Farm Dog and John Deere have launched a joint development project to develop variable rate spray technology for pest and disease management. The project is supported in part by a $900000 grant from the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD Foundation) and delivers the next stage in the companies’ collaboration to reduce pesticide use, increase yields and promote environmental sustainability.
“This is a step change for pest and disease management,” says Liron Brish, CEO and co-founder of Farm Dog. “Growers spend more than $60 billion per year on pest and disease management, yet still suffer $500 billion worth of crop losses per year. The combination of Farm Dog insights with John Deere equipment will finally provide growers with the tools needed to make the best in-field decisions for optimizing treatments, increasing yields and promoting sustainability.”
The companies have been working together since 2016. Building on prior integration of the Farm Dog platform with John Deere Operations Center, this next phase extends data sharing and leverages John Deere’s ExactApply spray equipment capabilities.
“The John Deere Operations Center is an open platform that gives producers the opportunity to connect their machine and production data with other software tools and drive deeper insights into their farms,” says Lane Arthur, director of digital solutions at John Deere. “This integration demonstrates our commitment to providing producers with tools to increase the efficiency and profitability of their operations.”
In this next phase, both companies will work jointly to design and test variable rate spraying solutions. Development will occur simultaneously in Israel and Iowa over the next 18 months.
Iowa governor Kim Reynolds has commended both companies on their relationship. “I would like to congratulate Farm Dog and John Deere for being awarded the BIRD grant,” Reynolds says. “This collaboration is a perfect synergy between Israeli innovation and Iowa software and manufacturing skills. Together, these two companies will lead farm production into the future.”