Nearly two years before John Deere offered a limited release of its autonomous tillage system for the 2025 growing season, Michael DeJong ordered his first autonomous-ready tractor in hopes of getting in on the ground floor of the emerging technology.
"I had learned through conversations with my Riesterer & Schnell dealership that John Deere would be releasing a limited number of kits, so I had this vision a year and a half ago when I ordered my new tractors that if they needed someone to help test or do implementations, I wanted to be their guy," DeJong said.
The Marathon County farmer is among 20 owners of John Deere model year 2025 and newer 8R and 9R autonomous-ready tractors in the U.S. to be outfitted with Deere's driverless autonomy system for tillage functions. A full commercial release is planned for 2026.
"Our dealership told John Deere they knew of a grower in Central Wisconsin and said here's the equipment he has and the (2,000 acres) he's farming," DeJong said. "John Deere said 'Absolutely!' And that's how we were selected."
Click here to read more of this article in the Wisconsin State Farmer.
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