BASF and John Deere combine their advanced spraying technology and digital farming capabilities

xarvio® FIELD MANAGER’S variable rate application maps for crop nutrition and spraying can be used by John Deere’s sprayers like its R944i model, reducing fungicide use and improving profit.

• Important collaboration between two global leaders in agriculture, pairing advanced spraying technology with the xarvio^® digital farming platform
• Supporting sustainable farming by optimizing crop production across the whole season
• Free one-year xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER Premium license available to customers of new John Deere sprayers

(PRESS RELEASE) COLOGNE/ WALLDORF, 13-Dec-2021 — /EuropaWire/ — BASF (ETR: BAS), world’s largest chemical producer, has announced that its subsidiary BASF Digital Farming will partner with John Deere (NYSE: DE), an American manufacturer of agricultural, construction, forestry machinery, technology and related services, to help European farmers optimize crop production this season. The cooperation will see BASF Digital Farming’s xarvio® Digital Farming Solutions combined with John Deere’s advanced spraying technology.

John Deere has partnered with a digital farming platform complementary to its in-house digital ecosystem. It also comes at a time when many farmers are seeking convenient new ways to improve and automate crop production and enhance sustainability, while reducing environmental impacts.

The collaboration involves a special offer, where customers of a new John Deere sprayer for season 2022 will receive a free one-year license for xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER Premium – the global leading crop optimization platform from BASF Digital Farming.

John Deere’s customers using xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER Premium can create field-specific, variable rate application (VRA) maps for seeding, fertilizers, crop protection and plant growth regulators. The VRA maps are based on satellite in-season biomass images, 25 years of agronomic modelling, and are compatible with John Deere’s Operations Center and John Deere’s displays, making precision farming as convenient as the click of a single button.

In the Operations Center the farmer can plan the upcoming spraying applications in advance, by taking relevant setup data, including application products and tank mix information, and assigning to specific fields. To add high quality VRA maps to the planned work, the state-of-the-art interfaces allow customers to seamlessly connect their Operations Center account with xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER.

The John Deere Gen4-Display in the cab receives the maps and supports the farmer in the display setup process. It provides the John Deere ISOBUS sprayer with the field-specific application rate based on its current position in the field. John Deere sprayers then make the difference thanks to ExactApply, the best rate control accuracy in the industry. While spraying, the Gen4-Display creates high-resolution as-applied maps and sends them back to the Operations Centre for further agronomic analysis and compliance reporting.

Farmers can expect to see yield increases and financial benefits by using John Deere sprayers along with xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER’s VRA maps and timing solutions. Field trials in winter wheat across Europe from 2019 to 2021 have shown that farmers using VRA maps from xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER for fungicide and PGR (Plant Growth Regulator) application can expect average savings of 15% on use and an average benefit of €27 per hectare.

Access to xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER Premium also allows John Deere’s customers to benefit from an automatized, smart farming solution that uses proven plant models and live agronomic algorithms to provide clear agronomic recommendations for managing individual fields and field-zones. The platform’s algorithms analyze multiple data inputs, including historical agronomic information, in-season risks, weather data and satellite-based biomass images, to ensure timely, precise information on plant growth stages, plant health and in-season risks is provided.

With this cooperation, John Deere and xarvio^® Digital Farming Solutions are supporting farmers move from complete field application rates to zone specific dosing, enabling them to take the next step in precision and input optimization. It will help farmers enhance the use of their sprayers.

“We recognize the benefits xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER provides to farmers, specifically its proven ability to provide precise agronomic advice that reduces input costs and improves crop yield. Through this special promotion we’re confident our customers will get the added benefit of pairing our proven, state-of-the-art farm sprayers and precision ag technologies with a powerful and complementary digital farming platform,” says Christoph Wigger, Director Small Grains Production System, John Deere.

Tobias Menne, Head of BASF Digital Farming Unit, xarvio^® Digital Farming Solutions, adds, “Farmers will benefit from assured, superior agronomic outcomes on their fields – due to the full power of John Deere machinery enabled by xarvio’s agronomic intelligence.’’

John Deere sales representatives have received detailed training from the team at xarvio^® Digital Farming Solutions on how to set-up and use all the features available within xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER Premium. Additionally, John Deere customers’ activating the special offer will be able to contact the xarvio^® customer support team to seek technical support and advice for managing their fields in xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER Premium.

The special offer is available from now until March 31, 2022, for farmers in Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, UK and Ukraine.

About xarvio^® Digital Farming Solutions a brand by BASF Digital Farming GmbH

xarvio^® Digital Farming Solutions is at the forefront of the digital transformation of agriculture, optimizing crop production. xarvio^® offers digital products, based on a global leading crop model platform, which deliver independent, field-zone-specific agronomic advice that enables farmers to produce their crops most efficiently and sustainably. xarvio® products SCOUTING, FIELD MANAGER and HEALTHY FIELDS are being used by farmers in more than 100 countries. xarvio^® FIELD MANAGER is used by more than 70,000 farmers (total area of more than 10 million ha) in 18 countries, and xarvio^® SCOUTING is used by more than 5 million farmers and consultants. For more information, please visit www.xarvio.com or any of our social media channels.

About John Deere

Deere & Company (www.JohnDeere.com) is a world leader in providing advanced products, technology and services for customers whose work is revolutionizing agriculture and construction — those who cultivate, harvest, transform, enrich and build upon the land to meet the world’s increasing need for food, fuel, shelter and infrastructure.

About BASF’s Agricultural Solutions division

With a rapidly growing population, the world is increasingly dependent on our ability to develop and maintain sustainable agriculture and healthy environments. Working with farmers, agricultural professionals, pest management experts and others, it is our role to help make this possible. That’s why we invest in a strong R&D pipeline and broad portfolio, including seeds and traits, chemical and biological crop protection, soil management, plant health, pest control and digital farming. With expert teams in the lab, field, office and in production, we connect innovative thinking and down-to-earth action to create real world ideas that work – for farmers, society, and the planet. In 2020, our division generated sales of €7.7 billion. For more information, please visit www.agriculture.basf.com or any of our social media channels.

Media contact:

Nathan Quigley
Specialist Media Relations xarvio TM, BASF Digital Farming GmbH
+49 151 5519 3566
nathan-sean.quigley@xarvio.com

SOURCE: BASF SE