Ag-Robotics Weekly · Week 29, 2026

John Deere has confirmed that the 9RX Autonomous — unveiled at CES 2025 — is now available through its dealer network across Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Nebraska without waitlist restrictions. Early adopters running the system on corn and soybean tillage report 22-hour unattended operating days with an average of 1.3 human interventions per 100 acres. John Deere's decision to bundle autonomy into its existing subscription model rather than charging a standalone fee is drawing attention from analysts who see it as a competitive moat against pure-play robotics startups.

Israeli robotics company Tevel has confirmed its tethered-drone picking fleet completed a full commercial cherry harvest season across three Chilean grower operations, covering approximately 180 hectares. Harvest quality metrics — bruising rate and size grading accuracy — met export-grade specifications, a critical threshold for Chilean cherry exporters targeting Chinese premium markets. The South American season gives Tevel year-round fleet utilisation, addressing a key unit-economics challenge for orchard robotics companies.

The IRS has confirmed that the Monarch MK-V meets the requirements for Section 179 full-expensing, allowing US farmers to deduct the entire purchase price in the year of acquisition. At an MSRP of $58,000, the effective after-tax cost drops to approximately $39,000 for operators in the 33% bracket — narrowing the gap with conventional diesel alternatives. Monarch says pre-orders following the announcement are up 340% week-over-week.

Greenfield Robotics, the Oklahoma-based weed-cutting robot-as-a-service company, has confirmed it crossed 400,000 contracted acres for the 2026 soybean season — up from 240,000 in 2025. The company operates exclusively as a service provider, deploying fleets of small autonomous robots at a per-acre rate rather than selling equipment. This model means Greenfield bears all capital and maintenance costs, which is proving attractive to mid-sized operators who lack in-house precision-ag expertise.

The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and the Province of Gelderland have co-funded a €45 million greenhouse robotics R&D cluster to be headquartered at Wageningen University's campus. The cluster will bring together Lely, AgXeed, and five Dutch precision-horticulture startups in a shared testbed covering four hectares of commercial greenhouse space. The Netherlands' greenhouse sector — the most productive per square metre in the world — is facing acute labour scarcity as seasonal worker availability from Eastern Europe has declined since 2024.

Kubota Corporation has acquired a 30% strategic stake in Verdant Robotics, the California-based multi-action spraying and fertilisation robot maker, in an $85 million deal. The investment gives Kubota a foothold in the high-value US specialty-crop market, where Verdant's Sheen platform has strong traction in wine grapes and almonds. For Verdant, the deal provides not just capital but a path to Kubota's extensive dealer network in Japan and Southeast Asia, where precision-spraying demand in terraced rice paddies is an underserved segment.