Precision Farming Dealer editors encounter a variety of articles, social media posts, podcasts and videos that offer a unique look at various aspects of our great agricultural industry. Here is our favorite content from the past week:

• Was the AGCO PTx Launch a Successful One?
• Former Deere VP Joins Startup Rootwave
• How the Farmer to U.S. Citizen Ratio has Evolved
• Ag Equipment Sales Decline, Dealer Auction Activity Increases
• Fully Automated Farming Operation Possible by 2030, AGCO Says

Best of the Web This Week is brought to you by GBGI Inc.

        

Maximize yield and eliminate costly downtime with GBGI’s planter row unit wear parts. The durable material and unique processes that we use to craft our American made products will ensure that planters spend more time in the field and less time in the shop. We are a family-owned business that takes pride in the support we are able to offer growers and dealers alike.

Was the AGCO PTx Launch a Successful One?

Shane Thomas breaks down the above question in the latest edition of his Upstream Ag Insights newsletter. “AGCO has emphasized their focus on retrofitting, which the Trimble portfolio further augments,” Thomas says. “I have a bias towards integration, but retrofit solutions are needed and I commend AGCO for leaning into a specific area — even if other companies, like CNH Industrial and John Deere, will still have retrofit options and capabilities. The thing about this effort is that if AGCO really wants to capitalize on how they are ‘different’ than Deere or CNH Industrial, they need to effectively communicate that into the market and ensure it resonates with their target customer. The PTx Trimble launch failed to execute surrounding that.” Read more about AGCO’s new precision ag brand, PTx, in this Progressive Farmer article.

Within AGCO's new PTx brand is Precision Planting. Its visual identity retains the well-known corn plant. The PTx Trimble visual identity mirrors that of the PTx leading brand. (Logos courtesy of AGCO Corp.)

Former Deere VP Joins Startup Rootwave

Ag tech veteran Jorge Heraud sold his company Blue River Technology to John Deere in 2017 for $305 million. He then spent 7 years with Deere as its VP of automation and autonomy. Now, Heraud has begun a new chapter as board member of Rootwave, a startup that takes a different approach to weed management with electricity. “I really like John Deere, but I also felt like it was time to go back to smaller companies, back to my roots,” Heraud says. Read more about his journey, and Rootwave’s unique approach to weed management.

Jorge Heraud, former VP of Innovation at John Deere, now board member at Rootwave.

How the Farmer to U.S. Citizen Ratio has Evolved

In this LinkedIn post Richard Brain Syngenta fellow, says, “During the bombing of London in WWII British Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously stated, "Never was so much owed by so many to so few”. Could the same not be said of the American farmer?” Brain spoke at the 2023 National No-Tillage Conference. For more on how the make-up of U.S. farms has changed over the years, check out Ag Equipment Intelligence’s special report looking at 20 years of Ag Census data.

Ag Equipment Sales Decline, Dealer Auction Activity Increases

Ernie Goss with Creighton University says the latest Rural Mainstreet Index shows farm machinery sales have declined nine out of the last 10 months. “The ag economy is weakening and farmers willingness in purchasing ag equipment has declined.” Read more in this article from Brownfield Ag News.

Fully Automated Farming Operation Possible by 2030, AGCO Says

Here’s another take on the AGCO PTx Trimble joint venture. Forbes’ Richard Bishop discusses a recent conversation with AGCO chairman, president and CEO Eric Hansotia, in which he was asked about the challenges of getting to a fully automated farming operation. “Once our technology can handle the entire range of what human intelligence and intuition provides now, we can look towards a fully automated farming operation,” Hansotia told Bishop. “At AGCO, we believe this can be achieved by 2030.”

Two farm machines coordinate their movements as one of many implementations of autonomy in agriculture. (Photo by: AGCO)

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Maximize yield and eliminate costly downtime with GBGI’s planter row unit wear parts. The durable material and unique processes that we use to craft our American made products will ensure that planters spend more time in the field and less time in the shop. We are a family-owned business that takes pride in the support we are able to offer growers and dealers alike.

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