More Farmers Are Adopting John Deere’s See & Spray. Here’s Why
Early adopters of See & Spray say they’ve increased savings, reduced herbicides and reached ROI faster than expected. Photo: RDO Equipment
John Deere See & Spray uses AI machine learning and computer vision to identify weeds during each pass precisely, writes RDO Equipment’s Katy Hill at CropLife. Early adopters of See & Spray say they’ve increased savings, reduced herbicides and reached ROI faster than expected.
Farmers know spraying applications can vary from year to year and even from field to field depending on weed pressure and a variety of other crops and environmental factors. To address these ever-changing conditions, John Deere and RDO Equipment Co. team members partner with farmers to bring the See & Spray technology into fields.
Equipped with cameras, AI-machine learning and machine control, John Deere’s See & Spray precisely identifies, targets and sprays weeds. First introduced in 2018 by John Deere and Blue River technology, See & Spray uses cameras, processors and a boom to apply non-residual herbicides to weeds with pinpoint accuracy within corn, soybean and cotton fields.
“The system uses artificial intelligence in combination with the cameras mounted along the boom,” said Mark Schaffner, RDO Equipment Co. regional sales manager based in South Dakota. “The vision processing units provide real-time data, and the system determines whether each element is a weed or a crop. If it spots a crop, it activates a nozzle and sprays the weed. All of this occurs within milliseconds.”
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Farmers in the Midwest and Northwest partner with team members like Schaffner, Gannon Pudwill, an RDO precision upgrade product specialist, and experienced technicians to obtain in-the-field experience with See & Spray. From year to year, more farmers opt to purchase a See & Spray or upgrade their current sprayer with a See & Spray precision upgrade kit (PUK). During just one year, RDO increased from seven customers trying See & Spray to about 60 doing See & Spray field trials the following season. Through these field partnerships, farmers discover ways that the See & Spray technology optimizes their operations and reduces overall spraying applications.
See & Spray? What Farmers Report
“During field trials, farmers using See & Spray saw a 60% to 70% savings,” Schaffner shared after a trial with Steven Swanhorst, a farmer based in northeastern South Dakota.
Swanhorst shares that though the technology sounds intimidating, it is not.
“It’s quite simple and user-friendly. The dealer support has been on the ‘A Team’ level. The degree of technology is not only on the leading edge, but on the bleeding edge,” Swanhorst said. “I wouldn’t own a sprayer without it.”
Read more at CropLife.
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