The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of June 28th, 2018

#8 Stine Seed invests in tractors without drivers

In Iowa, the founder of Stine Seed Company invested $5 million in Smart Ag, an Ames tech startup that developed software that takes the farmer out of the tractor. Harry Stine said, “Agriculture has always been about the development and application of new ideas. We are pleased to be on the forefront of this and see the value in the technology for our own seed production and farming operations.”

Typically, farmers harvesting crops dump the grain from their combines onto carts, which tractor drivers then pour onto semitrailers that are hauled to elevators. The plug-and-play software system automates tractors to complete their operations faster and with less labor.  Smart Ag says its software application “performs the same function as a driver, only it is safer, and more reliable and sustainable.”

The investment comes five months after the company announced software that fully automates a grain-cart tractor used during a harvest.