John Deere acquires provider of aerial imaging applications.

John Deere announces the acquisition of Sentera, a provider of remote sensing solutions for agriculture based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

With this acquisition, John Deere states that they are expanding the possibilities of their existing technology offerings. Farmers and agricultural service providers will have a more comprehensive set of tools to generate and utilize agronomic data. This is intended to make decisions to improve the profitability, efficiency, and sustainability of operations easier.

"The combination of Sentera's image processing capabilities with the John Deere Operations Center will allow farmers and their advisors to seamlessly capture and integrate agronomic data, understand real-time conditions, and turn data into insights that drive decisions in the field throughout the entire growing season," says John Deere Manager Chris Winkler.

Sentera's cameras are compatible with most common drone platforms, enabling farmers to quickly and efficiently capture high-resolution data on a large scale. Together with the FieldAgent software tools, farmers can assess the health of individual plants, identify stress factors, and take action.

In addition, with SMARTSCRIPT Weeds, customized herbicide application can be sent to the sprayer with individual nozzle control.

Equipped with Sentera technology, drones fly over the field at high speed, producing high-resolution images. These images are processed with Sentera's FieldAgent application to identify the precise location of specific weeds and create a weed map. This map allows farmers to calculate the application amount accurately, minimizing input consumption, as stated by John Deere.

Once the application map is created, it can be wirelessly sent to compatible devices via the John Deere Operations Center. Weed maps are just one example made possible with Sentera's scouting technology. The same process can be used in the field to assess plant stand uniformity, disease pressure, and pests.

Despite the deal, the John Deere Operations Center will remain open for integration with other providers of drone imagery.