Farming just keeps getting smarter thanks to new technology like that being developed by Blue River Technology. It certainly caught the attention of John Deere which just announced acquisition of Blue River. To learn more about what Blue River Technology does and what this means to John Deere and its customers I spoke by phone with Willy Pell, Director of New Technology, Blue River Technology and Deanna Kovar, Director, Production & Precision Ag Marketing at John Deere.

Blue River has designed and integrated computer vision and machine learning technology that will enable growers to reduce the use of herbicides by spraying only where weeds are present, optimizing the use of inputs in farming – a key objective of precision agriculture. I didn’t really know what the term “machine learning” meant for farming until this interview. One of the results is the ability to enable thousands of instantaneous, customized, precise decisions to be made at the plant level.

You can read the announcement release here.

You can listen to my interview to learn more: Interview with John Deere and Blue River Technology