AGCO Corporation and Trimble recently announced the completion of their joint venture (JV) transaction. Known as PTx Trimble, the JV combines Trimble’s precision agriculture business and AGCO’s JCA Technologies to form a new company that they say will better serve farmers with factory fit and retrofit applications in the mixed-fleet precision agriculture market.
As AGCO puts it, the formation of PTx Trimble enhances their technology offerings around guidance, autonomy, precision spraying, connected farming, data management and sustainability. What does this mean for vehicle autonomy generally?
“Farmers worldwide need technologies that support them to be more productive and profitable while minimizing the environmental impact of their operations,” said Eric Hansotia, AGCO’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “PTx Trimble will provide farmers greater access to next-generation precision ag tools, no matter what brands of tractors and implements they operate.”
“Farmers are the real winners here,” said Rob Painter, Trimble’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “By combining our expertise and resources through this JV, we aim to accelerate the pace of innovation. With a focus on open technologies, customers will benefit from tech solutions available to farmers across a broad range of tractor and implement brands.”
PTx will be the new brand representing AGCO’s precision ag portfolio and will execute on three go-to-market approaches. Specialized precision ag dealers will help farmers retrofit almost any make or vintage of equipment they already own with the latest technologies. PTx will also expand its relationships with OEM partners that can integrate products from the PTx portfolio directly at the factory. Similarly, new machines from AGCO’s leading brands – Fendt, Massey Ferguson and Valtra – will also offer factory-fit technology from the PTx portfolio.
Seth Crawford, Senior Vice President and General Manager PTx, will lead the new organization as a mixed-fleet precision ag platform serving farmers globally.
“We believe technology should give farmers the flexibility to work their way across brands and throughout the crop cycle,” said Crawford. “Through the PTx portfolio offerings within Precision Planting and PTx Trimble, we’ll provide seamlessly compatible, powerfully simple precision ag solutions. We know farming is easier when platforms speak to each other – and when those systems are designed and supported by experts who understand farmers. That’s what PTx is promising our customers around the world.”
Interview / Analysis
In my coverage of autonomous driving, I have one foot in on-road automation and the other foot in off-road automation. In an interview with AGCO’s Chairman, President and CEO Eric Hansotia, we discussed how these domains might play off one other, the opportunities offered, and what the future looks like.
Since robots and autonomy have been applied to many aspects of farming, I asked if there are still functional gaps, i.e. what are the challenges to get to a fully automated farming operation?
Mr. Hansotia replied, “In many cases, human perception and intuition is needed to assess the state of the plants and the dirt they’re growing in to properly complete the task, whether planting, weeding, or harvesting. As long as this human touch is needed as equipment moves across a field, automating all driving functions have limited value. However, steering support is provided to ease the task. 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,” said Mr. Hansotia. “At AGCO, we believe this can be achieved by 2030.”
Given the intense technology developments in the self-driving space over the years, I asked Mr. Hansotia if we are “there” when it comes to sensing the world in order accomplish Ag tasks. Or if not, what are the technology gaps? “For our operations, cameras are a key sensor,” he said. “In some cases, the cameras we need are off-the-shelf. But in the farm field, vibration and dust is so prevalent that in other cases we have to develop our own cameras.” He cited the following scenario. “When planting with GPS guidance there can be variations in the layout of the rows due to terrain and other factors. Later in the season when spraying and harvesting, relying solely on GPS data may not be sufficient to hit the mark. Cameras can see the rows as they are, keeping the implement centered on the plants with more precision.”
I never miss an opportunity to ask leading companies in AgTech about potential synergies and overlaps between on-road and on-field operations.
So, I asked Mr. Hansotia how AGCO might leverage the immense investment and momentum in the on-road space? For instance, once harvested, what would it take to operate on-road moving harvested wheat a few miles to a flour mill? “Farming is logistics,” he noted. “For instance, a sprayer is only spending a small time actually spraying, because there’s the need to move back and forth across the fields to replenish chemicals in their tanks. And when harvesting a crop, a truck semi-trailer can reach capacity every eight minutes. That tractor-trailer has be moved away quickly so that an empty rig can immediately be placed at the right spot next to the field to continue the process.” His bottom line: “We are focused on Ag-unique tech but we’ll leverage on-highway capabilities.”
Roads and fields are adjacent to one another, but so far I’ve yet to see any AgTech company show interest in stepping up to the on-road play. This is no surprise, given the vast differences in business models, customer base, regulations… the list goes on.
Nevertheless, I’m watching closely to see who might test the boundary.
