Skip to content
MarketScale
‹ Back to IndustriesEngineering & Construction

John Deere Goes All-In on Automation in Agriculture at CES 2024

Farm equipment manufacturer demonstrates how autonomous systems are reshaping labor efficiency across cotton harvesting and road construction

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Engineering & Construction teams put it to work with Partner & Channel Enablement.

By Grant Harrell · Aaron WetzelAutomation in AgricultureCes 2024Consumer Technology Association
Share

Key takeaways

01

Farm equipment manufacturer demonstrates how autonomous systems are reshaping labor efficiency across cotton harvesting and road construction

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Engineering & Construction?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Engineering & Construction coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

There was reason for excitement in the area of automation in agriculture, as John Deere proved at the Consumer Technology Association's largest tech event, spotlighting innovation.

At CES 2024, John Deere showcased its innovative technology in agriculture, featuring an automated cotton-picking system and the Dozer 360 for road grading, designed to enhance efficiency and support human labor in sophisticated agricultural and construction tasks. These advancements, including a high-speed cotton-picking mechanism and drone-assisted road grading, highlight John Deere's commitment to integrating cutting-edge technology in traditional industries.

How is John Deere utilizing technology to seamlessly integrate automation in agriculture and construction and revolutionize these industries to address labor challenges and enhance productivity?

Aaron Wetzel, the Vice President of Production and Precision AG Production Systems at John Deere, speaking from CES 2024, unveiled how Deer's cutting-edge technologies, like autonomous tractors and AI-driven equipment, are transforming the landscape of traditional fields.

"Our solutions are able to find weeds versus the plants and only spraying the weeds, providing customers with up to seventy percent savings in chemicals," Wetzel said.

Our solutions are able to find weeds versus the plants and only spraying the weeds, providing customers with up to seventy percent savings in chemicals.
— Aaron Wetzel, Vice President of Production and Precision AG Production Systems at John Deere

Video TranscriptExpand ↓

Integrating technologies into our machine where it makes it much simpler for customers to actually achieve the appropriate grade on a construction site. Our solutions are able to find weeds versus the plants and only spraying the weeds. This is providing customers with up to seventy percent savings in chemicals Hello. My name is Aaron Wedzel, vice president of production systems for our production and precision ag business at John Deere, and welcome to CES twenty twenty four. We're here at the John Dier booth. We're talking about real purpose, real tech, and real solutions for our customers. Here in the booth, we've got a great and exciting play of the latest technologies where deere is bringing technology with equipment to help solve problems for our customers around the world. Couple of examples of that would be at the very entrance of our booth is a fully autonomous tractor that we're live streaming in from Austin, Texas. So thirteen hundred miles away, we're able to control the tractor autonomously through the use an iPhone. So behind me here is a video display of a live stream feed of a autonomous tractor operating thirteen hundred miles away from here in I guess, located in Austin, Texas. This screen shows the actual cab with, the operation happening without anyone in the in the driver's seat. This autonomous capabilities, we're making a real impact for our customers because it helps them address growing labor challenges. It gives them new levels of productivity, and it helps their overall quality of life. Here behind me is an example of that tractor that is operating in Austin, Texas, and attached to that tractor is one of our latest innovations in our planting for customers as they prepare the, soil and place the seeds for the coming season of growing cotton, which is a focus for our market here. This, planter has got furl vision capabilities where we have a camera, tied to artificial intelligence that's helping customers give them real time view of the trench that the planner is creating. Giving them assessments on the quality of that trench, helping them make adjustments as they go through the field at ten miles an hour. Superproductive machine, but utilizing technology to make that job even easier for customers. So again, another example of real technologies making real impact for our customers is here in our construction business segment of our booth, where we're showcasing smart grade on one of our dozers. Smart grade is, again, is integrating technologies into our machine where it makes it much simpler for customers to actually achieve the appropriate rate on a construction site. So it's addressing again labor challenges that our construction customers face by having less sophisticated operators in the tab and you do the job once. So the technology takes over, and it makes it very easy for them to get to the level of grade they're looking for. Again, real technologies, real impacts for our customers creating value for them across all aspects of our business capturing the data to help our customers make better decisions, both for their efficiency in their operations, but also data to help overall sustainability in the environment. So these are real examples of technologies we have available in the market today that customers can take advantage of to help improve their overall operations and provide an impact to their businesses in terms of increased productivity, more sustainable solution both for them, but also for our environment. We also are showing today our sea and spray technology, which uses AI technology combined with vision cameras that going through the field at nearly fifteen miles an hour, our solutions are able to define weeds versus the plane and only spraying the weeds. This is providing customers with up to seventy percent savings and chemicals. Great for their bottom line and impact for their in terms of lowering their overall costs, but a massive impact for our environment because we're applying less chemicals. Again, real technologies and real impact for our customers, all showcased here at our CES booth in the base.

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Engineering & Construction starts with a company putting its project engineers, superintendents, and estimators on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Owners shortlist firms they already trust, and your field leaders become the reason your name is on that list.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

About the author

GH
Grant HarrellHead of Transportation/Mobility & Host of "Are We There Yet?" video podcast series

Asking the most exciting, innovative, cutting-edge companies in transportation/mobility the “Are We There Yet?” question is a lot of fun, and the focus of Grant Harrell's top video podcast series! And, it’s not a bad question as so much is truly happening in this space today. What used to be trains, planes, and automobiles is now robots, drones, and spaceships, and Grant is curious about how soon we are all going to see these technologies in action, at scale. Very few of us enjoy a car that drives itself, have dinner delivered via drone, or have taken a vacation to space, but these amazing technologies and applications, as Grant discovers within his "Are We There Yet?" podcast series, are here, or as he likes to say, "we're there"! Grant also serves as the Head of Transportation/Mobility for MarketScale, one of the fastest-growing, most-successful, fun b2b media companies in the industry! MarketScale works behind the scenes for many of the top brands today, building their brand, engaging their communities, and telling their incredible stories! Within Grant's leadership of MarketScale's Transportation/Mobility division, he enjoys working with top companies within automotive to aviation, micro-mobility to marine, drones to space exploration, and everyone in between. And, Grant encourages you to reach out to him directly and set up a meeting, because as he says, "whats the point of all of this transportation/mobility technology development if we aren't headed somewhere fun to meet someone interesting"!

Follow Engineering & Construction Insights

Get new expert content in your inbox.

Engineering & Construction: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Engineering & Construction buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Engineering & Construction expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your project engineers, superintendents, and estimators into the articles, video, and social content Engineering & Construction buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Engineering & Construction Insights

Xtellio brings telematics to jobsite tools and heaters

Xtellio brings telematics to jobsite tools and heaters

Xtellio launched a two-tier telematics platform in March 2026: 32 battery-powered Xense sensors for small tools and wired Pro-Xentral devices for excavators, light towers and heaters. The company claims a 10-year battery life. Data is delivered through open APIs, which Xtellio frames as customer ownership of the data, aimed at rental and construction fleets where small assets have gone largely untracked.

  • 01A 10-year battery claim on a bolt-on Bluetooth sensor is the benchmark to hold any small-asset telematics vendor against; it decides whether tagging hundreds of tools is a one-time job or a recurring maintenance chore.
  • 02For rental houses and contractors running mixed fleets, the sharper question is no longer which machines have telematics but whether the heaters, light towers and hand tools do, and whether that data lands in the same system.
  • 03Open APIs and customer-owned data are now part of the pitch from a telematics hardware maker, which gives buyers a concrete contract clause to ask for: where can the data be sent, and who controls it once the asset is on rent.

Sep 18, 2026

Senate bill would double smart water grants to $50 million a year

Senate bill would double smart water grants to $50 million a year

S. 2388, the Water Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2025, would double an EPA water tech pilot to $50 million a year through 2028. Grants would cover design, construction, training and operations for leak detection, advanced metering and AI analytics, WaterWorld reported. Planning and maintenance stay on the utility's tab.

  • 01Under S. 2388 as WaterWorld describes it, feasibility studies are not grant-eligible, so a utility would have to pay to build the case for a smart water project before applying for help building the project itself.
  • 02The bill's eligible list puts advanced digital design and construction management tools in the same bucket as meters and sensors, which would give a utility's capital delivery team a claim on the same grant as its field operations group.
  • 03The existing pilot program's authorization runs through 2026, per WaterWorld; the bill would extend it to 2028, and its last reported status was 'introduced' as of Aug. 12, 2025.

Sep 17, 2026

MEP systems can run 30-40% of a construction budget, ASCE course says

MEP systems can run 30-40% of a construction budget, ASCE course says

ASCE is running its two-day live webcast, Introduction to MEP Construction Management, on November 9-10, 2026, taught by Anthony E. Sparkling. ASCE says mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems can reach 30-40% of many construction budgets. The course targets owner's representatives, project managers and architects who manage those subcontractors. It carries 14 PDHs.

  • 01ASCE's 30-40% figure for MEP's share of many construction budgets is the reason owners should care: a large share of the check is signed on the strength of others' judgment.
  • 02The sharper question for a capital projects team: can the owner's representative read the mechanical and electrical sheets and follow a subcontractor's basic estimating units before bids come in?
  • 03The live webcast runs Nov. 9-10, 2026, with the next session not until Sept. 27-28, 2027; an on-demand version is available in between, and ASCE quotes group rates for five or more registrants.

Sep 17, 2026

Explore More Engineering & Construction Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Engineering & Construction.

Browse Engineering & Construction Hub

About the Expert

GH
Grant Harrell

Head of Transportation/Mobility & Host of "Are We There Yet?" video podcast series

Asking the most exciting, innovative, cutting-edge companies in transportation/mobility the “Are We There Yet?” question is a lot of fun, and the focus of Grant Harrell's top video podcast series! And, it’s not a bad question as so much is truly happening in this space today. What used to be trains, planes, and automobiles is now robots, drones, and spaceships, and Grant is curious about how soon we are all going to see these technologies in action, at scale. Very few of us enjoy a car that drives itself, have dinner delivered via drone, or have taken a vacation to space, but these amazing technologies and applications, as Grant discovers within his "Are We There Yet?" podcast series, are here, or as he likes to say, "we're there"! Grant also serves as the Head of Transportation/Mobility for MarketScale, one of the fastest-growing, most-successful, fun b2b media companies in the industry! MarketScale works behind the scenes for many of the top brands today, building their brand, engaging their communities, and telling their incredible stories! Within Grant's leadership of MarketScale's Transportation/Mobility division, he enjoys working with top companies within automotive to aviation, micro-mobility to marine, drones to space exploration, and everyone in between. And, Grant encourages you to reach out to him directly and set up a meeting, because as he says, "whats the point of all of this transportation/mobility technology development if we aren't headed somewhere fun to meet someone interesting"!

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Engineering & Construction and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512