CropLife Retail Week: John Deere’s 2027 Tech Reveal with See & Scout, AI Cameras, and the Road to Autonomy

How is John Deere shaping the next decade of farming? In this special edition, Jenni Badding, Production Precision Ag Public Relations Manager at John Deere, joins CropLife Editor Eric Sfiligoj to discuss the cutting-edge developments hitting the field in 2026 and beyond.

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*Below is a partial and edited transcript:

Eric Sfiligoj:
Hello. Welcome to a special edition of Crop Life Retail Week. I’m Eric Sfiligoj, editor of Crop Life and CropLife IRON, here with a special in-studio guest, Jenni Badding, Production Precision Ag Public Relations Manager at John Deere. Jenni, welcome. If you could tell our viewers a little bit about yourself — I’m sure they’re familiar with John Deere — but how about you? How did you come to join John Deere?

Jenni Badding:
Yeah. Well, Eric, I have been with John Deere for 20 years. I started right out of college. I grew up in central Iowa. I’m an Iowa State University grad — go Cyclones — and currently I am the Production Precision Ag Public Relations Manager with John Deere.

Throughout my 20 years, I’ve worked in various parts of the business, whether it’s precision ag, our training shows and events, or serving as a marketing manager for Operations Center and JDLink. So I’ve had various experiences working with dealers and customers on different products, and it’s just been an exciting, fun 20 years.

Eric Sfiligoj:
Wow. Twenty years. All right.

Jenni Badding:
Yeah.

Eric Sfiligoj:
And go Cyclones. It’s interesting — anytime I’ve driven through Iowa, I always know where I am in the state because the back license plates will change from the Cyclone logo to the Hawkeye logo and back.

Jenni Badding:
That’s right. I will cheer for the Hawkeyes when Iowa State is not playing them.

Eric Sfiligoj:
All right. Very good.

Again, in your role at John Deere, I know technology and precision agriculture are kind of your wheelhouse. When you think about today’s market here in 2026, what do you see as the major developments we’ve seen in precision or smart technology, and why are those important in today’s world?

Jenni Badding:
Yeah, I don’t know that I can pinpoint just one. I think there are a couple.

One would really be around connectivity itself. We’ve had JDLink for quite some time, and the value that brings to a customer is being connected to their fleet and agronomic data anytime, anywhere through the John Deere Operations Center.

Then when you look at JDLink Boost, our satellite solution, if you don’t have that cellular connection, having satellite connectivity helps support technologies like See & Spray and autonomy by maintaining a constant connection.

I think that’s one big advancement.

Then there’s the John Deere Operations Center itself — that central hub for machine data, agronomic data, gleaning insights from the work being done, logistics, and more.

Even if you get to the basics, AutoTrac has been around for years. Back then it was revolutionary, and now when I think about advancements like G5 Advanced licenses, AutoPath, AutoTrac Turn Automation, implement guidance — all of that is building on that original foundation. Our autonomy offerings are built off of G5 Advanced as well. It’s just a progression, and everything is moving pretty quickly.

Eric Sfiligoj:
I was going to say, and I know you talked about that interconnectivity angle. I know this has been an issue, at least in some parts of the country, getting a signal. We were talking earlier this morning in some of the meetings here on site, and one of our editors mentioned that in certain parts of Wisconsin she used to visit, she couldn’t get a signal.

That’s obviously improved over the last few years, and I know there’s been a big push at the federal level to improve connectivity as well.

But when you look at the world here in 2026 in terms of technology, what are some of the challenges, hurdles, or barriers that still exist when you’re talking about agriculture technology? And how is John Deere helping address some of those?

Jenni Badding:
I think one challenge is just the rapid pace that technology is coming to market and staying up to speed with it — and understanding what fits into each customer’s operation, because not everybody is on the same path or journey in adopting precision ag technology.

From a Deere perspective, we’re always listening to customers and asking what challenges or pain points they’re experiencing, and how we can develop technology to help solve those challenges.

There’s a wide variety of options available, from basic Precision Essentials — like a display, receiver, and modem package for someone with older precision ag equipment who needs an upgrade at a lower upfront cost — all the way to Operations Center capabilities that allow customers to analyze data, send work plans out to the field, and save time.

Instead of sitting on the edge of the field entering every farm name, field name, crop type, and implement setup manually, the technology helps streamline all of that.

Time is money, and Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate with us. Fieldwork windows are getting tighter, so technology can help customers get into the field faster, do more with less, and automate repetitive tasks while they’re already putting in long hours in the cab.

Eric Sfiligoj:
Okay. All right. Very good. We’re going to take a quick break here for a message from our CropLife readers. And when we come back, we’ll talk more specifically about what John Deere has on the docket in terms of technology advancements.

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Eric Sfiligoj:
And we’re back with Jenni Badding.

Jenni, before the break, you were talking a little bit about what John Deere has been doing on the technology side. I know the company always has a lot in the pipeline, especially looking ahead to the 2027 season.

If you could give our viewers a preview of what John Deere has coming up.

Jenni Badding:
Yeah. We had a few announcements come out a few months ago around model year 2027 sprayers.

When we look at our See & Spray technology, we introduced our Gen 2 See & Spray system. With that, we’ve expanded crop compatibility.

Now it’s one unified system. Previously, customers selected between See & Spray Select, Premium, or Ultimate. Now it’s simply See & Spray, and it gives customers more flexibility in what they’re looking for. They can choose single tank, dual tank, ExactApply, or Inc Pro configurations.

There’s also now the option for boom lighting, which allows spraying at night and at faster speeds.

On the sprayer side, crab steer is now coming to Deere sprayers. Previously it was exclusive to the Hagie lineup, and now it’s expanding into the Deere portfolio.

Then recently, for the 2027 spray season, we introduced what we’re calling See & Scout.

What See & Scout does is bring in more field data insights. Historically, when you turned on See & Spray, the 36 cameras across the boom were activated and generated a weed pressure map.

With See & Scout for the 2027 season, those cameras will always be on whether or not you’re utilizing See & Spray. It will generate both a weed pressure map and a stand count map — starting with corn for the 2027 season.

That data can seamlessly flow into Operations Center, allowing growers to glean insights all season long.

It also utilizes AI programming. The system uses the See & Spray hardware already on the machine and allows it to capture information as the sprayer moves through the field.

Eric Sfiligoj:
Okay.

Again, the last question I’ll ask you is a little more dangerous because I’m going to ask you to pull out the crystal ball.

We’re here in 2026 talking about the 2027 growing season and some of the things coming from John Deere. You’ve been here for 20 years, and I’ve been in the marketplace for almost 30 myself.

What do you foresee happening between now and the end of the decade when it comes to ag technology for equipment in the field? Specifically, what are we going to see from sprayers? Will there eventually be an autonomous sprayer working its way through the field, or is that still a little too far forward for 2030?

Jenni Badding:
You know, John Deere has been around for almost 200 years, and one of our core values is innovation. I think we will continue to innovate across all of our product lines, sprayers obviously being one of them.

To answer your question specifically on autonomy, we are seeing more and more automation of tasks. I think we will continue to see more of that automation on the road to autonomy.

It comes back to listening to customers — what they need, what challenges they face, and how we can implement technology to help.

When we launched See & Spray, we only supported a couple of crops. Now we’ve expanded crop compatibility because that’s what customers asked for. We’ve increased operating speed, and now we’ve added See & Scout because customers are looking for that kind of field insight.

With those cameras always on and with continued customer feedback, I think we’ll continue to see more advancements in that wheelhouse.

But yes, I do believe we’ll continue down the road from automation toward autonomy.

Eric Sfiligoj:
Very good.

All right. Well, Jenni Badding from John Deere, thank you so much for joining us for this edition of CropLife Retail Week. The ag technology space is certainly fascinating, and there are lots of rapid developments happening in that marketplace.

Of course, we’ll continue following them here at CropLife Retail Week. But again, thanks for joining us. We appreciate your time.

Jenni Badding:
Thank you so much. Appreciate you having me on.