Amazone group has announced a financial investment in ag equipment startup AgXeed B.V. As a further agricultural engineering partner, Claas is also involved through Seed Green Innovations GmbH along with other investors.
AgXeed designs, builds and delivers ready to use autonomous units for agriculture. The Dutch company introduced a new four-wheeled, 75-hp autonomous tractor at the Cereals 2022 farm show in Cambridgeshire, England, the same week as Amazone's financial investment announcement.
A press release from Amazone stated, "The aim of the partnership is to further develop Amazone mounted implements with regard to their autonomous use in the field, and so an important basis for the cooperation is the commitment to generate accessible interfaces in order to ensure comprehensive compatibility and connectivity between the machine and the towing vehicle thus achieving maximum benefit for both parties. The focus is on the customer and their specific application and it should enable those customers, through this partnership between AgXeed, Claas and Amazone to find the best solution on the market."
Amazone states the AgXeed tracked AgBot has already been used successfully in conjunction with Amazone cultivation and seeding equipment, and the new 4-wheeled AgBot can also be used with Schmotzer hoeing systems for mechanical weed control.
The announcement comes more than a year after Claas acquired a minority stake in AgXeed — the two also entered into a joint venture together with the aim of "cooperating on the development and commercialization of autonomous agricultural machines."