With the recent acquisition of Blue River Technology, John Deere has focused its attention to how artificial intelligence can help cut costs in farming yet expand the growth of food production. By opening its San Francisco-based John Deere Labs, the company has focused on obtaining qualified candidates ready to concentrate on the technology that will push development of new products out, such as, the “see and spray.” This new development allows farmers to possibly cut back their herbicide spend by 95% by pinpointing where weeds are growing and only treating those areas.

“You can imagine that growers see dollars and cents when they see a 95% reduction in herbicide spend–that clearly gets them interested,” Willy Pell, director of new technology at Blue River Technology, told Fast Company. “But with everything we’re seeing in the last year with herbicide resistance as well as drift, this is becoming a much more important sustainability play as well.”

For more information on this innovation and John Deere’s exploration into Artificial Intelligence and its acquisition of Blue River, check out the complete article on Fast Company: https://www.fastcompany.com/40464024/how-john-deeres-new-ai-lab-is-designing-farm-equipment-for-more-sustainable-future