John Deere has been a leader in row crop machinery for decades. Now, the company is focusing on higher-value crops, such as trees, vines, and vegetables.
To achieve this, they recently acquired GUSS, a company founded in 2017 and already recognized as one of the premier builders of automated agricultural machinery, with a focus on autonomous spray technology in particular.
Speaking to some of the motivations behind the acquisition, John Deere representative Sean Sundberg explained that the reputation and staying power of the John Deere brand is expected to lead to greater producer confidence and increased willingness to adopt such cutting-edge technology sooner rather than later:
“The high value crop grower, has a lot of hesitance to adopt it because they don’t know if that startup’s going to be there nine months from now, and it leads to saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to do what I know is going to work to protect my profits, and that may or may not be adopting technology immediately.’”
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