Improving crop yields with precision agriculture

John Deere wanted to deliver increased return on investment to customers purchasing their large industrial equipment.

In recent years, John Deere industrial combines and tractors have become incredibly complex. For example, combines hold as many as 1000+ sensors that capture an immense amount of data relative to all operational aspects of the industrial combine. There are sensors to detect the proper amount of hydration, fertilizer and pesticides for a particular type of crop. Other sensors inform farmers how efficiently teams are operating these highly complex and highly expensive machines to help optimize production and investments. But the incredible amount of data being returned holds no value to farmers in their decision making process unless analytics can be applied.

To maximize returns, John Deere implemented Akka for the collection and analysis of the vast amount of sensor data. Combined with weather and data from seed and fertilizer manufacturers, they are now able to optimize equipment use resulting in more efficient crop yields, lower production costs and increased margins.