John Deere has long been a big name in agricultural, forestry, and construction machinery. And their current acquisition suggests that they’re traversing a path towards farm automation.
The American corporation is set to acquire Bear Flag Robotics, a Silicon Valley-based startup that creates autonomous farm tractors. And with a deal amounting to a whopping $250 million, the founders are celebrating the deal, for sure.
The startup, founded in 2017, became a member of Y Combinator’s Winter 2018 funding cycle. During that time, co-founder Aubrey Donnellan told TechCrunch that their solutions come from actual situations in farms.
According to Donnellan, the workforce is aging out, and skilled labor is the farms’ central pain point. The workforce is either leaving the US or joining other fields. Whether it’s one or the other, farms need a lasting fix.
Prior to the deal, John Deere tapped the startup for its Startup Collaborator project in 2019. Under the project, the Bay Area-based firm started to deploy its tech to a number of sites within the country.
John Deere’s Path to Creating Smarter Machines
The machinery giant may be taking a turn toward a more high-tech approach to its products. Given the John Deere history of building a self-scouring steel plow in 1837, the firm has surely gone far and still continues to evolve through time.
In a press release, John Deere CEO Jahmy Hindman said that the firm sees autonomy as a crucial step in giving farmers a boost in resources. Hindman also stressed that the technology would help farms enjoy bigger profits and produce better market output.
John Deere is confident about Bear Flag’s knowledge and skills in providing advanced tech. The firm believes that coupled with Deere’s autonomy express and dealer channel; the purchase is a great step to “address the immense challenge of feeding a growing world.”
According to Bear Flag Robotics co-founder and CEO Igino Cafiero, autonomy can provide a productive and safe way to address the challenge of a dwindling workforce. They believe that farming tech can advance the mission of stepping up global food production. At the same time, it can also reduce food costs through the use of machine automation.
The startup’s team consists not only of tech experts but also those who have had neck-deep experience in agriculture. As a result, they’re able to come up with tech focused on sensors, fusion, and data, coupled with hardware.
Following the deal, Bear Flag will remain in Silicon Valley but will work hand-in-hand with its new mother firm to come up with farming solutions.
The Future of Farming
Over the past year, a lot of robot-tech firms have focused on agri-tech. After all, the Covid-19 pandemic has only worsened the shortage in skilled labor. However, that doesn’t mean that all agri-tech firms have it easy amid the pandemic.
For instance, tech firm Abundant, which created apple-picking robot tech, recently announced their closure. A statement from the firm said it wasn’t able to raise enough funding to continue its product development. This, despite being able to launch a series of good trials in the market.
The event only goes to show that tech growth and fund-raising are equally crucial in agri-tech. After all, growing a robot tech can be quite pricey and would be hard to sustain without enough resources. That said, Bear Flag surely hit the jackpot with added assets from its new owner.
On the other side of the coin, John Deere also has a lot to gain from the deal. After all, it will help achieve its long-term goal of staying as a major machinery player.
