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Mon May 15, 2023
Farm Equipment
A new allied agreement between John Deere and Australian precision agriculture leader PCT will help to revolutionize in-field data analysis for grain, corn, soybean and cotton farmers in North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Under the agreement, farmers will have the ability to take data from John Deere Operations Center and seamlessly share it with PCT Agcloud, providing further automated insights into protein and yield for grain growers, and bale quality and yield for cotton producers.
The agreement gives John Deere customers access to PCT Agcloud advanced analysis tools, Protein Pro and Linked Cotton, through their local John Deere dealer. This formalizes and expands the relationship which John Deere has shared with PCT Agcloud locally for several years.
John Deere Australia and New Zealand Production Systems Manager, Ben Kelly, said the relationship would automate the delivery of key insights to grain and cotton producers that can be acted upon quickly – to generate real outcomes in the field.
"I think it's really exciting to see a local Australian agtech business partnering with a global agriculture leader to deliver solutions that are customer driven," Kelly said.
"Our global ambition is to improve profitability and sustainability for farmers and this agreement delivers on that by providing more automated insights growers can use to inform their management decisions and action in the field.
"This partnership works so well because John Deere has developed really accurate and reliable sensors on our equipment to collect data and PCT Agcloud offers precise and advanced analysis tools."
More Protein Data Means Greater Sustainability, Reduced Costs
For customers who have purchased a HarvestLab 3000 Protein Sensor, PCT Agcloud's Protein Pro uses protein and yield data to create a nitrogen removal map in Operations Center. Growers and agronomists can then create prescription maps for nitrogen or other nutrients as well as manage protein and yield to match soil capability in future seasons.
Kelly said protein data offered customers a significant opportunity to maximize profitability and minimize environmental impacts.
"Nitrogen costs have increased markedly for farmers over the past few years and is also one of the highest contributors to on-farm emissions, so this partnership will help customers optimise nitrogen to maximise crop potential and profits, while also being more sustainable with their nitrogen use," he said.
Better Understand Drivers of Cotton Quality
The new agreement also unlocks Linked Cotton for growers, which combines cotton bale quality attributes from the gin with cotton module and yield information to provide cotton quality maps in Operations Center that can be used to help growers understand what is impacting cotton quality.
"In the past, one of the biggest challenges was simply collecting data, but we've seen when we automate the data collection process, more farmers look at this information," Kelly said.
"Analysis of data has also proven a pain point in the past, and the automation of that process will dramatically reduce the time and effort required to create insights that can be acted on.
"We are, therefore, expecting rapid uptake of both Protein Pro and Linked Cotton by our customers."
Making Data Solutions More Widely Accessible
PCT Agcloud General Manager Andrew Smart said his company had been continuously developing advanced analytics and solutions for Australian John Deere dealers and early adopter farmers for more than 10 years, with a focus on making the technology easier to use.
He said the partnership with John Deere would now make these solutions more widely accessible to all growers, via Operations Center.
"PCT Agcloud is excited to have the opportunity to be a global partner with John Deere to help farmers and their trusted advisors get more from their data," Smart said.
"We see automated insights as an important part of day-to-day decision making, and our job is to develop localised data sets and insights for each customer to create their 'special sauce'."
Customers Own Their Data
Customers will remain in full control of their data, as has always been the case for John Deere.
"Our philosophy has always been that the customer remains in full control of their data and information," Kelly said.
"We also understand that in modern farming operations farmers often need to share data with other business partners and trusted advisors, and so have offered the ability for this information to be shared, but only if the customer approves it.
"John Deere's vision is that our customers are the most profitable and sustainable in the world, and this agreement brings us one step closer to this vision."