“The partnership between Deere and SpaceX will offer a ruggedized version of our (John Deere’s) next-gen high-performance terminal,” related Kool. “The terminal will be roughly the size of a pizza box and will come with all of the necessary peripherals—such as a mount, a power supply, and more—to optimally mount and connect the machine.” And to be clear, the “pizza box”-sized technology will be attached to the down-to-Earth John Deere equipment—but specific equipment with a specific receiver. The SATCOM solution will initially be available through a limited release in the United States and Brazil, only starting in the second half of 2024. “We chose these regions based on our customers’ need for enhanced connectivity,” explained Kool. “Brazil is the world’s third-largest exporter of agricultural products; however, approximately 75 percent of the country lacks connectivity. Additionally, the US is the top exporter of agricultural products, but approximately 25 percent of the US lacks terrestrial cellular connectivity.” For those Canadians wondering why they haven’t been included, the government of Canada and its telecom providers are ahead of the US. It is expected that 98 percent of Canadians will be connected to high-speed Internet by 2026 and reach the 100 percent mark by 2030. In Canada, the federal government appears to be assuming that everyone who wants broadband internet can afford it, which may not be the case. However, of the 28 million households in the US that lack broadband internet (as of September 2023) in their home, 18 million household respondents state it is because they cannot afford an internet connection (https://www.ruralrise.org/affordable-connectivityprogram/). This past autumn, the Rural & Agriculture Council of America, the National Grange, RuralRISE Tech, and the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association sent a letter to Congressional leadership urging renewal of the Affordable Connectivity Program to help rural communities gain access to affordable broadband internet services—should they become more available from offerings by telecommunication companies. In the meantime, John Deere is taking its efforts to a whole new level to provide farmers who want hightech with the ability to access it. With the global population projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, farmers must produce 50 percent more food than they do today. “Technology is a key enabler to doing more with less,” said Kool, “and to take full advantage of this technology, farmers need access to connectivity. However, most farms are in rural communities where connectivity challenges persist.” He continued: “Partnering with SpaceX will allow us to expand the capabilities already provided by our StarFire Network by ensuring high-quality machine-tomachine communication across the tech stack.” The John Deere StarFire Network is a wide-area differential GPS system. The StarFire receiver on John Deere vehicles tracks and uses correction signals from all StarFire satellites that are currently “in view” and intelligently chooses one that delivers the best performance. The new SpaceX partnership will allow for a wider area of telematic satellite usage, even if one lacks high-speed internet. The machine uses the 4G JDLink modem on the tractor, and should that signal become lost, it will default to the satellite data. Kool said that a John Deere goal is to connect 1.5 million of its machines by 2026. SATCOM will fully enable technologies such as autonomy, real-time data sharing, remote diagnostics, enhanced self-repair solutions, and machine-to-machine communication, all of which help farmers work more efficiently while minimizing downtime. Another goal helped by this partnership is Deere’s desire to achieve a fully autonomous farming system for corn and soybeans in the US by 2030. “John Deere is the first agricultural company to partner with a SATCOM provider for enhanced connectivity in agriculture,” summed up Kool. “This partnership ensures we have a solution that meets our customers’ needs today and in the future.” | pag 09
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