Farm equipment giant John Deere plans to join forces with SpaceX to address the ever-present issue of internet connectivity for some of its most technologically advanced equipment.
On Tuesday, the two companies announced a new partnership that will “allow farmers facing rural connectivity challenges to fully leverage precision agriculture technologies” through the SpaceX Starlink network. Under the partnership, John Deere dealers will be able to install a Starlink terminal and a JDLink modem to ensure connectivity with the John Deere Operations Center.
Jahmy Hindman, John Deere’s senior vice president and chief technology officer, said the arrangement will help meet connectivity needs farmers will face “today and in the future.”
“Now, we are bringing satellite communications service to the farm at scale so farmers with cellular coverage challenges can maximize the value of connectivity to their operations,” he said in a statement. “The SATCOM solution unlocks the John Deere tech stack so every farmer can fully utilize their current precision agriculture technology in addition to the new innovative solutions they will deploy in the future.”
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New and existing machinery can be equipped with satellite internet service, which John Deere said “will fully enable technologies such as autonomy, real-time data sharing, remote diagnostics, enhanced self-repair solutions, and machine-to-machine communication, all of which help farmers work more efficiently while minimizing downtime.”
The technology is expected to be available on a limited basis in the United States and Brazil later this year.
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