Pioneers of AI: John Deere's AI vision for future farms

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**Jahmy Hindman** (1:46)
If you look at the corn crop in the United States, there's four trillion corn seeds that are planted in the United States every year, give or take.
And our mission is to be able to provide, in a mechanized form, the master gardener experience for every one of those seeds. We want every one of them to be treated exactly where it needs to be treated, how it needs to be treated, and when it needs to be treated to live its best life.

**Rana El-Khaloubi** (2:08)
Are there gonna be teams of humanoid robots on the field, and they'll have straw hats, and be wearing overalls or something?

**Jahmy Hindman** (2:17)
I like the idea of humanoids in agriculture for a whole host of reasons. There are some jobs that no humans want to do.

**Rana El-Khaloubi** (2:24)
How do you see the role of AI in feeding the planet, even beyond what it can do for farming?

**Jahmy Hindman** (2:31)
I think AI gives you the opportunity to interrogate, where are the inefficiencies in this system, and how can we be more effective moving forward?

**Rana El-Khaloubi** (2:39)
That's Jahmy Hindman, CTO of John Deere. The almost 200-year-old agriculture super company is fascinating as a technology enterprise. They're developing AI-powered tools that help farmers be more efficient and more productive, and the stakes are high for humanity and the planet. I first met Jahmy several years ago at CES, the legendary consumer tech show. I have to admit I had never thought about the technology underpinning farm equipment before then, but I've wanted to talk to him ever since. Our conversation covers why John Deere owns a tech stack for farming, the company's vision for the future of agriculture, and the most important question of all, what does a fully autonomous mango farm look like? It's fascinating stuff, so let's get to it.
I'm Rana El-Khaloubi and this is Pioneers of AI, a podcast taking you behind the scenes of the AI revolution.
Hi, Jahmy, welcome to Pioneers of AI. I'm so excited to have you on the show.

**Jahmy Hindman** (3:48)
Right, it's great to see you. Thank you for having me on the show.

**Rana El-Khaloubi** (3:51)
All right, so you're the CTO, Chief Technology Officer of John Deere.

**Jahmy Hindman** (3:55)
Correct.

**Rana El-Khaloubi** (3:55)
And it's safe to say that if most non-farming people were to name one brand in farming, it would be John Deere.
But I also think most people don't associate John Deere with being a technology company. I do wanna start with your background. You grew up around farming. Your grandfather was a farmer in Iowa, and I guess you still have family members who are in the farming business?

**Jahmy Hindman** (4:17)
Yeah. In a story that's pretty common in the upper Midwest, a lot of people can trace their roots to agriculture in some way, shape or form. And so my grandfather would have farmed a little farm in Southwest Iowa, and in a story that repeats itself over and over again, it was not large enough to support the whole family. And so my dad became a college professor. He taught aerospace engineering for his career.
And that farm got consolidated into other farms.

**Rana El-Khaloubi** (4:47)
How has that upbringing shaped what you do today and also kind of your perspective on the whole business?

**Jahmy Hindman** (4:54)
Yeah, well, I've been around agriculture for a long time, my whole life.