In January, John Deere was back as a key exhibitor in the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev. While the company’s exhibits have turned heads during the previous couple of CES events, this year the brand had an even larger presence. Its CEO, John May, was the keynote speaker at the show’s opening. And he, along with brand executives, used their one hour on stage to introduce some new technology.
Aside from debuting a battery-electric excavator for the small construction segment, Deere had something new to show farmers, the ExactShot precision fertilizer application technology for planters. It goes a big step beyond the current planter technology, which typically delivers a continuous stream of liquid starter fertilizer into the furrow along with the seeds. ExactShot senses where the seed is and applies only a short burst of fertilizer right where it’s needed.
Similar to the advantage of the brand’s See and Spray spot sprayer technology, which reduces the amount of herbicide needed to care for a crop by spraying only where weeds are detected, ExactShot allows farmers to reduce the amount of starter fertilizer needed during planting, putting the fertilizer only where seeds are located. Deere estimates the resulting fertilizer use reduction tops 60 per cent, which could amount to a significant cost savings on spring inputs.
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“John Deere’s new ExactShot technology allows farmers to apply fertilizer precisely, at scale, at speeds up to 10 miles per hour,” said Deanna Kovar, Deere’s vice-president of production and precision ag production. “And only where the seeds are planted, about two-tenths of a millilitre directly onto the seed at the exact moment it goes into the soil.”
Deere provided some data on just how much it estimates ExactShot could reduce the overall need for fertilizer across the U.S. corn crop, putting the number at just over 93 million gallons of starter fertilizer annually. That’s a resource it says is not only wasted but encourages weed growth or increases the risk of running off of the field into a waterway, no matter what country it’s used in.
And Kovar mentioned the corresponding reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by not having to manufacture and deliver that much fertilizer to producers.
“In the process of growing corn today, fertilizer results in a large portion of greenhouse gas emissions,” she continued. “That means ExactShot can have an immediate, measurable impact on our environment today.
“This is the real purpose of our technology. To help farmers grow more with less through precision and data-driven precision.”
