The person in charge of John Deere's tech stack globally has toured Australia on a learning tour of local farm practices and offered a glimpse into the technology in development and the trends he believes will guide agriculture into the future.
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Senior vice president and chief technology officer Jahmy Hindman attended the opening of a new AFGRI John Deere dealership, conducted farm visits to hear from Australian producers, and visited John Deere's Australian head office in Crestmead, Brisbane.
With more than 25 years of advanced technology, artificial intelligence, product engineering, and manufacturing experience under his belt, Mr Hindman oversees the company's technology stack of intuitive hardware and devices, embedded software, connectivity, data platforms, and applications.
"While we're still largely seen as a machine manufacturer, we actually employ more software engineers than mechanical engineers," he said.
"The opportunity in front of us is to think about farming as a system, not just the individual machines that execute the work on the farm. So looking at how the pieces of equipment work together and within the larger ecosystem of the growers' environment.
"AutoPath is a good example of how we use data sharing across machines to learn from each other and improve their performance. The guidance tracks that are made during planting help inform the spraying operations, and then where the combine should go."
Artificial intelligence is set to play a greater role in the development of John Deere's tech stack.
"I think you can't help but get excited about the opportunities that generative AI presents us, particularly around helping speed up software development, meaning better solutions get into the hands of customers faster," Mr Hindman said.
"See & SprayTis our most notable current commercial offering that relies on AI. The network of cameras processes one billion pixels a second to determine the exact points where weed spraying is required. I think a big change in this space will be how fast we can collect the training data to optimise technologies like See & Spray which will speed up model development.
"AI is going to be very useful in pattern recognition of complex datasets that unlock learnings that would otherwise be hidden to us.
"Customer confidence in automation tools like this is increasing, but we have to earn that confidence by continuing to offer safe, effective solutions which help farmers increase their productivity. Things like yield mapping weren't possible before we added Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and guidance capabilities onto our machines, so it's exciting to consider what automation could allow into the future.
"We're looking to have fully autonomous corn and soy production systems by 2030, which will bleed over into other production systems."
Key to these automation tools is enhanced connectivity, with John Deere recently announcing an industry-first partnership with SpaceX to provide cutting-edge satellite communications services to farmers, utilising the Starlink network.
"Starlink is customising a new version of their satellite terminal to be used for agriculture, which opens up a world of opportunities," Mr Hindman said.
"The ability to get fast, reliable, bi-directional data flowing to and from equipment will allow farmers to make better decisions not just within the growing season, but from season to season.
"We will start production this year and be able to certify this technology in both the United States and Brazilian markets hopefully this year on a limited production basis and go to full production in those markets next year.
"Once that's in production it will give us the opportunity to certify with governmental entities in countries like Australia and Canada. That's step two."
Mr Hindman said farmers will need to continue to adapt to new technologies moving forward.
"Farmers are already very savvy at internalising new technologies, understanding how they can benefit them, and modifying their operations to accommodate that," he said.
"The way they farm in the next 10 to 15 years will look very different to today. The notion of no longer needing to be in a machine to operate it fundamentally changes how they manage their time.
"Australian farmers in particular are some of the most forward-thinking in the world. Challenges like water availability really push them to find innovative new ways of working. There are no subsidies for agriculture in Australia, which drives growers to take more risks as they shoulder that risk of the business themselves.
"I think the drive to find solutions for more efficient farming operations is greater here than anywhere else in the world."
