Staff at Mojow Autonomous Solutions, a startup technology company, pose with a demonstration tractor equipped with an autonomy package. Mojow has received funding from CAAIN, which will help accelerate R&D on its Eyebox platform.

Autonomous system backed for development

Public-sector investment in Mojow's Eyebox system 'a big deal'

Glacier FarmMedia — Canadians certainly haven’t been lagging behind when it comes to developing autonomous technology for agriculture. Winnipeg-based JCA Technologies, which was acquired by Agco in May 2022, is just one example of a cutting-edge technology company born out of our country. In 2019 the Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) was created […] Read more

The New Agri Concept tractor is designed to work with standard three-point hitch implements.

Kubota debuts a concept robotic tractor

Autonomous tractor turns heads at the Consumer Electronics Show

In recent years, automotive and agricultural equipment brands have been increasingly looking to the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to debut new digital and robotic technologies, as those features proliferate on new machines. This year Kubota chose that event to unveil its New Agri Concept fully autonomous tractor. Autonomous machines and data […] Read more


bluewhite tractor modified for autonomy

Will very-high-horsepower tractors go extinct?

Autonomy might revert farms back to lower-horsepower models

As manufacturers have once again begun to amp up the muscle in their flagship tractor models, we continue to hit new highs in size and horsepower. But is that trend likely to continue? Advancing technology might actually reverse it, and see farms return to smaller machines — at least, that’s the opinion of some of […] Read more

Rob Painter (l) and Eric Hansotia, CEOs of Trimble and Agco respectively, agreed on Sept. 28, 2023 to combine their precision ag arms into a new joint venture. (Trimble via PRNewswire)

Trimble Ag, Agco’s JCA link up for new precision ag venture

Agco gets majority control of a new precision ag and autonomy firm; Agco's GSI brand and others now under separate review

Global positioning tech firm Trimble is set to sell its precision ag business into a new joint-venture company that will include farm machinery maker Agco’s made-in-Manitoba autonomy arm. From farmers’ perspective, the two companies say their combined technology offering is expected to offer “seamless integration and connectivity across geographies, equipment brands and the crop life […] Read more


New Holland’s T4 Electric Power utility tractor. (Photo courtesy CNH)

CNH puts full-electric utility tractors on deck

New Holland T4, Farmall 75C due out early 2024

Heavy equipment firm CNH plans to get two new all-electric utility tractor models onto at least a few dealer lots in 2024 — including one it bills as a first in the tractor market. CNH’s New Holland Agriculture arm said Monday its T4 Electric Power model, “the first all-electric utility tractor with autonomous features,” will […] Read more

Tillage implement manufacturer Lemken has partnered with forage
implement producer Krone, another Germany-based company, to
develop an autonomous power unit capable of a variety of functions,
including tillage.

Autonomous tillage and haying

Lemken and Krone partner on multi-functional robotic system development

As more attention is turned toward autonomous field operations, even companies that haven’t been known primarily for offering powered systems are revealing their efforts to produce self-propelled robotic equipment. Recently, tillage equipment producer Lemken announced it had partnered with forage-focused Krone (both companies are based in Germany) to create an autonomous power unit capable of […] Read more


A GUSS semi-autonomous sprayer at work in an orchard. John Deere has partnered with the small company to sell sprayers through the Deere dealer network.

John Deere adds to robotic options

Partnership with GUSS Automation puts automated sprayers in Deere dealerships

Over a decade ago, John Deere senior executives made it clear the brand saw pursuing advanced technology as the way forward in the ag equipment business. Since then, Deere has introduced a steady stream of advanced digital systems, including the first fully autonomous tractor, an 8R, scheduled for market release this year. And when it […] Read more

Monarch’s MK-V tractor. (MonarchTractor.com)

Foxconn to build autonomous electric tractors in Ohio

Tech firm to make units for U.S.-based Monarch

Reuters — Taiwan’s Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, on Tuesday said it will build driverless electric tractors for California-based Monarch Tractor at its Lordstown, Ohio facility starting in early 2023. The announcement comes as heavy machinery manufacturers, including Deere and Agco, set their sights on the electric vehicle market as the U.S. agriculture […] Read more


Testing and development for OmniPower, Raven Technology’s autonomous power platform, are being performed in Arizona. Raven’s parent company, CNH Industrial, recently announced the opening of a new R&D facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., to help advance the development of precision ag systems for its brands, which also include Case IH and New Holland.

Brands target higher tech

Investments in more computing capability continue

Some of us love to hate them, the computers in our equipment and vehicles that run them. If you’re one of those folks, you’d better get used to dealing with them, because the trend is for manufacturers to build more computing technology into machines, not less. In the spring, three major ag equipment manufacturers — […] Read more

Olds College president Stuart Cullum announces a new partnership with Saskatchewan Polytechnic. (Liam O’Connor photo)

Partnership gives Prairie ag students new 800-acre opportunity

Saskatchewan farmland bequest expanded Smart Farm eastward

Students from Saskatchewan Polytechnic and Olds College will be getting more opportunities to collaborate with each other on a large scale. The two institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which entails both schools working together for five years on various programs, notably Olds College’s Smart Farm operation. The partnership comes as a result […] Read more