FAQ About Precision Sprayers

When Chase Sailer decided to transition from having his local co-op apply pesticides to on-farm application, he decided to “go all in” on a John Deere See & Spray Ultimate. Sailer farms with his dad and brother in the southern Illinois community of Carmi, where they raise corn, soybeans, and canola.  

Smart-spraying systems promise precision, efficiency, and considerable cost savings. Sailer has found that See & Spray delivers on that promise: He said he used it across his soybean acres in 2024 and realized a $15,000 savings in one day alone. “We sprayed 650 acres that day and filled up twice,” he said. 

Scott Arthaud farms with his dad and son in Cimarron County, in the west end of the Oklahoma panhandle, where they raise dryland wheat along with irrigated corn, wheat, milo, sunflowers, and sesame. For Arthaud, battling resistant weeds in no-till was becoming cost prohibitive due to broadcast treatments with expensive herbicide mixes at higher rates. He said using Weed-It, a product of the Dutch company Rometron, and Israeli-originated Greeneye Technology sprayers for multiple seasons has helped him stay in his desired no-till rotation.

What Is the Technology Behind Precision Sprayers?

Targeted application of herbicides has been available since the mid-1990s, said Rodrigo Werle, weed scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The big difference now with machine learning, artificial intelligence, and advancements in hardware and software, the more recent technologies can distinguish between crops and weeds,” he said.

Precision sprayers use a combination of GPS, sensors, and control systems with the goal of ensuring that every droplet hits its intended target, reducing waste and maximizing yield. 

Weed-It sprayers employ a green-on-brown spot-spray technology used primarily on chemical fallow or orchards and vineyards, said Aelin Herrington, national director of business development for Agritech America, Weed-It technology’s U.S. distributor. “Ours is an infrared chlorophyll detection,” she said. “When it detects chlorophyll, it triggers one or more nozzles, depending on the size, to spray the individual weed.”  

Greeneye Technology, See & Spray, and Bosch and BASF’s One Smart Spray offer green-on-brown and green-on-green technology. Green-on-green differentiates weeds from the crop to spray only the weeds. 

One Smart Spray offers a 24/7 spraying capability, said Matt Leininger, One Smart Spray managing director for North America and Australia. “We have lights on all our units, so we are able to spray at night for green on brown and green on green in corn, soybean, sunflowers, and cotton,” Leiniger explained. 

What Are the Options for Stand-Alone Verus Retrofit Kits?

Options abound for precision sprayer technology, including factory options, as well as retrofit kits. Utimately, it comes down to cost and what fits each farm best. 

Sailer chose the See & Spray Ultimate and says he has been impressed with its carbon fiber boom and coverage. “The levelness that boom rides at is unbelievable and unmatched,” he said. “You can be running 15 mph through the field with that carbon fiber boom, and it feels like it glides through the field.” 

After using a Weed-It sprayer for several years, Arthaud said he knew he wanted a similar technology, but wanted to take the next step, where he could also spray in-crop. He purchased a used John Deere sprayer and installed a Greeneye sprayer. “We purchased the Greeneye because we wanted to be able to have the dual-boom technology, where the broadcast and Greeneye line separate with two tanks,” Arthaud said. 

Weed-It is offered as a retrofit kit. “It’s not brand or sprayer specific,” Herrington said. “It’s very retrofittable to a lot of different sprayers.”

What is the technology behind precision sprayers?

Cost savings are the most widely shared benefit. A 2024 research study conducted at Iowa State University found 4,700 gallons of tank mix and $6,500 worth of herbicide product were saved across 415 acres using the John Deere See and Spray Ultimate machine while maintaining clean fields through canopy formation.

In 2024, Greeneye Technology reduced non-residual herbicides by an average 87%, said Nadav Bocher, co-founder and CEO. “With this savings, we see farmers using more modes of action or chemistry they haven’t used before because it was more expensive,”  Bocher said.  “Farmers are not just saving money on reducing chemical usage but also improving efficiency in applying superior chemical programs.”

Jessie Brunner,  a fifth-generation farmer in eastern Washington state,  raises fall seeded canola, wheat, and peas. He does most of his weed control during a fallow year, and he tries to keep his budget for weed management to $20 per acre, which has become more challenging as he faces resistant weeds. Using targeted spray technology with a Weed-It sprayer has benefited his farm by opening up additional chemistry options. “With the target spray technology, I can do mixes that are more expensive and also more aggressive on resistant weeds without breaking the bank,” Brunner said.  

Water savings is another benefit, Herrington said. “You’re using less water because now you’re filling your tank maybe once a day instead of every couple of hours, which is saving our water table,” she explained.

What Fields Benefit Most from Precision Sprayer Technology?

The University of Wisconsin conducted a multiple-location trial over three years with the One Smart Spray technology, researching the savings for foliar herbicide applications of glyphosate and glufosinate in soybeans. “In the scenarios where we had very low weed pressure, whether we applied an application at V2 growth stage or what we called a late application at V4 growth stage, we had anywhere from 67%–81% savings,” Werle said. 

Another site location for the same study had high weed pressure, and although an effective pre-emergence herbicide was used, this location only saw a 2% savings on foliar applications with the One Smart Spray. 

“Low weed pressure, use of soil residual herbicides, and early postemergence applications are key factors in achieving effective weed control and maximizing herbicide savings with precision spray technologies,” Werle explained. 

What Data is Collected?

See & Spray operators get two map layers when they turn on the system, said John Deere Go-to-Market Manager Josh Ladd. The first is a weed pressure map, as well as an as-applied map. “We have a big appetite for the insights we want to drive in the future,” Ladd said.

Greeneye Technology offers several different maps and insights, Bocher said. “We offer a detailed heat map of where the weeds are in the field, where product was applied, and we can zoom in and see the actual weeds that were sprayed,” he said. “We can provide crop stand counts as we run through the field. We are just starting to tap into what we can do with the data we collect.”

What Are Some Drawbacks?

Sailer found the biggest challenge was the logistics and timing of loading the spray tanks. “Having the dual tanks, one tank always got empty before the other,” he said. “You can guarantee the 750-gallon tank at 15 gallons per acre will be spot-on 50 acres. But the 450-gallon tank that is See & Spraying may do 25 acres or 125 acres before it goes empty. 

“To fix that problem, we got a semitrailer that’s split in half. We have everything already mixed, and we’re just hot-loading both sides,” Sailer said.  

Sailer and Arthaud agreed that the slower speed required for accuracy reduced the number of acres covered in a day. “Honestly, the savings is worth it,” Sailer said. 

Arthaud said Greeneye’s narrow nozzle spacing leads to a narrower nozzle spray pattern, which can create some challenges if the droplet size is too big. He said he has managed this through nozzle tip selection, with Greeneye’s help. “They’re very involved as a company in fine-tuning the nozzles,” he said.

What Are the Technology and Subscription Fees?

Subscription fees may factor into the decision as well. See & Spray products impose a per-acre activation license cost per acre when the technology is turned on. For 2025, this is called the Application Savings Guarantee; customers will be charged only on acres where a product is applied. This is a change from 2024, when the per-acre charge was for all acres where the sprayer was used.

“When the customer enters the field and they turn on See & Spray, they will still be charged a per-acre cost: that is either $1 for every fallow acre or $5 for every acre of corn, soybean, or cotton,” Ladd said. “For example, in a 100-acre field, if the product is applied on 50% of those acres, we are only going to have our $5 cost on 50% of those acres.”

Greeneye Technology does not charge a subscription fee. “Farmers like to buy it and own it and that’s what we enable them,” Bocher said.

What Are Other Tips for Farmers Getting Started?

Dealer support is key, Arthaud said. “Greeneye doesn’t have a big dealer network at this point, but they’re very focused on support and they’ve been excellent,” he said. 

Because the dealer network is small, Arthaud suggests keeping spare parts, such as cameras and sensors, on hand. “If I was purchasing a system, whoever I was purchasing it from, I would ask what parts I should have on hand and then have that be part of the purchase,” Arthaud recommended. “I want to have some level of control and not be stuck waiting for a part.”

Sailer suggests understanding the warranty and options for extended warranties to cover service calls. “That’s the only thing that scares me about all this technology,” he said. “If something goes wrong, you can’t fix it yourself.”

Smart Sprayers offer farmers another tool in the battle against herbicide-resistant weeds, but it must be integrated with everything else, warned Tommy Butts, weed science specialist with Purdue Extension. “There is no silver bullet, even on the technology front,” he said. “We can hopefully delay the evolution of resistance because we’re targeting them rather than broadcast across the board.”

Sailer and Arthaud look to the future of this technology with enthusiasm. 

“One of the things that encouraged us to purchase Greeneye was the unlimited nature of it,” Arthaud said. “Today we’re using it to spray weeds, but in the future we may be able to use it to target nutrient deficiencies or fungicides.”

“I was a little skeptical at first that we may see more weeds out there because I would miss some,” Sailer said. “But we had some of the cleanest fields we ever had this year. After seeing the savings, I would definitely recommend See & Spray to other farmers.”