By John Deere production system manager STEPH GERSEKOWSKI

In 2024-25, the high value crop (HVC) sector will reach a new record of $17.8 billion in its value of production, positioning it as the third largest agricultural industry in the nation.

Horticulture is outpacing every other primary industry and as global demand for food grows, its importance will only continue to rise.

At John Deere, we believe we are ideally placed to support growers by bringing the world’s best precision agriculture technology to HVC.

Broadacre farming has reaped the benefits of technology and innovation over the past two to three decades, but horticulture has not enjoyed the same evolution, and this is now something we are committed to addressing.

We want to start to bring HVC producers in line with their broadacre counterparts by applying and further developing tech already proven in the grains and cotton industries.

Unique challenges

At the same time, we understand and appreciate the unique challenges faced by our HVC customers in boosting the efficiency and productivity of their operations – be that limitations around machine form size, coverage under canopy or the range of implements available for specific crop types and farming practices.

We also know access to skilled labour is one of the greatest limitations to efficiency and productivity, particularly during periods when windows are tight such as spraying and harvest – and we’re prioritising investment in automation to deliver solutions that are scalable depending on what workforce is available at any time.

Autonomy can drive greater quality and consistency in job execution, increase profitability and improve farm safety.

Data management is another priority for the HVC sector, one we believe will become increasingly urgent over the coming years.

For this reason, we are committed to connecting 100 per cent of all John Deere small tractors as the first step in supporting greater documentation and traceability.

It is seldom we have a conversation with growers who do not speak about the growing pressure input costs are placing on production systems and we’re working hard to deliver solutions that reduce overall costs of production for customers.

Over the past two years, John Deere has introduced many solutions and technologies to address these significant, but not insurmountable, obstacles.

For example, the 5ML Tractor is specifically designed to meet the unique requirements of orchard and vineyard production, while precision ag technologies such as automated guidance system AutoTrac, which were previously only placed on large agricultural machines, are now available in HVC equipment.

SmartApply can help growers achieve as much as 93 per cent less chemical runoff and up to an 87 per cent reduction in airborne drift, while reducing chemical and water use by an average 50 per cent.

Additionally, our joint venture with GUSS is delivering spray units that bring together a sophisticated combination of GPS and light detection and ranging (LiDAR), vehicle sensors and software to navigate through rows autonomously.

From an overarching perspective, integration of tech and in-field monitoring with John Deere Operations Center means growers can access another level of insights and data analysis to support better documentation, traceability and data-informed management decisions.

This is an exciting and rewarding era, and we want to work side-by-side with growers to produce some of the best fruit, vegetables and wine in the world through uptake of technology we know can make an impactful contribution to industry and our farming communities.

You deserve to have the world’s best tech powering your machine. We are listening and we are committed to high value crops.