John Deere rules the sky with the acquisition of Sentera industry-leading cameras that are compatible with most major drone platforms
John Deere has moved to shore up its position with remote imagery solutions for farmers by buying Sentera, considered the leading provider of drone cameras, based in Minnesota USA.
This acquisition will advance the capabilities of John Deere’s existing technology by providing farmers and ag service providers with a more comprehensive set of tools to generate and use data gathered by drones.
“We’re excited to add Sentera’s talented team to our organisation and integrate their advanced solutions into the suite of John Deere tools that help farmers do more with less,” explains Chris Winkler Digital Software and Solutions at John Deere.
“Combining Sentera’s imagery capabilities with the John Deere Operations Center™ will enable farmers and agronomist to seamlessly gather and integrate agronomic data, understand real-time conditions, and turn data into insights that drive decisions in the paddock throughout the growing season,” Chris Winkler adds.
Sentera’s industry-leading cameras are compatible with most major drone platforms and enable farmers and crop scouts to quickly and efficiently capture high-resolution data at scale.
Their capabilities and FieldAgent software tools help farmers and agronomists assess plant-level health, identify stressors, and take action. In addition, SMARTSCRIPT™ Weeds, a customised herbicide prescription, can be delivered to sprayers with individual nozzle control.
Drones equipped with Sentera technology can fly over paddocks at high speeds and generate high-resolution images. These images are processed with Sentera’s FieldAgent application to identify the exact location of specific weeds and generate a weed map.
This map becomes a targeted prescription for how much product a farmer needs to load into their sprayer, helping minimise waste. Once the prescription is generated, it can be wirelessly sent to compatible equipment through the John Deere Operations Center.
Weed maps are just one example of actionable data that is enabled with Sentera scouting technology. The same process can be used in a paddock to assess crop stand uniformity, disease pressure, and pests.
Integrating Sentera also supports John Deere’s approach to assisting farmers on their technology adoption journey. It offers precision capabilities to a broad range of applications while also complementing more advanced precision ag technologies, including See & Spray™.
“As a customer of John Deere and Sentera today, the value of this integration is clear,” said agronomist director Nick Einck. “Sentera’s scouting solutions allow us to quickly gather data across more ground and with greater detail.
“This enables us to customise our approach to each paddock. Coupled with the John Deere technologies we already leverage today, we can be more efficient and deliver even better outcomes for farm operations,” Nick Einck added.
Sentera will continue to supply cameras directly to drone manufacturers for integration into their products, as well as sell to farmers, agronomists, ag retailers, and other users.
The John Deere Operations Center will continue to be open for other drone imagery providers for integration, as well, ensuring customers and their trusted advisors continue to have choices on the solutions that work best for their operation.
“John Deere provides us a great outcome and is exactly the right home for Sentera,” said Brian Wenngatz, CEO of Sentera. “They are the industry benchmark for innovation in precision agriculture and share our belief that the future of access to these technologies is built on trusted relationships, measurable insights, and scalable platforms. Together, we’ll be able to support more farmers and help them unlock even more value,” Brian Wenngatz concluded.
