Dive Brief:
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New Holland is looking to make autonomous tractors more accessible to orchard and vineyard operators through its latest partnership.
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The CNH brand is collaborating with Bluewhite on distribution, manufacturing and integration of the startup’s autonomous technology for New Holland tractors in North America.
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The strategic partnership allows select New Holland dealers to sell, distribute and service Bluewhite’s aftermarket kits for existing tractors, with expansion plans to follow. The companies are also looking into factory-installed solutions.
Dive Insight:
The partnership comes as farmers adopt more precision technologies like digital management tools and autonomous sprayers. The technology is aimed to drive sustainability and cut down on costs.
To address labor challenges in the specialty crop market, CNH and New Holland turned to Bluewhite, an emerging leader in autonomous farming with technology proven to reduce operational costs by up to 85% through input, labor and maintenance savings.
"When a grower is hard-pressed to secure labor or schedules don't align, a difference in hours or a day can significantly set an operation back financially and agronomically. This technology brings relief to those situations,” Paul Welbig, precision product marketing director for New Holland Agriculture North America, said in a statement.
The collaboration builds on CNH’s leadership in driving technological innovation in agriculture. In recent years, the farm equipment giant has acquired Raven, Augmenta and Hemisphere to expand its precision technology portfolio and meet customer demand.
“The partnership with Bluewhite complements our mission to continue to better serve our customers, elevate their capabilities and bring more autonomy to their operations,” Carlo Lambro, brand president of New Holland, said in a statement.
Founded in 2017, Bluewhite uses its artificial intelligence-backed aftermarket kits to help growers manage their tractor fleets and farming data, according to a release.
Today, the Israel-based startup does business with more than 20 farmers that use its technology on tractor models across 150,000 acres of U.S. farmland, including orchards and vineyards.
