John Deere hails connectivity role in agriculture

INTERVIEW: Lane Arthur, VP of data, applications and analytics at John Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group (pictured), highlighted the importance of connectivity to the agricultural sector, noting it offers the potential to make a big difference in efficiency levels across operations.

Arthur told Mobile World Live the company had implemented a range of technologies in its equipment, including machine-to-machine communication to share information between equipment located in the same field.

“That’s important in the case of a sprayer, for example, so that you don’t overlap or under-apply”, he explained.

John Deere has also developed an app enabling remote adjustment of machines’ settings to help optimise their performance.

To cope with cases of poor connectivity, the company had to develop backup systems and “hold the data until it can be pushed wirelessly”, Arthur explained.

With connectivity increasingly essential to the agricultural industry, Arthur believes the sector must work in conjunction with the mobile industry to tackle a lack of, or problems accessing, coverage.

He also called for enhanced education covering rural communities.