Farm Equipment has been tracking farm equipment brand loyalty since 2010 in 12 states. In 2014, 69% of the farmers claimed to be brand loyal. In 2017, 75% were brand loyal. But in 2020, only 63% advocated brand loyalty (a quick 12% drop).
I watched with interest when John Deere rolled out their autonomous tractor, committing to have the tractors on farms in the U.S. this year. They aren’t the first company to roll out an autonomous model, just the most recent. With brand loyalty in general on the decline, it was an interesting move because those new technologies always have glitches that have to be worked out in the 2.0 version. And while they may fix the bugs, once you start a ripple on that “fix-it” pond, you can’t exactly stop all the other things it impacts.
I only know a little about autonomous equipment – and the first thing I would say is, “My iRoomba is a little creepy.” It sneaks through the house as a sweeper, going into places that make me nervous – under beds, behind dressers and in all the crannies. But creepiness aside, it doesn’t really have a “set it and walk away” kind of autonomy. It frequently stops and pings my phone to tell me it wants the bin emptied, or it heads to the recharging station to recharge, and sometimes it gets stuck trying to climb the lamp post.
But we finally got the training kinks worked out, got used to each other, and I learned to block the lamp post. Now I use it nearly every day. It won’t do everything, but it’s dang handy. But still, not gonna lie, it’s a little creepy. (It’s like smoke from a campfire that just follows you. Of course my children could be right - maybe smoke follows me because I’m a witch.)
If I try to combine this experience with what I know about tractors, I just think autonomy in tractors all multiplies by 100 – 100 times bigger machine needs 100 times more charging capacity, a learning curve 100 times steeper and is 100 times creepier. But early research says differently.
Studies in Europe claim it will benefit the mid-sized to smaller-sized farms most. One study on a grain farm showed medium-sized farms could approach minimum per-unit production cost with autonomous equipment (even with purchase cost), which means the pressure to “get big or get out” could diminish, and mid-sized farms could be profitable instead of being just a lifestyle choice.
Furthermore, the report says, “The ability of autonomous equipment to achieve minimum production costs even on small, irregularly shaped fields will improve environmental performance of crop agriculture by reducing pressure to remove hedges, fell in-field trees and enlarge fields.” So that’s good news, right? It won’t try to climb telephone poles or overseed that rock pile – theoretically at least.
So adoption of this new technology will be really interesting to watch (if not just a little creepy). Who knew the witch’s new broom would have four wheels, hydraulics and a yield monitor? Giddy-up.
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