John Deere tests autonomous sprayer from GUSS on orchards in Brazil

The equipment was on display at the John Deere stand at Agrishow, the largest agricultural technology fair in the country, last week, thanks to the partnership between the machinery giant and the agritech GUSS.

Sean Sunberg, a representative of GUSS, explained that the autonomous sprayer exhibited at Agrishow 2023 will be taken directly to field tests in Brazil after the fair.

“Brazilian producers have shown great interest and want this equipment as soon as possible. We’ll do our best to deliver this to them. We are here learning”, he commented.

John Deere´s partner

According to him, the objective is to know the operation features in Brazil and, through a partnership with John Deere, distribute the equipment in the country, as well as globally.

Currently, there are more than 2,000 GUSS sprayers in operation in the United States, whether for citrus or grapes. Worthy to say that there are other autonomous sprayers already working in the Brazilian market, the Arbus 4000 JAV from Jacto.

“The partnership has driven us very quickly to serve producers who want to produce more efficiently, productively, and sustainably so that, at the end of the day, they can also make more margins”, he stresses.

Orange and coffee leader

He highlights Brazil is the main world producer of citrus and coffee and his objective is to validate the equipment in these segments, in addition to grapes and possibly vegetables.

In the case of citrus, Brazil responds for almost 70% of the entire world´s orange juice production. The country has been leading the coffee segment for the last 150 years, harvesting around the third part of the global production currently.

“Brazil is the number 1 citrus and coffee producer. We are in contact with producers here to present this autonomous solution, a type of technology in which we lead”, he says.

The executive did not say with which producers or companies the equipment will be tested but said that the initial plan is to make the GUSS commercially available in the country by 2024.

Swarm of robots

The operation takes place through a “swarm” of autonomous sprayers that can be remotely supervised by a single operator. According to Sean, the main benefit is to spray faster and more consistently, using fewer resources and reducing costs.

The machines also control application rates and sprayer speeds across entire fields and in varying terrain with adjustable software parameters.

GUSS has two models of autonomous sprayers. Both models are equipped with 173 hp Cummins F3.8 engines. Stage V diesel engines and four-wheel drive, with four-wheel steering for better maneuverability.

Autonomy and capacity

Both models have stainless steel bodies. The Orchard GUSS can operate between 13 to 14 hours and has a 2,300-liter tank. The Mini has an autonomy of 12 hours and a capacity for 1,500 liters of syrup in the tank.

The Orchard model has a spray collector with 32 nozzles with individual closures. The Mini GUSS standard housing has 28 ceramic nozzles, while the viticulture option has 22 nozzles and the apple option has 44 nozzles.

See all specifications and prices of three autonomous sprayers for in orchards from Guss  in our Field robots buying guide 2023