WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2016
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
Homegrown
CUTTING EDGE TRACTORS GO ON THE MARKET
Post Falls farmer
to sell automated
tractors
By JOHN O’CONNELL
EO Media Group
A Post Falls, Idaho,
seed potato farmer has
announced he’s building
driverless tractors and will
deliver the ¿ rst machine
within 60 days.
With no cab, steering
wheel, seat or gauges, Da-
vid Farb, founder of Farb
Guidance Systems, said his
innovation will require just
75 horsepower and will be
roughly half the size of a
modern, conventional trac-
tor.
Farb expects to build
about 60 units in 2016 and
has already received com-
mitments for 100 units. He
plans to step up produc-
tion in 2017. The purchase
price for one of his tractors
will be from $160,000 to
$170,000. He’s working
with equipment dealers
around the state, includ-
ing a large dealership in
Southern Idaho, to provide
a network to maintain the
machines.
A second machine will
be delivered to the Southern
Idaho farm shortly there-
after, with tweaks made
based on performance ob-
servations.
“We think that once
these get in the dirt that it
will be an explosive type
market,” Farb said. “It’s
pretty hard to say no to it at
the cost and what it does for
you.”
The tractors will have
several sensors to alert
JOHN O’CONNELL/CAPITAL PRESS
During the March 7 Intermountain AgTech Conference in
Pocatello, David Farb of Farb Guidance Systems in Post Falls,
Idaho, discusses the driverless tractors his company will soon
deliver to farmers in Idaho. Farb said his business will be on the
forefront of the development of automated farming equipment.
COURTESY OF FARB GUIDANCE SYSTEMS
Farb’s initial platform, the FGS 1, is a 75hp Caterpillar Skid Steer driven completely by a
computerized guidance system which can be monitored remotely via cell phone or computer.
farmers in the event of
an equipment problem.
They’ll be guided by GPS
maps, and Farb said they’ll
be capable of pulling “the
smaller end” of existing
implements. Farb also has
driverless equipment in de-
velopment, believing auto-
mated technology will soon
render tractors — even those
with no cabs — obsolete.
Farb also expects automated
planters, harvesters and oth-
er equipment will be much
smaller than current equip-
ment — and far cheaper.
Farb explained machines
have evolved to be bigger,
more powerful and more
expensive to enable a sin-
gle operator to cover more
ground. With driverless
equipment, his company
calculates growers will
achieve the greatest return
on investment with mul-
tiple, smaller machines.
Smaller equipment will
have added bene¿ ts for pre-
cision agriculture.
With big equipment,
growers must utilize large
zones for their variable-rate
applications. Farb antici-
pates automated sprayers
of the future will use single
nozzles to treat individual
plants.
“We believe we can get
it down to the plant scale,”
Farb said. “That’s not pre-
cision agriculture. That’s
surgical agriculture.”
Farb’s company is ini-
tially ordering components
and assembling tractors in-
house, but eventually hopes
to work with another com-
pany on manufacturing.
Farb has tested the trac-
tors on his farm and plans
to use them in his regular
farming operations this sea-
son. He believes his com-
pany is farther along than
any competitor in commer-
cializing automated farm
equipment.
“Companies have pro-
totypes out there, but we
believe at this point in time
we’re the world leader in
unmanned
agricultural
COURTESY OF FARB GUIDANCE SYSTEMS
This artist’s conception shows the T8.300 tractor, designed
by Farb Guidance Systems. The 75 horsepower autonomous
machine is about half the size of a conventional tractor and
can be monitored remotely via cell phone or computer. Farb
expects to build about 60 units in 2016.
equipment,” Farb said.
He’s discussed partner-
ing with Idaho State Uni-
versity, which offers an
associate’s degree in civil
engineering technology, on
research into prescription
maps. Darren Leavitt, an
instructor in ISU’s College
of Technology, sees oppor-
tunities for student intern-
ships in map design.
“How are you going to
send an unmanned tractor
out to mitigate a problem in
the ¿ eld if you don’t have
the coordinates for that
problem?” Leavitt asked.
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