6 ms·

John Deere Plans to Feed the World with Robotics

27 points by CitizenTekk 8y ago

afandian 8y ago
Pretty tone-deaf in an 'analysis' piece not to mention the rights they are taking from farmers, and the struggle to regain them. (Edit: If not for the sake of telling the whole story, then at least as a commercial / competitive factor.)
- ahupp 8y ago
  Which rights do you mean?
  - afandian 8y ago
    Right to repair. Sorry, it's such a talked-about thing on HN I didn't say. Previous discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9414211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9414211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13925994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13925994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13802969 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13802969 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14176195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14176195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17479629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17479629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13990266 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13990266 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=889355 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=889355
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - rtkwe 8y ago
    John Deere tractors are locked down and without modification can only accept JD parts by JD authorized mechanics. For example a new transmission has to be 'authorized' by a JD technician before it can leave the shop because the computer will refuse to start without the authorization which costs $230 + $130/hr for the technician to do the authorization. Also JD has added a clause to their contracts absolving them from any losses or damages as a result of software failures. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xykkkd/why-american-farmers-are-hacking-their-tractors-with-ukrainian-firmware https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xykkkd/why-americ...
- hopler 8y ago
  The article is content marketing by a professional marketer. https://angel.co/beth_kindig https://angel.co/beth_kindig
rgrieselhuber 8y ago
In our race to the cities and suburbs, Americans have given up an incredible amount of food sovereignty, both in terms of zoning laws and our own skills. Our grid in the US is quite vulnerable and even brief interruptions could have catastrophic effects. Re-focusing on growing some portion of our food and sourcing locally as much as possible can alleviate many of these risks.
- crushcrashcrush 8y ago
  I also want to encourage people to just try with something basic. Get a planter box, and grow some Tomatoes! It's almost a wonderful luxury. What you eat and taste from the grocery store is a pale, awful facsimile of what real fruits and vegetables are.
  - hopler 8y ago
    This snobbery is one of HNs chronic illnesses. The stuff you grow at home isn't any more real. https://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/7-fruit-and-veggies-that-used-look-whole-lot-different-than-they-do-today https://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stor...
    - chr1 8y ago
      Maybe real isn't a good word, but because you can grow varieties that are more optimized for taste instead of transporting, and you can pick up the fruit when it is ripe, instead of picking early to optimize for storage, locally grown tomatoes are on average better than greenhouse tomatoes.
      - rgrieselhuber 8y ago
        I think real is a good word. The taste is night and day. Also, if you grow with heirloom seeds vs. GMO, you can harvest seeds for the next season.
        8y ago
dentemple 8y ago
I'm sorry, but if I'm going to rely on a robot, I'd want the ability to open it up and perform my own maintenance. John Deere is actively hostile to people like us. The only trustworthy robotics software is open source robotics software.
- mips_avatar 8y ago
  From what I’ve heard John Deere’s software is kind of a jumble of legacy ECU’s. It would be too embarrassing to open source it.
- sambull 8y ago
  John Deere wants to move 50 year lifespan and secondary markets into guaranteed MRR. Just like everything in my industry as well.
srean 8y ago
People who remain underfed today arent so because of lack of food/grains. US and India combined have historically dumped mountains of wheat into the (metaphoric) sea.
perlin 8y ago
Sure, we could move humans even further away from the means of production and deploy robots to do mega-scale monoculture using closed-source hardware / software, while continuing to further the monopolies held by Monsanto, John Deere, etc.. Or, we could try to shift agriculture back to a local scale, use open source hardware/software, and community-owned infrastructure to build more sustainable, polyculture food systems. In particular, I am excited about the rooftop farming work being done in the Brooklyn Navy Yard here in NYC(1). Our Public Advocate has even discussed building-code mandated "green roof" legislation(2). CNC/Robotics & IoT are the key to unlocking urban micro-agriculture that can begin to offset some of our dependency on dirty food, and I applaud those(3) who are working on these very important problems. (1) https://www.brooklyngrangefarm.com/navyyard https://www.brooklyngrangefarm.com/navyyard (2) https://www.bkreader.com/2018/07/18/brooklyn-councilmember-introduces-bill-transform-nycs-concrete-jungle-oasis-green-rooftops/ https://www.bkreader.com/2018/07/18/brooklyn-councilmember-i... (3) https://farm.bot/ https://farm.bot/

27 points by CitizenTekk 8y ago

Pretty tone-deaf in an 'analysis' piece not to mention the rights they are taking from farmers, and the struggle to regain them. (Edit: If not for the sake of telling the whole story, then at least as a commercial / competitive factor.)

ahupp 8y ago
Which rights do you mean?
- afandian 8y ago
  Right to repair. Sorry, it's such a talked-about thing on HN I didn't say. Previous discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9414211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9414211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13925994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13925994 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13802969 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13802969 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14176195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14176195 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17479629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17479629 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13990266 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13990266 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=889355 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=889355
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- rtkwe 8y ago
  John Deere tractors are locked down and without modification can only accept JD parts by JD authorized mechanics. For example a new transmission has to be 'authorized' by a JD technician before it can leave the shop because the computer will refuse to start without the authorization which costs $230 + $130/hr for the technician to do the authorization. Also JD has added a clause to their contracts absolving them from any losses or damages as a result of software failures. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xykkkd/why-american-farmers-are-hacking-their-tractors-with-ukrainian-firmware https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xykkkd/why-americ...
hopler 8y ago
The article is content marketing by a professional marketer. https://angel.co/beth_kindig https://angel.co/beth_kindig

rgrieselhuber 8y ago

In our race to the cities and suburbs, Americans have given up an incredible amount of food sovereignty, both in terms of zoning laws and our own skills. Our grid in the US is quite vulnerable and even brief interruptions could have catastrophic effects. Re-focusing on growing some portion of our food and sourcing locally as much as possible can alleviate many of these risks.

crushcrashcrush 8y ago
I also want to encourage people to just try with something basic. Get a planter box, and grow some Tomatoes! It's almost a wonderful luxury. What you eat and taste from the grocery store is a pale, awful facsimile of what real fruits and vegetables are.
- hopler 8y ago
  This snobbery is one of HNs chronic illnesses. The stuff you grow at home isn't any more real. https://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/7-fruit-and-veggies-that-used-look-whole-lot-different-than-they-do-today https://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stor...
  - chr1 8y ago
    Maybe real isn't a good word, but because you can grow varieties that are more optimized for taste instead of transporting, and you can pick up the fruit when it is ripe, instead of picking early to optimize for storage, locally grown tomatoes are on average better than greenhouse tomatoes.
    - rgrieselhuber 8y ago
      I think real is a good word. The taste is night and day. Also, if you grow with heirloom seeds vs. GMO, you can harvest seeds for the next season.
      - 8y ago

dentemple 8y ago

I'm sorry, but if I'm going to rely on a robot, I'd want the ability to open it up and perform my own maintenance. John Deere is actively hostile to people like us. The only trustworthy robotics software is open source robotics software.

mips_avatar 8y ago
From what I’ve heard John Deere’s software is kind of a jumble of legacy ECU’s. It would be too embarrassing to open source it.
sambull 8y ago
John Deere wants to move 50 year lifespan and secondary markets into guaranteed MRR. Just like everything in my industry as well.

srean 8y ago

People who remain underfed today arent so because of lack of food/grains. US and India combined have historically dumped mountains of wheat into the (metaphoric) sea.

perlin 8y ago

Sure, we could move humans even further away from the means of production and deploy robots to do mega-scale monoculture using closed-source hardware / software, while continuing to further the monopolies held by Monsanto, John Deere, etc.. Or, we could try to shift agriculture back to a local scale, use open source hardware/software, and community-owned infrastructure to build more sustainable, polyculture food systems. In particular, I am excited about the rooftop farming work being done in the Brooklyn Navy Yard here in NYC(1). Our Public Advocate has even discussed building-code mandated "green roof" legislation(2). CNC/Robotics & IoT are the key to unlocking urban micro-agriculture that can begin to offset some of our dependency on dirty food, and I applaud those(3) who are working on these very important problems. (1) https://www.brooklyngrangefarm.com/navyyard https://www.brooklyngrangefarm.com/navyyard (2) https://www.bkreader.com/2018/07/18/brooklyn-councilmember-introduces-bill-transform-nycs-concrete-jungle-oasis-green-rooftops/ https://www.bkreader.com/2018/07/18/brooklyn-councilmember-i... (3) https://farm.bot/ https://farm.bot/