A Massey Ferguson MF 5S series tractor. (Agcocorp.com)

Agco, Kubota sign onto U.S. right-to-repair pledge

Firms join Deere, CNH in pacts with Farm Bureau

Two more major ag equipment makers have signed onto a framework that would grant farmers and independent repair shops in the United States reasonable access to the means to repair their machines. The Washington, D.C.-based American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) on Monday announced it had reached memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with equipment firms Agco and […] Read more

File photo of a John Deere X9 combine. (Deere.ca)

American Farm Bureau, Deere sign ‘right to repair’ memo

MOU to seek private-sector solutions

Chicago | Reuters — The American Farm Bureau Federation and machinery manufacturer Deere and Co. signed a memorandum of understanding on Sunday that ensures farmers have the right to repair their own farm equipment or go to an independent technician. As the agriculture sector accelerates its adoption of technology, the reliance on high-tech machinery such […] Read more


John Deere’s 8R autonomous tractor is pictured at Jensen Test Farm at Bondurant, Iowa, just northeast of Des Moines, on April 28, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Bianca Flowers)

Deere tapping into Apple-like tech model to drive revenue

'Hopefully the costs will be paid back in the long run'

Bondurant, Iowa | Reuters — Deere and Co. has sold its tractors and other equipment to farmers for decades, but the world’s largest agriculture machinery manufacturer is tearing a page from the technology world’s playbook — combining cutting-edge hardware with software and subscription models to drive revenue growth. In a world with a dwindling number […] Read more

(Conservis.ag)

Telus, Rabobank ag arms buy into farm data aggregator

Companies join in on deal for Minneapolis-based Conservis

The agriculture arms of one of Canada’s major telecoms providers and a major Dutch bank and financial services firm are taking a stake in a tech firm in the business of gathering on-farm data into a single window. Telus Agriculture and Rabo AgriFinance, which is headquartered in St. Louis and serves U.S. farm customers, announced […] Read more


(Deere.ca)

Deere buys up ag software maker Harvest Profit

Software's integrations with non-Deere systems to continue

A North Dakota company whose software is used to help farmers gauge a crop’s profitability on a field-by-field basis will now run with the Deere. John Deere on Nov. 12 announced it has acquired Fargo-based Harvest Profit for an undisclosed sum. Harvest Profit — whose software was already integrated with the John Deere Operations Center […] Read more

(Video screengrab from StartCompass.com)

AGI buys ag business management software muscle

Grain handling equipment maker Ag Growth Industries (AGI) plans to level up on its SureTrack farm management software platform with a deal for another Canadian player in the same business. Winnipeg-based AGI announced Thursday it has bought all outstanding shares in Oakville, Ont.-based Affinity Management Ltd., developer of the Compass brand of farm and agribusiness […] Read more


Screengrab from a Farm At Hand promotional video via Vimeo.

Telus buys Farm At Hand

Vancouver farm management software development firm Farm At Hand has become an arm of one of the Big Five in Canada’s communication services sector. Farm At Hand, which makes the cloud-based Crop Planner software suite for farmers and the Farm At Hand Agronomy suite for agronomists, announced Tuesday it has been wholly acquired by Telus […] Read more

Indiana farmer Kyler Laird posted this video in November after making a new remote control for his automated combine because he wanted something more user friendly than his laptop. In the video, he uses the joystick on the game controller to back the combine out of the shed, bring it alongside a grain cart, and then transfer grain to the cart. To find this and other videos by Laird, go to YouTube.com and search for ‘Kyler Laird.’ 
PHOTOS: From ‘portable joystick system’ on youtube.com

Robo-tractors invented by farmers are already here

Software-savvy producers aren’t waiting for equipment makers — 
they’re writing code and automating their machines

Reading Time: 5 minutes Kyler Laird did it the John Deere way when he returned to the family farm in Indiana after his father’s death in 2010. But after five years of sitting in a tractor, planting crooked rows of corn, he decided to do it his way instead. “Even when I was a kid out discing or out […] Read more


(Video screengrab from Granular.ag)

DuPont to buy up farm software firm Granular

A San Francisco company providing farm management software to growers in four provinces and about three dozen states is poised to join the digital arm of DuPont and Dow’s merged agribusiness. DuPont — which as of last week had all regulatory approvals and clearances lined up to complete its merger with Dow Chemical — announced […] Read more