Applicators

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

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 16:10:42 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.

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Farmers, Truckers and Gear Heads Rejoice: EPA Rolls Out Streamlined Diesel Engine Fluid Guidelines

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 18:04:22 GMT

EPA is rolling out new guidance for manufacturers of farm equipment and other heavy-duty vehicles, removing regulatory red tape requiring diesel-powered farm equipment to reduce engine torque dramatically when a problem arises with the machine’s Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) system.

You can read EPA’s statement on the announcement here.

The new rule making goes into effect immediately for all new diesel engines on model year 2027 machines. It should also be noted the new guidance from EPA is voluntary for all non road equipment. Ultimately, each manufacturer will have the right to choose whether it implements the new inducement strategy or maintains the status quo with its own machines.

To fix the problem for farm machinery already in the field, EPA’s new guidance, developed in collaboration with farm equipment manufacturers, will work to ensure necessary software changes can be made on the existing fleet.

(EPA)

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin says now all non-road equipment, like farm tractors, combines and sprayers, must be configured so there is no impact on engine power for up to 36 hours when a DEF system malfunction occurs. Once 36 engine hours have passed, a 25% reduction in engine torque will go into effect until the machine is serviced. If the farm equipment is not fixed within 100 engine hours, then a 50% reduction in torque is activated until the machine can be serviced.

Additionally, farm equipment can be restarted with full engine power three times for up to 30 minutes after inducement, according to the EPA release.

“This is the first crack in the ice toward saying we don’t need these expensive systems on our farm equipment,” says Ben Reinsche, owner, Blue Diamond Farming Company in Jesup, Iowa. “We don’t need to immediately shut off an engine or be restricted for 36 hours if you have DEF unavailable or a malfunction.

“This is a positive step and maybe a formative step toward saying that having these emission standards on farm or off-road equipment is not critically necessary,” adds Reinsche. “There are so many other things farmers can do that are planet positive, like using conservation and sustainability practices, rather than having an after treatment system on our diesel engines.”

Small Business Administration (SBA) leader Kelly Loeffler says the new rule will save 1.8 million family farms across America a staggering $727 million per year while offering “vital financial and operational certainty.”

“This announcement today is such a big deal, especially on behalf of our farmers and ranchers,” says USDA secretary Brook Rollins. “At a time when our ag sector is really hurting, our farmers have had to endure a 30% cost increase in inputs, and a $30 billion Biden-era trade deficit, these everyday regulations being lifted makes such a difference.”

The new guidance greatly reduces a machine setting known as DEF derating and allows operators more time to secure DEF, refuel and make repairs. The new guidance also reportedly retains the environmental benefits of Tier 4 engine and DEF regulations for farm equipment and trucks.

“Today we are taking another important step forward by undoing these diesel fluid guidelines that have hurt our farmers and small rural businesses,” says U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). “Not only will these new guidelines save family-run farms hundreds of millions of dollars per year, but it is also just common sense, folks. No farmer should have their tractor come to a halt in the middle of a field due to Green New Deal-style regulations from Washington.”

How Did We Get Here?

EPA ushered in DEF requirements for large farm equipment when it enacted broader Tier 4 emissions standards in 2004.

Tier 4 Interim rules, which required DEF for farm machines 750 horsepower and up, then went into effect in 2008.

In 2015, EPA’s final Tier 4 regulations were put in place, meaning all new non-road diesel engines — regardless of horsepower rating — had to comply with new emissions standards.

Curious where your farm equipment is made? Check out Farm Journal’s “Who Makes What Where” feature to learn more.

Why Do Many Farmers Hate Using Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF)?

American farmers say they detest using DEF due to the challenges and additional fuel cost it tacks onto their operations.

Here are some reasons farmers aren’t big fans of DEF:

Higher Costs and More Maintenance: DEF adds on extra materials costs for machinery-based field work. Farmers must purchase large amounts of fluid, and the Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) framework that processes DEF is prone to malfunctions and expensive to repair. Often a simple-but-unexpected repair can pop up out of nowhere and end up costing farmers thousands of dollars and leave equipment inoperable.
Field Work Interruptions: If a tractor runs out of DEF or if the system breaks down, under the now-defunct previous guidelines engine power was greatly reduced, which is known by many farmers as “going into limp mode.” For farmers who rely on their equipment to operate consistently and reliably during planting and harvesting, any issue quickly becomes a major headache.
Storage Issues: DEF has a limited shelf life and is sensitive to temperature ups and downs. A quick Google search says DEF freezes at around 12°F and can degrade if stored in temperatures above 86°F. And who wants to look at a giant pallet of DEF cartons stacked in their machinery barn? Nobody, that’s who.
Contamination/Quality Control: DEF fluid must be pure and free of contaminants. Accidentally using the wrong type or getting foreign substances in the tank during refilling can wreak havoc throughout the system, leading to repairs and downtime.
Engine Performance Concerns: There are farmers who believe newer emissions systems, including those that use DEF, reduce the machine’s total power output and lower fuel efficiency.

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Right To Repair Granted? John Deere Launches Digital Self-Repair Tool for $195 Per Tractor

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 15:29:05 GMT

In what appears to be a direct response to anti-competition claims raised in the ongoing FCC v. John Deere Right to Repair lawsuit , the equipment manufacturer has released an updated digital service tool to enable equipment owners to maintain, diagnose, repair and protect farm equipment.

The new Operations Center PRO Service tool is available now in John Deere’s Operation Center app to equipment owners in the U.S. and Canada.

John Deere says it will charge farmers an annual license starting at $195 per machine for the tool. The company is charging independent service professionals $5,995.00 per year, which includes up to 10 local downloads.

The increased functionality of the new service tool replaces John Deere’s previous digital service iteration, known as Customer Service ADVISOR. John Deere representatives confirm ADVISOR will be phased out over the next year.

What farmers need to know

John Deere says the new Operations Center PRO Service “delivers digital repair content filtered by year and model number and provides users with additional relevant machine information to help troubleshoot, diagnose and repair Deere equipment. It’s designed to be intuitive and deliver support in real time.”

Here are the new service and repair capabilities within the tool:

Machine health insights and diagnostic trouble codes
PIN-specific machine content, including manuals
Software reprogramming for John Deere controllers
Diagnostic Readings
Diagnostic Recordings
Interactive diagnostic tests
Calibrations

Quick Analysis

If you’ve been following the FCC v. John Deere Right to Repair lawsuit, you may recall FCC’s legal team asking the equipment manufacturer to release a full digital repair and diagnosis tool for farmers and independent service technicians as part of its filed request for injunctive relief.

Related: What Does Right to Repair Really Mean?

Right to Repair advocates and antitrust attorney James Kovac, along with the FCC’s legal team, at the time were critical of the Customer Service ADVISOR, calling it an incomplete diagnostic tool. Kovacs himself says “independent repair pros and the farmers have access to (the tool), but (it) doesn’t give them the full suite of options to repair all the needs of their farming equipment.”

What John Deere is saying about the new tool

“Our development of these tools reaffirms John Deere’s support of customer self-repair,” says Denver Caldwell, vice president of aftermarket and customer support with John Deere. “We view continuously enhancing self-repair as consistent with our mission to ensure John Deere customers have the best machine ownership experience possible.”

What about independent repair technicians?

(John Deere )

In addition to equipment owners, a local service provider can also use Operations Center PRO Service, John Deere says. With a John Deere equipment owner’s permission, independent technicians can gain access to diagnostic and repair information to support the equipment owner’s needs.

(JohnDeere.com screenshot)

On the John Deere online store, it currently lists a Operations Center PRO Service annual license for a “Service Business” as costing $5,995.00 . The license provides for 10 local downloads of the PRO Service application, the listing says.

“Our message to our customers is clear,” Caldwell continues. “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.”

How does it work?

Equipment owners must access Operations Center PRO Service through the John Deere Operations Center. Once connected to the platform, owners will add their equipment into their account using the machine’s serial number. Use of an electronic data link might be required for more advanced features within Operations Center PRO Service, including software reprogramming. Certain interactive tests, calibrations and reprogramming limitations will exist at initial release.

John Deere says it will deliver additional capabilities in future updates. See JohnDeere.com/PROService for further details.

How can I find out more?

Operations Center PRO Service is available today. For more information on how to access all of the digital support tools offered by John Deere, visit Deere.com/RunItYourWay or see your local John Deere dealer.

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John Deere-Sentera Tie Up: Here’s What We Know So Far

Tue, 27 May 2025 15:40:37 GMT

John Deere has announced its acquisition of Minnesota-based aerial optics innovator Sentera. Although specific details are few and far between this early in the process, here’s what we know so far:

The two companies have a long history. John Deere was the first enterprise customer Sentera signed onto its system over a decade ago, and the two companies have had an API link in place between Sentera’s drone management software and John Deere’s Operations Center since 2016.
Financial details are not being disclosed. We do know the deal is not subject to any further regulatory or shareholder approvals.
In a similar fashion to the Blue River Technologies and Bear Flag Robotics acquisitions, Sentera will maintain its independence as a free-standing business unit. Once fully integrated into the Deere family, Sentera will operate under the John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG) framework. Sentera leadership will remain at its St. Paul, Minn., headquarters.
For the time being, no major changes are planned for either company as we head into the heart of the summer crop scouting and spraying season. The two companies anticipate having more details to share about the nuts and bolts of the acquisition this fall.
The two groups are a natural fit. Sentera is aggressively marketing its SmartScripts drone weed mapping program, and the technology is complimentary to John Deere’s Operations Center and its See & Spray and ExactApply application technologies. One driving force behind this deal, Farm Journal is told, is Deere’s motivation to integrate more real-time agronomic data into its Operations Center platform, and Sentera’s aerial data capture capabilities can help make that happen.

(John Deere)

A deal to lift both boats. John Deere has built up a deep bench of artificial intelligence, machine learning and autonomous technology expertise within ISG, and Sentera has a long track record of aerial sensing and camera payload innovation. Considering how many cameras and sensors are included from the factory on new John Deere machines and within its Precision Upgrades retrofit kits, there should be a healthy cross pollination of sensor and camera innovation between Urbandale, Iowa, (where ISG is based) and St. Paul, Minn.
Sentera can help make See & Spray even better. SmartScripts uses drone-based imaging to scan a field and build a weed pressure map which is then loaded onto the sprayer’s in-cab computer. Now the sprayer operator can see exactly where weeds are in the field and focus their spraying efforts there first. There’s also a logistical and planning aspect to SmartScripts: by knowing exactly how many weeds are present in the field, and even what type of weeds are there, an adept operator can have the right active ingredients premixed and the exact amount needed loaded into the tank or staged nearby in a tender truck to keep that sprayer running all day long.

“Farming is becoming a very sensor and data-centric business, and in our opinion, there isn’t anyone doing it at broad scale today better than John Deere,” says Eric Taipale, chief technology officer, Sentera. “The way we can bring these data-driven insights and improve grower outcomes — it’s just what we’ve always been about. It’s what John Deere is all about. There’s such a great mesh between the two cultures, the objectives and the mission of the two organizations.”

Joseph Liefer, global technology marketing lead at John Deere, adds, “We’re excited about how this complements our existing portfolio with See & Spray, and then not just that (product). Now a farmer with an individual nozzle-controlled sprayer from any manufacturer can also leverage this technology. A drone can fly their field, generate a weed map, turn it into a prescription in Operations Center and the machine can go execute the plan. From an ag retailer standpoint, that might have a mixed fleet, and this gives them more tools in the toolbox to do targeted application for growers and help them save on herbicide. We view this deal as complementary to our overall tech strategy.”

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Three’s A Crowd: Hylio Secures FAA Drone Swarm, Night Flight Exemptions

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 19:41:29 GMT

Ag drone outfit Hylio (Houston, Texas) has received an unprecedented “all clear” from the FAA: an exemption allowing the company’s application drones to be “swarmed” or flown in concert with up to three drones controlled by a single operator, as well as allowing spray missions to be flown after sundown.

Why it Matters

Standard U.S. commercial drone regulations set forth under the FAA’s Part 107 certification limit operations to one pilot-in-charge per drone (plus a visual observer) and only flying between sunup and sundown. Chemical application drones are jointly regulated under Part 107 (pilot) as well as FAA 14 CFR Part 137 (service provider). A pesticide applicators license is also required.

Clearly, this development unlocks more efficient and scalable workflows for farm work (one of Hylio’s spray drones can cover up to 50 acres per hour), but it also has additional implications worth exploring.

“It’s precedent setting,” says Arthur Erickson, CEO and cofounder. “Essentially what the FAA does after this is…people can cite Hylio’s first exemption, this one, and be like, because Hylio can do that, we’re showing that we also have the same technical capabilities, therefore we should be able to do that.”

Technology has certainly evolved to the point of enabling autonomous swarms. Erickson says part of the buildup to that was a literal accounting for every single imaginable scenario (good or bad) under the sun.

“That’s redundant radar systems, that’s redundant GPS, that’s redundant IMUs in the flight controller, and redundant hardware to make sure that if anything goes wrong during a flight, there’s another system that can pick up and just make sure the drone does what it needs to do,” he explains. “It’s all about engineering that safety margin into the products and the machines themselves.”

By swarming three of Hylio’s AG-230 spray drones (which can also apply dry dispersible products and cover crop seeds), for example, a skilled operator can now cover 150 acres per hour, which Erickson says is comparable to a large pull-behind sprayer in some cases.

“It’s unlocking the ability for these drones to actually go toe to toe with traditional large equipment, which is what we’ve been waiting for in this industry,” he adds.

Advice for farmers

Judging from the winter farm trade show circuit , it seems clear there are more options available to farmers today when it comes to drone application than perhaps ever before.

Erickson advises interested farmers to do their homework and verify paperwork/licenses before committing big dollars to a drone application service provider.

“You also need to educate yourself on best practices for applying by drone, because what you want to do is make sure you don’t have someone who’s going out there with the drones and cutting corners,” he cautions. “And by that, I mean, most of these guys are making money based on acres per hour.

“Some of these pilots, and this isn’t just with drones, they’ll go out there and they’ll potentially do swaths that are too wide for what the effective swath is. What that can end up doing is, leaving weaker coverage at the edges of those swaths, right? Because there’s not enough overlap and they’re not getting enough droplets across the entire swath.”

What Could the Future Hold?

It’s a question that Erickson encounters often throughout his travels: just how big can application drones get? Can they ever replace conventional self-propelled ground rigs?

“Drones are going to get bigger to a certain point, but then they’re going to level out because beyond that point they become overly cumbersome and expensive,” he says. “You’ll start to see the same economic problems that you see with helicopters, which is they’re way too expensive, the insurance is way too high, they’re dangerous, they’re hard to maintain and repair, and hard to transport.”

Erickson sees the ceiling for capacity coming in around the 1,000-pounds/40-60 gallon per drone mark, eventually.

“Then you’re going to get multiples deployed in a field instead of just one giant, 200-gallon drone,” he says. “I think that’s more practical for manufacturers and the buyers and users themselves.”