As a journalist for a farming publication and a fan of John Deere, I am excited to share with you the new ExactShot technology developed by the agricultural giant. This technology allows farmers to use their own decision-making skills to plant and fertilize crops at an incredibly fast and precise pace.
During the John Deere Tech Summit in Austin, Nancy Post, Vice President of John Deere’s Embedded Software and Solutions, spoke about ExactShot, a technology for planting and fertilizing that connects to John Deere tractors and is oriented towards precision, speed, and volume.
All John Deere speakers emphasize the need to “do more with less.” They claim that with the expected increase in the world population from 8 billion to nearly 10 billion by 2050, farmers need to increase production by 60-70% on today’s arable land.
Thus, citing a shortage of labor and tight time windows for growth, John Deere is actively involved in product development and automation. John Deere employees recognize that climate change is making agriculture even more challenging, so effective and sustainable agriculture will help both small and large farmers.
The Planting Cycle and How ExactShot Works
The planting cycle consists of clearing the path, creating a trench, placing the seeds, placing the fertilizer, and closing the trench. ExactShot comprises 54 modular electrified robots with 56V and sensors that register when each individual seed enters the soil. When this happens, the robot sprays only the necessary amount of fertilizer, about 0.2 ml, directly onto the seed at the moment it enters the ground.
ExactShot is an intelligent technology: the farmer inputs the dosing parameters, and the device measures the speed and working conditions. The pressure in the system is calculated based on the dose, the speed of movement, and the input nozzle parameters. The seed is perceived, and the delay time for spraying is calculated based on the speed of the row movement, the tape speed, and the spraying speed.
The post explained that ExactShot is capable of planting an incredible 6600 seeds in just three seconds. Its vacuum system sucks in the seeds, and the machine’s speed of movement and brushes create a hiding place with pinpoint accuracy, so the seeds land exactly where they should. Thus, plants have a greater chance of germinating and growing at the same speed.
The post also noted that seed placement must be correct – not too deep or shallow, not too close or far apart – and robots help with this.
ExactShot also sprays starter fertilizer precisely on the seeds as they are planted, rather than spraying a continuous stream of fertilizer on the entire row. This allows farmers to reduce their use of fertilizers by more than 60% and reduces the amount of fertilizers that run off fields into water bodies.
Farmers can view geospatial data and make each pass through the field more intelligent. When asked what would happen if any of the planting or fertilization stages were unsuccessful, the post explained that ExactShot has real-time error detection functionality. And in the event of a malfunction, the electrified intelligent system is modular enough to replace individual robots and parts.
Field Opinion:
Todd Westerfeld, a fifth-generation Texas farmer who grows wheat, soybeans, corn, and cotton on 5,500 acres with just three people, shared his opinion with us that the access to data provided by equipment like ExactShot is invaluable. He spoke of his “love/hate” relationship with John Deere: “My livelihood depends on their ability to help me solve problems, and data gives us a better chance in an imperfect environment.”