Autonomous equipment rivalry

The greatest advantage of autonomous agricultural equipment is probably productivity. A less obvious benefit is that it largely eliminates the requirement for skilled operators.

With the shortage of skilled operators in agriculture, these people can be expensive to recruit. Seasonality and low equipment utilisation during off-periods also mean that they are required for only a few months of the year, which further compounds the operator supply and demand conundrum.

One way in which equipment manufacturers have responded to these challenges is to invest in the development of the ‘driverless’ tractor.

Globally, agricultural shows are seeing a steep increase