Tractor maker Deere & Co., more often known as John Deere, probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind when we think about artificial intelligence. But that could be about to change with the news Wednesday that it has just acquired an AI startup that has built robots that can identify unwanted plants in fields of crops and eliminate them with herbicide.

John Deere said it spent $305 million to acquire Blue River Technology. Blue River will continue to operate as a separate brand, but John Deere said it plans to incorporate the new technology into its tractors as soon as it can.

The company’s latest tractors are already fairly high-tech. Many of its most advanced tractors can drive autonomously across fields, using GPS technology and image sensors that also help to assess the quality of grain they’re harvesting. However, Blue River’s technology should help Deere take its tractor tech to the next level, by allowing it to identify individual plants crops such as cotton and lettuce and boost agricultural efficiency even more.

The problem Deere wants to solve is that herbicides and other chemicals have traditionally be sprayed blindly across entire crops to kill off weeds. The method is effective but also very inefficient, as it means a large amount of herbicides are wasted. In addition, this kind of random spraying of chemicals everywhere also leads to concerns about possible contamination of the crops themselves. To fix this, Blue River has developed an AI system that will allow farmers to direct herbicides only where they’re needed.

Blue River’s robots are attached to tractors much like regular spraying equipment, but the difference is that the machinery is equipped with cameras that employ machine learning software to distinguish weeds from crops. Anytime the systems spots a weed, the robots use automated sprayers direct a precise squirt of herbicide at the unwanted plant to kill it.

Blue River’s technology can identify hard-to-spot weeds among cotton plants

Blue River’s first product is called LettuceBot, for use with lettuce crops. The company says the technology is already used in about 10 percent of all U.S. lettuce production, killing off weeds and also lettuce plants that are sick or too small to be harvested.

The company’s second bot, See & Spray, is targeted at cotton farmers, and is currently undergoing testing. Blue River says on its website that the system will be able to identify and spray weeds no bigger than a postage stamp, while leaving the cotton plants alone. The company claims it can reduce herbicide use by up to 90 percent with the system.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with a Blue River Technology team that is highly skilled and intensely dedicated to rapidly advancing the implementation of machine learning in agriculture,” said John May, president of agricultural solutions and chief information officer at Deere. “As a leader in precision agriculture, John Deere recognizes the importance of technology to our customers. Machine learning is an important capability for Deere’s future.”

Blue River has ambitious plans to expand its technology further. It’s looking at crops such as corn and soybeans next. In addition, the company is said to be building imaging software for harvesting and seed planting, so tractors will be able to adapt to varying soil conditions and different-sized crops.

Image: Blue River