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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Bear Flag robotics

John Deere Acquires Bear Flag Robotics for $250M

John Deere announced today that it is acquiring autonomous tractor driving technology startup Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million. According to the press announcement, “The deal accelerates the development and delivery of automation and autonomy on the farm and supports John Deere’s long-term strategy to create smarter machines with advanced technology to support individual customer needs.”

Bear Flag’s technology turns tractors into self-driving vehicles, allowing them to autonomously complete tasks such as spraying, mowing, discing and rippling. The fact that Bear Flag sold for that much is pretty impressive, considering the company had only raised a total $12.5 million.

But the big price tag is a reflection of the growing importance of automation in agriculture, which is in the midst of severe labor shortages that are getting worse. In addition to being short staffed, farm work is hard work that can involve heavy lifting in extreme heat for long hours, or managing fields in inclement weather. Automation like that from Bear Flag Robotics can run in adverse conditions without needing to take a break or run the risk of getting injured. Additionally, automation and robots can bring about more data and precision to agricultural processes, reducing the amount of herbicides and pesticides used, as well as optimizing fertilizer and water usage.

As is always the case in a market sector when a big acquisition happens, industry watchers will start to guess who the next acquisition target will be. There are actually a number of ag tech robotics startups that could be, well, ripe for picking. Augean Robotics and Future Acres both make autonomous vehicle platforms for farms that are meant to haul crops and gear around. Farmwise makes an autonomous weeding robot. And Small Robot Company makes a trio of autonomous robots to map and zap weeds.

It’s also worth noting that this is not John Deere’s first trip to the farm robot rodeo. In 2017 the company bought Blue River Technology, which made the LettuceBot robot for $305 million.

If you want to learn more about agricultural automation, check out the video from the “Crops and Robots: How Automation is Changing Agriculture” panel we held at our ArticulATE food robotics conference in May that featured Aubrey Donnellan, Founder and COO of Bear Flag Robotics (Spoon Plus subscription required).

Bear Flag Robotics Raises $3.5 Million for Autonomous Tractor Tech

The common refrain from robotics companies is that they help with manual, repetitive tasks. And when you run a farm, there are plenty of manual, repetitive tasks, and Bear Flag Robotics raised $3.5 million seed funding right before the holiday weekend to help agricultural workers out with them.

Bear Flag Robotics develops autonomous driving technology for tractors so growers can automate common tasks such as spraying, mowing, discing and rippling. According to the company, the result is lower labor costs and because of the smaller tractors increased yield through reduced soil compaction. You can see the company’s work in action in this video:

With its autonomous tractor tech, Bear Flag says that one person can manage a fleet of vehicles instead of requiring a whole crew to run them. Which brings us back to the question that always arises from advances in robotics: what is the human cost to automation? More robots equals fewer jobs for us fleshy folk.

The answer in this case, is actually a little less dire. Farms are in the midst of experiencing a shortage of agricultural workers right now, and robots can help fill in those gaps to make sure farms stay productive.

The advantage of robots, of course is that they can work all hours, never call in sick and don’t get injured. Robots are going to play an increasingly important part of our food’s journey from farm to fork, and you’re seeing more of that technology coming to fields. Augean Robotics’s “Burro” is a self-driving cart meant for pure manual labor like hauling small equipment and harvests around a farm. More advanced robots like harvesters are on the way from companies like Traptic and Abundant Robotics.

Based in Sunnyvale, CA, Bear Flag Robotics’s $3.5 million round was led by True Ventures, and the company has raised $4.5 million total since its founding in 2017.