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John Deere’s ag machine range has been boosted by the purchase of Sentera, specialists in equipment for capturing and interpreting aerial images.
While tractors combines and machinery for agriculture and construction is still its key business, John Deere appears to be taking opportunities in the hightech sector via acquisition, with the recent purchase of Sentera, a Minnesota-based company that specialises in equipment for capturing and interpreting aerial images.
Described as being able to provide “farmers and ag service providers with a more comprehensive set of tools to generate and use data to make decisions that improve farm profitability,” Sentera may be viewed as a further piece in the smart farming jigsaw.
Interestingly, it also means that Deere might be adding drones to its portfolio, as Sentera – on top of offering sensors and cameras – has a plane-type drone within its offering, as a mounting platform for the former. The PHX drone can fly for an hour, in which time, it can collect data over three hundred acres.
Offering the opportunity to capture more information, it is understood that Sentara’s imagery capabilities, in conjunction with Deere’s digital hub, will enable farmers and advisors to seamlessly gather and integrate agronomic data, understand real-time conditions, and turn data into insights that drive decisions in the field throughout the growing season.
Key areas of assessment are crop health and weed infestation, with the ability for high resolution images to be analysed to locate individual weed plants.
The resulting prescription map could be used by sprayers to treat weeds though section control, or even single nozzles. It is claimed that the same process can be used in a paddock to assess crop stand uniformity, disease pressure, and pests, opening all areas to more efficient remedial action.
Rural News understands that Sentera will continue to supply cameras directly to drone manufacturers for integration into their products, as well as selling to farmers, agronomists, ag retailers, and other users.
In addition, the John Deere Operations Centre will continue to be open to other drone imagery providers, where images may be used in the Map Layers tool, enabling farmers and advisors to continue to have the choice of which solutions best suits their operation.
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