The Wall Street Journal Highlights Monarch Tractor in “The Rise of Autonomous Farms”

While working the rows with his tractor, a farmer occupies the seat, but instead of gripping the wheel he’s on his phone checking messages or even taking the occasional video call. Not only is the tractor handling the driving, but its array of cameras and AI analytics are gathering data for reporting or precision operations.  

This scene opens the story by the writer, William Boston, “Drones, AI and Robot Pickers: Meet the Fully Autonomous Farm,” in The Wall Street Journal. It’s also a scenario that’s beginning to play out at a growing number of farms across the country. Appearing in “The Future of Everything” section, Boston’s article takes a close look at how robotics and automation is paving the way for farms to run with greater levels of efficiency, solve pressing labor demands, and meet the need for greater sustainability. 

Technology Progression  

Technologies such as GPS-guided tractors, farm management software, robotic dairy milkers, and sensors for improving precision operations have been around for decades. What we’re experiencing today is a new wave of developments, and they’re coming at a critical time. 

On farms, robotics and automation are gaining momentum in their usefulness and application possibilities. Boston explains that ag robotics and automation mean farmers could swap rote duties and long hours in the cab for higher-level decision-making. Farmhands can tend to other high priority tasks, a benefit with farming’s labor shortages.  

Every seed, drop of water and ounce of fertilizer would be optimized to boost yields and protect the land—driven by a connected system that gets smarter with each season.

William Boston, Writer, The Wall Street Journal in “Drones, AI and Robot Pickers: Meet the Fully Autonomous Farm” 

Boston’s words are not a thought experiment. The technology exists and is already on the market, deployed in the fields, or in active testing.  

This is Real Life 

Monarch Tractor, an emerging leader in the ag robotics space, is Boston’s first example. He points to Monarch’s 100%, driver-optional and smart MK-V tractor. As a company, Monarch is a good fit for The Wall Street Journal story. 

Monarch was the first tractor manufacturer and AgTech startup to have a fully autonomous feature in an electric and smart tractor commercially available; driverless feed-pushing for dairy farms. Monarch’s Wingspan Ag Intelligence® – an advanced AI computing and farm management technology known as WingspanAI® – powers OEM machines for automation, digitization, and electrification.  

Even Monarch’s Row Follow feature is a first-of-its-kind technology, using a combination of AI, cameras, and GPS to keep a tractor automatically centered in the narrow rows of a specialty crop, like grapes and blueberries. The tractor handles precision driving  so the operator can focus on the implement. Until Row Follow, a technological achievement given the tricky operational parameters, this semi-autonomous feature was only available in large, broad-acre crops like corn and wheat, where it steers along a predetermined path.

Scaling Up 

Boston acknowledges the financial barrier farmers may face in acquiring machinery that enables an autonomous farm. It’s expensive. But so are the other formidable challenges that farms are up against. Robotics, automation, and AI are helping farmers tackle operations like feed-pushing, weeding, and harvesting in ways that foster consistency and reliability. It’s a strategy to mitigate labor shortages and unsustainable practices. 

 Agriculture technology, according to Boston, is turning farms into data-driven operations, enabling farmers to spot problem spots early on, cut waste, and boost yields. These outcomes are the path to profitability.  

According to The Wall Street Journal, the segment “The Future of Everything” is a look at how innovation and technology are transforming the way we live, work, and play. Monarch is honored to be recognized as a company whose innovations and technology are making these changes in a way that serves society for the better.