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DTN/Progressive Farmer: People attending the CES and seeing this combine really dominating the space must wonder about cost. Depending on the setup, it is seven figures.
Wetzel: Deere prices it for the value that they contribute. And, like I said, 20% to 30% productivity improvement — that’s dollars in the pocket of our customers, right? And (Deere) wants to get a share of that productivity that we’re bringing to the table. So yeah, if you look at the price tag, the machine itself from a person that’s buying a car or a house, they’re like, oh, yeah. But if I’m a farmer farming 5,000, 6,000 acres, it’s an investment for me to be more productive. It helps me get the crop out in a very critical time. It helps me maximize the yield off the field, because I don’t have any losses off the back of the combine. It’s a good investment.
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DTN/Progressive Farmer: Deere has an autonomous tractor doing tillage, for example. When does this combine become autonomous? When will there be an autonomous option for planting?
Wetzel: We’re still focused on a (full season) autonomous solution in the future. And you know, if you were to be in this machine here, it is essentially autonomous. You just need to sit in the seat. It turns itself at the end of the rows; it guides itself through the field. It’s controlling the unloading system with the press of a button. I sit in a combine once a year for about three days. And when I can, I can be pretty productive in a very short period of time. We have high levels of automation that makes it very easy for us to ultimately get to autonomous solutions. If we look at planting, we’re just changing the implement (on the tractor) to a planter. Is it planting at the right depth? Is it the right spacing, the right population? We already have that information available (from the planter). We can tell that today. It may not be fully autonomous, because we still need some folks in the cab, but we’re very much on the path to get there.
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DTN/Progressive Farmer: What is the demand for autonomous systems?
Wetzel: Every customer is different in their technology journey. We’ve got the early adopters who want the latest and greatest and are willing to adopt it and use it. We’ve got other guys that are more conservative; it’s going to take a little bit longer time for them to get into the technology. And that’s where I go back to (Deere’s) base-level technologies — the global positioning capabilities, the auto track, the auto turn automation, auto path — those fundamental pieces of our technology stack. There are still many customers that need to get into that and see the value it brings.
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DTN/Progressive Farmer: If you look around the CES, you see all sorts of autonomy and AI, on and on and on, up and down every aisle. How does Deere stack up to all that?
Wetzel: As I think about here, we’re in the kind of automotive section, or machinery section of the show. Deere is positioned as clearly a leader across the industry … the things that we’re doing to integrate technology into our machines to help growers and our customers be more productive. If you look at the automotive space, there’s still a big focus on autonomous driving. You got Waymo here, you’ve got Hyundai, all of those companies. It’s going to come for them, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done. I think it’s going to be easier to do it in agriculture, because you’re operating at lower speeds, you don’t have as many obstacles (such as moving cars). You’re in a field that’s kind of self-contained. You don’t have people walking around. But more importantly, Deere technology is driving productivity improvement. It’s addressing a key problem our customers face around labor availability. You’re getting value out of it. And that’s different, I think, from me getting into a car and going from my house to the movie theater. Our value proposition is compelling.
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For more of DTN/Progressive Farmer’s coverage from the 2026 CES, visit the following links:
— “Bobcat Smart Loaders Boost Productivity,” https://www.dtnpf.com/…
— “Hylio Drones Drive Ag From Above,” https://www.dtnpf.com/…
— “New Kubota Autonomous Tractor,” https://www.dtnpf.com/…
Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com
Follow him on social platform X @DMillerPF
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