Kubota has invested in Advanced Farm Technologies, start-up working on automation solutions for agricultural field harvest
Image: Kubota invests in California-based agritech start-up. Photo: Courtesy of Tumisu/Pixabay
Japanese tractor and equipment manufacturer Kubota has invested in California-based agritech startup Advanced Farm Technologies (Advanced Farm).
Established in 2018, Advanced Farm Technologies offers robotics-based automation solutions in the agriculture field. By investing in Advanced Firm, Kubota intends to assist farming businesses in the US and other regions by saving labour and increasing work efficiency.
To accelerate the ongoing initiative to offer new value to customers by the way of innovation through collaboration with external partners, the Japanese company has established its Innovation Center in June 2019.
As part of this initiative, Kubota focused on ‘harvesting services’ which are now in high demand among farmers of fruits and vegetables and has decided to invest in Advanced Farm.
The startup is claimed to be offering new automation solutions in this field and is also working to increase its robotic strawberry harvester for commercial purposes.
Investing in harvest automation could increase efficiency in agriculture
Kubota believes that investing in Advanced Farm is expected to strengthen its technological development of labour saving and automation of harvesting operations of strawberries and other fruits and vegetables, adding efficiency to farm operations across the US and other regions.
In July 2019, Kubota announced its plans to launch a new series of tractors featuring high-horsepower models that will be the largest in its tractor lineup. The launch is expected to accelerate its business in the North American large tractor market.
The company plans to entrust the development and manufacture of the tractors to Buhler Industries, a custom original equipment manufacturer from Canada, under its partnership.
The new tractor series is named M8 Series and is planned for launch in North America in the spring of next year. The two models will have 190 and 210 horsepower.
The new series will inherit the features of the M7 Series, launched in 2015, but with higher horsepower, enabling expanded range of use and responsiveness to the needs of the customers.