John Deere revealed a new planting technology on Jan. 5 at the Consumer Electronic Show 23 in Las Vegas. The company said ExactShot™ allows farmers to reduce the amount of starter fertilizer needed during planting by more than 60%.
The company said that across the US corn crop, ExactShot could save over 93 million gallons of starter fertilizer annually and prevent wasted fertilizer from encouraging weed growth or increasing the risk of running off the field into a waterway.
ExactShot uses a sensor to register when each individual seed is in the process of going into the soil. As this occurs, a robot will spray only the amount of fertilizer needed, about 0.2 ML, directly onto the seed at the exact moment as it goes into the ground.
Deere also introduced a new electric excavator, powered by a Kreisel battery, which the company said will provide construction workers and road builders with lower daily operating costs, reduced jobsite noise, enhanced machine reliability, and zero emissions, without sacrificing the power and performance they need in a machine. Deere owns a majority stake in Kreisel Electric, which has battery technology for a wide range of applications.