With agricultural equipment and techniques becoming more and more technologically sophisticated, farmers and agricultural producers are quickly joining a technological civil war, similar to the one “fought” by proponents of Apple and Windows products, as competing farm companies quickly embrace and develop new technologically revolutionary products.
The recent Farm Progress Show offered a glimpse into this proprietary struggle between major ag companies, all of which were offering new equipment designed to capitalize on the precision farming craze. In particular, a great deal of interest seemed to be buzzing around new state of the art tractors capable of self-driving with satellite technology, tracking and monitoring yields, and synching to data stored on the cloud.
Heavy-hitters like John Deere and AGCO have been quick to embrace these new technologies. However, while they offer overall similar products, their approaches are vastly different. Deere, for example, has embraced a closed proprietary system. Like Apple, Deere products will run specialized Deere applications that will only work on Deere platforms.
AGCO, on the other hand, appears to be embracing a more open system and seems willing to work with partners when developing apps and software (and approach that is very similar to Microsoft’s early days).
With overall sales high for this year and with interest remaining strong, these new products will likely undermine negative stereotypes of farmers as backwards hicks.
To learn more about agricultural financing opportunities contact a Farm Plus Financial representative by calling 866-929-5585 or by visiting www.farmloans.com.
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