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

Reading Time: 3 minutes 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

Reading Time: 3 minutes 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


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

Reading Time: < 1 minute 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

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

Reading Time: 2 minutes 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


John Deere’s 8R autonomous tractor is pictured at Jensen Test Farm at Bondurant, Iowa, just northeast of Des Moines, on April 28, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Bianca Flowers)

Deere tapping into Apple-like tech model to drive revenue

'Hopefully the costs will be paid back in the long run'

Reading Time: 3 minutes Bondurant, Iowa | Reuters — Deere and Co. has sold its tractors and other equipment to farmers for decades, but the world’s largest agriculture machinery manufacturer is tearing a page from the technology world’s playbook — combining cutting-edge hardware with software and subscription models to drive revenue growth. In a world with a dwindling number […] Read more

John Deere is setting its sights on increased development of precision farming technologies, which it believes will give farmers the ability to manage crops right down to the individual plant level.

John Deere goes full throttle

Being the biggest in the world isn’t big enough for John Deere

Reading Time: 6 minutes The strategy is clear. The company isn’t hiding it. Even in its most recent sustainability report, John Deere says it is going all out to make the world’s farmers happy to invest even more money in green precision ag equipment and new technologies.  But just how much more? Currently, the brand claims the world’s farmers […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Agco buys Manitoba ag autonomy firm JCA

Massey, Fendt maker boosts precision ag capacity

Reading Time: < 1 minute International farm equipment maker Agco is aiming to boost its bench strength in the precision agriculture and autonomous ag sectors by buying a Prairie software and hardware company known for both. Agco, the maker of machinery brands including Massey Ferguson, Fendt, Challenger and Valtra, said Monday it has bought Winnipeg-based JCA Technologies for an undisclosed […] Read more

A video still of John Deere’s autonomous	8R tractor working in the field.

The 4th industrial revolution begins

Mark January 4th down as one of the biggest days in your lifetime

Reading Time: 4 minutes Why January 4th? Well, John Deere, the world’s biggest ag equipment brand, announced that day it is building a fully autonomous 8R tractor for the North American marketplace this year.  This is a really big deal. “Autonomy is no longer just a concept or a demo,” said Jahmy Hindman, chief technology officer at Deere. “It’s […] Read more


John Deere’s advanced See and Spray technology, which can detect and selectively spray only weeds in a green crop, won it honouree status at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Farm machinery scores big in 2022

It used to be that trophies were won with brute strength. Now it’s electronics that score the big prizes and shows us what farming is on its way to becoming

Reading Time: 5 minutes When I spent a summer working as a mechanic’s helper at an Allis Chalmers dealership in 1978 as one of my first jobs, I recall a brand marketing rep coming out to hold a customer information session. He brought cut-away examples of some of the features being built into their newest tractors, including the brand’s […] Read more