrie says. “If you’ve got tile holes, terraces, or other places in the field you don’t want that cart to go, the combine operator can draw those areas on the screen and tell it, ‘these are no-go areas,’ so it doesn’t get itself into trouble.”

Ruth adds that the system also knows where the farmer already cut corn and will use that area as a path instead of mowing over crops that haven’t been harvested yet. It’s similar to how a drone already knows the safe path home when the pilot hits return to home on the controller.

OutRun is currently available for model year 2014 or newer John Deere 8R tractors with Infinitely Variable Transmission (IVT) and will be commercially available on Fendt models in 2026.

You can learn more about PTx Trimble’s OutRun system at www.OutRunAg.com

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

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:53:33 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 .

Machinery News: JCB Fastrac 6000 Tractor, Väderstad and Valley Debut New Products, Unverferth Acquisition

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 19:18:33 GMT

JCB Launches New Fastrac 6000 Series Tractors

(JCB)

British machinery manufacturer JCB says its new Fastrac 6000 Series tractors provide farmers with a feature-laden, highly productive power unit suited to a multitude of field and transport tasks.

Some notable features on the new machines include:

Two models will be available in the series, the 6260 (284 hp) and 6300 (335 hp)
25,240 lb. rear lift capacity plus a four-speed PTO shaft; optional 11,023.6 lb. front lift and 1000 rpm PTO.
A new chassis design combining sculptured front casting and rear fabricated structure, new engine and powertrain combinations for optimum power, torque and fuel efficiency, and a new central tire inflation system (CTIS).

The Fastrac 6000 Series will be available in North America in Q2 2026.

Learn more about the Fastrac 6000 Series at jcb.com/en-US/ .

Implement Innovator Väderstad Launches Trio of Products

E-Connect

(Väderstad)

Väderstad announces its new digital machinery telematics platform, E-Connect, as well as a next generation row unit for Tempo planters and a new front tool option for its disc cultivators Carrier XL 425–725.

The manufacturer says E-Connect provides farmers with a digital tool to monitor and manage Väderstad-branded machinery in real-time, with comprehensive visibility into fleet activity and machine performance. Users can track fieldwork progress, analyze operational efficiency and make informed decisions based on accurate, up-to-date data. The platform also integrates with several major Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS).

In 2026, Väderstad will also introduce its next-generation row unit for the Tempo planter. The new row unit comes with a long list of new features, including:

Planting depth setting from a prescription map
Easier seed tube change
Easier switch between crops
Upgraded seed meters with one-handed seed meter opening

And its new third disc axle configuration, available for Carrier XL 425–725 tillage tools, increases disc density from two rows to three, reducing the disc spacing to just 3.3". The company says this results in 50% more tillage tool contact to the ground, delivering highly intensive mixing, crumbling and residue management.

All three solutions will debut at Agritechnica 2025. You can learn more here .

Valley Irrigation Launches Brand Agnostic Pivot Control Panel

(Valley Irrigation)

Valley Irrigation introduces the ICON+ Smart Panel, the newest addition to its ICON family.

Valley says the new digital control panel combines simplicity with essential functionality while offering a balance of performance and affordability. Valley says it shares the proven capabilities of the ICONX panel while delivering essential control at the panel and advanced management from any electronic device. Farmers can remotely manage an entire fleet of pivots, regardless of the brand or age of the equipment.

The ICON+ Smart Panel is available through authorized Valley Irrigation Dealers. To learn more visit valleyirrigation.com/icon or contact your local dealer.

The company also announced the Valley Irrigation Grant, a $100,000 initiative designed to help growers tackle their most pressing water challenges through smart farming innovation.

Two North American farmers will be awarded in-kind grants through the program, $75,000 for the grand prize and $25,000 for the secondary prize, redeemable for Valley equipment, technology and services through their local Valley dealer.

Applications are now open at valleyirrigation.com/grant and will be accepted through Dec. 15.

Unverferth Acquires Premier Tillage

Minimizer Blade Plow tillage tool.

(Premier Tillage)

Unverferth Manufacturing Co. has acquired the Premier Tillage lineup, including its popular, weed-eradicating Minimizer blade plow tillage tool.

Unverferth says the addition of Premier Tillage products strengthens its commitment to providing a full range of equipment solutions that enhance efficiency, productivity and agronomic performance.

Production of the Minimizer blade plow tillage tool will be moved to the Unverferth production facility in Lexington, Neb. Premier Tillage was founded by Dan Chupp in 1985 and is based in Quinter, Kan. The acquisition ensures Premier Tillage customers will continue to receive product support, now backed by Unverferth’s dealer network.

Learn more at umequip.com .

Your Next Read: Central Iowa Farmer Says Corn Yields Are 30 to 40 Bu. Per Acre Lower Than Last Year

Survey Says: Smart Farming Has Big Impact On U.S. Farms, And There’s Room for More

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 15:27:29 GMT

Smart farming technologies, like smart irrigation and targeted spraying systems, are helping farms reduce water use, burn less fuel and optimize fertilizer and pesticide applications. Those gains have led to a 5% increase in overall crop production in the U.S. in just the last five years.

That’s all according to newly released data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturer’s (AEM) “The Benefits of Precision Ag In The U.S.” report. You can read the full white paper study here .

“The overarching message is precision ag enables farmers to maximize use of their inputs,” says Austin Gellings, senior director of agricultural services, AEM. “We’re maximizing every drop of what we’re putting on our crops and on our soil, and I think that’s a very powerful message.”

Gellings found two specific aspects of the study results most compelling:

(Lori Hays)

U.S. farms have achieved an overall 5% reduction in annual water usage by adopting smart farming technologies like smart irrigation systems and soil moisture sensors. Gellings says the savings equates to about 824,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of fresh water saved. It takes about 5 million standard 16 oz. bottled waters to fill just one Olympic-size swimming pool, he adds.

(Lori Hays)

Farmers who adopt targeted smart spraying application systems, like John Deere’s See & Spray and CNH Industrial’s SenseApply, can reduce America’s overall annual herbicide usage up to 55% if full adoption of the technology is achieved. The study defines full adoption as 90% of the total number of active farms in the U.S.

“We also found potential for an additional 6% increase in annual crop production with higher precision technology adoption rates,” he says. “It’s clear these technologies show almost unlimited potential in reducing inputs while increasing our output.

“[Technology is] a tool in the toolbox that helps our farmers step up to the challenges they face every single day, like they’ve always done. Our farmers always find a way to meet the challenge at hand. They are always going to innovate and find a way.”

The next big thing?

For Gellings, who grew up on the family farm in Wisconsin, daydreaming about the next big technology breakthrough for ag — something truly revolutionary along the lines of how smart spraying has impacted pesticide applications — gets him fired up. He says he can only imagine what his grandfather would say if he knew you could put a camera on a spray boom and only target the weeds as you drove 15 mph through the field.

“In 5 years, will there be a new technology like that, that revolutionizes the way we’re doing things and in a way that we never thought possible? That’s what’s exciting when I think about all the innovation that’s happening in agriculture,” he says. “We’re in this technology boom, and I can almost guarantee there will be another groundbreaking technology that don’t exist today that will come along and fundamentally change the way we farm.”

The updated study findings (the original study data was published back in 2020) were released in collaboration with the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, CropLife America and National Corn Growers Association. Kearney, a global management consulting firm, had a team of project management professionals and subject matter experts to assist AEM in executing the study update.

The full study is available now on AEM’s Insights page at www.aem.org/insights .

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A New Eye In The Sky: High Frequency, Multispectral Satellite Constellation Approaches 2026 Debut

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:40:17 GMT

The 2025 crop season has been a solid proving ground for the value and utility of satellite and aerial imagery in farming.

That’s because corn and soybean fields this summer appeared incredibly healthy and high-yielding from the drive-by scouting pass in the pick-up truck, but then crop scouts marched into those same fields , uncovering widespread yield variability and a high level of foliar disease pressure .

EarthDaily (formerly Geosys) says it will soon leverage a new satellite constellation to beat USDA yield forecasts by capturing daily calibrated images of crops and feeding those images through artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

The news

Satellite imagery of a corn field in the U.S. with corresponding NDVI (plant health) and precipitation data all the way back to 2017.

(EarthDaily)

EarthDaily says it intends to provide daily, high-quality aerial data that agronomists, grain traders and commodity brokers can use to get snapshots-in-time for farm fields, without ever having to launch a camera drone or upload thousands of images to stitch together an orthomosaic. Farmers also stand to benefit because the data will be available within many popular farm management information software systems.

The company is in the process of launching a new 10-satellite constellation that will be fully operational by the 2026 cropping season. This constellation is different from other ag-monitoring satellites orbiting the earth in that it will feature a yellow-band index among its impressive 22 spectral bands.

How is it different from other ag satellites?

EarthDaily satellite data showing the crop progress of China’s corn production regions for the last five growing seasons. The 2025 trend line (black) shows higher than historical average crop health.

(EarthDaily)

“Most [ag] satellites do not have an imager to collect the yellow band,” says Nick Ohrtman, key accounts success lead, EarthDaily. “We have a yellow band imager on ours that we’re pretty excited about moving forward, because obviously yellowing is a key indicator of a lot of plant stresses.”

Ohrtman adds the company has yet to get out and ground-truth the yellow-band imagery in the field, but the potential to catch more yield-robbing agronomic issues on the front-end and alert retail agronomists before crops really take a hit is intriguing.

Intriguing, yes. But Ohrtman, a former Iowa farm kid himself who still helps with the family farm when he’s not working in Minneapolis, says it still serves as just a complement to the traditional scouting pass. Nothing will ever replace farmer and/or agronomist boots-on-the-ground, he adds.

“You can’t be in every field every day, walking crops,” Ohrtman says. “But if you are in the field, you’re probably going to know better than I am from a satellite.”

Main takeaways, per EarthDaily:

The EarthDaily Constellation is purpose-built for broad area change detection, with 16 imagers on each bus capturing 22 spectral bands at the same time each day.
The system will be able to deliver AI-ready data that brings speed and accuracy of insights to today’s EO analytics market.
The full constellation will be operational in 2026, though the robustness of the data will not fully align with the crop season until then.
Among its 22 spectral bands, the yellow band, unique to EarthDaily, is valuable for detecting early signs of crop stress.
EarthDaily’s offering begins with data capture, which is then transformed into downstream analytics purpose-built for agriculture.
For farmers, the technology pinpoints when and where attention is needed in the field, predicting crop health and providing actionable insight without constant boots-on-the-ground monitoring.

Your next read: Could USDA Raise Corn Yields in the Report? Is China Buying U.S. Soybeans?

First Look: Fendt’s New Autonomy Ready Vario Tractors, Split Fold Optimum Planter

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 17:51:57 GMT

AGCO is not sitting idly by waiting out the new farm equipment sales downturn. The manufacturer is launching new Fendt-branded machines with integrated technology for row crop farmers.

That means new for Model Year 2026 is a massive 1000 Vario Gen4 high horsepower tractor series featuring four models (426 hp to 550 hp) already setup for autonomous tasking via factory-integrated PTx OutRun autonomy kits. And its Optimum 12-row, Precision Planting tech-packed planter represents a significant milestone for the German brand: It’s the first Fendt stack-fold planter to hit the U.S. market.

(AGCO/Fendt)

We’ll start with the new 1000 Vario Series tractor (shown above), which Fendt says is powered by a 12.4-liter MAN engine featuring DynamicPerformance. The new adaptive power feature reportedly optimizes the engine’s horsepower output and improves fuel efficiency.

Fendt is also saying its Gen4 tractor “raises the bar” with new cab improvements and smart farming tech integrations that help operators feel less fatigue and get more work done.

Most notable overall though is factory integrated autonomous tillage and grain cart robotics. The technology was previously marketed by PTx Trimble as a retrofit-only kit, but now it’s available from the factory on select Fendt 2026 tractor series.

“For farmers that are struggling with labor, efficiency or just trying to do timely operations on their farm to enhance their agronomic outcomes, we’re announcing both Fendt tractor integration and tillage,” says Bryce Baker, North America tactical marketing lead, PTx. “So with that, OutRun becomes a retrofit, mixed fleet, multitask autonomy system with more to come in the future.”

(AGCO/Fendt)

Arthur Santos, marketing manager, Fendt, says the top takeaway he is excited to share about the new Optimum stack-folding planter (shown above) is how it enables ultra-precise seed placement in raised bed farming.

Stack-fold planters, Santos adds, are popular with farmers in the Mississippi Delta, across the southwest in Oklahoma and Texas, as well as in different pockets of Nebraska.

“Everything revolves around seed placement, right? And farmers understand that. Farmers can see how the row unit technology is important, but sometimes farmers don’t focus that much on where the row unit is, that environment that you create for the row unit technology,” Santos says. “This is what the Optimum planter will bring. That tool bar flex placing the row unit where it needs to be, and that adjusting hitch placing the row unit where it needs to be. That row unit technology can’t do its job if it’s not placed where it needs to be.”

Santos also points to the row units themselves on the new 12-row, split fold planter offering. He says the units are equipped with a full-suite of PTx-Precision Planting row unit technology.

“We’re taking the best of the best of the Precision Planting row unit technology — V-Set 2 meters, V-Drive, DeltaForce hydraulic downforce, Speed Tubes, and the latest FurrowForce and Reveal tech — and we’re putting it on a planter right onto the frame,” he says. “This is what will distinguish Fendt planters from any other planter, we’re taking that amazing row unit technology that all the brands are chasing and we’re bringing it right to the frame.”

Order writing for the 1000 Vario Gen4 tractor will open up later this year with first deliveries taking place sometime in 2026, AGCO reps state. And Optimum will be rolled out for interested buyers with an initial presale offering in spring 2026.

Fendt is also adding dry fertilizer spreading to its Momentum 30' planter for model year 2026, and the AGCO/Fendt RoGator 900 Series sprayer is also getting a suite of upgrades.

And last but not least, Fendt’s FarmEngage FMIS machinery data platform is now included with all new machinery purchases for three years at no additional cost. The program costs $600 per farm license if purchased a la carte and offers API compatibility with John Deere’s Operations Center and CNH’s FieldOps platform, along with other popular farm management digital tools from Raven, Topcon, and AgLeader.

PTx will also offer a Starlink mini connectivity bundle through its dealer network in the coming months, PTx representatives add.

To learn more about AGCO/Fendt’s 2026 Model Year updates and releases, reach out to your local Fendt dealer.

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Kelly Hills Pushes the AgTech R&D Envelope with Driverless Tractor Pilot, Fungicide Spray Timing Tool

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 19:05:56 GMT

Emerging from its annual summer field day , Kelly Hills Unmanned announces the launch of two interesting endeavors that will surely move the needle forward on smart farming technology R&D:

The outfit is co-launching what it is calling the Rural Autonomous Mobility Program (RAMP), a pioneering public-private initiative to bring autonomous farm equipment onto public roads for the first time in the U.S.
Kelly Hills is also launching SpraySense, an AI-powered, autonomous application intelligence product developed through the company’s accelerator program, The Forge.

We’ll start with RAMP

Sabanto, founded in 2018, is working to allow farmers and ag retailers to convert any make and model into an autonomous tractor through an equipment retrofit kit.

(Sabanto)

RAMP, or the Rural Autonomous Mobility Program, was born from the vision of Kelly Hills CEO Lukas Koch and was made possible by the Kansas Department of Transportation’s (KDOT) Innovative Technology Program.

RAMP’s mission is to enable autonomous tractors and farm machinery to safely and legally operate on rural public roads, solving logistical bottlenecks and revitalizing rural economies.

Initial RAMP collaborators include:

Kelly Hills Unmanned Systems (Program Manager)
Sabanto (Autonomous Tractor Manufacturer)
Nemaha County in Kansas (Local Partner)
KDOT
Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA)
Kansas State University (K-State)

According to a press release, the partners aim to develop policy, infrastructure and safety protocols to allow fully autonomous tractors to move between fields and operational bases without human drivers.

RAMP will operate within a pilot phase in Kansas through 2026, collecting data on autonomous road operations, engaging with local communities and working with regulators to build a scalable model for other states and agricultural regions.

Let’s learn about SpraySense

(Heinen Brothers)

The inaugural 2025 cohort of The Forge, which we wrote about back in June, brought together ag tech and drone technology companies like Yamaha Precision Agriculture, Pyka, Precision AI, Scanit Technologies, Heinen Brothers Agra Services, and Taranis to co-develop solutions that address one of farming’s most persistent questions: When is the right time to apply fungicide?

According to Koch, the group was originally focused on optimizing fungicide application for corn and soybean growers, but the collaborative efforts exceeded expectations, resulting in the creation of SpraySense.

The platform, an end-to-end AI-driven recommendation and application system, brings together aerial imagery, weather and environmental conditions, disease risk models and traditional agronomy data sets to deliver real-time recommendations on whether, when, where and how to spray.

While its debut application targets fungicide optimization, SpraySense is designed as a modular, flexible platform. Kelly Hills plans to adapt the technology to other crop inputs including fertilizer, biologicals, herbicides and insecticides.

There’s a lot of cool, innovative stuff happening in those gently rolling, emerald green north Kansas hills. Check out KellyHills.us to learn more.

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New Case IH Steiger Quadtrac Tractor Offers 853 Horsepower, Subscription-Free Precision Ag Technology

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 14:38:28 GMT

Case IH says its new Steiger 785 Quadtrac increases the row crop tractor’s horsepower rating to 853 peak horsepower and features subscription-free, integrated precision technology and guidance, according to a press release from the company.

The higher horsepower allows farmers to handle larger implements or pull the same implements at higher speeds with a 40% torque rise.

Designed to provide more power to the ground, the Steiger 785 Quadtrac also offers a superior operator experience and cab comfort.

(Case IH)

Subscription-free, integrated precision technology unlocks automation-driven features, such as AccuTurn Pro and AccuSync, along with CNH Industrial’s FieldOps fleet and data management mobile app.

“We understand the demands of farming are only increasing. The Steiger 785 Quadtrac is a workhorse designed to meet those demands with power and productivity,” says Ken Lehmann, customer segmentation lead at Case IH. “With long days in the field, the boost in horsepower and torque allows farmers to do more in a day.”

For those seeking enhanced performance, an optional heavy-duty suspended undercarriage delivers a smooth ride, superior traction and flotation, helping minimize soil compaction in the field.

The Steiger 785 Quadtrac also holds strong value with Connectivity Included, a three-year/2,000-hour warranty and a simplified SCR-only emission system.

Farm Progress Show (Aug. 26-28 in Decatur, Ill.) will be the first public appearance for the Steiger 785 Quadtrac.

To learn more about Case IH’s precision technology, FieldOps and equipment solutions, visit the Case IH booth at this year’s Farm Progress Show (booth No. 867). You can also visit caseih.com or talk with your local Case IH dealer.

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Machinery News: Sorbe To Lead PTx, Farmall Tractors And Case IH Round Baler, Claas Jaguar Forage Choppers

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 16:46:39 GMT

AGCO Names Brian Sorbe as New PTx Leader

Brian Sorbe joins AGCO as President of PTx, bringing precision ag leadership to accelerate the company’s offerings of smart farming solutions for almost any brand.

(AGCO Corporation)

AGCO appoints Brian Sorbe as president of PTx, effective Aug. 25, 2025.

Sorbe brings nearly three decades of experience in precision agriculture, global sales and product development to this pivotal role, AGCO says.

“I am confident under Brian’s leadership, PTx will achieve our goal of $2 billion in precision ag sales by 2029 and help us deliver our vision to be the trusted partner for smart farming solutions,” says Eric Hansotia, AGCO chairman, president and CEO.

Sorbe spent 14 years at Topcon Positioning Systems in leadership roles, including senior vice president and general manager. His career arc also spans construction and industrial automation, but agriculture has always been at the core. Raised on a farm in Iowa, Sorbe began his precision ag journey at Ag-Chem Equipment in Jackson, Minn.

He will be based in Tremont, Ill., which is a key PTx site. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Purdue University, and Sorbe’s postgraduate work includes certifications in AI and machine learning and agricultural autonomy and robotics as well as a Master of Business of Administration program.

You can read the full news release here.

Case IH Launches 3 Farmall Tractors, RB6 Round Baler

Case IH Farmall C utility tractor.

(Case IH )

Case IH is debuting new machinery solutions ranging from compact to utility tractors to upgraded round balers. This includes an enhanced line up of Farmall tractors, including the Farmall A, Farmall C and the return of the Farmall M.

Case IH is also unveiling a new RB6 series variable chamber round baler.

The new Farmall medium utility A series (90HP to 120HP) tractor features performance enhancements and a higher-horsepower model. Simple, factory-fit technology improves the operator experience, ensuring efficiency no matter the season or task.

The Farmall medium utility C series (90C, 100C, 110C, 120C) tractor (shown above) caters to a wide range of needs, offering both 12-speed PowerShuttle and 24-speed Hi-Lo transmissions. The Farmall C now offers subscription-free factory-installed telematics, including track-and-trace fleet management and optional ISOBUS compatible implement control.

Case IH Farmall M utility tractor

(Case IH)

And the Farmall utility M series (110M, 120 Super M) tractor (shown above) is making its return, promising farmers a premium experience with exceptional power and high-quality design. The M series is ideal for the needs of farms with both cash crops and livestock.

(Case IH)

The RB6 series variable chamber round baler (shown above) offers durability with triple seal bearings throughout the machine to ensure contaminants stay out while lubricants stay in. Round baler automation paired with the easy-to-use display interface ensures precise bale quality and in-field productivity.

Claas Intros New Jaguar 1000 Series Forage Harvesters

(Claas)

Claas is unveiling its new Jaguar 1000 series forage harvesters. The German outfit says its new self-propelled lineup features greater throughput, power and operator comfort.

The series encompasses four models — the Jaguar 1080, 1090, 1100 and 1200 — that range from 850HP to 1,110HP with throughput rates of up to 500 tons per hour.

Claas says it designed the machines in partnership with North American growers to deliver enhanced chop quality and efficiency.

Noteworthy features on these new machines include:

The widest crop flow channel on the market, according to Claas. A new precompression system and four precompression rollers guarantee uniform feeding of the V-FLEX knife drum.
A transversely mounted 24-liter V12 MAN engine, delivering torque and reliable power.
Intelligent engine load management via CEMOS Auto Performance and all-wheel drive.
The new Multi Crop Cracker XL, a 12.2" (310 mm) diameter roller conditioning system that ensures optimal grain and stover processing at high throughput rates. It’s available in both classic and shredlage configurations.
Claas connect Chop Quality Analysis, which uses artificial intelligence to deliver Corn Silage Processing Score (CSPS) feedback directly to a smartphone.

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Broadband Coming To A Field Near You? Data BRIDGE Act Would Bring Connectivity To The Farm

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 14:13:43 GMT

On Tuesday, Republican Congresswoman Erin Houchin (IN-09) introduced bipartisan legislation, H.R. 4950 – the Data BRIDGE Act – to improve how the FCC’s broadband map accounts for agricultural lands.

Today, barns and other farming structures located across the rural countryside are included in the FCC’s broadband map, but the surrounding cropland, pastures, and acreage where farming happens are not.

The Data BRIDGE Act directs the FCC to integrate USDA’s existing cultivated land data layer into its broadband map, with no new cost or mandates, ensuring federal broadband funding “reaches the fields that power America’s food supply.”

Republican Congresswoman Erin Houchin (Ind.-09)

(Photo Credit Nate Payne)

“Our farmers depend on reliable broadband to stay competitive in a modern economy,” writes Houchin in a statement to Farm Journal. “The Data BRIDGE Act is a commonsense, low-cost solution that ensures federal broadband investments actually reach the fields, pastures and production areas where work happens. I have fought for years to expand rural broadband, and this bill is another important step toward closing the connectivity gap for our farm families and rural communities.”

Here is a link to the proposed bill at Congress.gov. The bill has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It would need to be voted on and passed by both the House and the Senate before making its way to President Donald Trump’s desk. The president could then veto the bill or sign it into law.

The bill currently has seven cosponsors, including four House Democrats and three Republicans.

Contact your local Congressional Representative and ask them to support H.R. 4950 if you would like the bill to become U.S. law.

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Farm Drone News: AgEagle Multispectral Sensor, GPS Satellite Launched and Rantizo Spins Off Software

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 18:08:05 GMT

AgEagle Aerial Systems Unveils New RedEdge-P Green Camera

(AgEagle Aerial Systems)

AgEagle Aerial Systems announces the launch of its new RedEdge-P Green, a multispectral camera designed to enable precision agriculture from planting to harvest.

AgEagle says farmers that use the new sensor payload can achieve higher yields through quicker interventions both early on and late in the crop cycle. Operators can reduce fertilizer and irrigation inputs and engage in smart harvesting techniques using optimized indices and targeted indices like the Plant Senescence Reflectance Index (PSRI).

Available as a standalone camera or in paired configurations with the original RedEdge-P and the RedEdge-P Blue, users can leverage up to 15 noise-resistant, data-rich spectral bands essential for large-area precision agriculture.

The RedEdge-P Green camera is NDAA-compliant and integrates with multiple drone platforms. Each camera kit includes a Calibrated Reflectance Panel (CRP) and a Downwelling Light Sensor (DLS2) for radiometric calibration.

Production of the RedEdge-P Green camera is underway, and the first units are expected to ship this week. For more information about the RedEdge-P Green visit ageagle.com.

Dutch Startup Launches Largest GPS Network for Drones, Tractors

(Lindsey Pound, iStock)

FreshMiners, a Netherlands-based IOT firm, launched a GPS service that enables accurate positioning for agriculture, construction and drone navigation, according to AgriMarketing.com.

AgriMarketing.com writes that the Dutch company is launching a service for extra-accurate GPS. It is intended for drone pilots, farmers and others. With this new technology, users can correct their GPS positions down to the centimeter. Real-time correction signals are sent to the user’s GPS receiver via a global network of base stations. This correction is essential for applications in agriculture, land surveying and drone navigation, among other things.

A subscription gives users access to the GEODNET network, which, with more than 19,000 base stations in over 140 countries, is now reportedly the largest RTK network in the world.

Read more at AgriMarketing.com.

Missouri Doctoral Student Says Drones Are Fine Tool for Crop Scouting

(Photo by Abbie Lankitus)

Researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered a mix of drones and AI can help farmers measure the health of their corn more efficiently.

Instead of relying on handheld devices, which are slow and impractical for larger fields, the researchers surveyed corn fields in mid-Missouri using drones equipped with special cameras to capture images and data.

After combining the drone images with soil data, the Mizzou researchers used a type of AI known as machine learning to quickly predict the chlorophyll content in the corn leaves of the entire field with great accuracy.

The study was led by Fengkai Tian (pictured above), a Mizzou doctoral student who works in the lab of Jianfeng Zhou, an associate professor in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

Read more from the University of Missouri here.

Rantizo Spin-Off American Autonomy Inc. Says It Can Close the Spray Drone Data Loop

Rantizo is now connected with the John Deere Operations Center through John Deere API services.

(Rantizo)

Ground rig as-applied data has been around for decades, and it comes in handy when you’re tabulating your end of year scorecard to find out which treatments boosted yields and where a spray might have fallen short.

Yet even though spray drones treated over 10 million crop acres in 2024 alone, there’s still a gap that exists in capturing that data and integrating it into your farm management software.

Former Rantizo CEO Mariah Scott, who is now the CEO of a spinoff operation dubbed American Autonomy Inc., says her new outfit’s AcreConnect platform can help close that gap with API connections into John Deere’s Operations Center and more major FMIS platforms.

“We talk to farmers about getting that complete view of your field management, by closing the loop so you understand what’s effective or what’s not,” Scott says. “Most of the farmers we talk to use spray drones and a ground sprayer, and that (as-applied) data from the sprayer goes right into their FMIS account, but with the spray drone it doesn’t always work like that.”

The deal to divest the spray drone operations side of the business was quietly announced on Aug. 1. The Rantizo name, the startup is a pioneering spray drone service provider, still lives on, but now there’s a clean break between the spraying operations and the software on the back end that enables it.

Learn more about the Rantizo-American Autonomy Spinoff over at PRNewswire.

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John Deere PRO Service: Learn What Experts and A Farmer Think About The New Tool

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 18:21:52 GMT

John Deere’s answer to the FTC Right To Repair lawsuit arrived last week in the form of a new digital diagnosis and repair product for John Deere machines and Hagie STS high-clearance sprayers and corn detasselers.

For $195 a year for each machine linked in a farmer’s Operations Center account, John Deere says customers in the U.S. and Canada can now “maintain, diagnose, repair and protect” equipment. A John Deere customer with a large fleet of green and yellow machines can purchase the “Entire Organization Customer Fleet” annual license for $4,995.

Independent service technicians are also able to obtain and use Operations Center PRO Service. That license costs $5,995 per year.

What Are Farmers and Precision Ag Experts Saying?

The tool is so fresh and new to the market farmers and technicians haven’t had time to put it to use.

Sixth generation Nebraska farmer Lukas Frieke recently switched a good chunk of his on-farm technology and equipment fleet over to John Deere machines. He says its the level of support that his local John Deere dealer is providing that prompted the switch.

Frieke, who also raises hogs on his farm outside Ulysses, thinks the release of this tool signals a new mindset at the manufacturer.

“I think Deere realized during the Right to Repair stuff that they need to keep brand loyalty, and one of the biggest issues with the digitization of our equipment lines is the ability to be supported,” Frieke says. “It doesn’t matter who is doing the troubleshooting or fixing, it matters that it’s a Deere product.

“It also lessens the load on dealership staff — it allows quality repairs to shine and evens the playing field for all the repair people,” he adds.

Right to Repair Advocate Speaks

Beltway lobbyist and long-time Right to Repair advocate Willie Cade says he has the app and plans to spend the next couple weeks putting it through its paces. He cautions farmers to do their homework before they pay the license fees for the new app.

“There’s been a long history of John Deere making these kinds of promises and not coming through,” he says. “We really need to get this tool in hand and look through it.”

Cade admits the release signifies a dash of forward progress in the Right to Repair movement, but, in his opinion, John Deere still maintains “some control” over the repair process within PRO Service.

“That’s just not a free market — that’s not free at all,” he adds. “It gives them all the control.”

Cade agrees with Darr at Iowa State: Go dig into the app and figure out what it can and can’t do before you go on social media and give your opinion on it.

“Then, we can continue the advocacy we’ve been doing for the last seven years,” Cade says. “Maybe the ship is doing a little turn (for the better), but we need to do a full 180.”

John Deere’s Response

Farm Journal reached out to John Deere to ask more questions beyond what was shared in the initial press release. Denver Caldwell, vice president of aftermarket and customer support for John Deere, provides the following answers:

Farm Journal: Is the release of PRO Service in response to the FTC v. John Deere and Right to Repair lawsuits?

Caldwell: The launch of PRO Service is consistent with our long-standing approach to developing new solutions that deliver value for our customers. For many decades, John Deere has steadily expanded its support for customer repairs with technical manuals and evolving into the robust digital offerings that are available today, including: Operations Center, Equipment Mobile, and Shop.Deere.com. John Deere will also continue to develop solutions that enhance customers’ ability to use, maintain, diagnose, repair, and protect their equipment.

Farm Journal: In previous statements, John Deere representatives have claimed releasing a fully capable digital service tool to customers and independent technicians could potentially compromise and open its machines up to being incorrectly coded or digitally manipulated in some way that would render those machines unsafe or hamper performance. Have those concerns been mitigated in some way within this new tool?

Caldwell: We’ve developed Operations Center PRO Service to deliver new capabilities for equipment owners to use, maintain, diagnose, repair, and protect their equipment without compromising important factors like safety and regulatory compliance. We will also continue to develop new capabilities and deliver those as they become available.

Farm Journal: What is the No. 1 aspect of this new service tool that you think is important to convey to farmers who use John Deere equipment?

Caldwell: Operations Center PRO Service delivers John Deere’s most expansive, innovative, and economical self-repair capabilities yet, and we’re proud of that. New and enhanced features include the ability to install software when replacing electronic components or controllers, also known as reprogramming.

Farm Journal: Are there any other thoughts you’d like to share about this new tool?

Caldwell: With this launch, our message to our customers is very clear. Whether you want the support of your professionally trained and trusted John Deere dealer, to work with another local service provider, or to fix your machine yourself – we’ve created additional capabilities for you to choose the option that best fits your needs and helps you run it your way.

Tech News: Bonsai Robotics Adds Farm-ng, Case IH Creates AI-Powered Parts Tool, Lindsey Launches TowerWatch

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 13:32:44 GMT

Bonsai Robotics Acquires Electric Robot Startup Farm-ng

Bonsai Robotics has acquired Farm-ng, a startup offering modular electric robots for farm management.

Bonsai says the strategic combination brings together two agtech companies with shared visions on how to deliver powerful artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that tackle the labor, cost and efficiency challenges specialty crop growers face today.

The integration of Bonsai’s autonomous AI technology with Farm-ng’s customizable robotic platform enables AI-first machines that Bonsai says could transform crop management.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Existing shareholders of both companies will retain ownership stakes in the newly combined entity, Bonsai Robotics.

Learn more about the deal from The Packer’s Christina Herrick here.

Case IH Debuts AI-powered Visual Search Tool for Equipment Parts

(Case IH)

Case IH has announced its newest tech innovation, Visual Search Tool, a digital, AI-powered image recognition app the company says can help farmers reduce downtime. The Visual Search Tool allows operators and dealers to search for equipment parts without part numbers via a photo taken through the app.

Operators out in the field may not always have parts numbers handy, and this new tool removes the guesswork. The app takes the photo uploaded by a customer or dealer and matches it to the part. This new innovation can take away the stress of finding a part number and helps operators get back in the field as quickly as possible.

Case IH says this is the latest example of how it is not only using AI to streamline operations and the way it develops products but also to support its dealers and customers. In addition to the Visual Search Tool, CNH launched AI tech assistant this winter that helps dealer technicians better and more quickly support customers.

For more information, contact your local Case IH dealer.

Lindsay Releases TowerWatch Alignment Monitoring System

(Lindsay Corp.)

Lindsay Corp. is adding TowerWatch, a tower alignment monitor that can pinpoint irrigation tower faults faster, to the company’s SmartPivot Solutions tech suite.

The sensor-based monitoring system is available on new Zimmatic pivots and also available aftermarket for most irrigation pivots in North America. Lindsay says growers using TowerWatch can potentially reduce troubleshooting time by 75% through alerts from FieldNET Premier.

Lindsay says TowerWatch also allows growers to save on water and energy costs. When a tower fault occurs, growers using Lindsay’s SmartPivot Solutions can expect to:

Get an instant notification from the FieldNET app.
Immediately identify the location of the fault.
Remotely control water application to lower the risk of crop stress.
Arrive at the right tower quicker to inspect the issue, reducing time spent walking.
Make fewer trips to the field, saving time and money.

For more on Lindsay’s solutions for farmers worldwide, talk to your local Lindsay dealer or visit Lindsay.com/towerwatch.

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Spray Drone Season Hits Full Throttle: 3 Service Providers Flying Acres and Boosting Yields

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 18:15:49 GMT

Nebraska native Andy Kreikemeier’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing all week, and it won’t go silent anytime soon.

That’s because his former hobby and volunteer side hustle, flying drones for the county emergency response team, transformed into a full-time gig as a spray drone operator. Kreikemeier is one-third of a team of spray drone pilots with business partners Brett Scheiding and Brad Eisenhauer. Together, the three local volunteer firefighters started Infinity Precision Ag, a custom drone application service provider in southeast Nebraska.

The Infinity team is in the crunch of the summer plant health application season, and farmers without access to a Hagie high-clearance sprayer or an aerial application service need the timely sprays these certified drone pilots provide to get their crop across the finish line and in good shape for fall harvest.

The trio is in their sophomore season offering per-acre spray drone application services to farmers, and the group learned “a ton” from last year’s rookie campaign.

“Spray drones are definitely a good tool because they can do a lot of specialized things, and it’s fun to see the old farmers come out and watch these things. They’ll tell me ‘Never in my day would I have thought this was something I’d be using’,” Kreikemeier says. “It’s a fun change, and it works. You can get more precise with your applications, and you get the stuff where you want it at all times.”

The team at Infinity exclusively flies Hylio spray drones, which are manufactured in Texas. Hylio was among the first U.S. service providers – Iowa-based Rantizo being one of the others – to receive FAA approval to swarm , or operate in concert, multiple spray drones in one flight mission. Swarming is exactly how Kreikemeier and his team prefer to operate the mostly automated quadcopters. By operating multiple spray drones together in a fleet, Infinity can cover more acres per hour.

Related: Trump Issues Executive Order Making Ag Drones More Efficient

Kreikemeier says the service requests from farmers this summer are “about 50-50” fungicide on corn applications and insecticide or foliar-applied biological sprays. There hasn’t been a lot of Tar Spot disease pressure in his area yet, but Gray Leaf Spot in corn is something farmers need to proactively spray for.

(Lindsey Pound)

While he won’t go as far as saying the drones are a superior application tool to a large ground rig or aerial application plane, he does see some advantages to using the technology.

“The drones can definitely get the products deeper into the plant canopy — at least that’s what I’m seeing right now,” Kreikemeier says, adding he’s also seeing improved application quality on end-rows and sensitive areas near buffers, streams and rural housing developments. An aerial applicator would usually have to pull up and gain altitude to avoid those obstacles, potentially leaving some spray to drift off-target. But an unmanned drone can stay low and keep blasting active ingredients directly into the canopy.

“Guys are definitely telling me they can see a difference between what the drones have done and what the planes have done,” he says.

From Photographer to Pilot-In-Charge

Drone shots of a drone spraying fungicide on corn field sprayer spray - By Lindsey Pound

(Lindsey Pound)

Over on the East Coast, Joshua Berry got his start in the drone world along the same lines as many early adopters: he built up a custom photography and videography business for years before making the decision to integrate aerial photography to stay relevant.

The first drone he purchased is widely considered one of the “OGs” in the drone world: DJI’s Phantom 1. Berry recalls his aerial photography service didn’t take off right away, but he always knew ag was an industry he wanted to join. The realization came fast and hard that he was facing an uphill battle to make that dream a reality, as his family didn’t own land or have a legacy in farming.

Berry’s big breakthrough came when he started using drones equipped with thermal cameras to help deer hunters locate fallen prey deep in the woods. The service gave him a foot in the door with local farmers – many of whom are avid hunters or at the very least friends with hunters – along Maryland’s specialty ag-rich Eastern Shore.

refilling drone spraying fungicide on corn field sprayer spray - By Lindsey Pound

(Lindsey Pound)

“A guy out in Ohio saw what I was doing and wanted to get into the deer recovery stuff, so he befriended me, and I helped teach him a couple things,” Berry says. “One day he calls me up and he’s like, ‘Yo, have you seen these agricultural drones?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I have my eye on it.’ And he tells me it’s going to be the next big thing.”

Berry started doing research and soon enough he agreed with his buddy in Ohio that spray drones would be his ticket to a career in farming. He ordered a pair of DJI Agras T-40 models and started working on getting licensed to legally apply chemicals.

That took him a few months (today the FAA licensing process has been streamlined), and he was able to start flying and applying midway through the 2024 growing season.

“I did a lot of research and networking before I flew a single acre, so I felt like I set myself up for success (early on),” Berry says. “Even though it was a dry year – dry and hot means there’s not a lot of pressure on farmers to spray – I ended the season with between 2,500 and 3,000 acres. For a guy in his first half of a season, I was happy with that.

Related: How Spray Drones Revolutionize Corn Farming, Make Farmers More Efficient and Sustainable

This year, Berry’s acreage will double to about 6,000-7,000. That’s an impressive figure, considering how fields are laid out on the East Coast. This isn’t Iowa, Berry says, where a drone operator can park at an intersection and knock out 300 acres of flat, continuous fields without having to move the truck and tender trailer.

As far as the job mix this summer, he is putting on a lot of single pass fungicide-insecticide-liquid fertilizer applications across a diverse mix of crops. Berry is also hearing some farmers in his area are buying drones themselves and skipping the whole FAA licensing process to spray their crops themselves.

“That’s going to hurt us as an industry, big time. And also, it’s going to hurt the farmers eventually. Even though the enforcement wing of the FAA is almost nonexistent, there is enforcement out there,” he says. “They may not have the manpower (now), but if that changes, you’re going to see these unlicensed guys really start to get dinged.”

Tendering for Spray Drones

The Mitten State is a good proving ground for spray drone applications, says Leon Thelen, agricultural drone application specialist, On Point Application Group (Battle Creek, Mich.).

For one, there aren’t many options for custom aerial application services available to growers like there are in the western Corn Belt. And Michigan farms are often broken into collections of smaller, oddly shaped fields with power lines, tree stands and residential developments nearby. That makes plane applications dicey.

And finally, the state has a diverse crop mix that features a lot of high-value, specialty crops like cranberries, cherries, potatoes and sugar beets. There are a lot of farmers looking to make applications without running over expensive plants with a ground rig.

Related: 7 Expert Tips To Maximize Spray Drone Efficiency

Thelen says On Point Application Group is doing a lot of field border insecticide applications, spot spraying tough weed escapes like water hemp, and putting out full field broadcast applications of fungicides with its XAG P140 spray drones.

One critical aspect of the business Thelen and his team have sorted out over the past few months is tendering. He says the giant, bi-level prefab drone tender trailers you see around the Midwest are good for most operations, but a smaller footprint tender that can fit in the back of an extended pickup is ideal for the type of work he’s doing in Michigan.

“Being that I’ve backed a trailer into a lot of fields, I like lightweight equipment that’s nimble,” he says. “We’ve got a trailer with 1,000 gallons of water and a mix tank that we can leave at the field edge and unhook. Then we have this 200-gallon hot tank with our charging equipment , batteries and everything we can take into the field. This setup works well when you’re working off (irrigation) pivot lanes or back in behind the woods. I like to be close to the field.”

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Fusing The Best of Regenerative Ag and Smart Farming: Senator Marshall’s Take on MAHA

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 14:22:10 GMT

Having grown up as a Kansas fifth generation farm kid and spending many years as a physician, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, R-Kan., views the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda through a different lens than many of his Beltway colleagues.

“I delivered a baby every day for some 25 years in my hometown,” Marshall says. “And certainly, diet and nutrition are so, so, so important. When I came to Congress, this was one of the things I wanted to address. And I want to start by saying there’s no MAHA without American agriculture leadership.”

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While much of the recent reporting around MAHA focuses on unpacking the movement’s outwardly anti-pesticide bent , Marshall has fashioned his own, more conventional ag-friendly version covering four distinct pillars:

Increase American agricultural efficiency
Grow healthier, nutrient rich food
Unlock affordable health care access for millions of Americans
Focus on health care resources to combat the mental health epidemic

“I believe soil health leads to healthy food, which leads to healthy people,” Marshall says. “I hear the MAHA group and I hear the ag folks. I have a foot in each of those worlds, and I am trying to bring them together. Because guess what? American agriculture wants healthy children just as much as anybody.”

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Marshall believes MAHA can achieve that goal by embracing some – but not all – of the regenerative ag principles Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., espoused on the campaign trail. American farmers are already reducing chemical use with tools like selective spraying systems and mechanical weeding implements, but the senator knows there’s still meat on that bone. He views it less as a return to “40 acres and a mule” and more as a combination of pieces and parts from the regenerative ag playbook with precision ag technology generously sprinkled into the mix.

“Regenerative ag should be centered around precision ag and growing more with less,” he says. “We’re already using 60% less fertilizers and less pesticides. I think we must continue to decrease the amount of fertilizers and pesticides, so there’s less residue on that loaf of bread in the grocery store.”

Marshall is currently rallying Congressional support for the bipartisan Plant Biostimulant Act. This yet-to-be-ratified farm policy would streamline the FDA approval process under FIFRA for new, novel and natural modes of action. But the senator emphasizes the program must remain voluntary.

“About 5% of the farm bill is conservation practices,” he says. “So, I would streamline the FDA process and allow these biostimulants to be one of the options. It’s not a subsidy, though. I just want to make the regulatory process easier. And that’s going to make it more affordable, as well.”

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Another goal is for the American producer to embrace best-in-class crop production and sustainability practices. The Kansas senator points to one example from his home state as the creative and nimble thinking he wants to see American farmers embrace.

“We have a group of sorghum growers that have their own mill,” Marshall says. “And they’re selling that flour directly to the infant formula (companies) as well as to European markets. The EU has higher standards, so to speak, than America does, and so be it. I don’t know if they’re necessary, but I don’t make the rules. These Kansas farmers have cracked the code and they’re getting a premium for their sorghum right now, and all it takes is a little extra effort.”

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Harvest Smarter: How Farmer Neil Denton Slashes Grain Loss With Aftermarket Technology

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:22:10 GMT

Neil Denton doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to his crops: His corn today looks to be “a marginal crop” and his soybean yields are “going to be way off” this fall.

His operation, Denton Farms, Barlow, Ky., raises corn, soybeans, wheat, rye and canola in an area known for bluegrass music, Kentucky pit-style barbecue and, of course, bourbon whiskey. But that American-made, caramel-brown legacy spirit can only blunt the sting of a meager crop year so much. Denton has a farm (not to mention a podcast and YouTube Channel) to run, so you can’t really blame him for doing everything in his power to get every single, shiny kernel in the bin.

With that goal top of mind, this spring he pulled the trigger on new crop-specific sets of Bushel Plus concaves to replace the OEM concaves in his John Deere X9 combine. The aftermarket concaves are easy to swap out, he says. Right away, Denton noted the unique grate design, which has helped whittle his harvest losses on soft winter wheat down to 0.7 bu. per acre; that is “phenomenal for small grains,” he says.

Looking to fine-tune his combine performance even more, Denton added the Bushel Plus SmartPan system to his harvest toolkit — a remote-controlled “smart” drop pan and mobile app to monitor and measure grain loss out the back end of the combine. After all, the hilly, western Kentucky landscape presents a formidable challenge when it comes to dialing in header height and other settings for each field.

Denton says he has also enjoyed getting to know Marcel Kringe, Bushel Plus founder and CEO. Kringe is originally from Germany, but today he makes his home on Canada’s canola-ringed western plains, perhaps the ideal location for an innovator focused on harvester optimization.

“He’s one of those guys that’s willing to come out, help you install concaves, and show you how they work,” says Denton. “You just don’t see that very often.”

Denton says he expects to see a full return on investment this year for both the concaves and the SmartPan system. He adds that the ruggedized concaves are built to last, extending their lifespan to far more acres in the combine.

CEO on summer tour

Bushel Plus CEO Marcel Kringe

(Photo courtesy of Bushel Plus)

Kringe is currently amid a multiweek tour of U.S. equipment dealer field days. He says the farmers he has met with are looking for relief from high operating costs and low commodity prices.

“Grain prices right now are a bit tricky, but overall farmers are happy they got planting finished up after a tough spring with lots of moisture down here,” Kringe says. “Right now, they are focused on getting the best out of their crop because margins are tight, right? And if they buy something, they’ll only buy it if it has a good ROI. Our products are all about getting more grain in the bin and having less (grain) loss, and less loss means more money for the farmer.”

Limiting grain lost out the backside of the combine is a passion for Kringe, who got Bushel Plus off the ground from his basement as a hobby. He likens the importance of combine and header adjustments to front-end alignments in the automotive world.

As with tires, if the alignment is off, everything pulls in the wrong direction and wears unevenly, Kringe notes.

“It’s the same idea with a combine. We’re essentially calibrating the machine so it runs smoothly and efficiently — just like aligning the front end of a vehicle,” he says. “Farmers already understand they need to calibrate tools like air seeders, planters and sprayers. Combines need the same attention. It has to be dialed in to perform at its best.”

(Photo courtesy of Bushel Plus)

Kringe has a tagline to remind farmers how often they need to calibrate the combine: New field. New crop. New variety. Any of the three means it’s time to do a fresh calibration.

For growers that have never made aftermarket changes to their combine, but they think now is the time to dive in, Kringe says they should start with a drop pan system.

“You already have a combine with concaves doing the job,” he says. “And while our concaves take that performance further, the SmartPan really gets you thinking seriously about harvest loss. You can only harvest once, and if you’re not measuring what’s coming out the back, you’re flying blind. That’s the one thing you want to have.”

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2025 Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College: Making A Stand

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:38:21 GMT

A record-breaking harvest of corn or soybeans is built on the foundation of a good stand. That concept is the focus for the 2025 Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College.

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie and team will be addressing some of the key agronomic practices and tools farmers use to accomplish high yields during the two-day event – slated for July 22 through July 23 – near Heyworth, Ill.

“We’re going to focus on what the elements of a good stand are in corn and soybeans and how you can achieve them through agronomic decisions and the tools you use,” Ferrie says.

The program includes a variety of both in-the-field sessions as well as inside, classroom sessions.

Planter Selection For Your Farm

One of the key topics being addressed this year for corn growers is the planter and how to select one that’s a good fit for your specific farm.

“There are so many different systems out there today, and when it comes to making planter purchases, add-on purchases and such, you have to think through the whole process and how they will work for you,” Ferrie says.

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Missy Bauer will also be on hand to help farmers identify the impact of planting practices on corn and soybean stands.

“Missy will be talking to us about how to identify a good stand and also what contributes to a poor stand,” Ferrie notes. “We’re going to talk about hybrid characteristics and different aspects of the rooting structure of corn. We’ll then blend that information all in with farmers’ tillage practices, including strip-till, no-till, and also cover crops.”

Success With Early-Planted Soybeans

On the soybean side of the two-day program, Ferrie and team will be addressing early-planted soybeans and how to build a systems approach to growing them – from variety selection and planting preparation through harvest.

“We want to talk about row spacing, population, soybean characteristics, when can we stress plants and when to not stress plants,” Ferrie says. “We want to help farmers adopt a systems approach to early soybeans versus just planting them early and then trying to treat them like you would normal beans.”

In addition to these topics, the in-field and classroom sessions at the event will address:

Science behind spray nozzles: selecting the right nozzles for the job and making sure they perform well in the field.

Establishing corn ear count: examining the differences in rooting depth and stand establishment across a variety of tillage practices.

Closing systems: analyzing a variety of systems in different agronomic conditions to demonstrate how such systems impact stand establishment.

Put everything together, corn edition: evaluating everything from hybrid characteristics, leaf orientation, ear flex and how plant height affects light interpretation to ear development and plant stress in conventional corn and short corn.

Put everything together, soybean edition: looking at planting date, variety characteristics, tillage system, plant nutrition, row spacing and population all play a hand in bean stand establishment, overall light interception and yield.

The two-day event brings together presenters, farmers, and industry personnel that are passionate about raising the bar in farming, Ferrie says. “This is an unsponsored event making more time for our agronomists to spend with attendees, getting their questions answered, and more time to spend in the field,” he says.

Day 1 of the Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College starts at 8 a.m., Tuesday, July 22, and runs through happy hour/dinner.

Day 2 starts at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 23, and sessions will go through lunch.

“We will finish the second day with a Q & A following lunch. Our agronomists will be available to answer questions until your questions run out, so be sure to come with your list,” Ferrie says.

Price: $625 (includes access to one-day virtual event in January 2026).

Get the complete agenda details and register here .

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